A Whole New Year!

Welcoming in 2009 with a champagne toast!

12:30 AM - Jan 1, 2009

I'm not one for New Year's Resolutions. Like most people who claim to not do resolutions, it is because I made them and broke them and feel badly for the rest of the year. I am a mother. 

I live with enough guilt as it is.

The New Year is a good time to reflect on the past year's accomplishments. My life is so different from where it was last year at this time, it is as if someone threw out my life. Oh wait - they did! 

On Christmas, my friend, Starr, was giddy-giggly about the changes in me. Starr has known me since 2000. She was so shocked at watching me sewing and crocheting. And the whole homeschooling thing blew her away. That and the cooking. She doesn't even read my blog (a New Year Resolution she should plan on for herself). The point is, I have undergone a major

transformation this year. 

There is a MEME going around that asks what you did for the first time this year. Hmmm, baked bread from scratch, cooked a turkey (2), made stuffing/dressing, kept a plant alive for 6 months, homeschooled, moved to Chicago, traveled alone with 2 kids, finished a crochet project, gave amigurumi as gifts, blogged almost daily, made a gingerbread house, became self-employed, sold a home, moved my family across country, experienced a spouse's layoff. And, for the first time since I was 10, I did less than 10 hrs volunteer work total in 8 months.

Did I do it all with as much grace and finesse and love as I would have liked? Nope. So that is what I need to work on. Speak softer and kinder to my 

husband and kids. 

I have spent all this time doing stuff for my family, but I don't feel like I've really enjoyed them. I want to spend more carpet time with my kids. The gingerbread house taught me to loosen up. I was so bent on making a perfect house for my kids. But they just wanted a gingerbread house. Well, Motor Mouth did say several times my house did not look like the box. This year, I am going to let them decorate with my guidance, if they want it. It doesn't have to be perfect. The time together is more important than the end result.

Most of all, I want to truly love my daughter this year. She was such a difficult baby. She is stubborn and strong willed (where did she get that from??!) And she is so hormonal, it drives me up a wall. In 2008, I began to really like my little girl. By the end of the year, I want to be able to say I love her and know it is the truth and not 'fake it until you make it'. 

And get a handle on our laundry. 

It's obscene right now. 

I need to create and follow a system.

I've always wanted to be one of those people whose homes others can come to at any time and it be clean. I'm almost 40. I never kept my bedroom clean growing up. I have not managed to live like that for all these years. I think I just have to find a way to keep things manageable and then learn to not care if someone comes over and sees stuff out. 

2008 was about being the perfect stay@home mom. 

2009 should be about relaxing the perfection and 

living the life with joy.

I pray you will have a better 2009 than you 

ever imagined possible.