New Year, Not So New Me

In all my years, I have not ever made a new year's resolution. Not one. Partly due to lack of motivation but mostly due to the simple fact that mama does not like to fail.

Not a fan of failure.

It seems like the moment I boldly declare my grand intentions for anything, fate intervenes. And by fate, I mean I get distracted by something shiny and I can't seem to get said intentions out of the starting gate. In my defense, I am quite the busy lady what with the children, the husband and all the television viewing that I have to keep up with.

(It's at this point I feel the need to remind you that American Idol starts this month).

(J-LO!)

(HARRY CONNICK JR.!)

(I WILL NOW TRY TO SIMMER IT ON DOWN).

What was I saying? Oh yeah, distractions. I fall prey to them.

Many times resolutions revolve around health. People promise to stop smoking (blech), stop eating sugar (not a chance), drink less (I'm fourteen hours off the diet cherry vanilla Dr. Pepper) and exercise every day. It took me three times to spell exercise correctly, which should really tell you all you need to know about that one.

But maybe instead of doing the usual (or not doing the usual, as it were) I could make some goals.

Or something.

One time I printed off a cleaning schedule (stinking Pinterest). I followed it for like three whole months weeks days and then it fell off the fridge, landed in a water puddle and the ink smeared, making it illegible.

Clean up small pool of liquid wasn't a task listed for that day.

Otherwise, I would still be trucking along and my house would be spotless.

FATE, I tell you.

Some of my friends have chosen a word that will become their mantra for the year. I like the idea of embracing a theme and not getting bogged down by an unmarked check list. 

But the only words that seem to jump into my mind are clutter, chaos and toomuchcrap.

I double-checked the spelling on that last one. It's accurate.

So maybe I could try to clean more or reduce the clutter.

I'm laughing at me too.

It's not that I haven't tried to reduce, reuse, or recycle. There have been times aplenty where I have been gung-ho about the organizing of the things. Before Christmas I had the girls get rid of an entire garbage bag of my nemesis, the stuffed animal.

And then, just yesterday my sister-in-law sent home the equivalent of two garbage bags of stuffed animals.

Our relationship is a little dicey right now.

I also had the girls scour the playroom for unwanted baby dolls when a friend from church was collecting them to take to an orphanage in Haiti. Because here was a chance to help mold these precious hearts and lead them toward a life of love and giving.

Four minutes later they came out of the room with one doll.

One.

And it was mine. From the days of yore.

Life lesson. Check.

So I've decided to step up and act like the grown-up I am pretending to be. Maybe set some realistic goals for the coming year, things that we can truly get behind and adopt into practice as a family.

1) Kiss my husband every day.
   This is a good one, because he's quite the handsome fella.  Except for when he has germs. I mean, he's still handsome with germs, but there's not enough echinacea in the world when this household gets a cold. And also, spring training is just around the corner so this should probably read: kiss my husband, every day that we're in the same town. 

2) Read with my girls. Also every day.
      This is an easy one for me. I read like a fiend. Lainey seems to be catching that bug and I'm sure that the Littles aren't too far behind. Especially when Emily says things like

b-i-g spells 'and', right mom?

3) Buy Hooked on Phonics for the little girls.
     Pretty sure you follow me on this one.

4) Don't allow mold to grow in the laundry room again.
      Because hygiene, I'm a fan.

5) Give more than we receive.
     It's a work in progress. (See the above baby doll debacle).

6) Teach the Littles to wipe themselves before they start kindergarten in the fall.
     You're welcome teachers.

7) Cook something new, at least once a month.
    I've had the chance to do this over the holidays and aside from the giant rock that was supposed to be egg-free bread dough (that nearly cracked my herbie), it was a smashing success. Well, mostly. I just remembered that I melted my kitchen scissors. So strike the word smashing from the record. And also the word success. Mostly it was just fine. Okay, no one who ate my cooking suffered from any health related issues. BOO-YAH!

8) Find a candle that can cover the smell of burnt plastic.
    Buy several.

9) Sit less, move more.
   Number 6 should help with this because the twins always seem to use the bathroom on the opposite floor of my location. And we are in the beginning stages of the wiping on our own. I forgot how much balance this requires when your feet don't touch the ground.

And finally,

10) Don't get so distracted by