Happy New Year friends!  We made it through the Mayan calendar, Christmas and New Years, and here I am, three weeks after my last post in which I intended to document my Christmas knitting prowess.  Well, I will have you know that in the ten days before Christmas, I finished 3 hats and 2 pair of felted slippers – I will post pictures one of these days when I’m not lazy, but for now, know that they are happily being warn by various family  members and I may have kept a hat for myself.

I’m still experiencing the shock wave of deciding not to go to school this semester, and the closer the kids get to going back to school, the more thankful I am that I am not joining them and going to my own.

Last year was harder than most and my constant need to keep busy caught up with me and not only effected my sanity, but my children’s as well, and that is just unacceptable.

This year I have decided to make a list to start my year – it will not be named “New Year’s Resolutions”, as I have a bit of a hateful relationship with the word resolution and I think that a lot of the fluffy, idealistic things that are said in relation to that phrase are never meant to continue past the 31st of January, or are perhaps empty words meant to make someone feel better in the first place.  (I apologize if you, my dear reader, make New Year’s Resolutions, I’m sure yours are lovely and well-kept, I just cannot attach myself to the phrase, please don’t take offense)

So – my obtainable goals – and with this I would love accountability, so feel free to shoot me a note and remind me to jump back on track.

1 – I will actually listen to my children.  They’re small and they often say things that mean absolutely nothing to me in the way of comments about the world which they don’t yet understand, or the step-by-step instructions for how to piece together their lego masterpiece – or every single detail of the conversation they just had RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME…..but I should pay attention, because they care enough about these things to say them again, or to tell them to me in the first place.  They find those instructions, or conversations important and so I should too.

2 – I really do want to write more, so I am going to try and blog at least two times a week – or at very least try to post my knit projects to ravelry

3 – Not freak out about the house not being clean and organized to my standards constantly -it really seems like my family does not have the same standards, and while I will not bend to theirs, maybe I can be content meeting in the middle and work on doing more things together rather than requiring rooms to be spotless before we move on to the next fun thing.

4- I will play more – I’m bad at this.  I like things quiet and organized and I’d rather read a book and drink a cup of coffee while knitting a sock than actually play with the kids – whether outside or inside, so I will be intentional about leaving the knitting at home when we go to the park  and I will be intentional about playing the games they want to play – I don’t assume this will work every time, but at least I can try.

5 – that’s all really – those are my obtainable goals – nothing big – really  just minor details of my life, but I think putting some of these things into practice will make daily life so much more livable, and so much more balanced for me and the kids that being home with them will not drive me batty, as it has in the past.  🙂

I guess it can all be summed up in – pay attention to the little people, they aren’t little forever and while I can’t wait for them to be a bit more self-sufficient, I should try to treasure being so needed right now, relax and enjoy the life God has given me, rather than worry that it’s not the way it should be all the time – this whole world isn’t the way it should be and me thinking that I can make my own little world perfect is just arrogant and causes more heartache than it fixes.

Finis.