Resolutions

Welcome 2012, pleased to make your acquaintance.  We have big plans for you – big plans. 

I keep seeing blurbs in newspapers and magazines implying that it’s okay to not have new years resolutions because then you won’t feel bad if you fail in February.  Does anyone else think that’s strange?  It’s not like you’re getting fined if you don’t stick with your resolution.  Start over on February 3 or February 4 or January 3 or whenever.  My dad commented the other day that it society used to get some major projects completed that right now would never get organized.  I mean, at one point people build the jetties.  Can you imagine?  The jetties.  If somehow all those gigantic granite rocks were lugged down to the gulf, I can resolve to get a few things done this year.

I have a few resolutions and, with a corporate flair on some very domestic items, goals and objectives.

So resolutions first:  When we sat down at the dining room table for our New Year’s Eve dinner, Rush looked at me and said, “Happy Birthday Mommy!”  So it appears eating in the dining room more often is resolution #1. 

I also finally want to learn Celsius and Kilometers – not understand how to do the math, double it and add 30 or whatever, but actually know it.  If I hear someone say “Bonjour” I don’t have to translate it to hello; I just know it means hello.  I want to be like that with Celsius and kilometers.  Oh, 16 degrees?  Sure, I’d love to go swimming.  I’m not even sure if that’s right, but by the end of the year, I’ll know. 

A major goal is to update the laundry “room” (closet) as soon as possible:  cleaning it, painting it, getting organized, adding a change jar.  Magazines these days are always showing off some fancy laundry room with a cute sign that says “Wash Day!” that implies that the owner of the home has never come face to face with a ball of moldy dish towels lost under a pile of clothing…I mean, not that it’s ever happened to me either…right… We just need to make it a more useable small space.  Trent is building his own version of this pedestal, which should make all the difference.  (It was his first lumber purchase with the van instead of the truck – sad for him, but successful anyway.) 

I’m skipping the cute laundry room sign though.  The only quote I can ever think about when I’m doing laundry is Dr. Evil saying “Is it too much to ask for sharks with freakin laser beams on their heads?”  I need something like that to motivate me.

My other domestic goal is starting once a month grocery shopping.  Right now I’m unorganized to the point of going to the grocery store sometimes three or four times a week.  With the new plan, I planned all our meals for the month and I’m getting everything in one big trip, then just running in once a week to get milk, fruit, vegetables, and bread.  It’s going to be really different, as I usually plan one or two dinners a week, then figure out the other nights around 4 in the afternoon.  I’m optimistic and envisioning hours of extra time.

And I want to get the breakfast dishes off the kitchen table by 10 AM.  That sounds easy enough, so why is it so difficult in practice?  I blame it all on not being a morning person.

Overall, I’m resolving to get organized.  I want to clean out closets and cabinets and my make-up bag and bathroom drawers.  In my almost constant state of feeling unorganized, sometimes I find something that works and it changes my life.  A hanging shoe organizer, a binder filled with birthday cards already addressed, a laundry sorter, these things all work for me.  They might be the only three things, because it was hard to think of three, but 2012 is a new year! 

Or –and yet again I have to quote Liz Lemon, this time holding all her plastic organizational bins-

“I’m going to become wonderful.  It’s a new beginning.  Like a phoenix rising…(gets hit by a bike)…or maybe this is going to be the worst day ever.”

But again, I’m optimistic.  I ate my black eye peas and cabbage (grilled, thanks J&S for the grilling wok) today and I’m ready.