Category Archives: Resolutions

It’s a snow day, or rather an ice day, and now that I’ve had a conference call and wrapped up a couple projects… and fallen twice while salting the driveway as long as we’re counting… time to do a little blogging.

Sidebar: The crockpot lasagna I mentioned yesterday was a success, I used this recipe from William Sonoma but beefed up the tomato sauce (I used the plain canned stuff) with onions, carrots, garlic and Italian seasonings. It was delicious and now we have leftovers for at least three more meals – leftover lasagna is my favorite. Simon was a wee bit skeptical but he enjoyed it as well!

Back to the image above…
I try to start each year thinking of what is ahead for the next twelve months. Sometimes that means I set specific goals/resolutions and sometimes I don’t (mostly, I have not but a little focus never killed anyone so I’m trying to be better).

This year I opted to go with ideas or themes, if you will, and I wanted to take a little time for my own benefit to talk about what those mean for me. I’d love to hear if you have words you focus on for a year, resolutions you set or if you just plain hate the whole idea.

live well | practice thankfulness | just do it
be intentional | enjoy the mundane

Live well
What does it mean to live well? That’s different for everyone, right? For me it’s doing the things I enjoy like making memories and traditions with my family, spending time with those dearest to me, going to concerts and filling my house with people and laughter. It also means being more conscious of food choices, being more active (something I’ve definitely let slip in the last 12-18 months) and procrastinating less. And from a faith perspective, spending more time with the Word, listening to what God is telling me and doing more for others when I feel called to action.

Practice thankfulness
Our November small group studies looked at what it means and is to be thankful; highlighting that it goes beyond the “attitude of gratitude.” Thankfulness can be so much more when it is a practice. Brene Brown speaks to this when discussing her research on people who are joyful and she found that the people who were most joyful were the ones who practiced gratitude. Sitting around the dinner table and sharing what you are thankful for that day, writing lists in a gratitude journal or sending thank you notes to people – not just for tangible things they have given you but for the positive influence/impact they have had in your life. So I’m going to work on actually practicing being thankful. [If you’d like your own gratitude journal, designed by me, please let me know… I have a few available for $12 and I’d be happy to mail you one… they are 15 pages (front and back so 30 pages total), spiral bound with quotes on thankfulness throughout. Some pages shown below.]

Just do it
More than just a branding statement from Nike. Pretty much stop procrastinating about things. If I want to do something that’s good for me and works for our life, then I should just do it. Stop hemming and hawing, wondering if it’s a good idea. Just do it. Don’t put off to tomorrow what you can do today. My procrastination is one of my biggest pet peeves about myself. I don’t always procrastinate, but when it’s about little things, things that don’t “matter” then I put them off. I’m also a big starter of projects/hobbies that I don’t end up finishing. My actually completing my granny square afghan was a big deal for me and I finished it because I made myself and I knew others knew I was working on it so I think accountability might be key to this one… I need to know others have an eye on me or know I am working on something. If you keep me accountable, let me know what I can do in exchange for you. Even in adulthood, it takes a village.

Be intentional
This is sort of goes with, or is an element of, both living well and practicing thankfulness, having more intention with the things I do. Not just doing something for the sake of doing something – we have plenty of that in our lives. But making memories, putting happiness in someone else’s life, spreading love and joy, choosing the positive over the negative – those things all take intention and they all make life that little bit better. And I’m all for all of that.

Enjoy the mundane
I have Kara Tippets echoing in my head very often and her blog Mundane Faithfulness amazes me with both its honesty and its devotion to God in the midst of very difficult circumstances. It’s easy to praise God during the high points of life and to turn to God in the difficult times but what do we do in the in-between, the every day moments? In the midst of life’s mundane, are we still stopping to enjoy those moments around the dinner table (even when the kids are complaining about the food in front of them) or riding in the car fielding endless questions? I try to and I’m going to keep trying. There is still a ton that is not enjoyable, don’t get me wrong – I don’t have on Pollyanna glasses and think life is amazing all of the time – no one likes getting oil changes or brushing their teeth or stepping on Legos. But darn it, I’m going to enjoy this in-between time of life to shore up a little for the next big high or low, to enjoy Simon working first shift, our family being healthy and no big changes on the horizon.

So those are the things I’m focusing on this year. What about you? Do you want to share?

One of my favorite bloggers (Linda from All & Sundry), from the very beginning of when I started reading blogs has a long-standing tradition of answering the following questions as a way of reviewing the previous year (though this year she took a break) and this year I thought I’d do the same (answer the questions, that is, not take a break). I love the questions and the answers they provoke.

1. What did you do in 2012 that you’d never done before?
– Traveled with two children halfway around the world
– Single-parented my kids for three weeks while Simon was in Australia
– Got an hour-long massage (it was notable because it was on my list of things to do before I turn 35)
– Raw food detox for 5 days

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

Please refer to the list, I will soon do a full recap of resolutions – just as soon as I figure out new ones for 2013. I kept most of the ones that really mattered. Though I can’t say I made a conscious effort to do one random act of kindness a week, but I think in general I’m a thoughtful person so we’re going to call that a win. But I definitely didn’t sell $500 worth of stuff on Craigslist and while realistically, I use a calm voice more often than a yell-y one with my kids, I still yelled way more than I would have liked. But the rest were golden, even cutting the hubs some slack – right, honey? [Edited to say, I looked at my 2011 resolutions when answering this – total fail. Whoops. But I did great at keeping 2011’s resolutions, not so much with keeping 2012’s. Ha.]

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My niece had her second baby, Ethan, and he’s just the best to cuddle at family gatherings (plus, he’s my godson!). And the babies keep coming with my friends… many close friends had new babies added to their family this year and that is great since it helps me get my newborn baby fill without actually having to deal with middle-of-the-night feedings.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My sweet mother-in-law, Dorothy, passed away after a long battle with illness. That was more than enough for this year.

5. What countries did you visit?
Australia.

6. What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012?
More patience (which is NOT me asking God for my chances to practice patience, I have plenty on a daily basis with my boys, thankyouverymuch). More laughter with family and friends. A husband who works first shift, specifically an Australian husband named Simon who works first shift (not just any husband will do) – February will mark three years that we’ve been doing this split-parenting thing and I am just so weary of it. And a new (to us) house. The start of the story I have had in my head for over a decade down on paper (or computer, as the case may be).

7. What dates from 2012 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
– July 4th (our July 3rd): the day Simon’s mom died
– July 24th: the day Simon came home from Australia

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Not to belabor the point, but I think making the best of having Simon in Australia for three weeks was a huge achievement. I have no regrets about his going, despite the cost and stress of dealing with everything else, and I am happy to say that the time went quickly and the boys had fun thanks to a jam-packed schedule of spending time with friends and family. It’s hard though because those same three weeks would not at all be considered an achievement by my husband, necessary but not an achievement.

9. What was your biggest failure?
I feel like all failures are parenting related, where I feel I didn’t live up to the kind of parent I should be for my boys. But I also think that is the bulk of parenting because it is such a huge thing in life, we are constantly somewhere on the continuum of trying to improve and do things differently (if not better).

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I finally sought out help for the neck pain I’ve been experiencing for ages as it was at the point where it was impacting my daily life. After a month of PT and the acquisition of my own personal traction machine, I’m happy to say that I no longer have daily pain and headaches, though I still can’t sleep on my back without waking up with a headache. Hello, my name is Michelle and I hurt myself sleeping.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
A plane ticket for Simon to go to Australia. Any tickets for live music.

12. Where did most of your money go?
Outside of mortgage, car payments, food and childcare? Plane tickets and caffeinated beverages.

13. What did you get really excited about?
Seeing fun. in concert. Simon coming home from Oz. Girl’s Weekend Away with my college friends. New babies arriving in the world. Liam starting first grade. Jack being potty trained.

14. What song will always remind you of 2012?
Home by Phillip Phillips (did you see my best of 2012 post?)

15. Compared to this time last year, are you:
– happier or sadder? happier
– thinner or fatter? fatter – but that will change soon [more on that coming up]
– richer or poorer? same

16. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Working out. Reading books. Writing. Praying. Concert-going.

17. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Driving around town (picking up kids, dropping off kids, getting errands done).

18. How did you spend Christmas?
Same as every year of my life (but one) – at my parents’ house for Christmas Eve and at my brother’s house for Christmas Day and out for breakfast with the whole fam the day after Christmas. When these traditions change, I think I’m going to have a hard time reconciling it.

19. What was your favorite TV program?
Favorites: The Vampire Diaries, Parenthood, Modern Family, Castle, Fringe, The Voice, Homeland.

20. What were your favorite books of the year?
– Crazy Love – Francis Chan (still reading it for small group)
– Imperfect: An Improbable Life – Jim Abbott
– You Take It From Here – Pamela Ribon

21. What was your favorite music from this year?
– The Civil Wars were my favorite band and the rest are listed here.

22. What were your favorite films of the year?
Is it totally cheating to list almost all the movies I saw in the theater? When you’re paying a sitter, you gotta make your movie choices count…
– Argo [my favorite of the year]
– Rise of the Guardians
– The Avengers
– The Dark Knight Rises
– The Hunger Games
– This Is 40
– Crazy, Stupid, Love [technically this did not come out in 2012, but I watched it on the plane to/from Oz]

Least favorites: Melancholia, which I technically watched on the plane on the way to Australia but it SUCKED. Do not ever watch it.

23. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Church in the morning and then spent the rest of the day hanging out with the boys until we went out for dinner to one of my favorite restaurants (Rose’s) with some of my favorite people. I turned 34. Simon’s mom died two days later so it was a calm, happy moment in the midst of a very sad time for our family.

24. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Buying a new house. [Oh, and spontaneously achieved independent wealth.]

25. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2012?
Comfort and function over everything else. And cardigans and scarves were my ever-present staples.

26. What kept you sane?
Friends.

27. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2012.
Things are seldom as perfect as they appear to be from the outside looking in. Comparison will steal your joy each and every time. God is faithful to those who ask for help and put their faith in Him and He can (and does) work miracles big and small.