Goals for 2021

by Amanda | Dec 28, 2020 | Thoughts

I don’t really care for the term “resolution”, but I do like goal-setting. I guess it’s a very suble difference, but somehow goals seem more attainable to me–I can break them down and figure out tasks to work toward them. Whereas resolutions just seem like these theoretical wishes with no concrete steps or definition.

Anyway, in no real particular order, here’s a brain dump of things I want to do/work toward in 2021:

Career

• Continue to learn new skills at my day job and expand what I can contribute to the company.
• Continue freelancing and work as much as possible through Q1 and Q2 this year so I can take a bit of a break in Q3. (Because –surprise!– we’re expecting baby #3 in early August!)
• Redo my business website. This always gets pushed aside, and I really need to do it. I need to better define myself as a business/freelancer/whatever, better explain my services, etc.

Home/Farm

• Clean/organize the garage. How long has this been on the list? Ugh. But seriously, this has got to get done. Mike needs space for his workshop and tools, and I need to uncover some baby things that are boxed up from when Myles was little to see if they’re still in good shape to use with the new baby.
• Get the farm on autopilot as much as possible, again, in anticipation of the baby coming in August. Mike and Ben will absolutely help with the animals, but it’s a lot of hard work to ask of them when it’s mostly “my” thing.
• Fence more pasture. This was supposed to happen last year, and then (1) we had trouble finding someone to hire to do it, and (2) the guy we finally found got very ill and wasn’t able to finish the job. We hadn’t paid him yet, so we weren’t out any money, but he already bought the materials and I’m still hoping to get him over here in the spring as soon as the ground thaws to finish the job if possible.

Miscellaneous

• Help Myles develop more computer skills and use his new PC as a creative outlet and learning tool. He’s interested in learning to code mods for Minecraft, so I’d like to nurture that as much as possible.
• Get more active on social media. Move away from platforms that don’t serve me (*cough* Facebook) and get more active on the platforms that make sense. (This goal is partly just for fun and could also be business-related.)

I suppose maybe I’ll add to this list, but for now those are the major things on my mind. What are your goals for next year?

2020: Reflecting on a Weird Year

by Amanda | Dec 23, 2020 | Thoughts

What can you even say about the past year? We’ve been extremely fortunate, and I’ve been very grateful. At the end of 2019, the company I worked for was acquired and I started working remotely for our new parent company. By the time the pandemic hit and businesses started shutting down, I had already been working from home for almost three months. The only major adjustment was the kids moving to remote learning, but thankfully Mike has been able to stay home and help them with their studies.

I think the weirdest thing for us is how much hasn’t really changed. The most drastic change has been that the kids miss their activities and sports, and that makes me sad for them. We don’t go out to eat or shop, but a big part of me doesn’t really miss that. We still get takeout (primarily from local restaurants), and I do enjoy that. But I’m finding I don’t really miss shopping for the sake of shopping.

As a big homebody and introvert, though, the lack of social obligations has been a really welcome rest for me. It’s also made work on the farm a lot easier. Keeping a steady schedule milking the goats was much easier this year. I ended up milking till almost the end of October instead of stopping in mid-September this year.

I hope 2021 will start to shift back to being slightly more normal, but I also hope a lot of the things that changed in the last year – the slower pace, the family togetherness – stay the same.