2011 Goals (not to be confused with resolutions)

Perhaps this is the first time in about five years that I'm actually being deliberate about noting what I want to happen in my 2011. The five year abstinence from creating a list has been my fear of "yet another year of failed resolutions."

Well, I'm "fixing" that problem by naming my list of endeavors as [drum roll, please...] My 2011 Goals. How's that for being totally new and innovative?!

Anyway, I'll be compiling my list in these next few days but I've already started by thinking of categories in which to clump my goals. Another attempt to compartmentalize/organize/list-ize my life.

I'm hoping to have no more than 5 (but at least 3 to keep things somewhat even and balanced) goals in each category but we'll see what I actually come up with. I've even thought up abbreviations to keep things simple and coded - and yes, I have heard the term "anal retentive" before.

1. Personal Enrichment (PE) - this would include all things fun and not-so-fun; things included in this category would be my reading list(s), fitness goals, maybe even a total "non-me" thing to do in 2011

2. Family Life - Children (FL-C) - this category would list things I would strive to do with my kids; the "C" is there so as not to confuse it with...

3. Family Life - Marriage (FL-M) - I'm sure Air Boss would like to chime in a few suggestions for my 2011 goals in this area but this is MY list

4. Ministry & Relationships (MR) - I've heard countless times that the most important thing in life is one's relationships; well, I'm horrible at keeping in touch with friends and family so here's a category specifically for developing my relationships and learning to show lots of love to others

5. Professional Development (PD) - since I don't have a career or job as of date, everything in this category is essentially free-for-all; maybe the first goal would be to "discover myself as a professional"

6. Finance & Household (FH) - perhaps the one easily-identifiable goal in this arena would be "try to spend less than what I make" - that would put a halt to my spending for sure!

Anyway, stay tuned as I'll be posting my goals in each of these categories. Nothing like having the world wide web hold me accountable.

A new year . . . a new living room

There was nothing wrong with our "old" living room other than the fact that the walls were bare and stark white. However, Air Boss felt that there was more that we could do to our living room to make it warmer and more inviting (true) and that a fireplace would solve that problem (okay, true again).

I'll have to admit that I'm the cheapskate in our family and a fireplace--fake as it was--wasn't that high on my priority list of things on which to spend money. But then again, other than food, clothing, utilities and other necessities, there aren't too many items that make it on my priority list for spending--but I digress . . . Now that I see the "before" picture with the bare walls, which is further accented by the kids' colorful artwork,


I can't help but enjoy the warmth and the new ambiance the fireplace creates in our living room. When my East Coast mom saw this photo, her response was that it looked like a New England setting. Well, that cemented it for me. It was a worthwhile upgrade to make our living room feel a bit more like . . . well, home.

New skills I can add to my resume...

I've picked up some new skills that I'm hoping are resume-worthy . . . it may be a long shot. Essentially, the position of art docent [definition: a volunteer worker who acts as a guide in a museum or art gallery, but in this case, a volunteer parent who tries to minimize chaos and maximize damage control during art lessons] for 'Shroom's second grade class somehow unintentionally became filled by me. It is through my position as docent that I've picked up a few teaching tools to add to my tool belt.

This first art project was a tribute to Jackson Pollock's method of abstract art. In layman terms, it is essentially "active" art on which paint gets glopped, splattered, dripped, flung, and everything else you wouldn't ever dare do with a classroom of young--and extremely excitable-- students.

I was taught this method as a docent so that I would be prepared to teach 'Shroom's class. While seated at tables, the adult docents were instructed to fill the white canvas board with three different colors. We then took our boards (and lots of newspapers) to the floor and proceed to "Pollock-ize" the canvas. Bye-bye brushes and hello plastic spoons, forks, and knives.

I was a helper for Lolli's class when her first grade class did their paintings. The docent for her class had the students do their entire painting seated at tables. Even though this minimized the clean up afterward, the results didn't seem as dynamic and variegated as the paintings done on the floor. The paint didn't get a chance to "drop" onto the canvas. The table height was mid-chest level on some of the first graders! Luckily I had the experience of helping out in Lolli's classroom before I had to teach it to 'Shroom's class.

Placing the canvas on the floor definitely added a depth and coolness but it made a huge mess. Was it worth it? I think looking at 'Shroom's painting, it was well worth it.


Can you pick out which painting was painted by whom?

Oh, and on my teaching resume, I'll have to add under the core competencies section:

instructional best-practices--("Okay class. Today we're going to throw paint onto canvas boards. Let's get started!")

experiential learning--("Jose, I think you're waaay done with your painting because the paint is about two inches thick. No, I don't care if you say you're not done. I say you're done."), and

classroom management--("Everyone freeze where you are right now! Some of you have paint on the bottom of your shoes and you're trekking it all over the room. I said STOP! NOW!!")

[P.S. The painters of each of the paintings above are me, Lolli and 'Shroom, in that order]