Every year, I do some sort of “New Years Resolution” List.  I never pick just one thing, it’s always a list.  And, unlike half of America, I LOVE them.  Also, unlike half of America…I actually do pretty good with it.

I set goals, and then I work hard to obtain them.

This year, my list is shorter than the previous years, but still very important to me:

1.  SLOW DOWN.  I don’t need my day planned in 15 minute increments.  I don’t need to always be hurrying off to the next thing.  I promise myself to just relax and not to take on TOO much.

2.  SIMPLIFY.  I’m not going to the sparse end of the spectrum, but with this move, we’ve realized that we have a lot of stuff that we don’t need.  We plan to say “see ya never again” to some of it.

3.  READ THE BIBLE.  I crave more time with God and I want to dive into scripture but it overwhelms me to do it alone.  I tend to start stuff like this and then stop after a few months, but Sara and Sara are going to be my accountability sort of partners.

4.  USE A PRAYER JOURNAL.  I officially started this one today.  I pray…alot…but I want him to be my best friend, not just my “Oh crap, look what I’ve gotten myself into…HELP!” person.  I want the daily conversations with Him.

5.  PAINT. I plan to paint AT LEAST 12 paintings this year.  I am sure there will be more, but that’s all I’m holding myself accountable for.  I also plan to upload pictures of them and create an online portfolio sort of thing.  After that, we’ll see.  It may end up being just for me.

6.  TAKE MORE PICTURES. I don’t have nearly enough of my girls and they’re growing so fast!

7.  BACKTRACK. For a while, I was doing superb at using less and doing things healthier and from scratch.  When we moved, I kind of got jarred out of that for a bit.  So, I want to start with a few things…like going back to no paper towels, using jars and less plastic wrap and tinfoil, baking my own bread from scratch (and even shadowing Sara M!!), no toxic cleaners, etc.  New things I’d like to try include new types of breads and pastries and homemade pasta.  Oooh…and use my new dehydrator!

8.  COOK IN MY RIDICULOUSLY SMALL KITCHEN.  We have almost no counter space, but it really could be worse.  We saw a cute victorian several years ago that had room for a microwave and sink and that was about it.  It definitely could be worse, I’m just being whiny.

*end of list*

There are, of course, other things I’d like to do, but not things that I’ll classify as RESOLUTIONS – more like, “This could be fun” list.

Hey, now that’s an idea….

Welcome back!