10.10.2017

2017 Goals {5}

It's time for another 2017 Goals update! This year has gone by soooooooo quickly. It's hard to believe that we'll see the end of 2017 in less than three months. Let's all try to make the most of it!

You can read up on my past 2017 Goals updates here: #1, #2, #3, and #4.


GOAL #1 - Read
In my last update, I mentioned that I was going to reread all of the John Grisham books that I found when cleaning out the basement. I was headed into a busy time so I knew that I needed some light reading. I can't tell you how much this helped me stay a teeny bit more sane while life was crazy around me. Between my last update in July and probably the first week or two of September, I got through four books: The Firm, A Painted House, The Summons, and The King of Torts.

I took a couple weeks off and then decided to read this book, which I will talk about more down below and in posts of its own!


GOAL #2
- Control Finances Better
Wow, reading what I wrote about in July is fascinating. It's fascinating in the way of all of the money we've spent progress we've made! Let's look at the list, shall we?

Since July
*We've had our basement floors professionally cleaned
*Our duct work was cleaned out (GROSS!)
*Had Driftless Gardens redo our landscaping and hardscape!! This will get it's own before & after post to show the full affect of this change. It's insane.
*Got our HVAC system serviced
*Ordered a new furnace!

Yep, we had our HVAC serviced in September right after our New Orleans trip and I was not in the least bit surprised that it was strongly suggested that we replace our 22-year-old furnace. Thankfully, everything else is working just fine even though they too are 20+ years old. We'll just wait for those things to die before replacing them. Back to the furnace, we got estimates from a couple of different companies and did decide on who to go with. We're now just waiting for the new furnace to arrive so we can set up an installation date. Though this wasn't an expense we were planning on, I'm pretty excited for the new furnace. We'll be getting a new thermostat  too and I'm pretty darn excited about it. It will have wi-fi capabilities, tell us the indoor/outdoor temp, humidity levels, when to change the filter, etc. If nothing else, it'll be so much better than what we have now.
As you can tell, we've been shelling money out left and right this year. Everything that we're doing is really helping out this ol' house of ours so it's all money that is well spent in my book. We just need to keep prioritizing all of our other spending to make sure we're paying down some of the debt we've accumulated.


GOAL #3 - Cook more, Cook Smarter
I had high hopes for the last few months and didn't quite measure up to my goals. I'm going to give myself some grace here because what I did do is learn how to make my own alfredo sauce. Holy cow, it's amazing but it, along with my constant pasta-eating and beer-drinking habits, meant I gained a bit of weight in the process. Was this totally worth it? Not 100% but it was pretty damn delicious!

Lately, I've been trying to be more intentional with meal planning again and making sure to cook dinner at night. This helps us tremendously in terms of eating better. We just need to make sure it's a dish we both like because that's the game changer!

I definitely want to add this recipe in to our rotation after we tried it a few months ago. Holy cow! The whole family absolutely loved it so we'll definitely have this more often when we can have pasta again! Just look at this simmering beauty!



Fall also indicates to me that TOMATO SEASON is upon us! I decided that I needed to can more tomatoes this year than I did last year because I ran out of my stock in February. This was the main reason why I bought more of a CSA share this year. I'm so glad I did but man it was a ton of work. I bought 130lbs and canned it ALL over two days. Despite the amount of time and work it took, I'm definitely glad I did it and that I shouldn't have to worry about running out for at least a year. I'm hoping to make it extend past a year, though, so I don't have to do as many next year! In total, I have 24-8oz jars and 51-32oz jars.




GOAL #4 - Form Healthy Habits
This is where Whole30 comes in to play.

I bought the book back in August and decided that it was definitely something I needed to consider. I knew I had some pretty bad eating/drinking habits that I needed to fix and some weight to lose. This program would help me do both, in addition to a number of other things, like sleeping better, be less stressed, have more mental clarity, etc.

I am happy to report that today is Day 9 of the program and I'm doing very well so far. I'll be writing a separate post on this too so you can read that for more details on my first week!


GOAL #5 - Travel
NEW ORLEANS! Guys, this vacation was soooooooooo necessary and sooooooooooo nice. It was a leisurely few days in a pretty cool city. We got to try a lot of good food, walked around a ton and just enjoyed our calm days without any responsibilities whatsoever. I'll post about this too to give you all the fun details of our trip.



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