Happy New Year 2013


Flowers33

Sitting here with my family while they watch TV, laptop on my lap where it should be. Outside it’s really cold.

So, what’s up this year?

I’m secretary for Young Women. If you don’t know what that is, our church has a program for teenage women from 12 to 18 years old. It helps them learn how to study the scriptures and receive personal revelation so they can gain their own testimony of Jesus, it teaches life skills and encourages them to get an education so they can be self reliant, and we do a lot of community service. Generally we do this through Sunday services and weekly activities.

I’m still the Family School Organization (FSO) president at my son’s charter school. It’s not as organized as I’d like it to be, so I’m trying to get a committee of good parents to take care of things. Coming up is parent appreciation the week of Valentine’s day. That’s an intense week.

I have hardly written at all the past few months. There is just so much else going on. Besides these out of the home projects, I’m helping my hubby start a new business. And raising the older children. I have them in college, high school, and elementary school. It can be a challenge integrating all of that. I’m trying to live my life in a way that I’d be proud of myself if were to find out I’d be dying soon. No, I’m not dying soon but opportunities do die.

I’m not going to give up time with my children for a writing career. I’ve seen that with too many people. It’s a real enough problem that writers even write about it in fiction. Guess what? Being a writer doesn’t make us special exceptions to the rule. We have deadlines on kids, and it isn’t when they move out. Let’s not let those pass. And our spouses are more important than our careers too.

And sometimes, even if the kids are really good, they’re challenging in ways that might impact on writing. I’m creatively used up a lot these days. My children are brilliant geniuses. No really, I have the psychologists’ test on at least one of them. Gifted, they tell me.

I’ve lost myself in real life. I thought I’d be out of this stage at this point, but I’m still in it.

Also up this year, I’m going to grow a garden again, so I can stick it to the profiteering corporate grabbers. Oh, I mean, be self reliant. Already looking for the seeds, which will be heirloom. I learned a lot last year, and though I didn’t get all the fall stuff done my plot is better off now than it was before and I’m starting earlier than March.

Resolutions:

  • I’d like to continue my goal of getting more organized. I’ve let the housework schedule slack because of stuff. I may need to change it up so I’m cleaning the whole house in one day. I don’t know.
  • In keeping with the above, make sure I have to do lists. To do lists lets me clear my brain of things until I need to do them. So then I’m less stressed because I only have to remember to go over my to do list.
  • Study scriptures just before family prayer. The last is already fairly well established and we’ve tried with the first. I think the problem is that sometimes, reading chapter by chapter consecutively gets boring even for the older kids. So rather than that, I am picking special scriptures beforehand, a few verses, and we will discuss. So it won’t be just reading but true study with the whole family.
  • We don’t do family home evening very well. I think if I do the above, then throw in a song and video and let the discussion happen longer that might do the trick.
  • Reinstate an exercise program that only takes half an hour a day. I’ve let it slide, because I have very little time. So, I’ll be getting up at 5:30 to do it.
  • Get down to 140. I’ve weighed less in the last five years, but my face looks really gaunt at those weights. So, 140 it is. It’s a good weight for 5′ 8″.
  • Get the charter done for the FSO and get it organized so it runs awesome.
  • The secret guilt resolution that I don’t want to say because I’m worried I’ll fail: Write at least weekly in my blog and do the social networking stuff to keep it up.

That’s a lot. But it’s all really stuff I’ve already been working on, and using the New Year for a new beginning to give an extra push. Writing them down is like making my to do list.

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