Amazing as it may sound, I didn't make any resolutions this year. That doesn't mean that I am not making an effort to change parts of my life.
~I am taking baby steps to be more healthy. I bought a Fitbit which I love. It tracks my steps as well as how many flights of stairs I climb (a suprisingly cool feature!!) It also tracks my sleep. I have found that there is a reason that I am always tired. I wake up between 6 and 16 times a night. It bounces around but the common denomenator is that I wake up at 2am every night. Weird to say in the least. I am hoping as I start exercising more and eating better that it will start to fix itself.
~This one is sort of a resolution. And it sort of goes with the healthy step but......I am turning 40 this year. I really want to lose some weight before then. So I gave my self a challenge 40 lbs before I turn 40. Whew! that is a big goal, but I wanted to think big. I stepped it up one level by committing to run or walk 40 miles a month. Honestly that is nothing for all you "runners" out there. But I am here to tell you that this girl ain't a runner. In fact I cannot even run a mile without stopping or feeling like I am dying. But I can walk and I hope to work up to being able to run. I may even get crazy and try a 5k or a half marathon this year. But lets not get ahead of ourselves....baby steps!!!!
~We are making an effort to become more financially responsible. This is in part because it is smart but in part because it is practical. We have a child to send to college in less than 9 months(that is going to take up a whole blog itself!!!) We love to travel and we want to retire someday. There aren't money tree's and we aren't going to win the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes or the Lottery (we will might but it's not Plan A). So we are tightening the reins and going back to the basics. We are going to pay cash for everything and get some debt paid off. Wish us luck and finances have never been an easy subject in our marriage. We are trying really hard to work together on this.
~We are trying to eat more healthy. The kids and Jimmy aren't as keen on this change but they also don't like to cook so they will come around. I worry about the things that we put into our bodies. I am not saying that we never eat junk food or never go through a drive-thru~but we are trying to make more meals and eat less preservatives. The way I look at it is that even changing a few items in our diet will make a difference. And as time goes on, we will see that we don't want the convenience of fast food.
~In closing. I hope to build true relationships with my kids this year. I am sure that things are fine. But as we approach the time when one of the boys is going to leave us. My mommy mind is racing and I wonder about all this things I should have done or could have done. It is my sincere hope that I have equipped them well enough to make it in the world. But more so, that they truly feel a bond between us. I just don't want to wonder. So I find myself making sure that we eat more meals together. That we have family game nights. That we turn the TV off and just visit. Small little things, but really they are big things.
This was our Christmas picture this year. We had a perfect day when we arrived in Montana for Thanksgiving and had this beautiful backdrop of snow. This was probably our last family trip to Montana. At least with all five of us. I like to think that it won't be, but life is against us. Keaton will head off to college. The kids usually have summer commitments. I had to move heaven and earth to get Jimmy off for this.....so I love this picture. It is my family and it was a great trip. That is all I need to hold in my heart. And I need to remind myself that we will have more memories. They will be different but they will still bring me joy! This picture is a stop on a new road of our future NOT the end of an era. So that is why I don't make resolutions. Changes you make should just be about bettering the way you live, not about feeling like a failure for the way things have been. (there is no need to erase your past, it is part of who you are.) Your life evolves as you grow older and that is okay! Happy 2013!
