THE LAST DAY OF THE YEAR

Doesnt that sound ominous?  The LAST DAY of 2010, EVER.  I am celebrating by creating a  new set of rules to live my life by.  My resolution is to be the person I want to be.  It sounds simple, and silly... but really, how many of us are who we REALLY want to be?  If you took a step back and looked at yourself, would you be proud of every attribute?  I wouldnt.  There are things I dont like about myself.  And Im not talking about my mousy brown hair.  I yell at my kids when Im frustrated.  I am lazy and forgetful sometimes.  I eat a whole box of chocolate in one sitting.  Who better to change these things than myself?  If I dont do it, no one is going to it for me.  So here's to the new year, and my new self!

First off, my lazyness/forgetfulness.  I feel awful when I forget something important.  I feel like a let down to myself and family when I am too lazy to put effort into the day.  So I wrote a list of things I would like to accomplish in a week.  Things like sweeping a few times a week, sending a postcard to my mom, trying a new recipe and taking time for myself.  I also wrote down having a glass of wine only a few times a night, coffee only on weekends.  I will check them off as I go.  Hopefully I can amp myself up enough to feel a sense of accomplishment when I vacuum or paint my nails, both of which are on my list.  I just need to DO more, chores and fun stuff alike!

Next is my diet.  'Diet' doesnt mean starving ones self or eating awful food. Your diet is what you eat.  I am changing my diet.  I am going to prepare better foods, from scratch, for my family and self.  And I am going to stop eating when I am full.  Because damn I love to eat, and I will eat everything on my plate, everything on my kids plates when theyre done, and everything still sitting on the stove when Im cleaning up.  Portion control!  Thats is my plan. 

For my kids, I will turn on the tv less.  Much less.  I have been slowly weaning them from their tv time they had when we were all sick and stuck in the house for a month.  A MONTH.  We will do more crafty time!  We will go for more walks!  I will have more one on one time with each kid!  I will start teaching Charlie his abcs, I will start teaching Maddy how to read. 

My big project of the year is to find god.  Maddy is asking me about death, about life, about god... and I dont know what to tell her.  I believe in something, Im not an athiest.  But I dont know what.  And the term 'god' isnt really right for what I believe in. So I need to take some time to ponder.  I was raised Catholic but thats not right for me.  I do appreciate being raised with some sort of belief system.  I want that for my kids too.  If they decide its not right for them when they are older, thats fine.  But its nice to have something to believe in.

By posting all of my hopes and dreams for the new year, I hope I will be more likely to stick with them.  Although no one really reads this, I feel like I am telling the world that this is my plan and if I dont stick to it the world will know.  I hope that by making these changes in my life I can become happier with myself, happier in my life and prevent that awful depression that creeps up on my every mid january. 

My goal is to be a new and improved person, the person I am supposed to be, by summer.  Watch out world, I am finally growing up!

Other things on my list of self improvements-

stop being so shy, stop being such a bumbling idiot when I try to talk to another adult
start dressing how I used to dress, as odd as it was, with the confidence I once had.
stop waiting for my life to start and start it myself.  educate myself more
start making more art, stop worrying if its 'good enough' all the time
stop feeling bad about things and start making changes to fix whatevers bothering me

I know I can be a better mom, a better friend, a better PERSON!  So why dont I start with the first day of 2011?

Its begining to look a lot like Christmas...

Today, we got crafty.  After breakfast, while the kids are still sitting at the table... thats when I break out the art box.

Every year since Madeline was born, we have made a hand print ornament for the grandparents, and if there was enough, for us too.  The salt dough recipe I use is 1C salt, 1C water and 2C flour.  I always end up adding more flour as I knead and shape the dough.  You can cook the finished product in the oven at 200 to speed the drying, but I should warn you it took about 2 days of having the oven on all day to dry them out.  When Maddy was just 4 months old, we made the cutest little ornament... but now that shes 3, her ornament is big and heavy.  I will have to start brainstorming for an alternative for next year... anyways.  Today we got crafty and painted the hand prints and assorted cookie cutter ornaments we made last week. 

Charlie stuck with blue.  "BLUE!  more BLUE!" he kept saying.  Maddy only wanted pink and purple.  I painted the hello kitty ornament I made for Madeline and touched up the kids hand prints when they were 'done'.  The super washable crayola paint I swear by was NOT good for these ornaments.  It just sat on top and didn't really adhere to the surface.  The kids didn't seem to mind, but I was aching for my box of acrylic paints. 

 

I also made a few prototypes for the ornament crafty time I am hoping to host at my house this weekend.  (www.meetup.com -search for chico moms group)  First I thought salt dough ornaments would be fun to make, but then no one can decorate them because they take days to dry.  Also it was nearly impossible for me to get just 2 kids not to throw, eat or otherwise destroy their clay creations after they had finished them.  Then I though, we could paint ones I already made... not with my faulty crayola paints but with puff paint or something.  They already look like cookies, why not decorated them like cookies?  I also made a popsicle stick snow flakes that was tougher than I would have thought to get to stay together.  If I premade a bunch and we decorated them, they might make nice picture frames for the kids to give to the parents as a gift for the holidays.  And they're not not solely for christmas, they are for winter, so everybody wins.

cheapo materials used-  cookie cutters, popsicle sticks, glitter paint, salt dough, amazing washable paints, googly eyes, white glue, brushes... all but the paints were from the dollar store, and those are still a bargain 5 bucks pretty much anywhere they're sold.