2012

I'm not usually one for New Year's Resolutions, but I figured if I documented them somewhere this year that I may be able to better follow them.  Here they are in no particular order...

1. Live like no one else, so we can live like no one else! :)

Ok so maybe this one will not be followed exactly as our old friend Dave Ramsey would suggest it should, but I want to make a conscious effort to be better at following the Tosics' version of FPU.  We graduated from Dave's Financial Peace University a couple years ago.  Since then we have attempted to follow the plan, and we've even paid off some of our debt, but we are certainly not debt-free yet.  About a year and a half ago I handed the finances over to Jovan...he is the accountant after all!  I found that when I was the one handling the money, I was a little dishonest.  I spent a little more than I would fess up to and it would result in some heated arguments in our monthly budget meetings. :)  All of this to say, I am fully aware of my spending habits, and I knew Jovan needed to take over to hold me more accountable.  We did a good job with our envelopes for a bit, but I want to make the commitment again this year to really stick to our envelopes and know where each penny we are bringing in is going.  After all, we have a Disney trip to look forward to in December!

 2. Be a better wife.



Jovan and I circa 2003



Jovan and I have been a couple for over nine years.  Over the years we have grown closer together, and with that closeness has also come routine and monotony.  I don't necessarily mean that as a bad thing, just saying that we have maybe become too comfortable in our ways and it wouldn't hurt to get somewhat back to how those kids in the picture were!  We had to read His Needs, Her Needs during our premarital counseling, and it is one of my goals to read this book again and make an effort to focus on putting Jovan first.  So many times I let life get in the way, and I need to remember that next to God, my husband is my priority.



 3. The old stand-by: LOSE WEIGHT!

This would be a picture of me in May of this year.  I lost 35 pounds in 2010, and I spent 39 weeks of 2011 being pregnant.  With this pregnancy came quite a bit of weight gain.  TOTALLY my fault, so now I have to live with the consequences of my decisions and start the weight loss battle all over again.  I'm ready to get back to the gym and ready to get started on Weight Watchers this week.  My goal is to lose at least 40 pounds, but I learned last time that I do better breaking my goal in to small attainable chunks, so here's to the first 10!

4. Slow down and take time to get to know my girls.

This one is a big one for me.  Of course we know our children...it's our maternal nature, but I want to really spend some quality time with each of my girls this year.  I have had a really difficult time with my job this year, and I feel like I can never even do enough to get caught up.  I'm constantly having to do something, and I have found myself taking time away from Lainey to grade papers, lesson plan, and just try to keep up with all the paperwork that comes with being a public school educator.  It's not okay, and I resolve to not let my job take as much time away from giving my family the attention they deserve (this goes hand in hand with my next resolution).  I want to make it a point to have scheduled and spontaneous "dates" with each of my girls, as well as spending time with the three of us.  I think it's important that I develop a special relationship with each of them, even if one of them won't be able to talk with me for awhile! ;)

5. Let my job be my job-period.

This is a picture of me in my first classroom my first year of teaching in 2005.  Oh how young and naive I was!  Oh how I thought I could change the world!  Oh how I learned so quickly that my pipe dreams were far from reality, ha!  It saddens me to say that I used to love my job.  I used to love teaching and all that came along with it.  For some reason, this year has deeply darkened my outlook for several reasons that I will not go into (ya know, things I don't care to remember later on!).  Some would say my resoluteion should be to have a better attitude towards my job, but I have decided that I will resolve to change my outlook towards my job.  I am a bit of a perfectionist and tend to give all I have to my classroom, even if that means neglecting other areas of my life.  Now having two beautiful daughters, I will be spread even more thin.  I have to learn to let my job be my job and not take things so personally, not put more time into things than needed, and not bust my tail for things I cannot change.  By no means does this mean that I will stop caring for my kids, that I will stop putting an effort in to my teaching.  It just simply means that I will do what I need to do to help my kids succeed, but not at the expense of taking time away from my friends and family. 

Updates to come!  Here's to an amazing new year!