Hope and Resolutions for 2012

If the last two days are any indication, there is hope for 2012!  As far as MightyMO and TMan getting along, the last 48 hours have been more promising than the last 48 months.  They actually worked together on the flooring project.  Not only did they work together, they got a long. They talked (about the work) and there was no cursing, door or fist slamming, or raised voices (except to yell over the saw).  MightyMO asked me today if I was paying TMan. The real question is -- have I given him incentive to help with the project, and the answer is no. I probably will give him a little money for his work, but the fact is, I'd have given him some pocket money for the trip back to Auburn anyway.  Same money, different thought process.

While I am excited about the new floors, I am still a little upset about the flooring project. Let's just say: I love it when people use the word WE but mean YOU.  I know a couple of people who do that.   After I was asked if I was "all in" on this project -- YES! -- then the details were laid out with stuff that "WE" needed to do as prep for the manual labor. This was mostly packing up stuff.   Guess how many people make up "we"?  I am even still waiting for the Christmas tree to be put up!  ((Finally, today, I suggested that WE have a family tree packing up party.   Nothing.  No bites,)   MightyMo and TMan did the hard labor of pulling up the old floor.  It was hard, knee cracking, back breaking work.

I've played with my toys yesterday and today!  Fun! I used the slicer/shredder attachment on the KitchenAid mixer for all of the veggies for the Hoppin John and coleslaw - the cabbage was from the garden. I chopped up a bunch of extra onions and celery, sealed about 1 cup in the food sealer bags, and froze them.  I got a little frustrated with my food sealer -- it kept telling me the moisture tray was full.  It was NOT!   I'll have to figure that one out. I also mixed up the cornbread mix with mixer.  I used a new recipe that was kind of sweet and cake like. Northern cornbread.  The kids loved it.  Today, I used the slicer and sliced carrots for MightyMOs snacks.  Then I made bread -- one loaf was basic white bread, the second was cinnamon.  I made a loaf of whole wheat this weekend, too.  It was FINE!  Great with ghee and pear butter.

MightyMO suggested we have the soil in the garden tested to see how to best treat it in preparation for the summer garden.  I took some soil samples from the garden, and bagged them.  TMan is taking them back to AU to and dropping them off at the Auburn Extension office.  I am hopeful that we can get things REALLY going growing this summer!  I've been looking at seed catalogs online.  (WHO AM I? My GRANDMOTHER?)  I have specifically been looking for tomato varieties geared to this coastal area.  I think I've found a few.    I have some silly questions, that I am going to have to embarrass myself to ask.   The next task is to find a cheap way to start the tomato seeds.  Those little peat cups seem awfully expensive. 

On to the resolutions....

I am NOT  making any.

OK -- Maybe one or two.

I hesitate to make resolutions, because I cannot think of any I've made in the past that I've actually kept. This year I simply want to work on things that bring me closer to the Lord, will bring me joy, will improve my health, and that will strengthen my family.  Pretty basic goals, huh?

I need to find a Bible Study that inspires me to stick with it. I'd love to find something online, but with other live people who are willing to enter into discussion.  Surely such a thing exists.... Anyway, I also need to do a better job of sticking to my reading plan. I need to be more involved at my church.

This year, I am redefining joy. I am beginning to realize that I have never had a good picture of what makes me happy.  I have always been a "the grass is greener" person -- aspiring for something else.  Not necessarily more, just something else.  I think I've largely relied on others to make me happy, instead of focusing on my state of joy coming from self reliance.  It's kind of an OH CRAP moment to realize I've been going about this all wrong.  So, I am working to achieve joy. I am going to become self reliant, to the extent I can.  Everyone else is welcome to come along for the ride.

I will work on my health this year.  I have to face the fact that I am officially "middle aged".  Curses! Where did time go?  If I am going to do some of the stuff I want to do during the second half of my life, I am going to have to be in a lot better physical shape than I am right now.  It sounds like a catch phrase, but I must build my core strength.  This is to protect my back.  So, exercise must be on the agenda this year. I want to be open minded, but I think right now I am going to focus on yoga/pilates and running.  The yoga addresses the mental and physical state of well being, pilates is ALL about core strength, and running for the cardiovascular system.  I hope I can make myself stick with it.  In addition to that, I am going to start working on the healthy eating again.  Not sure I want to jump full force back into Weight Watchers, but maybe some combination of things.  I've let my weight creep all the way back up to the highest it's ever been, including when I was pregnant. I need to loose about 35 - 40 lbs. 

Now, how I am going to strengthen my family?  There are many things I can do here, but first and foremost, this is where learning to say "NO" comes in.  If anything is a resolution this year, it's going to be that I shall learn to wield the power of the word NO.  Actually, it's not the word NO that I have a problem with.  It's responsibility I have a problem with.  I seem to have an inability to let things just fall apart -- things that are not my responsibility.  I will sacrifice things that ARE my responsibility, like my family, in their favor.   This is where I have to learn to say NO -- as much to myself as to others.

That's it.  A look at my New Years weekend and a look at my hopes for 2012. I hope that the "flavor" of this blog will change, becoming something more than a whining post.  I hope that I can pull out a few creative things, and that I will be reporting more happy moments.  Recording happy moments MIGHT even help me figure out what makes me happy

Off to work now -- it's time to start working on these things!