SpoonFullofJelly

This is another set of buzz words that generation-Xers and Millennial knows, but can confuse older generations.When talking with my mother and grand-mother, I told them that Hubby and I are living intentionally. In other words, we are planners and are making conscience decisions for every aspect of our lives. Eyebrows went up. Laughs kind of slipped out too... My family was trying to understand how 'living intentionally' was different than what they did. I asked them why did they raise us the way they did. The responses often reflected back on that's how they were raised. My parents tried to do better than their parents, but they didnt add as much thought that Hubby and I have. Hubby and I have taken so many aspects of our lives and decided what we want to do and don't want to do. We have thought through the possible good and bad of our decisions. We analyzed rather we agree or disagree with what is popular vs. weird, and chose what fits best for us. We just do

Every family should have an annual theme. A theme is what the family is striving for. It is what motivates them to do something that year. It can guide them towards or even away from a situation. Each December Hubby and I sit down to discuss what our theme of the year will be. We want to make sure that we are making strides for a better year. The theme for us isn’t based on one goal like “weight lost”, but an overall idea that can be relayed into other aspects of our lives. Cleanse   In 2019, we want to cleanse ourselves of all that we do not need, want, and care to carry forward. We are appling this theme to holidays, friends, food and careers. We are clearing out the useless, the burden laden and the old. It isn't enough to just ignore things, that is merrily just a quick fix. We want to permanently adjust what we do, what we buy, what we wear and what we eat. As one friend put it "yall getting hippy-er?!" And he isnt referring to my thighs... Financial

Half way through the month! I wanted to start this year off right by reading. I have come up with a good schedule for reading.I will share in the future on how I have added more reading time to our family schedule. This month I and reading The 5 Love languages by Gary Chapman. This book isn't new but it is a must read. I have had many conflicts with my mother-in-law. We do not see eye to eye on many aspects of living. The one lifestyle that has the biggest conflict is food followed by toys. I believe her main love languages are service and gift giving. If it wasn't for this book, I would not have known how to approach her complaints about gifts. She mainly loves to do for people and expects for people to do for her. I am not a service focused person at all. Its nice that people do things for me, but I often find it difficult to deal with because I have to go behind people to fix or adjust what was done. I am really not a gift-giving person either. I gift during holidays

So how did your year go? Was 2018 the year that you accomplish what you wanted to? Did life take you by surprise and nothing went according to plans? Hubby and I began 2018 with a moniker/theme for the year. For us, 2018 was going to be the year of Completion . And we did live up to that! At the end of 2017, I set specific goals that I wanted to complete in different aspects of my life during 2018. Check out ny 2018 goals here . So here is what I have Completed in 2018. The Financial Pay off 3 of my small Student Loans Well, I paid off one loan. Finances got really tight around April and September and we had to spend the extra payments that we were going to make.  The Self Improvement Drop 30 lbs! I am so proud of myself. I lost 24 pounds in 2018. I was determined not to gain weight during the last two festive months. I kept stretching and moving. For a recap, I did not do Whole 30 nor did join a group or program. I simply cut my meat consumption down to