Resolutions Revisited

The neat thing about having a blog is that I can look back and see what I was thinking or going through at different times.  With the end of 2010 in sight I have been contemplating our changes and thinking about what I will resolve to do differently in 2011.

Last Year's Resolutions.....

to exercise. I'm making it a goal to spend some quality time with the elliptical at least three times a week. I'm really lucky to have a great best friend to be my accountability partner in this. (Oh, hey Courtney? I don't owe you a dollar tomorrow!)

Well, this started out promising.....until I pulled a muscle in my back shoveling snow, leaving me unable to even move without searing pain.  Exercise?!  Are you kidding me?  Walking was enough of a challenge!  (And oh, the irony!  Because right at this moment I am in back pain.  Not to the incapacitating extent of last year, but I have that definite twinge that threatens complete mutiny if I move the wrong way.)

to keep my house clean(er). I do not like to clean, but I love a clean house. What a conundrum! With some well placed additions that brought new life into our living room this weekend, I'm inspired to keep our house looking showroom-perfect......okay, okay....probably not realistic. I'm just hoping to keep the toys from overtaking everything.

This one has been kicking my butt all year.  I'm trying, I'm really trying.  The problem is the other three people who share my space have not made this resolution.  And also, have you ever realized that you clean and clean and clean and the house looks sparkling and wonderful......and then by the end of the day it looks like a tornado (ahem, LIBBY!) has gone through the house.  Frustration, I tell you!

to choose my food, and my family's food more wisely. Last year I waged a war on high fructose corn syrup and trans fat. With the help of Whole Foods, I was able to substitute many of Anna's favorite, sugar-laden foods with healthy(ier) alternatives. Best find? Late July's double chocolate cookies. Sooooooo good!

Yeah, so, I failed at this.  While meeting the following goal, I had to let some things go.  Unfortunately, nutrition has been one of them.  Full time work, two kids, a husband, a house to tend, and graduate classes....take out and freezer meals have been a mainstay, I'm sad to say.

pursue further education. I've put off getting my Master's for the past decade. To wait longer will only mean I'll be dealing with more kids, more responsibilities, less time and money, etc. So I'm looking into graduate program possibilities. Nothing definite yet. ;-)

I am currently enrolled in Eastern Kentucky University in their graduate program.  I'm not altogether sure when I'll graduate...after this past semester I'm only going to take one class at a time.  My sanity will be intact to thank me later.

make a concerted effort to pay off debt. We are blessed to so far not be drowning in debt, but with the purchase of a new vehicle (that is, at this moment, in the shop getting put back together from my catastrophe last month...) we are now back in car payment territory. Our visit outside lasted only a few short months, but the grass really was greener. I doubt we'll be able to pay it all off in one year, but hopefully no more than two. Remind me of this when I start dreaming of blue skies and tropical, sandy beaches come June.

Ha hahahahaha, HAHAHAhahaha.....oh, excuse me.  Wow.  Had I only known when I wrote this last year.  Within a few weeks we had signed a contract to have a house built and put our on the market.  Then in July we discovered that our car was, in fact, totaled.  So now we have not one, but TWO car payments, as well as school loans, a bigger mortgage.....yeah, the list can go on and on here.  And forget June, I'm already dreaming of blue skies and sandy beaches....or at the very least, one week with no Kentucky and no small Smithlets in sight.

So there ya go, folks.  2010 didn't go quite the way I had anticipated, but I suppose nothing ever does, and we have felt truly blessed all year long.  I have a mindful of ideas and wishes and dreams ready to put into place for 2011.  Really, I want more time to focus on my kids.  It's just simply hard to find the time to do everything I want to do and to do it well.  As the pastor of my church said, it's "hurryitis".  I need to hurry through everything, because that's the only way I can cope.  Of course, that leads to me doing nothing well, feeling awful about it, and being stressed.  All.the.time.

But 2011 is a fresh start!  I will only be taking one class, so I'm praying for time to have more movie and game nights, more leisurely trips to the zoo, more bike rides on beautiful evenings, more silly dinnertime conversations, more snuggly bedtime stories with sweet, bath-scented children, more time to sip iced tea in my backyard and to visit with the neighbors, more time to enjoy a good book.

I am praying and hoping for simply more time to enjoy.

So if you come to my house the mail might be piled up on the counter.  The floors may just have crumbs from breakfast.  You might have to step around some toys in the living room.  We may be eating our freezer ready meals on paper plates.  And you may see a load of folded laundry on my couch.  But hopefully there will not be two stressed out parents trying to hustle two cranky kids through the motions to toss them into bed each night just to get a breather before collapsing themselves only to repeat the same thing the next day.

Oh, and exercise.  Yes.  That has to be on the resolution list, right?

Happy New Year's, everyone!