Goals

I have been thinking about the whole RESOLUTIONS thing lately, as one is prone to do this time of year. Since I usually come up with the same old boring stuff that may or may not get accomplished, I've been trying to come up with some new & exciting things for this year... which also may or may not get accomplished but at least I'm being creative right?

1. Listen to my kids. Understand what is important to them and don't trivialize it. Look closely at every picture they draw and note they write (and then scan them for posterity). Be aware of their problems & concerns and be more involved in their precious little lives.

2. Less yelling. Much less. Like, save the yelling for when the house is on fire. There was a time, only a few years ago, when I never ever raised my voice at my kids, and I don't know when I started raising it... but it's time to take it back down. My friend Supermom Stephanie once posted some lovely words on the subject; read it here. She has some excellent all-around good mothering advice for anyone. I told the kids the other day about my "no yelling" goal and they thought that sounded like a great idea. I'm glad they are aware so they can remind me when I need it.

3. Blog with a purpose. I usually blog for the purpose of family or personal journaling, but I admit there have been times that I have posted something for the sole purpose of trying to be funny, or trying to change opinions, or soliciting comments. Having Happy Life 2008 in my possession, now in print, I have a whole new outlook. I am going to create a book like this for each year that I can; at least going back to the years when I've had kids. Since I didn't start blogging until 2007, I am going to look through old emails I sent from 2006 and as far back as I can find, since my journal writing has been infrequent and since I have always written a lot of emails, and I will copy & paste paragraphs of old emails along with pictures from that day/week to replicate a "blog post" from that period of time. For future years my blog will serve as the primary source for these books so I will always consider that when posting.

4. Make major headway on aforementioned books for 2004, 2005, and 2006. I want 12x12's of each year and they are going to be awesome.

5. Keep the house cleaner. I tolerate clutter much better than my husband... but I need to spend more time looking at the counters through his eyes. We will all be happier this way.

6. Get more sleep; i.e. go to bed earlier. Like when the clock still says "pm."


Well I'd better quit now; that's more than enough to keep me going for a while. Wish me luck!