Welcome 2010!
The end of 2009 really sucked for me, especially November. Wait a minute, most of the end of 2009 sucked, not the very very end:
- December 30th, the hubby was offered a job here in Atlanta. Yippee!
- We Don't have to move. Yippee!
- December 30th, my Mom's re-took some medical tests and they came back with an all-clear. Yippee!
- We were given dining room chairs for Christmas. Now our guests won't fall through the caned chairs that were held together with electrical tape. Yippee! (I'm not kidding. I was using electrical tape to hold them together. Desperation makes me do weird things.)
As far as New Year's Resolutions go:
1. I don't do New Year's Resolutions.
2. I'm changing that this year.
Goal 1: I resolve to paint my living room and get rid of the hideous striped wallpaper that the previous owners left me.
Goal 2: I resolve to finish the damned kitchen project that has taken me over one and a half years to do. I still have to paint one counter and cover it in resin, paint around the small kitchen window and make a simple valance out of the leftover burlap for it, touch up what needs touching up, do two more joint compound stencils over the top of the cabinets, attach the last two cabinet knobs.
Goal 3: I resolve to try and be more frugal. I've been practicing this aspect of my life, but haven't been as frugal as I should. I have cut my grocery bills drastically over the last year (from approx. $300 a week to $70 a week for a family of four) but need to work on other areas of my life. Christmas spending on two kids didn't help me much either.
Goal 4: I resolve to find more ways to beautify my home that are inexpensive and creative.
Goal 5: I resolve to simplify my life more. This really began last year, but I'm carrying it over to this year. I live in a very expensive "Old Money" area. People are very caught up in keeping up with the Joneses. We left one church because it had filled up with the old moneyed country club set of people who felt the need to out-do one another and everyone else with materialistic things. Their children must always be dressed better than yours, their cars must be newer and nicer than yours, etc. Getting away from them was one of the best things we've ever done. We still have contact with those folks due to one of our kids being in the same preschool and it fills me with stress to be around them. The Youngest wants to invite one of the kids from his class over to his birthday party and I'm totally stressed about it. I've been in the kids' home. It's amazingly gorgeous and could be in a pottery barn catalog. My house? Not so much, but it's getting there through hard work. I want to get away from the things that stress me out completely and simplify my little piece of the world.
Goal 6: Figure out how to accomplish Goal 5.
So there you go. Those are my resolutions for the year. Not difficult, not unattainable. I already know that I am allergic to exercise, so the gym membership money can now be used on the above listed items. :)
