Happy New Year!

Happy New Year one and all!

I hope you all had a joyous celebration of 2012 last night. John and I kept it real. Real easy. Take out Chinese and some champagne in pajamas at home. We have been in our hometown for over a week and only just got back to our house yesterday afternoon. There was lots of laundry, grocery shopping and picking up to accomplish. Neither of us really felt like partying, least of all John who contracted a wicked cold. We did manage a toast at midnight though, just barely. Then I sent him off to bed drugged up with a box of kleenex and the humidifier going. And onto New Year's resolutions.....

New Year's resolutions are important to me. I realize this is not the case for many, or even most, people who generally make them and then immediately break them. I don't take my resolutions lightly (I'm going to eat more broccoli this year) or speak in general terms (I'm going to be nicer), at least I try not to. In recent years, I've accepted resolutions as more of a challenge to myself. I am, apparently, a very goal-oriented person. This is something I really didn't know about myself until I started setting forth these decrees that I must follow. I read 35 books, then I read 50 books, then I cooked a new recipe every week for a whole year. They may seem trivial but to me, I can look back and see my accomplishments and that makes me proud. In learning new things and achieving goals, I bettered myself. That's what resolutions are really about, right? The betterment of your life.

My resolutions are many this year. I'm going to lay them out today and tomorrow for you, because I know you wanted to hear all about them. I realized there was more than just one area in my life that needed improvement.

HOUSE

John and I were lucky enough to purchase are very first home together in October 2010. We've now been living here for over a year. It's only about 10 years old so most appliances and fixtures are relatively modern. However, there are definitely areas that could use some improvement or just homing up in general. The list isn't brief but it's time to really dig in and start crossing off the things we can. We'd like to replace the flooring in the entire house, add a patio or deck, finish my craft room, re-do a bathroom (or two), frame out windows, put in new blinds upstairs, the list goes on and on. I'm sure every home owner has a list like this. It's foolish for me to think we have the time or money to complete all of these things in one calendar year.Now that we've been in the house for the time we have, we noticed the areas that are more urgent and other things that are wants and not needs. OK, so pretty much all that stuff is a want but whatever. Guarantee there will be needs that crop up unexpectedly too.

My house resolution is two-fold. I am kind of a messy person sometimes. Pieces of mail languish on the dining table longer than they should. Magazines that haven't been read in days are left open on tables. Baseboards don't get dusted ever that often. At least I don't leave cupboard doors ajar at random (coughJohncough). 2012 is going to be my year of cleaning. Typically, John and I do cosmetic cleaning on the weekends and then when we have guests, we really clean well before they come. The rest of the time dusting, vacuuming, etc. is often neglected. Then we lament that we spend 4 hours cleaning on a Sunday because we let it all pile up. NO MORE! On any given day of the week, I would likely be embarrassed if a visitor stopped by unannounced. OK, not likely, absolutely for certain would be tomato-red embarrassed and may not let them past the foyer. Part of taking pride in my home is keeping it tidy. If we're going to make upgrades around the house in a major way, then I think I can handle keeping things picked up in the inbetweentimes. At least I hope I can.

Tomorrow......more resolutions! What are some of yours?