2013 Resolutions

Hello everyone!  Did you all survive the holidays?

I always love this time of year - the very BEGINNING.  The January issue of my magazines - my favorite issue of the year.  Although, wasn't BHG a little skinny this year?  I nearly threw it away because I thought it was a sales flyer at first.  (Does anyone get magazines in the mail anymore, besides me, my mom & my sister?)

Anyway, I'm always all about the new years' resolutions.  I actually did really well with them last year!  I figured out that they key to actually keeping them, is to make them realistic.  In 2012, I...

1. learned to crochet
2. read a ton of books

That's it.  Just two official resolutions.  Learning to crochet was great, I'm happy I know now.  I'm still working on that african flower afghan.  I need to finish up about 10 flowers (out of 120), and then join them all together.  I definitely should have done something simpler.  Why do I do this to myself?

And the books - what a difference.  I hardly read anything prior to last year.  I would read a book every now and then, but it always took me so long to get through one.  So last year I made a resolution to read at least 24 books - 2 a month.  I was on such a roll, that I changed my goal to 36.  By the end of the year, I had read 32 books!  That is amazing for me!  And it wasn't the monumental effort that I thought it would be.  I started going to bed earlier so that I could read a little before turning out the light.  Just that 30 minutes or so each night, plus an hour here or there while sitting at one of the kids' practices...32 books this year. 

So for 2013, I went a little crazy with the resolutions.  As I looked at my list, I realized that some are resolutions (things I can definitely make happen) and some are goals (things I work toward and HOPE they happen).  That shortened the list quite a bit!

1. QUILT!  I will make at least 3 finished quilts this year.  Part of this is also that I will use "good" fabric for at least one of them.  I'm a Jo-Ann's kind of gal - and by that I mean Joann's red tag, on sale, or I have a coupon and don't like to pay more than $3/yard.  This year I will step out a little, pry open my wallet and see what the fuss is all about with the designer fabrics.

2. READ the Bible every day.  Every Day.  This is not to be mistaken for reading "through" the Bible in a year or anything like that.  I have tried that a ridiculous number of times.  What happens is, if I'm doing WELL, I'll get to the minor prophets (that's the farthest I've ever made it), and start to fall behind.  Once I'm  behind, I start to feel totally overwhelmed and eventually give up.

No thank you!  I need NO MORE STRESS in my life!  And no more unnecessary self-imposed expectations or deadlines. 

What I am talking about is just reading something, from the Bible, every day.  I read a book that put it in such a great perspective.  Think about your food.  Do you remember what you ate for dinner last Tuesday night?  Do you remember what you had for lunch 3 days ago?  Probably not.  It may not have even been the most delicious, memorable meal of your life.  But it fed you.  Your body needed that food for that day.
When we read the Bible, that is food for our souls.  It does not have to be an earth-shattering revelation or mega spiritual experience every time.  But we need to feed our souls every day, just like we need to eat every day.  

3. BLOG.  My blog is super lame right now because I hardly ever write anything!  And because I don't write very often, there are very few comments (if any!) and there's not much "community" going on here.  I'd like to either change that, or give it up altogether.  Because limbo is such a pointless place to be.  So for the next 3 months, my resolution is to blog consistently and see what happens.  By consistently, I mean 3x/week or more.  I'm not expecting anything major, but as long as I can see some sign of life by the end of those 3 months (by the end of March), I'll stick with it.  :) 

There you have it, the narrowed-down list!   What about YOUR list for this year?