Goal Setting-3 month update

For some of you that have followed the progress of my blog these last few months, you will remember that on January I was determined to get organized and focus. A three month milestone has passed and I think it is always good thing to go back and check goals and see how things are coming along. I was surprised to see that I have already accomplished quite few of the backlog annoyances that had been haunting me for so long.

So far I can check off in the homemaking area.

I plan on continuing to serve healthy meals to my family. That takes planning. Books to use are Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocratsand Cooking Free.

I scrapped Cooking Free for now in favor of a few more beginning raw books and have added The Raw 50: 10 Amazing Breakfasts, Lunches, Dinners, Snacks, and Drinks for Your Raw Food Lifestyle and Eating in the Raw: A Beginner's Guide to Getting Slimmer, Feeling Healthier, and Looking Younger the Raw-Food Wayalong with a few others.

I have purchased The Raw Gourmet 3-DVD Setand plan on viewing them soon (and selling them again on Amazon-they were a little pricey)

I will try again at meal planning. What seemed so overwhelming to me is now starting to come into focus. Burn out from a few years ago nearly left me paralyzed with dread everytime I had to face the kitchen. I had so many issues to deal with that I think I just crashed and burned.

The first was my daughters minor health crisis when she was 16, and a radical change in her diet, then shortly after my own sensitives discovered that needed healing. Then my husband changed his diet to more of a low carb menu and then my youngest decided he did not like a whole lot of foods. There was just about nothing at all that I could make for all of us and for about 6 months made two and sometimes three separate meals to accommodate everyone's requirements.

I know, I know, a sure way to crash and burn and I did.

Now I’ feel like I am coming out of the fog and into the sunshine again. I am even starting to make up my weekly menu plans I advance and posting them on Organizing junkie. From a lady who whipped up a months menu plans in a half hour for years to a 5:00 pm dreaded dinner hour hangover and washout, I see the start of a return. Being proactive really helps and I’m getting there again. Yeah.

I plan on Reading the following books.Home-Makingby J R Miller
Check. It is an excellent Book! Highly recommended!

and re reading Don Aslat's books on housekeeping. Not done yet but I have made major accomplishments in the order of the home area. To start the year out I went through almost every closet, drawer and room organizing and de cluttering. Now weekly I am still collecting not needed items and have been donating them to Goodwill or Value Village. They see me coming!

I am a messy, and my husband is a neatie. There are times when I feel like the two shall never meet. Furthermore, I have raised 4 messies!

Disclaimer, artsy people can tend to be messies, and I would not want to squash any of my children's creativity. It just needs to be tempered a little with some discipline and respect for those that are neaties in the family-Dad!

I am requiring that our house is completely clean and chores done when we start our school day and cleaned up again at 5:00 pm. So far so good with a minor infraction now and then!

My goal is 1/3 - 1/2 raw, mostly vegetables, sprouts and salads, and an increase of cultured foods, such as daily- Raw yogurt, kefir, sour cream and cream cheese.
So far, I am centering on about 60% + raw with my children trailing behind. My husband really cannot consider any changes right now so I work out one meal that is a compromise for all of us and that is my cooked meal of the day-dinner. Mostly breakfast and lunch for the boys and I are completely raw. I love it and feel great!

I have purchased my Excalibur dehydrator with some eBay money I made last December, and am running it quite steady. I made flax crax (cracker like bread) yesterday- I have found my lack of bread problem solved!

You can do so much still with the round cheaper dehydrators but I thought I'd move up a step and see if I like it. I love it!

I also need to find a source of clean raw milk that is NOT $10.00 a gallon (which is what it is in our local Health Food store)
See what I discovered at my local HFS- ½ price milk the day before expiry! (for raw milk, this is no problem- it will only sour anyway, which is the start of sour cream, cream cheese and whey. Either way fresh or ready to sour in a few days, I'll take it for 1/2 price!

I also plan on including some cultured vegetables.
See my post-the sauerkraut is good but the pineapple chutney needs some taste acquisition.

I want to use my microwave less.
Accomplished! I use it almost never. It is built in so I cannot dispose of it completely!

I plan more and cut down on our grocery budget … Still in the works-

I'll be doing more sprouting....
My favorite sprout is now buckwheat for buckwheat granola. I continue to sprout clover, sunflower seeds, almonds (germinating only so far) and just about any seed in sight. I have returned to my first love in the remembrance of my first stumbling success at alfalfa sprouts- some 25 years ago!

and making some delicious salad dressings. Doing well. - still need some regular written down versions of the my favorites dressings.

I also plan on getting my recipes organized- in one spot and findable when needed. Mission accomplished.

I plan on improving on getting dinner on the table at a more reasonable hour, 6:30pm if possible. Almost consistently accomplished! We now eat no matter what time my husband gets home because it is usually quite inconsistent.

I will be using Don Aslat's clutter free living. Haven’t read again yet. Not sure I have the time. I feel like I have made such huge strides forward that I may not make this a priority next quarter.
Well that ‘s enough for now. It looks like I am going to have to set some new goals in the homemaking arena. I will post in a day or two the headway that I have made in the spiritual area, parenting, physical, and business and personal growth arenas. Until tomorrow- happy homemaking. I think I'm on a roll!