Resolutions 2013

As part of my attempt to get back into blogging, I'm going to be completely original and post some resolutions for the new year. Exciting, right? In no particular order...

• Wear a smaller jean size by my birthday - if I lost 15 pounds, I could wear everything in my closet. I've lost 33 pounds since Grace was born (yeah breastfeeding!), so I just need to get stricter and keep on top of what I eat. This probably means keeping a food log, which is no fun, but it works
• Not eat out so much - if money was no object, I would gladly eat out every meal. I was doing great about cooking nearly every night, but then pregnancy and new baby derailed me. Now that the baby is 16 (!) months, I don't have so much of an excuse anymore :-I
• As part of eating at home more, meal plan. If I commit to planning something, and have it written down, I feel (slightly) obligated to follow the plan.
• Drink less soda and coffee shop coffee. I don't keep soda at home, but it's not uncommon for DH to be nice and bring me something a few times a month. Those few times do add up, both in my wallet and on me. The drinks also start to feel more like a need and less like a treat. By limiting soda to when we do eat out (which will be less), and coffee to special outings with DH, they will both seem more special.
• Physically move more (see the first item on list). I don't know if that means finding time to walk around the neighborhood (which I don't want to do with the kids by myself, or all by myself), or if it means doing something inside the house (to the amusement of BB, I'm sure)...
• Find a church and stay there. My family and I have visited nearly every church in our area, and there's just no perfect church. There really isn't. We kept expecting to feel "led" to a certain church, but as that hasn't happened, it looks as though the best thing to do is just find a church that has the least objections and attend. I realize that this is a complex issue and I am simplifying it a bit in interest of this list. I will probably write more about this item on a later date.
• Budget. I think we do okay spending-wise except for eating out and drinks. But we do have a little bit of debt that has lingered around that we have been slow to pay off, and we don't have as much in the emergency fund as we should have. So, by being more conscious of our spending, we will hopefully end 2013 with those items taken care of.

Well, that's my completely original list. I just know that no one else has a list like this ;)

How 'Bout Some Holiday Pics?

(as if every other blogger on the planet hasn't already blogged and posted ad nauseum about their holidays)

Before Christmas -

DH and BB made a gingerbread house...

and after 7 years of marriage, we finally had a house that we could decorate outside.

Christmas -

BB opened 1 present early (he loves the Tom Slick cartoons on the old George series)...

and he finally got his Underdog cartoons that he's been talking about for months.

BB's big Christmas present from us was the RC car from Toy Story. In BB's mind, RC is the star of Toy Story.

After we opened presents, we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and ate some of the cake for breakfast.

Post Christmas -

BB got into the candy stash left from all of our stockings and looked like a country cousin...

I was glad that it was actually cold this holiday season. I hate having to wear short sleeves during Christmas. BB isn't quite so fond of the cold.

New Year's Eve - our best friends have an annual New Year's Eve masquerade party. Each person has to dress up as a specific character and the other party guests must guess their identity.

I went as Abby Sciuto from NCIS...

and DH went as Yukon Cornelius from Rudolph.

All in all, it was a great holiday season!

2009 Resolutions

In coming up with my list of 2009 resolutions, I kept returning to the word discipline. Every item that I could place on my list of resolutions was something that I could only achieve through greater self-discipline. For 2009, I am going to work on becoming more self-disciplined. This is a broad definition intentionally. I am going to work from the inside out, and see what results from my efforts. From time to time, I will be blogging about various areas of my life that I am working on getting under control.
Now reader, did you notice something in the above paragraph? Read it again, if you need to, and see if anything stands out. I'll wait. Okay, done? Any guesses? Give up? In the first paragraph, the word I (and the variation, my) was used 11 times. That's probably pretty typical of resolutions, since resolutions are usually a list of self-improvement items. But, as a Christian, is this the right response?
As a believer, should I be focusing on what I am going to do, what I am going to change? Rather, shouldn't I be focused on God, and allow Him to dictate what needs to change? After all, part of being a Christian is dying to self in order for spirit of Christ, which is within each believer, to increase.
Therefore, my 2009 resolution is this: I am going to spend more time with God through daily devotions. This is really the only resolution I feel that I can make. I'm not writing this post with the purpose of being holier than thou, or to make anyone feel bad about making a list of resolutions. To be honest, I had this grand epiphany as I was writing my own list of resolutions. I happened to notice how many times I had the word I on the list, and how far down I had placed "I will have daily devotions."
So for 2009, I will be doing my one resolution. Since I do feel led to have more discipline in my life, I will be studying on discipline. I have no doubt that this topic of study will result in many areas of my life coming under scrutiny and changing. I will be blogging from time to time about these changes. Feel free to keep me accountable to this resolution. May God bless us all in 2009.

2008: Year in Review

Several other blogs are posting a "best-of" today, so I thought I'd do it too. In no particular order (thank you, Blogger!) are some pics and links to my favorites of 2008:

Pirates

He's most definitely a boy!

BB can dress himself now, don't ya know?

Best. Present. Ever.

I seemed to have raised a shopper. He insisted on going to Target on his birthday.

One of the last pics of BB in his crib. The balloons are from his birthday party. I put the balloons in the crib in an attempt to get some interesting pictures. The result was pictures of BB looking like a martyr.

This was all found under my couch. A proud Wordless Wednesday moment, let me tell you.

Favorite/Memorable Posts:
A Delicious Dinner
Please Alert DFACS
Yard Sale

I'll be back tomorrow with my 2009 resolutions!

New Year's Resolutions

1. Eat healthier - which will be a challenge on a frugal budget in the middle of winter. Fruits and vegetables are not cheap! I definitely want a garden this summer so I can put up produce for next winter.
2. Exercise regularly - probably at a gym, another frugal challenge. $30 a month seems to be the best rate I can find for a gym. I will have to go to the gym when hubby is home, so that's either early morning (when nobody is there) or evening (when everyone else is at the gym).
3. Eat out less often - perhaps only twice a month, in order to free up money for said gym and healthier eating. You have no idea how much I like eating out, and how much I hate "having" to cook at home.
4. Limit coffee purchasing to once a week - UGH! I hate this one, but buying coffee several times a week is not the best use of my money. Besides, only having store-bought coffee once a week will make it seem like more a treat.