2011 New Year’s Resolutions Confession

It’s May 11, 2011. How’s it going with that new year’s resolution? Do you even remember your new year’s resolution?

I think they are silly, to be quite honest. If there is really something you need to change in your life or something you want to accomplish, why wait until January 1^st? Maybe it is because we are too busy living life to think about it until we are reminded, or maybe we don’t need to or care for making changes. Whatever the reason, January is tagged as the month we start improving ourselves.

So even though I think they are silly, I came up with a few things I wanted to do in the new year. Here is my progress:

• Be more “present”. By present I mean living in the moments- good and bad. As the mother of three children and caretaker of the home, I find myself thinking about what has to be done next:

“I need to take the chicken out of the freezer.”

“Those clothes are not going to fold themselves.”

“There is dog poop on the lawn.”

I have really tried to banish those thoughts from my mind when spending time with the kids and Patrick. These thoughts have a place, but not when we are playing with legos, sharing dinner, or dispensing discipline.

Sometimes someone needs to be held for a few minutes, an extra book needs to be read, or timeout isn’t really appropriate. Being present helps determine needs, and enjoy the family. This is a constant struggle. This is something that will probably have to be on my list every year.

• Make two new recipes a week. I have a habit of (maybe an obsession with) collecting recipes that I want to try. I have a neatly categorized four inch three ring binder full of them. If a recipe in a magazine looks good I rip it out, punch it and file it. I do the same thing with Internet recipes, but in order to reduce paper waste I often bookmark it on the computer and only print it if I want to make it again.

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   Last year I realized I was ripping more that I was cooking. To motivate me to dig into those untried recipes I decided to make two new recipes a week.

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1. So far, so good. Some weeks I only manage one, others weeks I will make 4. In the end I am averaging 2 recipes a week. I have found that only a third of the recipes have been kept for my personal cookbook (also a three ring binder) and a few have been total “flop-a-roos” as VW would say.

Better Communication with Family. I started this blog with the purpose of letting people know what was going on with the family, especially family that lives farther away. I hope they are reading.

Learn to Sew. I don’t know why. I’m not nesting. Maybe it is because there are so many cute things for little girls that I could make for Coco if I only knew how to use that fancy sewing machine I have. Maybe it is because I desperately want black out shades for the master bedroom. Whatever the reason, I want to sew.

NO progress has been made on this. I have until December to start. Maybe next month.

What were your resolutions for 2011? How is it going?