Gotta Get Goals

I was TAGGED recently, by my Blog-friend, Wendy P. at emomsathome.com in Get Your Goals On – Only Big Dreamers Need Apply.

Wendy’s Blog-friend, Alex Shalman at Practical Personal Development began this interactive blog discussion, or MEME, by throwing out the challenge of sharing your Gotta Get Goals, meaning goals that you already have, that you gotta get (achieve); not that you gotta get you some goals. This is the way we generate discussion and networking in the Blog Universe, which is fabulous — for the “rules” of this game, see Alex’s post: click here.

Feel free to join in, in Comments below, or link-back on your own Blog!

Gotta Get Goals

I have been thinking about all of this, and my past, present, and future goals, for several days. I will be 40 this year (in October, mark your calendars, thank you very much! . I have been married almost 19 years, and I have 3 children: son, Z, age 12; daughter, HK, age 9; and son, T, age 6.

I have always been extremely goal-oriented and self-motivated to try new things, achieve and succeed, and although I have suffered great challenges and setbacks (play big, win big/lose big sometimes), I have accomplished a lot in my almost-40 years, especially the last 20, with my hubby and family. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that, because we’re always looking forward, always reaching, always adding to the To Do List.

It’s also interesting, at almost-40 (old to some, young to others, I know), with the hubby and the 3 kids…I’m tired and so busy! I’m not where I thought I would be, but I’m really, really happy where I am, with the things (people and relationships) that are most important to me. I’ve been bumped off the course I had set many, many times. I’m not even sure I’m the eternal optimist anymore, or that “everything happens for a reason.” Does it? I don’t know. Sometimes I think, stuff happens and it is what it is…

Old people like me are supposed to have this all figured out, yet in some ways, I feel like I’m constantly starting over, off on some new adventure, or a refinement of the journey due to obstacles, current conditions, or certain circumstances. I also keep coming upon the realization that I’m halfway there, almost in the 2nd Quarter of the Big Game, and I have a lot of responsibilities and commitments. I no longer have the luxury of messing around or catering to my own narrow focus. (Maybe in another 12 years when the youngest goes off to college?!)

And this is turning into a way-longer post than I like, but here goes (again):

Gotta Get Goals
by Sherri, age 39, 3/30/2007

#1 – Family
My goal is to raise and release to the world, 3 happy, healthy, self-confident, compassionate, responsible, independent adults to pursue their dreams, whatever they may be, and make the world a better place.

#2 – Marriage
So far, so good — great, even, 19 years in. (I think he would say the same!) My goal is to continue the strength of this marriage and partnership into the future, celebrating our almost-20 years together (unbelievable!) each day; to continue to be mindful of each other; and always work on the most important aspects: Love, Passion, Communication, Adventure, Partnership.

#3 – Best-Selling Author
Ah, now we’re into it! My first book, The Rebel Housewife Rules (women’s humor), which I co-authored with my best friend/former Atlanta neighbor, was published in 2004 (Conari Press), and I am so proud of The Rebel (huge goal accomplised!). The book did well, earning out our advance and launching my career as The Rebel Housewife(TM) – Author, Writer, Reviewer, Online BlogMom Extraordinaire. But it was not a best-seller, and no, I never got on Oprah. I am, alas, not yet the financially self-sufficient, independent writer I aspire to be, but I’m working on it:

a) I am working on my second book, a novel, making the fiction/non-fiction leap;

b) I freelance and write book reviews (see Rebel Reviews), which I would love to develop as a career offline in print media;

c) www.RebelHousewife.com & The Random Rebel Coffee Blog

#4 – Basically, I want to make money — a lot of money! — doing what I love the most: Reading & Writing. That’s The Big Goal.

#5 – Financial Freedom & Independence
To live where we want;
To live life as we want;
To travel, experience great adventure, and take our children around the world.

That’s all.
Live, Love & Laugh,
Sherri

Housewife Wisdom: #1 All-Around Best Ever Kitchen Tip

Okay, so my day today is a bit domestic, what with grocery shopping (trying to stretch to the end of the month & payday), cleaning house, and transmogrifying the icky, brown bananas into something yummy.
(See Best Banana Muffin Recipe – Quick & Easy Snack!)

I’m off to work on this week’s Rebel Review, which eventually I will have to update and move everything over to WordPress, I know. Not today.

Being in the domestic mode today, I want to share with you the #1 All-Around Best Ever Cooking/Baking Tip I have come across in my 30+ years of life in the kitchen: The wonders and many, many uses of the handy-dandy Ice Cream Scoop. This is a Betty Crocker tip I recently discovered on the back of a box of Betty Crocker Premium Muffin & Quick Bread Mix, which is a mighty tasty quick box mix. It’s changed my life!

Betty’s Tip:
Use an ice cream scoop to fill muffin cups with batter.

That is Housewife Wisdom for The Ages right there. Elegant in its simplicity, you can truly appreciate this tip if you have been cooking/baking for years, as I have, trying to fill those little cupcake or muffin papers, or drop uniform cookies or biscuits onto a pan with a minimum of mess & hassle (nearly impossible)…so there you go.

Please Comment below and share your Housewife Wisdom: #1 All-Around Best Ever Kitchen Tip! (No, you don’t have to be a housewife to participate.)

Parental Escapes & The Movie 300

A busy weekend. It’s nice to have everyone back at school & work, but there’s a lot to catch up on, even more so than usual, recovering from our weekend getaway and with family from Walla Walla, Washington coming to visit next week for Spring Break in Atlanta.

It’s YELLOW here, very yellow, from the pollen in the air. Everything is covered with the fine, yellow dust, even in Midtown: the streets, the cars, the sidewalks, everything on our balcony. What a mess. But it is a sure sign of Spring in Atlanta; that and warm weather on its way.

Too warm, since we reached record high temperatures this weekend, and in what seems to be a second tradition of Spring in Atlanta, after the pollen: our AC isn’t working. Big Sigh.

And speaking of the Weekend Getaway…just so you know:

When we finally got to our ’secret’ getaway destination Friday afternoon, desperately looking forward to nothing more than laying around the pool, not setting foot off the resort property for 48 hours straight…
1) The pool was closed and drained for repair, which was noisy and dusty.
2) The restaurant was closed, no bar service, no food or drink to be had at our little resort in the N. Georgia ‘mountains.’
3) Our little cabin was musty, moldy, and kinda dirty.

We stayed one night. We drove out to dinner, which we didn’t have because of the movie schedule, and a movie, 300 (which was fabulous and visually stunning, very gory in a graphic novel kind of way, lots of flying blood), which we didn’t get to see on the IMAX because it was already sold out, so we saw it on a regular screen, which was fine. The movie, 300, even on a regular stadium-seating movie screen, was incredible. All those Spartan warrior abs — OMG. But I digress.

Still, even after maintaining the good mood and a sense of adventure, happy to just be together with some time off, after all of that, we got screwed, literally: We ended up with a big ol’ screw stuck in the rear tire of our nearly-new Jeep. (Today’s second Recovery Mission, after scheduling AC service. Laundry is next. Woo hoo.)

We came home. We parked the car in the garage, left the kids at Grammy’s and spent the rest of our weekend beside our own pool, with a Thermos pitcher of margaritas. It was awesome.

Oh, by the way, the nice guys at Kauffman Tire fixed the flat tire this morning. It took about an hour — no charge!

Wii Birthday & Getaways

What do you get a 41-year-old techie for his birthday?
A Nintendo Wii, of course!

(Now that they are finally available on the Free Market — at Wal-Mart in Dahlonega, GA, anyway.)(I have to mention here that my favorite store is Target — I am not a Wal-Mart shopper! — but my inlaws helped me out by finding the Wii up in the mountains, at the Wal-Mart near their home, since they (the Wii’s) are still nowhere to be found inside the City of Atlanta!)

We celebrated DH’s birthday early this weekend. I am taking him away next weekend (on the birthday) for two nights to an undisclosed location, within an hour or so of Atlanta, just to get away to do nothing but relax, celebrate, and ease the pain of growing another year older (#41).
He’s still lookin’ good.

We’ll probably end up lounging by the pool all weekend (weather permitting, please God!!). I’ll read my Vanity Fair magazine [my all-time favorite mag], a good book or two, and do some scribbling on the novel. He’ll catch up on his brain-candy (tech/men’s mags) and listen to his iPod. We might even work on Our Project, which I’ll talk more about soon, but not yet. (No, it’s NOT another baby!)

And the present he opened last night, but we’ll be leaving with the kids
(& Grammy) next weekend: the Nintendo Wii w/extra controller. Woo hoo — We were Wii-ing all afternoon yesterday with G’Ma & G’Pa [they already have their own Wii] on Wii Sports (Bowling, Tennis, Baseball, etc.) and we now have our own little tribe of Mii’s running around inside the Wii Universe. Even for a non-video gamer like myself, the Wii is pretty fun!

I’ve got to go find the Wii Play game — it comes with an extra controller.
(You do need one for each kid, so now we’ll have 3 and probably get one more.) We’ll be renting games for a while — they are expensive, especially after all the investment in the basic hardware.

Best Laid Plans

With 3 kids all in school now, I always think I’ve got so much time, a full day ahead to get EVERYTHING done. From 9am drop-off at the Middle School, to 3pm pick-up at the Elementary School…I should have 6 straight hours to work! More or less, and therein lies the rub — not that I’m complaining; Life is good!

But still, after a quick stop at the grocery store after drop-off, to “pick up a few things…” $198 and an hour-and-a-half later, I am still unpacking groceries and re-organizing the kitchen. DH calls in the midst of this to tell me he needs me to come to his office for some meeting with the new health insurance guy, and then let’s go to lunch!

This is all good, but still, there goes my whole day…

[DH = Dear Hubby]