Be It Resolved: February 2021 Goals

Since it's February 1 (how is it February already?!?!?), it's time to recap my January goals and set some goals for February. First of all, let's recap how I did with January's goals.

1) Pick out December pictures for the yearly calendars.

Well, I started to write this blog post yesterday morning, and I realized I hadn't done this yet so I quickly picked out pictures for December. One thing Dave and I discovered is, that unlike most years, December really didn't have a lot going on.

A memorable Starbucks stop in December, 2020.

2) Cut back on caffeine and up my water intake.

I definitely upped my water intake (although I didn't do as good a job of tracking it towards the end of the month) and I've cut down to two (and some days less) cups of coffee-hot chocolate, so I feel like I'm making progress on this one. I am starting to crave water which is a good thing!

One thing which really helped this goal was my friend Emily mentioned that she drinks out of different water bottles throughout the day. Somehow this was a light bulb moment for me and I've since started taking both my water bottles to work with me. That gives me a litre and a half (six cups) of water throughout the day, plus whatever I'm drinking at home.

3) Enjoy being outside.

I feel like we did a good job of this. We tried to get outside a lot even when it was cold. And I tried to find my playful side.

4) Keep making progress on the Camino walk.

Well, at beginning of January I was here...

...and, as of last night, I was here:

I'm pretty excited that I managed to make up 25 kilometres in January. I am only a month (and a bit) away from finishing this challenge and I have already decided that I will sign up for another one when I'm done this one. And Dave is probably going to do it with me!

5) Figure out new ways to share what books I've read with people.

I was planning on writing book blog posts for January 15th and for the end of January. However, I had only read two books by January 15th so writing a blog post didn't feel worth it. I have a lot going on blog wise this week so my January book review post will be coming out next Monday, I think. I'm hoping to get better at this in February.

6) Have a weekly family game night and eat take out that night.

This was really fun and, what made it work really well, is that each person got to "host" one night. They decided what we were eating for takeout and which game we were playing. We enjoyed this so much we're going to continue it in February too!

7) Help the kids stay in touch with family and friends more through email.

Rachel wanted me to put this goal down and she wrote a few emails to some of her great-aunts, wrote a letter to my parents, and phoned her grandparents a few times. So I think she was happy with how this goal went. (I think from now on I won't put down goals which I'm not involved in!)

8) Organize the basement.

This did NOT happen. We were too busy relaxing, doing a few puzzles, and walking (either outside or doing workout videos) so the basement is still a disaster :(

9) Participate in the "I Spy" photo challenge.

I published a post every Saturday in January for this challenge. I really enjoyed doing this and will continue it for February (and probably beyond).

So now on to February's goals...

1) Pick out January pictures for the calendars.

And I'm sure none of you are surprised by this goal :)

I think this is a memorable January photo!

2) Respond to blog comments within 24 hours.

I love getting all of your comments and I feel like such a slacker when I don't respond to them. If you don't have your email connected to your blogger profile, I respond to your comment in my post. However, if I have access to your email address, I send you an email instead. Thank you for continuing to read my blog and leave comments. I love the interactions I have with all of you.

3) Get my personal email under control. Right now I have 72 unread emails and over 300 emails sitting in my inbox. It's time to respond to them or file them as necessary.

I think this goal is pretty self explanatory. Time to read (and write!) some emails.

4) Get out for a winter hike each weekend.

We are just so much happier when we've had some time outside. Except for this coming weekend (Hello Readathon!!!), my goal is for us to get out for a walk (and hopefully in nature areas or on trails or through woods) every weekend. It's so easy to just sit inside in the winter, especially.

5) Organize the basement and the playroom.

Well, we didn't get the basement done in January but we can absolutely do two rooms in February, right?!?!? Maybe I'm insane, but March Break is coming and I want the kids to enjoy the playroom that week since we won't be going anywhere!

6) Read non-library books off my physical TBR.

My stack is getting way too high again and I need to reduce it. Time to read some of these books. I think I'll try and start with books which I've borrowed from other people.

7) Do a better job of tracking my water intake.

I want to see measurable progress of this. I have a cute water tracker in my new day planner -- I just have to use it.

8) Deal with loads of laundry within 24 hours.

Everyone in our family is working on an issue they struggle with. Rachel is learning to put herself to bed, Dave is trying to go to bed earlier, Sam is trying to be more engaged in family life, and well, my struggle is laundry. Sometimes a load sits in the washer for two days. Sometimes it sits in a basket waiting to be folded for a week. Sometimes it's hanging up dry in the basement for a few days. It's not great. So my goal is to get it from the washer to hanging up within twelve hours and from dry to folded and put away within 24 hours. Let's get this laundry train moving well people.

9) Deal with some ironing and my mending pile.

I've had a button I need to sew onto one of Rachel's sweaters for ages and a few other small things like that. I also have a few Perler bead creations I need to iron for the kids. Honestly, these things will take me about half an hour so I am going to find that half hour this month and get those things off my mental "to do" list. It's dumb because I've clearly spent more than half an hour thinking about doing them. Ugh.

So those are my February goals. Do you have any laundry tips? How do you respond to blog comments? Are you offended when a blogger doesn't answer your comment?