Friday, January 13, 2012

Rethinking Those New Year's Resolutions

I wrote my New Year's Resolutions last week, when I was on vacation in Nebraska and sleeping in every morning and only responsible for about 40% of the care my children require and therefore feeling very peaceful and reflective. My resolutions were simple, and like my state of mind at the time, peaceful and reflective.

The problem is that now that we've returned home from vacation and I'm no longer sleeping in every morning (or sleeping through the night, for that matter, thanks to my two-and-a-half-year-old "MAMAINEEDSOMETINGRIGHTNOOOOOWWWW!" embodiment of a night terror) and am once again responsible for about 95% of the care my children require, I no longer feel peaceful and reflective.

And because I no longer feel peaceful and reflective, my previously-written resolutions strike me as a little too "sitting around the campfire singing Kum-ba-ya" for someone like myself, someone who needs structure and parameters in order to cope with life on a day-to-day basis.

So while I'm not scrapping my first set of resolutions, I've decided to add an appendix. Let's hope I'm a little more on target this time around.

- Limit dinner from McDonald's to once each week. Limit Happy Meal purchases to once each month. (We're already pretty good about the once/week part of this resolution, stopping at McDonald's only on soccer/basketball practice night, but it's time to cut the toys out of the deal.)

- Stop giving in to Hallie's ridiculous bedtime demands and teach that girl to GO. TO. BED.

- Teach Will how to independently use his inhaler and epi-pen in preparation for kindergarten.

- Enter the doors to Target ONLY with a list. Stick to the list.

- Meet Tom for a lunch date at least once each month. Choose restaurants where our meals cost less than $20 combined.

- Finalize our will, set up a 529 plan for Hallie, and start contributing regularly to both kids' 529 plans.

- Address the "Ferris Family Recliner Situation". More specifically, reupholster Tom's teal recliner so that it can move from the garage to our bedroom. OR...purchase a new recliner and convince Tom that the new recliner is in fact his old recliner reupholstered.

- Read one book each month and figure out how to check out library books on my Nook. The second half of this resolution is dependent on our library getting their butts in gear and actually following through on their promise to make library lending available to Nook and Kindle users; I'm crossing my fingers but not holding my breath.

- Knit two scarves for friends/family members who live in climates where scarves are worn.

- Climb into bed no later than 11pm with the goal of turning off the light by 11:30pm. Skip the late-night reruns of Grey's Anatomy - it's not like I haven't seen them all two or three times before.

- Take the initiative when it comes to play dates for the kids and getting together with friends.

- Get to know at least one neighbor well enough so that when we go out of town we have someone we can ask to check on our house. And to make sure Tom's television set isn't stolen.

- Stop complaining about the heat.

I feel confident that all of these resolutions can be accomplished, except maybe that last one...

2 comments:

  1. My favorite colors are blue and green and I live in a place where scarves are worn . . .

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    1. I too like scarves and live in Illinois...my coats are gray, green, and brown. :) I think these are a good list - more attainable because there is something you actually can be accountable for. I however I am sticking to my resolution to do my hair.

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