I’m Calling It: My 2020 Resolutions Are a Wash -

For awhile there, I was trying desperately to hang onto the idea that even with a pandemic and a move and all sorts of other craziness this year, I would still be able to complete many of my 2020 resolutions.

But now?

I have entirely given up that delusion. And am thanking my January self for not doing something even crazier, like setting a goal to give up Diet Dr. Pepper. Because heaven knows that my body is 80% caffeine and chocolate at the moment.

The fact is, almost NOTHING is going like I expected this year, and many of the resolutions I made just aren’t feasible or even possible right now. I would still love to do all these things (and plan to do many of them at a later date), but for this year, I’m calling it quits on my resolutions in September—something that has literally never happened before.

Of course, since the word “unprecedented” has been used an indecent number of times this year, I suppose it’s only fitting.

Anyway, consider this the final report on my resolutions for 2020.

(However, me being me, I am NOT stopping my practice of setting monthly goals or stopping progress on my 101 in 1001 list—in fact, since the deadline on my first 101 in 1001 list is quickly coming up, I’m actually working on my next one, which I should have finalized by next month!)

Anyway, here’s where the final results stand:

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List all Ebay items in office
- My brother gave me a bunch of vintage clothing to sell on Ebay, and while I’ve gone through periods of time when I’ve been really good at listing it, I’ve hardly done anything on it since the birth of my third back in December. And now, literally all of the items are deep in a storage unit, so this one is not even really do-able right now. I’ll have to pick this one up at a (much) later date when I have more time in general (probably when school eventually resumes to a more normal schedule and I can start sending my oldest, rather than homeschooling her like I am now).
Get back to pre-pregnancy weight
- I know, I know—I just wrote a huge long post about how I’m finally taking the first steps to start losing this weight again (since I haven’t made any progress in months and months). But with us finding our next house finally and me homeschooling and my husband being gone for the majority of the week…I just do not have the time or energy to devote to this right now. I’ll still keep maintaining the healthy habits that I DO have, but I’m not going to be focusing on weight loss until our life feels a bit more stable.
Bump up retirement contributions
- Since we put in an offer on a house near the upper end of our price range, we won’t be able to do this until Matt gets another raise from work (and we’re not sure when that’s going to happen exactly). This could still potentially happen this year, but it hasn’t happened yet.
~~Get more chickens~~
- Hooray! A resolution we actually completed! And all ten chickens are now laying, which has been fun—it’s meant that we’ve been able to provide not only enough eggs for our family’s needs, but also for my mom and stepdad, who we’re living with at the moment.
Pick a cookbook a month and make 4 recipes from it
- I was sooooo good with this goal for the first half of the year…and then we moved. And I haven’t done hardly anything since. Most of that is because we’re living in my mom and stepdad’s basement and my mom and I trade off who makes dinner, and I’m also less motivated to try out new recipes because I’m not cooking in my own kitchen with all of my own kitchen supplies and things. I think this would be a fun resolution to pick up at a later time.
Have 4 people/families over for dinner (that we haven’t before)
- Ha ha ha ha ha ha
Go to Hawaii
- Thanks for nothing, COVID. However, since we did budget $3000 for this trip and never used it, we’re actually planning on taking that money and putting it into the new house for some flooring and kitchen updates, which is fun. So…not a total loss!
Publish 100 blog posts
- I’m currently at 52 posts here on this blog and 25 on the other blog. I still might hit this one if I can start posting to both blogs again once we move into our other place. I’m not super worried about hitting this number anymore, though—I’m just blogging whenever I can squeeze in the time and calling it good enough for now.
Plant dahlias
- I definitely want to do this at our new place, but we won’t be able to do so until 2021 because we’ve missed the planting season.
Get my TBR list below 270 (starting at 292)
- My reading life has definitely suffered since we moved and especially since I’ve started homeschooling—I just don’t have any TIME! How do people who homeschool young kids by choice (aka, not during a pandemic) get anything done at all?! Anyway, my list is currently at 282. I’ve definitely had some times this year when I dipped into the 270 range, but I’ve been adding titles faster than I’ve been reading them (or faster than I’m taking some titles off). However, I’m still lower than I was, and I’ve also removed a ton of titles that just no longer appeal to me, so the list is a lot more accurate to what I actually want to read now! So…partial success?
~~Do 3 read-alouds with Raven~~
- We completed this one very early in the year and have just been slowly but surely adding additional completed titles to our list. So far, we’ve read Charlotte’s Web, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, Socks, two of the The Magic Treehouse series (books 1 and 2), all the Frog and Toad books, and we’re currently reading The Very, Very Far North.
Do a complete study of the Come Follow Me curriculum this year
- There were a few months in the middle of the year that I started going off on my own scripture study program, but I’m back with doing Come Follow Me again now, so by year’s end, I will have done about 80% (plus a lot of extra reading on my own).