*Green Girl inspired me to finish this post about goals/resolutions!

I've talked before about New Year's Resolutions. I typically think long and hard about one concrete goal for the coming year. I ponder the things I’ve really been meaning to do but just haven’t gotten around to actually doing. Nothing earth shattering; just something that with a little bit of effort could not only be accomplished but could perhaps become a good habit.

This year my goal was to cook for the food kitchen every month. Our church has a day a month that we are responsible for. The meal we serve has not changed in the almost twenty five years that we’ve been parishioners. It’s a simple Sloppy Joe recipe and I’ve prepared it for the food kitchen over the years, but sporadically and less and less since I’ve been working.

Every month they publish the recipe in the bulletin the week prior. I have an ancient copy in my recipe box. Meals are delivered to the parish center by 9:30 in the morning and then a group of volunteers transport the food to the facility and serve.

In order to meet my goal I worked out a simple plan. Mid-December I set reminders for myself in Outlook: two weeks prior, one week prior and a day of calendar reminder. I stocked up on the chicken gumbo soup that is part of the recipe but not always easy to find. Then I went out and bought a large, plastic storage container. I figured I could cook the meal ahead and freeze it; particularly helpful on weekdays. All I’d have to do is thaw it the day before, buy the buns, heat it up in the morning and deliver! The plan was taking shape.

I was doing the weekly grocery shopping towards the end of December and saw that ground beef was on sale. Our day to serve was, by this time, right around the corner and I figured why wait until January? I bought four pounds of ground beef, went home and went to town. On our day to serve the Saint dropped my contribution at church on his way to work.

Our day to serve for January is this weekend. My Sloppy Joes are cooked and frozen. The day before I’ll get the buns and thaw the meat. And as it’s a weekend I’ll get to join the other volunteers and go to the food kitchen and serve.

I’m off to a good start and I have great confidence that I can most certainly remember to participate the rest of the year. I assume after twelve months it will become second nature and I won’t need the “reminders”.

It is such a simple thing yet so satisfying