Welcome to 2011!

I usually don't bother with New Year's Resolutions. Usually by my birthday I've forgotten them, and for the most part, I don't actually try very hard to keep them. My life is busy enough as it is without having the extra stress of higher expectations on myself. Throughout the year I am constantly trying to improve myself anyway, so giving myself possibly unachievable goals at the beginning of the year, to me, is a setup for failure. I KNOW me. And I KNOW my husband. I understand what we can and can not expect of each other.

I KNOW I will never have Kate Beckinsale's body, but I can continue to try and improve my menu choices daily. That being said, I KNOW my husband will love me no matter how much I weigh, so my desire to be skinnier is more for my self esteem than anything.

I KNOW I will never be rich, but I can continue to try and improve my purchasing choices. I can try harder to limit our electricity usage, eat out even less than we do now by packing lunches when we have in town trips, make menu's regularly, and do other things to cut back on spending so I can attempt to put money into the 'dream board' savings account.

I KNOW I will make mistakes with our money. I won't lie to myself and say I won't overdraw the account at ALL this year. I'm not trying to sound pessimistic, but the honest, optimistic truth is simply that I will try to do BETTER at keeping track of the money. I WILL pay bills first and buy groceries second. If that means I need to rearrange my grocery shopping til the end of the month, then that's what I'm going to do. We just went on a HUGE stock up trip, so I'm already started in the right direction. Now to just keep our heads above water. And if that means eating a few boxes of cardboard mac & cheese for dinner then so be it. We've done it before- it won't kill us.

I KNOW I will never finish every project I start, but I can try harder to start less of them at one time. I CAN tell myself "STOP, you have too much on your plate already".

I KNOW I will not be able to keep the house as clean as I'd like to, but I can try harder to do a little at a time instead of none at all until I'm completely overwhelmed.

I KNOW I will not be able to wake up at 8AM every morning for homeschool, but I CAN make a schedule that fits when we DO wake up and start our day.

I KNOW I won't take my medication daily. It's just not in me to do so. I don't have the discipline, desire, or currently, the mental capability of taking daily pills. BUT I know I can ask for help from my husband to remind me. I can buy an alarm clock like I keep telling myself I need to do, and set it for the same time every day. I just need to DO it.

So there are a lot of goals I'd LOVE to accomplish and change this year, but I won't put too much weight on my shoulders. I have a new baby coming this spring, and I don't want my recover and adjustment time to completely throw us into a whirlwind.

I do know that I will try very hard to stop cursing. That's a big one for me. My kids occasionally copycat and I tell them not to say those words, but I am not leading by a very good example, and that's something I need to change desperately.
I also know that I want to do more fun things with my kids. I'd also like to get out more. I've started doing a few community activities, but not much, and I'd like to put myself out there more. I have no friends, which is also not a good example for my children.

SO, all that being said, I hope to have an awesome year, and learn from the mistakes from last year. I hope to spend each day enjoying my babies, bake something every day, and, of course, watch Adam Sandler.