Finally right? 2016 is over. Saying goodbye will be glorious.

This year has stunk for a lot of people.

Myself included. I can’t put my finger on exactly why 2016 has stunk so bad, but it’s just a general displeasure the year has had. It seems like being in a state of constantly failing to “get it right”. You know, like when you try to pick something up off the floor and it takes you three or four times to actually get your fingers low enough to grasp it?

Well, I am making 2017 my year. The year that I put 2016 behind me. I’m so ready to move on from this year, I imagine you are too! I have dreams, goals, and a much clearer path in life.

This year my hubby & I had a long talk about our firearms business. We’ve had a desire to grow our business to epic proportions, but we realized that this will not happen anytime soon, if ever. In reality, we LOVE being a small business, knowing that our clients can text, email, or call us with ANY questions, day or night, and know that we will answer. We love being able to give one-on-one attention to each person we train. The bigger we get, as a business, the more we risk losing that. We’ve been spinning our wheels and making ourselves so much busier and stressed out than we need to be. So, we’ve slowed down and have a clear, albeit slow, course of action to still get new clients, but still, maintain the “mom and pop” type business template that we love.
Another way that I plan to dominate 2017 is to start working on a double Masters through AMU. With a 7-year-old and an 18-month-old, I am going back to school. I sound like a glutton for punishment, don’t I? Well, I might be, but I am very excited at the new challenges. I want to have a career after our little guy goes to school. It’s going to take me at least 2 years to complete my degrees, probably 3 if I want to have any sort of social or sleep life. Who am I kidding, I’m a mom, I don’t have those anyway!
On top of my master’s, I have enrolled in the Elite Blogging Academy. EBA is a blogging workshop (for lack of a better term, it’s SO MUCH MORE than just a “workshop”). This starts in a few weeks, around the same time as my master’s classes start! See, I really am a glutton for punishment!
I’ve always been the type of person for new year’s resolutions. I don’t know why, because seldom do I ever get them all finished, but I enjoy the challenge to grow myself as a person! Here are a few of my resolutions for 2017:

1. Read my Bible DAILY.
2. Get 6 months of expenses in savings.
3. Finish 20 school credits.
4. Track my Macros better.

These seem mostly doable! I have others on my list, but they’re private!
Now to balance my master’s, EBA, the husband, kids, house, etc. I needed to make a few changes to how we did things currently. Although none of my craziness starts until February I wanted to get a running start on things, just in case I missed a few things and to work out the kinks. Here is a list of things that I slimmed down on and simplified.

1. I put all my bills on auto-pay. I (we) just have to stick to our budget and the bills will pay themselves. No more trying to remember who was paid and who still needs to be paid.

2. I set up regular times with my amazing Mother in Law to help me with our little guy. Even 2 hours of quiet time, once or twice a week, can make a huge impact on how much I am able to accomplish.

3. We cut down to one scheduled firearms class a month. We will still be doing private one-on-one classes, but those are “as needed”.

4. I am making a blog schedule to regularly update everyone on my tip and tricks on what’s working for the crazy and what’s not! Will you take this journey with me?

5. I am a part of two separate woman’s groups. I am making a plan on how to manage those with minimal time with maximum impact. One of the groups requires 1-2 hours a month from me. The other one I will continue to lead for a few more years, as the Lord Leads.

6. Calling the repair guy to set up our sprinklers to auto-water. I know this sounds SO trivial, but it’s frustrating to keep up on when I need to water and when I have watered. It used to go off a few times a week automatically, but I did something and I can’t figure out how to fix it! New-fangled technology. I’m tired of having a brown and yellow lawn because I keep forgetting to turn on the sprinklers.

7. For the rest of the things (like house cleaning!) that I’ve changed recently check out THIS POST about having a restless soul:

So, cheers! 2016 is FINALLY almost done. The political mayhem is FINALLY almost done. Regardless of what side of the aisle you were on, I think we can all agree that it was insanity from both parties. Perhaps, we can finally put Harambe to rest and realize that the life of a silly gorilla is not as precious as the life of a child. And maybe, just maybe, we can’t quit asking “WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!” with this year!

Cheers to a productive and successful 2017! I look forward to taking this journey in 2017 with you.
January 1st, 2017 will start my year of awesome. The first year of my 30’s. The start of the rest of my dreams.
Nila