Goals for Our Home this Year

We missed meeting our goal to have our home ready for visitors by a small margin. We would have met it if we didn't lose a month and a half to a medical emergency. Well, that's on me. Anyway, we tried and managed to clear up the boxes in the living room. I also managed to clear the boxes I got from my childhood home. It's not so bad now, but we still need to clear up some stuff to make our home more presentable. 

We had major works done on our home last year. There's still a few things to do, but nothing major. Now that my stamina is slowly coming back, I've been able to make rounds at home to see what needs to be done. And yes, improvements never end when you are a homeowner. 

I took a look at my 2023 home goals and it looks like we completed everything I listed. Yaaas! This year I think we'll focus more on maintenance and work on our frontage. Here's our goals for our home for 2024: 

1. Finish all electrical related tasks: complete capacity upgrade and complete solar net metering application. Fix service kitchen lights and some plugs. Add more outdoor lights.

2. Make sure the water filter is changed on time. 

3. Organize our living room to make it presentable. 

4. Organize the collection cabinet.

5. Make sure canopies for the sliding doors are installed before the rainy season. 

6. Cat proof the garden. 

7. Fix our frontage (make sure it doesn't look like a jungle). 

8. Organize our family room to have proper spaces for everyone, but have the flooring changed first.

9. Declutter more. Keep only what we need and will use. 

10. Be on point with home requirements (RPT, insurance, regular cleaning, a/c cleaning, car maintenance etc.). 

We will have to step up work on my childhood home. We will be busy sorting through all the items. It will be better to donate/sell items that we don't need. I don't want the things just to rot away, it's better used elsewhere. I'm glad we got the major works done last year. This year will be about maintenance so we could focus on creating more happy memories and wellness. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Goal Setting, Let's Do This

What are your dreams and plans for the year? I have been thinking about it since the end of December. To be honest it's still percolating in my mind. Yesterday's Didache reflection though had me thinking. It reminded me that it's easy to "lose focus when things get to high or too low". People tend to focus on oneself and forget that we are supposed to be "bringers of His light". 

The reflection threw out this question, "Ask why and for whom you are doing them. Are they all about you?" I couldn't sleep last night thinking about the question. I have to be honest, most of my goals have been about me. Things I want to do, memories I want to create with my family. 

I had a hard time thinking about what goals I can have that will be for others. What I can do physically is very limited. I can't really do things for others since it's risky for me to be out and about, plus I don't have the stamina. 

I finally drifted to sleep when I realized I shouldn't be measuring what I can do with what I used to do. I have to be creative and adjust to my capacity. That boils down to what I wrote on the header of this blog, "Home, Hobbies and Inspiration". 

As a light of Jesus, I have to craft goals that would be helpful and inspirational for others to deepen their faith. And that's what I'll be mindful of when I craft my goals for the year.

Have a blessed Sunday everyone!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Grit

In the last few years I've always started the year blogging for 30 days. My posts tend to become mundane and random after a few days, but I keep at it so I don't get too rusty at writing. I couldn't get myself to blog early this month because I was busy working on a solution for my son's schooling and I was still grieving over the loss of a friend to over ambition.

Early this morning I was mulling over the fact that I blogged last night, which means I have to write for the next 29 days. I was also thinking about Titay and the fact that when I go home she won't be around to ask me how I am and to hug me. I was also thinking about her life and how she survived living in the US for over thirty years. She had a very fulfilling career as a banker.

As I was reading through my stream I saw this article about fulfilling your goals. It basically said that more than being able to complete one's studies, one of the most important values to have is grit. And I believe Titay, being the headstrong woman that she was, had a lot of grit. I would like to think that I have a lot of grit as well.

In the last four decades of my existence I've had a lot of challenges and in the last decade I had to adjust a lot since my health isn't what it used to be. When I realized that there's a lot of things I couldn't do because of physical limitations I had to be flexible so I could still fulfill my goals. When I see my colleagues go out to complete physical challenges (i.e. trampoline) or go on tours during the haze I don't feel bad or envious because I've accepted the fact that I have limitations. I could just hope for more understanding from those who don't understand what being limited means.

The physical limitations I have do not keep me back from meeting my goals. It just means I have to be more creative and more open to asking for help where needed. Sometimes though I feel sad that I couldn't fly anymore through a forest on a zipline or jump 3 stories high to a raging river or simply go on the Transformers ride at Universal Studios. God only gives us what we could bear and I find comfort when I pray to Him for help.