I was looking at Pinterest earlier today and decided to make my next blog post about my goals.

It’s good to have goals. Before we had kids, my husband and I regularly made goal lists and crossed things off as we accomplished them. They were fun lists, like:

Get a coffee table
Get an Xbox 360
Have real dishes
Go to the beach again
Get another pair of Chucks

And we accomplished all of our goals all the time. I don’t know what made us stop having fun goals. Maybe just the tediosity of life? I don’t know. I’m blaming starting a family during the recession of 2008. The goals changed from making it big to making it on our own again. And that takes all the fun out of goals.

So, my goals for now:

I would like to eventually contribute at least $1000 a month to our family income.
I would like that income to come from book sales and my Etsy shop.
I want to start a website where I can promote my books and write a blog about my experience as a newbie independently published author, and mom, and crafter.
I want to develop a platform.
I want to get out of debt.
I want a whole new wardrobe.
I want to lose 75 pounds and maintain that weight loss forever.
I want to take my husband to concerts.
I want to take my kids to fun, educational places every couple of months.
I want to build relationships with other writers and other moms.

I hate that my husband has to carry the whole financial responsibility of our family on his back. I hate that he talks about having to get a second job when he already works forty plus hours a week. I feel super selfish for wanting to stay home with my kids sometimes. But I want to be able to stay home with them because I love being home with them, and even if I was to get a crappy job to make just a little bit more money would it even be worth it? At least if I was selling books and crocheted hats It wouldn’t take my energy away from my kids.

Starting a website scares me but it’s also exciting and I see no way around it. Everybody else has a website so I have to just do it and figure it out as I go.

I was whining to one of my oldest and closest friends one day a long time ago about not knowing what I wanted to do with my life and not really being passionate about anything and blah, blah, blah. So she asked me what I would do if money and resources were not an issue and the first thing that came to my mind was that I just wanted to hug little kids. I always wanted someone to hug me as a kid, and I probably didn’t even need them as much as other kids do. I hug my kids as much as I can and I love crocheting cute hats for kids to keep them warm and loved. When my kids get older I would love to volunteer for an organization called CASA which takes volunteers to advocate for kids in court cases and things like that. All of my books center around kids in need. I would love to help people become aware of kids that need love and support. There are so many kids that get left behind or overlooked and I would like to help fix that. I don’t know how yet but I’ll work on it.

The rest of my goals will come with time, energy and resources, and stepping out of my comfort zone, which is my overall goal of the year.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my post. I hope that in sharing my experiences that I can help or motivate someone else, or that maybe someone can share with me things that may have worked or not so that I may be wiser.