2011 Resolutions

Well the end of 2011 is rapidly approaching so I thought I would share with you all how I did on my resolutions. I feel like I've done pretty well. There are a few things that didn't happen, but over all I did pretty good.

1. Become a better student of the Bible. I am really good about my daily Bible reading, but I need to throw some more study books into the mix.

I did great with this resolution! I read 12 study books over the course of the year. They were:

Daughters of Eve by Lottie Beth Hobbs

The Christians Everyday Problems by Leroy Brownlow

Some Do's and Don'ts for the Christian by Leroy Brownlow

Convicted by Brad Harrub

Behold: The Lamb of God by Kyle Butt and Eric Lyons

Greatest Questions in the Old Testament by Leroy Brownlow

Seasoning your Words by Nancy Eichman

Greatest Questions of the New Testament by Leroy Brownlow

Showtime by Dan Chambers

Diall 911 by Bob Spurlin

Out with Doubt by Kyle Butt

Rock Solid Faith by Bert Thompson

I really enjoyed reading all these books. My favorites were Convicted and Out with Doubt.

2. Continue my fertility diet for at least the next six months. Hopefully I won't need it for that long, but I'm not really holding my breath. Also, I've been horrible about my diet the last couple of weeks so I am basically starting over.

I did this, but it obviously didn't work out for me. I was very disappointed that my results weren't what I was hoping for.

3. Read at least 12 books from my 100 Greatest Novels list. I did get through 16 books this year. I am currently reading War and Peace and it is going pretty slow. It's a huge book.

I read 13 off the list. The books I read were:

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

The Princess of Cleves by Madame de Lafayette

Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

My favorite from this list is definitely Jane Eyre. I read it before and still enjoyed it the second time (it may have even been the third time).

4. Pay off the majority of the credit card. This also entails not using it this year. Or not using it as much anyway. I'm excited that we are stable enough (as in moved and a steady preaching position) that we can really focus on this now.

Haha! We have had a lot of unforseen things happen (the biggest being the damage from the tornado) and haven't been able to make much progress on this. It's definitely a fail on this list.

5. The Lisa/Jessica Project. I want to continue making 2 new dishes from the cookbook each week and blogging about it.

I quit this. The recipes just weren't that good. After plugging along through several recipes, I only found a few that our family liked. It wasn't worth it to me to finish the project.

6. I want to have better dental hygiene and I want to teach Chloe Jo better dental hygiene. We always brush our teeth in the morning. In the evening...eh...not so much. We need to start brushing them at least 2 times a day.

We have definitely done this one! We have established a great bedtime routine and now brush our teeth before bed every night.

7. Be better stewards of the Earth. This includes continuing our weekly recycling which includes cardboard, glass and cans. We plan to create a compost barrel for our food scraps. Also, I need to start recycling paper. I am going to get a 2nd trashcan just for our paper products.

This one didn't go so well. We never did the compost barrel and we still only recycle what the city will pick up.

8. Finish Russ' school scrapbooks. I think this was on my list for 2009. HA! Seriously, though, I need to at least finish those up!

I finally finished these!!! I was so glad to check them off the list! I also am caught up through summer of 2007 in my regular scrapbooks.

9. Finish the "Pray without Ceasing" cross stitch. I have been working on this for entirely too long! I started it when I first realized that getting pregnant was not going to be easy for us. It has a baby praying with adult hands around the babies hands in the praying position. It is beautiful.

I didn't do a single stitch this year. I kept getting it out to do and then it would just sit wherever I put it for a few weeks before I put it away again.

10. I have 2 blankets that I have started crocheting and I need to finish them. One of them is for Russ and I started it before we got married 6 years ago! It's high time I finish it. The other one I started in November so it's not a huge priority.

I finished one in the beginning of the year. As for the blanket I was making Russ, I made the executive decision to throw away what I had done and forget about it. Russ never uses blankets and it was just too much work for something he wouldn't use.

As I said before, I did pretty good this year! I will do another post soon about my 2012 resolutions!