Goals for the New Year

The year of 2008 really wasn't a good year for me. My husband was gone for most of it and I really felt lost without him. So, I've been reflecting on what a crappy time I had and I've decided that I'm going to make 2009 better. I've made a list of goals (I like the word goals instead of resolutions personally).

-I've decided that I need to find a job. I hate feeling like I'm mooching (I know that it's "our" money but I've always been independent financially), but I don't want just any job. I want a job that I feel some sort of satisfaction at so I don't end up job hopping until I'm done with school just because I hate what I do.

-I really want to take a vacation. In a perfect world I would want to travel to another country just because the only one I've ever been to is Canada and I aspire to be a world traveler. But I figure I'll compromise to visit somewhere in the US that I haven't been to yet. So by the end of 2009 I will have gone to Disney World at least once. I figure it's close to home and I've ALWAYS wanted to go there ever since I was a little kid.

-Ideally I would like to be debt free by the start of 2010. Unfortunately, we have too much debt for that to be a reality so I'm settling for having half the credit card debt paid off. We have approximately $8000 so I figure $4000 paid off is a reasonable goal for a year.

-I really hate the fact that I rarely get to see my husband because of the Navy. So I've decided that I am going to make the time we do have this year the best it can be. When he's home date nights will be instituted again (I'm a real homebody so it's hard for me to want to go out sometimes) and I will try to make sure we're not going to the same places EVERY TIME because it sucks falling in a rut.

-I also want to be moved out of our apartment. Realistically we're not in a place in our life where we can buy a house, but I at least want to rent one. I want a place for my pups to be able to play (Henry loves being outside) and get the outdoor exposure that they desire. I'm also tired of having people all around me and it would be nice to have a little space.

If you haven't noticed, I mentioned nothing about TTC or being pregnant by next year. I feel that if I stress on setting a "goal" of becoming pregnant and it doesn't happen I will feel like a failure. I understand that it's out of my hands right now (especially since there's no guarantee how much time J will be home before the next deployment). So right now I'm taking a "if it happens great, if it doesn't it's not the end of the world" approach to keep my sanity in check.