Tag: New Year

Beginning of the year posts.

A Day in the Life

Goals 2023

Keira

Here it is, halfway through February. As you know (you don’t know. I have no followers), I refuse to set goals in January. I take January off, mentally. I survive and mend in January. Perhaps because it’s “always Winter and never Christmas.” This year, I’ve needed a few other weeks, too. But I’m here. I’m feeling the need to set goals. It’s time. (Cue crazy Rafiki).

So… What goals do I have?

1. Finish the basement. It’s 4 years overdue. It’s sooo close. If. we. can. just. cross. the. finish. line…

2. Get chickens. Yeah. Totally did that. Blame the ADHD impulse and my Mama. But on the flip side have you seen the cost of eggs lately? And I already have half a coop, a rundown run (pun intended), and help with them on the way. So I guess the goal isn’t “get” chickens. It’s keeping them alive when they get here.

3. Homeschool a girly that is struggling socially in school. She has some body delays, and socially it’s becoming awkward for her. So I wanna give her a year to recoup, stay on track, and then we will evaluate how she’s doing. Kinda hope she loves it because it’s always something I have wanted but it’s a serious commitment and I don’t wanna mess that up. We’re talking a kid’s wellbeing here. I don’t wanna take that lightly. I intend to send the other 2 to school. Mostly because it eases the transition for those that have always discouraged me and because that gives one-on-one time to the one that needs it.

Man I sound all domestic and homey!

4. Find it in my soul to pick up the dropped ball of FHE lessons instead of hasty find a picture and talk about it lessons. And when that is done, work on a scripture study guide. That I also started and set down. Man my ADHD is killing me. Actually I always just thought it was a personal failing. It wasn’t until I was 36, had newborn twins and was drowning in exhaustion and Dr Pepper that I asked for help. And that was because I zoned out while driving all my precious cargo because the car in front of me had shiny rims. No lie. Clearly meds don’t fix everything, though, because I am dreading picking up these juggle balls. Not because I don’t want to do them but because I don’t want to drop them. Or any other ball. Am I ready? I can barely do dishes and laundry. But part of that is because I’m lagging in the motivation category. And when I’m lagging on motivation it often helps to add something new. That’s why I love gardening in the spring. It’s something new. It’s a new garden. But it’s -4° today and my driveway is drifted over with snow and wind and I’m not ready to think about spring yet.

That being said, 5. Keep up with a garden. Back to domesticity, haha. I was debating about the 2 rows of tomatoes. Or maybe cutting back carrots. But, as I’ve hinted at, life seems to be changing in my family of origin and the extra garden space will probably be a blessing. And if I keep chickens it will both rock the mouse population (hopefully in my favor but who knows. They might all move further into my garden) and they can eat the shrivelled carrots I didn’t get to in time.

5.1 grow onions from seeds. Which means I need to get started soon. But as I said, it’s snowing outside! It’s cold in my house. I just can’t bring myself yet. Soon.

5.2 try lavender again. Pray we can fix the watering “sitch.” Pray they get enough light indoors. Pray they *finally* grow bigger than an inch high.

5.3 don’t make my tomatoes struggle this year by inadequate potting soil and starting them as early as I’d like to. I’d love to get my greenhouse here and ready to install, but it’s gonna cost me a pretty penny to transport it around a mountain range. Long story. Probably too much personal information. I inherited it but it isn’t near me. Let’s say that.

6. Figure out how to be a better neighbor when I’m a hermit. World peace. I have awesome neighbors. I wanna be like them. And I wanna be better at helping them. And my husband. And my kids.

Anyway, I usually publish these goals here to keep me accountable. And then I look at them in January and evaluate myself. But I don’t feel like looking at last year’s so, … Moving on.

FHE

How To Set Goals: Starting Off the New Year FHE

Keira

Purpose: to help your family learn that goals are achieved step by step.


Possible scriptures: Isaiah 28:10,13; Matt 5:16; Matt 5:48; Galatians 6:10; James 2:17-22; Jacob 2:18-19; 3 Nephi 13:24; 3 Nephi 13:33 (see also Matt 6:33); 3 Nephi 27: 27; Doctrine & Covenants 67:13;

Possible Songs: “The Iron Rod,” Hymns 274; “As Zion’s Youth in Latter-days,” Hymns 256; “I Hope They Call Me on a Mission,” Children’s Songbook 169; “The Things I Do,” Children’s Songbook 170; “I Love to See the Temple,” Children’s Songbook 95; “I’m Trying to be Like Jesus,” Children’s Songbook 78.

Possible Materials: five small stuffed animals or other soft objects; Heber J Grant stories (1, 2, 3) and a picture of him (Note: Older audiences may prefer reading about Heber J. Grant from The Teachings of Heber J. Grant Lesson Manual, found here); Tree of Life story aides; Graham Cracker Story aides (at least some graham crackers and grapes, but you may also consider making a simple chore chart or grabbing some clothes and a toy car, etc); A photograph of Ford’s Assembly Line; Paper and Pencils.


Preparation: Begin with prayer. Read the suggested scriptures, along with 1 Nephi 8 and Moses 1:39. Think of why it is significant to know that even our Heavenly Father sets goals. Consider some possible goals for yourself. Think of your own struggles with keeping goals. Is there ways you can improve, so that you can help others? Read through the lesson, including any links, and carefully select the most relevant material for your family. Children: Listen to the audio for the Heber J Grant stories and the story about graham crackers and grapes and watch the video for the Tree of Life. Collect grapes and graham crackers to use when you tell the lesson.

Lesson:

Introduction: select a member of the family (preferably one that can catch) and tell them you want them to catch all five stuffed animals. Then throw them at the family member all at once. They will probably not be able to catch all of them, or even one of them. Collect the objects and this time throw them to the family member one at a time. When thrown one at a time, the family member will be able to catch most, if not all, of the objects. Explain that starting any big project or setting a big goal is like this. If we try to set big goals and accomplish them all at once, we will struggle and get overwhelmed. But if we think about our goals and what steps are needed to achieve them, and work on each little step, the process of goal setting becomes quite simple.

Explain to your youngest family members, if you need, that a goal is something you want to do, to be, or to have. It is something you have to work for, but something that you know someday you can get or be. An example of a goal is thinking about what you want to be when you grow up. Other goals are something you want to learn how to do.

Read “Graham Crackers, Grapes, and Goals from the Friend.” Talk about how the boy in the story had a goal to keep his room clean, but he was fining it hard to reach his goal. This story talks about how each step is important when we set a goal. Use illustrations or real graham crackers and grapes to help younger children pay attention to the story.

Hand out papers and pencils (and help little kids) and ask each member of the family to write what they think are some pretty big goals that they have for themselves. Then ask them how they can work on small parts of the goal in order to reach the bigger goal. Tell them they can work on this throughout the rest of the lesson.


From Church History: Hold up a picture of Heber J Grant. Read one of the stories from President Grant’s Life (links above) from the Friend Magazine, and ask, “What goal did Heber make? What did he do to reach his goal? What happened because he made the goal?” Then read the next story and ask the same questions. Repeat for the third.

From World History: Hold up a picture of Henry Ford’s assembly line. Then read the following clip from PBS.org’s People and Discoveries segment:

In 1907, Henry Ford announced his goal for the Ford Motor Company: to create “a motor car for the great multitude.” At that time, automobiles were expensive, custom-made machines.

Ford’s engineers took the first step towards this goal by designing the Model T, a simple, sturdy car, offering no factory options — not even a choice of color. The Model T, first produced in 1908… was less expensive than most other cars, but it was still not attainable for the “multitude.” Ford realized he’d need a more efficient way to produce the car in order to lower the price. He and his team looked at other industries and found four principles that would further their goal: interchangeable parts, continuous flow, division of labor, and reducing wasted effort.

Using interchangeable parts meant making the individual pieces of the car the same every time. That way any valve would fit any engine, any steering wheel would fit any chassis. … Once the machines were adjusted, a low-skilled laborer could operate them, replacing the skilled craftsperson who formerly made the parts by hand. To improve the flow of the work, it needed to be arranged so that as one task was finished, another began, with minimum time spent in set-up. Ford was inspired by the meat-packing houses of Chicago and a grain mill conveyor belt he had seen. If he brought the work to the workers, they spent less time moving about. Then he divided the labor by breaking the assembly of the Model T into 84 distinct steps. Each worker was trained to do just one of these steps. …

Ford put these principles into play gradually over five years, fine-tuning and testing as he went along. In 1913, they came together in the first moving assembly line ever used for large-scale manufacturing. Ford produced cars at a record-breaking rate. That meant he could lower the price and still make a good profit by selling more cars. …

Ford’s manufacturing principles were adopted by countless other industries. Henry Ford went beyond his 1907 goal of making cars affordable for all; he changed the habits of a nation, and shaped its very character.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dt13as.html

Discuss with your family what Henry Ford can teach us about setting goals. Some examples might include that he broke up what needed to happen into steps, he evaluated why he wasn’t having success and adjusted what he needed to do. Also note that his goal was not achieved instantly! It took him 5 years of fine-tuning. But because he set a goal, he changed the world.

From the Scriptures: Read or summarize Lehi’s Dream as found in 1 Nephi 8. For younger children, use the story aid illustrations provided in the materials section above. When you’re done reading the story, explain how the Tree of Life represents eternal life. Eternal life is our ultimate goal! It is also Heavenly Father’s goal for us! Read Moses 1:39. Heavenly father wants us to return to Him. What little steps do we need to take in order to make it to our big goal? (answers should include holding onto the rod – staying close to the doctrine of The Church and not getting distracted by flashy things or hard times – the building and the mists). Discuss how clinging to the rod doesn’t actually get us to the tree. we have to take step after step.

Further Discussion:

Read Keeping Life’s Demands in Balance. Discuss the steps listed in the talk: (1) Think out your life and your priorities. What is most important? (2) Set short-term goals that you can reach quickly. (3) Balance needs and wants. (4) Stay close to family (5) Study the scriptures (6) Plan time for sufficient rest, exercise and relaxation. (7) Family Home Evening (8) Pray often as individuals and as a family.

Talk about how to set SMART Goals. S = Specific (or Significant). M = Measurable (or Meaningful). A = Attainable (or Action-Oriented).R = Relevant (or Rewarding). T = Time-bound (or Trackable).   Also discuss the importance of prayer in setting goals. By taking the time to prepare, pray, and ponder about our goals, we are able to focus on what will be most beneficial for our family.

Recent Conference talks to consider in your discussion: Worthiness Is Not Flawlessness, by Bradley R. Wilcox; One Percent Better, By Michael A. Dunn; Becoming More in Christ: The Parable of The Slope, by Clark G. Gilbert

Challenge:

Remind your family about how we need to keep goals in our mind AND we need to work to achieve them. We need to cling tightly to the rod and to the things we know will bring us to our goals. Remind the family that they wrote down goals at the beginning of the lesson and ask them if they feel confident in taking the steps to reach their goals. Discuss any help they might need as a family. Challenge each member of your family to work on a small step of their goal that can be accomplished during the week so that they can report back next week.

Also, this ties in really well with the new youth program, so if you have any youth, this is a perfect time to reevaluate those youth goals!


Giving due credit: I used the object lesson given in Lesson 32 of The Latter-day Saint Woman: Basic Manual for Women, Part B for inspiration.

A Day in the Life

A New Year

Keira

Happy New year, everyone!

I had an amazing New Year’s Eve party. It consisted of the whopping crowd of 2. It was actually supposed to be a crowd of 1, but Ranger surprised me.

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New Year’s Eve is actually quite special to us. We got engaged on New Year’s Eve, three whole splendid years ago. Come to find out, it would have been Christmas, but I made a comment about how a ring as a Christmas present was tacky, and he had to think outside the box a little harder… oops! Especially, since I had been quite clear that that’s what I wanted in a blog post many of you will probably remember (It’s no longer there, if you were wondering).

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we camped out in our front room this New year, brought up a TV to watch Fantastic Four (it’s what I wanted. We made it a marathon), and reminisced about all that has happened in 3 years and all that we hope the future holds for us. We had other places we could have gone, but I’m completely comfortable just being alone. In fact, I crave it sometimes.

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Actually having a husband home wasn’t the only surprise he gave me. I got another ring, too. It was sweet. He kept hinting that I would get one for Christmas, and then he got me a necklace. It’s 3 years ago all over again! Except this time I didn’t say it was tacky, and actually asked if we could afford it. My fingers have gotten smaller over this past year (I lost my other one in the Christmas tree for a few months until I decided to open that box in hopes of finding it), and my ring was not staying on! Since I don’t want to get my old one resized, and then needing a bigger size when I am actually able to keep some meat on my bones (what a problem to have, huh?), I just asked for a new one. He brought it in, all cute, and brought flashbacks of the nervous kid sitting across from me three years ago. It’s amazing how much things can change all the while nothing does!

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Me 3 years ago. 

Archives

My Most Favorite New Year’s Eve Ever. :c)

Keira

So the day before New Years Eve, Ranger calls me up and asks if I have plans for the day. I say no, I was sort of leaving that up to him. And he says good, we’re going to go play in the snow. And wont give me more information.

Later on, he slips that we’re going for a sleigh ride. I think it was on purpose because he knows I strongly dislike secrets. Or surprises. (I need time to prepare. I know, it’s kinda silly, but it’s true). The problem is, he’s still hiding something and I can tell. So I start wondering. Of course, it’s only natural. He slipped a few weeks earlier that he already had the ring (and that one probably WAS an accident, because I asked him while he was tired). I was afraid to hope, though. He’d tricked me once before. So I keep my cool and pretend I’m clueless, in case I’m wrong. Good plan, right?

The only information I can get out of him is that his brother and sister-in-law are coming with us. That’s cool. But it’s also another thing that makes me wonder. His brother and he are super close.

So the next day, we get all ready for the sleigh ride, get lost on the way, and finally make it there. The sleigh ride is great, except Ranger gets called in to work. Now how do you explain that you really need the day off because you are doing something “important” and you cant explain what’s so important, because its a secret and the girl who cant know is sitting right next to you? So he goes to work. Poor thing. But I’m probably wrong, right? And since he got called in to work, it probably wont happen today anyway…

So he takes me to his dad’s house to wait, and we wait. For a while his brother hangs around and visits, but eventually goes home. His dad asks him what his plans are for that evening, and he says “well, we’ll still do that thing, but otherwise, we dont know yet.” And I take note. Vague hints are good… right?

Great visit, but we’re both kind of distracted (probably about the same thing which neither one of us can talk about. Me for my pride in case I’m wrong, and he for the sake of his son… if I’m right, anyway). I get the feeling that his dad’s trying to keep the day special. So I start to hope again. Ranger said I could go home, if I wanted. But I actually really like his dad, and I knew I’d be twice as antsy at home. So I didn’t ask to be taken home.

Ranger FINALLY gets off work, and says we have dinner plans with his brother. Well, that explains the “thing”… But if there wasn’t some news, why would his brother be so vague? And now I can tell that everyone’s a little excited. And Ranger looks a little nervous, but honestly, that could have been rationalized away because he felt bad for having to work in the middle of our date. And his dad’s trying to help him. I notice they both seem to be having a conversation whenever I’m not around and it stops when I come back in the room.

Okay, something is DEFINITELY up. But I tell myself I’m still going to play clueless because it’d be sooo embarrassing if I’m wrong…

So we go out to eat, and we’re in a quiet booth off to the side, with no one else around us. “convenient,” I think. His sister answers for it though, even though I didn’t ask. Says she thought the people around were kind of gross and asked to be moved. So we get all the way through dinner… and dessert…  and I can see Ranger’s brother keep trying to catch Ranger’s eye.

And then I see that Ranger has a box in his hands. And I think to myself “okay, now I know what that is. But this is awkward…” So I pretend not to notice, and I cant make eye contact, I’m too nervous.

And so is he

And I hate awkward moments.

So I pretend to be super interested in what his sister-in-law has to say.

And I guess it was too much for Ranger, because he sort of drops the box in front of me, like “here, take it.” It was so cute because it was so awkward. I guess that’s fitting, because that’s how Ranger’s been all along. So awkward it’s cute. Maybe awkward isn’t the right word, nervous is better. Obvious about his intentions, but nervous.

Well of course I open it. And he gets on one knee. And says “will you marry me?”

And just like me, to make things more complicated in a nervous situation, I say, “that’s all you have to say? No name or anything?”

So he says “Keira, will you marry me?”

Charming. It’s a good thing he’s so cute when he’s nervous…

I asked him later. He was so nervous and he couldn’t remember my maiden name, (and I bet he didn’t know if he should use it or not, anyway) so he just said “Keira.”

Well OBVIOUSLY I said yes.

Obviously.

And then Ranger’s brother says “Dad sent me a text as you were leaving, he said you were so nervous!” Like we couldn’t tell. And I loved every minute of it.

All that, and we didn’t even get a free dessert!