Resolutions and stuff

Yeah, I'm one of those people this year.

I don't always make resolutions, but this year I am. And really, they're not new. But I have a renewed determination to follow them.

Lose weight. Get in shape. Those are the no-brainers in this case. And thanks to a 1000-Mile running challenge, I should be able to do that (and if you want to join, and you click on that link to do it, I get credit for free stuff...and free stuff is awesome) and train for the next few races at the same time.

And I've gotten some fun gizmos to help, like this awesome calendar from a friend, and an activity tracker thingambob from The Dude, and some hand weights to use while running. Plus, my "sole sis" is doing her evil best to keep me motivated (actually we torture each other, but that's ok). We've been slacking for the past couple of weeks because of the holidays and the craptastic weather, but we'll get back to it. We always do.

I totally bombed at the whole attempt to lose 25 pounds by my birthday thing, but I think I'm in a better head space to do it now.  New year, new start, right?

Then there's the whole business thing. I'm determined to actually turn Mom Cave Designs into a legitimate business, and not just a hobby that makes me a little bit of extra money. I have no idea how to do it, but I've been looking into taking some business classes and figuring out what I need to do in order to make this happen. The orders that I've been getting have been keeping me busy, and it's been awesome. I love being able to do this - especially getting the weighted blankets out to people who need them, and adding new items to my Etsy shop is always fun.

Write more. I constantly have things that I want to write about pop into my head. And then I get distracted and I don't do it. Or I lose my nerve and decide not to put whatever it is "out there". I've always been very selective about the things that I write about, and I plan to continue that. But at the same time I'm going to try to stop worrying about making someone mad with the things that I want to say.

Those are the main things that I am focusing on this  year. And hopefully, with the support of my friends and family and all of the people who are crazy enough to keep reading what I spew online, I'll be able to make it all happen. Only time will tell.

Happy New Year, people!

What a year...

I've been thinking for the last few days (scary, I know).

I knew I wanted to write something about New Years. But did I want to do resolutions? Goals? The year in review? A post blasting the cliches of resolutions?

Honestly, this year has been a total whirlwind for me.

Seriously? I bought a freakin' house. A HOUSE. How did that happen? Days away from homelessness a few short years ago, and now a homeowner? For real?

Just a few weeks short of a year later, it's still surreal. From tearing out old flooring, putting in new flooring, dealing with a flood, a worn-out water heater, more yardwork and cleanup and tree trimming and digging and planting than I care to think of, so much cleaning and unpacking and organizing (still)..... I still catch myself running my hands down the walls and thinking to myself "holy crap, this is MINE" at least once a day.

The list of projects, both inside and out, continues to grow, but it's a manageable list. We have things to work towards to make the house perfect, and I know that we'll get to them sooner or later, but it's mine. My house.

It's insane.

The boys have adjusted well to their new school. They've become involved in sports and have made tons of friends and love to be outside terrorizing the neighborhood with the other kids. The older kids enjoy not having to bounce back and forth between two towns to spend time with each parent, and the stress level has decreased greatly.

Life is good.

Do I have 'resolutions' for next year? Not really. Goals? Yes. But I hesitate to call them resolutions, only because I know the failure rate of my so-called resolutions.

Am I going to list them out for the world to see? Nope. Not this time. Sometimes, I do better when I don't have an audience. Sometimes, it's better to do things just for myself, and then it's more fun if someone else happens to notice.

I will say that I'm officially signed up for two half-marathons already, but that shouldn't come as a surprise for anyone who has been around for a while. I have some other health-related goals, and some financial ones, and some personal ones. I do hope to write more, and take more pictures, and sew more.

Regardless, I'm ready to see what 2015 has in store for me.

Bring it on.

My New Years Resolutions - to my kids

I've been thinking about what I wanted to write here all day long. I could do the typical list of resolutions, or awesome things that happened during the year, or whatever. But I wanted to do something different. And so here it is - my list of resolutions for the new year.....for my kids.

Dear Kids:

First off, I want to start by saying that I love each and every one of you so much that it hurts. There are times that I wish that our life had turned out differently so that we could all be together every day, but that's just not the way that our life happened. With the exception of Daniel, you're not always here. We don't always get to spend the holidays together and I don't always get to go to every single school function, but no matter what I want you to know that I love you.

I know that I don't always show it. I get tired and frustrated and angry with the way that things happen sometimes, and I know that I take it out on you - no matter how much I try not to do that. But I think that right now, we are at a turning point. Things are going so much better now than they have in the past, and I want to take this opportunity to make a positive change in all of our lives.

So for the next year - and beyond - these are my resolutions to you, my kids:

~ I promise to listen to you when you need to talk - whether it's the girls talking about a boy at school, or the boys talking about how someone didn't share a toy - I will listen.

~ I promise that I will always try to make it to all of your school functions, even if it's not convenient. There will be times that I just can't do it because I can't be in two places at once - but I will do whatever I can to always be there to support you.

~ I promise that I will do everything in my power to make sure that you don't miss out on any opportunities that come your way - whether it's academics, or sports, or a special outing with a friend - if I can make it happen, I will.

~ I promise that no matter what, I will put your needs above mine. 

~ I promise that I will be fair when it comes to discipline when there are issues.

~ Most of all, I promise you that I will always love, support, and encourage you in whatever it is that you want to do with your lives. Each of you has so much potential to do so much with your life - and I will do everything that I can to make sure that you reach your fullest potential, as long as YOU put in the effort as well.

I know our life hasn't always been easy, and I know that I've made mistakes in the past. I know that we will all make more mistakes, but we are a family, and we will always have each other - no matter what.

I want this coming year to be the best year that we've had yet - and I know that we can make that happen if we all work together.

I love you.

Love, 
Mom

Final cleaning frenzy of the year

I'm not quite sure what got into me today, but after I took the older 3 back to their father's house this morning, I came back here and I started cleaning.

I mean, really cleaning.

It started out innocently enough. I was putting the rest of the Christmas stuff away, kicking random piles of crap into a bigger pile of crap in the middle of the room and putting other stuff away.

I had decided a few days ago that I was going to do some white trash decorating and put one string of white Christmas lights up in the doorway between the two front rooms. Why? Because I hate it being dark in here at night - I'm blind as it is, so a little bit of light is nice. Nightlights don't work because of where the electrical outlets are placed. So as I was climbing up to put the lights up where I wanted them, I noticed (again) that there were random staples sticking out of the molding around the ceiling - apparently left there by past tenants. And there were cobwebs. And dust.

Oh boy.

Next thing I knew, I was standing on anything that I could find, moving around the perimeter of the room, yanking staples out of the woodwork. Then I was vacuuming the ceiling to get rid of the cobwebs.

Well, after I was done doing that, I couldn't leave the ceiling fan blades covered in dust, could I? You guessed it....me, standing on a bar stool in the middle of the room, with a rag and a bottle of Orange-Glo. Fan blades are shiny now. I even moved the furniture and mopped the floor.

This is just an idea of what the house started out looking like today....

Of course, what you can't see is the massive pile of clean laundry that was covering my futon - it was so bad that I slept on the couch last night rather than dealing with it. But I got all of that (plus more) folded and put away while I was doing everything else.

By the time I was done, it looked a little more like this...

Of course, I didn't really touch the kitchen, so it's still pretty scuzzy in there, but I'll work on that tomorrow after the 5K, maybe. Maybe I'll just sleep.

Oh, and the white trash decorating? Yep, here it is.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Now to address this whole New Years thing...

I don't really make resolutions, because I can never keep them. So these are just some ideas of things that I would like to accomplish in the coming year.

~~ Starting tomorrow with the 5K, I want to try to do a race a month. I don't know if that's realistic, because they do get expensive, and I do have the kids' schedules to work around, but I am going to start looking at calendars of events around here and see if I can do it. I already know that I have the half marathon and another 5K in April so I have quite a few more months to fill.

~~ Along with that, I intend to start eating better in general. I've cut way back on the fast food, but I still eat crap most of the time. I got a couple of cookbooks from the library and I'm going to start looking up some information on some things that I've been curious about for a while and see if I can start implementing some diet changes in this house - and still keep the kids happy.

~~ And along with that one (this one hurts).... I've got to cut down on the caffeine. Notice, I said "cut down" and not "eliminate" - big difference. I can go through a 2L of Diet Pepsi in a matter of hours, and that's just not good for me (and yes, I know the artificial sweetener isn't good for me either, so it's a double whammy). I am not even going to attempt to eliminate it completely, because I know that it's not realistic - not if I want to keep anyone around me happy.

~~ Of course, the usual keep-the-house-more-organized stuff that I've been working on for a while. Honestly, it has gotten way better, especially since my massive Pre-Vacation Cleaning Binge that I went on this summer. But there's still a lot of stuff in this house that needs to go away, and it's going to go. Starting with the big pile o'crap on my porch that is ready to be put in the van and donated somewhere - that's going to happen on Monday.

~~ Along with that one, the kids ARE going to take more responsibility around this house. I admit that I have slacked in this area, and it's going to be hell to get them on the right track. But I'm going to do it, somehow, some way.

~~ Financially, I just need to budget better. Only having money coming in once a month is fine, but we tend to spend too much at the beginning of the month and then are stretched pretty tightly at the end. I need to focus on this more, as well as get a savings built up. We have another road trip to PA tentatively scheduled for the end of June (class/family reunions) so we need to start saving money for that. Plus, I am about 6 months into my "2 year plan" of getting out of this ghetto house and getting something better and if it's going to happen, I'm going to need a chunk of money set aside so that when we do move again, I'm not flying by the tattered seat of my pants like I did the last time.

I think that's a good enough start...I'm sure that the list will be tweaked as time goes on.

As far as our actual New Years plans...The Dude is coming over, and we're going to hang out here together and not go anywhere. Neither one of us drinks a lot, and we're just going to relax. He's going to the 5K with me tomorrow to keep an eye on Daniel while I run jog/walk and then we'll head back here.

And now I need to go find a pair of socks. My toes are cold.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!


Hi, Ya'll "The Dude" here... Just wishing everyone a happy new year... I know Amy and I get to have one!