New Year's Resolutions

I have never been big believer in New Year's resolutions. I think it is stupid to make these unrealistic goals for your life because the rest of society is doing it. However, I do believe you should take stock of your life at least once a year and really evaluate the direction you are going and how you are getting there. If it takes all of society doing it to remind you, then so be it. This is why I reluctantly throw my personal goals out to the world - so that you can hold me to them.

I reserve the right to edit these at any time, but here are my current steps to being the person I want to be, written in my best attempt to be quantifiable:

1. Communicate - even if honesty might hurt, I truly believe it is the best policy and saves bigger drama and hurt down the line. I am going to try and be truthful as much as possible, even if it makes me look like the idiot at times. Even though this isn't measurable, I will know if I succeeded or not.
2. Career - I need a new challenge. I can't do what I am doing now forever. I used to think I could be a development officer and raise money for an organization worth supporting, but I just don't think I have that job type in me. However, I think I know now what I want to be when I grow up - a nurse. My goal this year is to take the classes I need to get me set-up for this career change and to apply this fall. This includes getting my CNA certification, taking bac-core SOC and Micro classes, and also the human anatomy and physiology series, which I took before as a senior in high school. It is a tough course and needs LOTS of study time. The CNA certification will be the hard part as it is 40 hours per week for a solid month - hard to work full-time while that is happening. If I can get a part time job, which I have already started looking for, then I could do that, get my CNA certification, and after that maybe work my part time job and as a CNA to pay the bills until nursing school.
3. Pick up daily - I think everyone around me would be happier if I could just be a tidier person. However, even when I make huge efforts in my book, most people don't notice as they are small advances to others. So I am going to make a point, for the sake of my marriage among other things, of picking up the house each and every night or early morning before work. I am a slob - I completely admit it - but I don't want to be known as that to everyone.
4. Keep a clean car - this ties into #3. The inside of my car always looks like the bottom of a dumpster. I am going to devise a way to keep the trash picked up and vacuum it at least once a month.
5. Cook real meals more often - we currently have "make your own" nights most of the week or the same meals over and over again. I want to plan and cook. I enjoy cooking - I jut don't plan ahead often enough to cook.
6. Stop spur-of-the-moment spending - I would like to evaluate purchase decisions a little more before buying. I tend to get obsessed with things have have to have them NOW. If I do put the purchase off, I tend to discover I lived without it just fine.
7. Pay off debt - by my calculations, we will be out of credit/health debt in April. YAY! I can't wait. We will still have the car and a line of credit from when i was on maternity leave, but we are on the right track.
8. Buy a house - I am not sure we can accomplish this, but I firmly believe that prices and interest rates are going to bottom out this year, making it a great time to buy. Anyone want to give a giant loan to a responsible couple who have nothing to put down? :o)

Happy New Year to all!!!!