Just a quick little something about a side goal that started a couple of months ago. Remember when I worked on organization? Well, that is still an ongoing project. :) But one upside was that I planned out activities for the whole year, like dates with the kids and with my husband. This may seem like overkill, but I have gotten addicted to yearly planning over the last few years. I find I'm so much better at finding a block of time to plan something out, after which I can let it run itself for quite a while. I wanted to make sure I do all those things I always intend to do but never get around to, to be more purposeful about life instead of just going along for the ride.
One of my goals with the planning was to allow for more cultural experiences with the kids, again, in a purposeful way. I did some quick research on the internet to see which art shows, plays, ballets, etc were visiting my state over the next year. Then I did some quick budgetary calculations. Turns out, even though I'd like to go to lots of plays, one good quality play is all the budget will allow when there are so many people to account for (and I've learned that I'd rather pay for good seats to one play than bad seats for two). That said, in December, when I saw a deal for Symphony tickets for just $9, I snatched that right up, because cultural events were on my mind and I realized it was a great opportunity to get in some culture for a great price (and we didn't need great seats, as it was an auditory experience).
In addition to stage performances, I scheduled cheaper things, like one nice restaurant (of course nice is anything a step up from McDonalds)(we were supposed to do this in Jan, but when I was sitting at the dinner table a few nights before, and there was a lot of slurping and chomping and just general craziness, I decided we needed some more prep time, since the kids didn't know about it anyway, and prepping for something like that is kind of the point). I also found that a semi-local university's art museum offers a few free Saturdays just for kids, and they even provide a craft.
I also scheduled out days here and there at our "pass of the year." In general, we tend to do one pass a year and rotate that pass. Last year we did the Planetarium. If I didn't schedule it, I would sometimes forget for months at a time that I even had the pass (after I started writing it on the calendar, we went more regularly). This year we are doing the zoo. I budgeted enough to visit another museum or two on a one-off basis, like the science museum we visited last month.
In general I just tried to decide how often time and budget would allow us to visit places we wanted to go, then scheduled them in so we don't just get so into our daily rhythms that we miss out on something we really wanted to do. So far, its been good! I have one goal related to this I'm going to work on next month.
Whew! Clear as mud. Happy Valentines Day!
