What are your goals for this year? What are the things that are grabbing at your heart and telling you that you need to accomplish it?
I'll give you my top ten.
1. Work smarter, not harder. For one, I'm getting out of registered sheep. I'm still raising sheep, just finding a good cross that will sell up in Watertown, and I don't have to ship to Oregon or Montana. What I can't wait for? No more paperwork and dues. I'm giddy, I tell you.
2. Just work until 5 p.m. Each and every night I'm up doing livestock and business signs for clients until 10 p.m., I realize I will never get that time back with my family, and I just want to kick myself. Then, I think we need to eat, so I keep wood burning. It's all about finding that happy medium.
3. Take the kids to Yellowstone this year. Cody is leaving for college in August! Am I really that old? We need to take a fun, memorable vacation with him before he takes off. By "memorable vacation," I don't mean like the time we went somewhere for a few days, and I hit a deer with our rental van, and the blood trail made a stripe down the whole side of a 15-passenger van. It was quite memorable, just not how I want the next one to be remembered.
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4. The always tried but true: lose weight. Doesn't every body try this one every year? I won't dwell on it then.
5. Have a date night each week. Whether its going for a walk or just going to the Wal-Mart in Watertown. We need to spend more time on each other. I mean, I still love Ron like a teenager, and we both agree two minutes of saying hello and text messages just don't cut it anymore. Can you believe that Ron texts? Now, I know what you are thinking: Does this mean child number 10? No.
6. Work on the children's book I have wanted to work on forever. I got it to an editor last year who said, "Frankly, I don't want to know where my food comes from." That's a little scary, but she was in New York. I think I need to just find a publisher in a more rural setting.
7. Donate one piece of artwork to a charity. I have done this for a long time, but last year, I didn't get to. This year, I think I'm going to try to donate to the McCrossen Boys Ranch in South Dakota for their gala.
8. Take my produce business to the next level, and double my CSA customer list. I was selling about 300 pounds of produce last year. Wait, working and selling produce ... should I reread about working smarter not harder?
9. Paint a picture. I know that sounds stupid, but people, that's my me time. I usually get about 30 minutes at about 10 p.m., and I love that time so much. I usually take February to paint a picture some old house. I also would like to get an art show going in Gary again. I sure miss that.
10. I know this goes along with date night, but I want Ron and I to go somewhere this year, and, as we cross a large body of water, throw our cellphones in. That way, when we have two days to just enjoy to ourselves out of the whole year, we won't both have to be on our cellphones the whole time.
So that's it. Have a wonderful year! And hold me to this! If you see me in the grocery store, and I have a can of pop and a candy bar, gently point me to a bag of carrots, and make sure I've done my workout.
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Fairchild Farmgirl.
