Resolve

Today marked the first official day of implementation of Our Family Strategic Three Year Plan.  Yes. 

Last year at work we went through a process of creating an agency wide Three Year Strategic Plan, and I kinda nerded out so much that I wanted to create one for me and The Cowboy as we started our new life together. I know that strange halfway glance you are giving me right now, very well; I have seen it on everyone’s face that I have told this to over the last few months.  Except for The Cowboy.  He doesn’t really get giddy about “strategic plans” the way I do, but he gets giddy about me, so he overlooks my tendency to make everything a spreadsheet or a S.M.A.R.T goal.

The Cowboy on a Christmas light with me last December.  

Actually it sounds way more impressive than it turned out to be. But I do think that it will help us be intentional about how we spend our time over the next several years.  When it comes down to it, it’s kind of less than a plan, and more of a collection of happy thoughts concerning what we want to prioritize, explore, and where we want to be at the end of the strategic period.  So, in lieu of resolutions, here are several of our goals for January 2013 based off of the Strategic Three Year Plan.

·         Complete a detox focused on consuming more fruits and vegetables and decreasing the amount of sugar in our diet. (guess I need to put down the NYE champagne, huh?)

·         Grow a sourdough starter for bread baking

·         Walk the pups together everyday

·         Continue reading a verse together at breakfast before we go to work

·         To go to bed with a clean and empty sink

I actually set up the sourdough starter a few days ago, so we sorta have a jump on that goal, but it will still be about a week and a half before I will be able to test it out.  Any volunteer taste testers out there?

And then because  I am being extra ambitious I would like to try to transfer it over from white flour to whole wheat, in the hopes that just about the time that I finish my little detox, I will have some healthful whole wheat homemade sourdough bread to hopefully not eat all in one sitting. No one does that!

Anyway. I have couple of reasons for wanting to bake sourdough bread:

1.       Homemade bread kicks the pants off of all the other breads in the store. (not news)

2.       I have this fantasy of spending hours cooking for my family, in which I am lovingly kneading bread and pulling out delicious artisan breads from my oven.  But in reality, I feel really proud when the bread machine does all of the work, and I laboriously spread butter over hot baked goodness.   I am totally a wish-I-was bread baker, and in 2013 I would like to become a bonefide bread baker as just one of many steps towards a lifestyle that is blesses me and blesses those around me.

3.       Probiotics.  The same good bacteria that make sourdough taste so good, are the ones that I am looking for more ways of incorporating into my diet as a way to support my sometimes weak immune system.   I haven’t totally researched all of the scientific goodness surrounding sourdough bread, but it’s on my list. But if you are interested in reading more about the health benefits of sourdough bread, I found THIS and several other articles like it very intriguing. Besides, this chica's blog has "cheese" in the name.  I'm in.

So, as I sip on my lemon detox tea, and smell the waft of lentils simmering on the stove, I gotta say that I am pretty excited about January.  Three Year Strategic Plans aside, if I had to make one resolution for 2013, it would be this: I resolve to be my best, to love abundantly, to grow in knowledge, and to cultivate joy. 

I would love your thoughts today and throughout the year on the ways that you have resolved to be your best, wherever your little homestead lies.

Happy New Year from our Homestead to your!