Mom/resolutionist…is that even a word?

 

Happy New Year everyone! I woke up this morning to a small blizzard, super windy and snowing sideways. But a few hours later and it is sunny and beautiful outside, 22 degrees, but beautiful. Just another winter’s day on the prairie, I guess. Did anyone make any resolutions last night? Tim and I talked about it before going to bed (about 10:30pm, party animals!), and we are going to buck the trend and resolve to have a boring year. No hopes for big adventures or big changes, we just want a quiet year of normal life. After 2012’s rollercoaster of a new baby, job changes, 3 moves, back to school and horribly tight finances we just want a year to breathe, collect ourselves, and work out what our normal life will look like.

That doesn’t mean, however, that I didn’t wake up the first few days of January with that starry eyed optimism and burst of can-do energy that most of us get at the beginning of a new year. This new beginnings optimism is ingrained in our culture, even if we pretend it isn’t a big deal, most of us secretly make little vows and resolutions to ourselves about how this year will be different. And January 1^st is so arbitrary too, when you think about it. It’s the day our culture thinks of as the New Year, because in 1582 Pope Gregory XIII said “we’ve got to get this time sh*t under control.”  And now we have the Gregorian calendar. (Side note, I can never spell calendar correctly the first time, is it two a’s or two e’s, thank the gods for spell check) If you’re Chinese you’ll be celebrating the New Year on Sunday, February 10^th. (Year of the Snake, people, that’s my year!)  If you are Buddhist, then you celebrate the New Year in April, or February or January, depending on what country you live in. And if you ascribe to one of the many religions lumped under the label Paganism, then you celebrated the New Year on October 31^st.

So really, I guess what I’m saying is that the New Year optimism and making resolutions is all in our head. But did that stop me from making some ‘be a better me’ resolutions?

Of course not.

A blog I read: Simple Mom is all about simplifying and living more intentionally. Something I really feel I need. There is an eBook written by the blogger, Tsh Oxenreider, called “One bite at a time: 52 projectsfor making life simpler.” I bought it with some of my gift card money and have started reading it in the five minutes here and there that I get without a kid climbing on my lap and grabbing the Kindle out of my hands. So this book is my resolution. To work through the projects and hopefully make my life and my family’s life a little simpler and better. 

Seems doable, no?

We’ll see. I’ll post my projects and progress on the blog, hopefully it will keep me focused and motivated. So, family and friends, I wish you a happy New Year and good resolutioning. (I know, I know, not a real word.)