Water is life.

In the last 24 hours I have been keeping track of how little I value water.   I wake up, use the bathroom and flush the toilet (there go 2 gallons), I turn on the faucet to wash my face and brush my teeth.  Even though I am careful to conserve, I am sure another 3 gallons have gone down the drain.  I make coffee (with fresh water) then head upstairs for a shower, rinse breakfast dishes and run the dishwasher.  Before 9 am in the morning, I am sure I have used at least 20 gallons of water (probably more).  Can you imagine having no access to clean water?  Take a minute to think about how you would live without one of the most basic necessities.

Even if we can’t imagine life without plenty of water, there are literally billions of people around the world that face this reality EVERY day.  I had the pleasure of meeting a woman, Kristen Kosinski, who created The Samburu Project that has already helped over 20,000 Kenyans gain access to clean water.  When I heard about Kristen, a million questions raced through my head: How did she get started on this mission?  Why did she chose Africa and where does she find the strength to keep this project going after giving birth to a son who is now almost two years old?

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Healthy Sweet Pea Soup

Ingredients:

1 TBS of Canola Oil

1 leek- white part only

1 white onion- chopped

1 small zucchini chopped

1 TBS of Arrobio rice (Or whatever rice you in your pantry)

2 cups of frozen petite green peas

3 cups of water

Directions:

Heat 1 TBS of Canola oil over medium heat, add leek, onion and zucchini- stir to coat with oil, reduce heat and let soften for 10 minutes.  Add 1 TBS of rice and 3 cups of water- raise heat to medium high and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  Add peas and simmer for another 10 minutes.   Remove from heat and let stand for 15 minutes to cool.  Use an immersion blender or standing blender and carefully puree the soup.  I stirred in a pinch of salt and pepper to add flavor.  This makes about 4 servings.

 

My goals for 2010- what are yours?

So I pulled up my post for 2009 goals and realized that I totally failed to achieve 3 out of 4 of them.  While one goal was out of my control the other ones just never materialized.  One included running a half marathon (which I didn’t do).  Another was building the number of visitors to “The Inspired Mom” which I did a little but not to the degree I had hoped; and, finally I wanted to spend more time with my kids- which I TOTALLY did.  Hard to measure, but I definitely feel satisfied on that front of my life.

Here are my goals for 2010.  I am going to try and make them fairly tangible so I can plan, set aside time and really realize my goals.

1.  I am going to set aside at least 5 hours a week to work on my blog/baby book business.  It doesn’t sound like a lot, but with one child who only goes to school three days a week and two older kids who need help with homework etc.  I feel that this is realistic number of hours for me to really commit.  I hope that I will do more than that, but I am going to schedule those hours into my calendar.

2.  I am going to continue to work on my swimming, so that I might get in the ocean for a swim during the spring/summer- without being paralyzed with fear. I will keep you all posted on my progress.

3. (This is my “intangible”) I am going to try and be more appreciative of the fact I get to stay home with my kids for now.  I have been really antsy to try and get back to work at some point.  Hopefully my new business will keep me busy enough that I will consider it my full-time job, but while I am waiting for the final product, I will really try to enjoy time with the kids and some free time while they are at school.

I would really like to hear some of your goals for 2010- resolutions are great too.  Just thinking about my goals and typing them out has gotten me fired up to stay true to them.