2011 was a rough year here. We dealt with unexpected cancer (which, thankfully, they got all of), major surgery, bullying in school, and familial issues best not aired to the world. Financially, it could have been better. Bu in the end, I was able to celebrate the moment when 2011 left us and 2012 came into being with my husband and children (though Pete was asleep, Teddy managed to make it to midnight).
I have a lot of changes planned for 2012. There are a lot of things that I'm hoping to do to not only better myself but better the world around me. I've restarted my 101 in 1,001 list and even rebooted the blog that went with it. I'm hoping that with the last year of fairly regular blogging (between here and Views from the Reader Side) that I'll be able to keep up fairly regularly. Because I want to make this work. And I'm determined.
What do I want to accomplish in 2012? Quite a few things.
I want to save $2,400. That's $200 a month. Since we no longer have the car payment, putting that money aside should be doable. Eventually, we want to buy a house. And the only way that we're going to be able to do that is by saving now.
I want to be able to keep my home from CHAOS (for those unfamiliar with FlyLady, it's "Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome"). I'm going to try to come up with a schedule of things that need to be done every day to keep on top of things. I'm going to push the boys, Rich and myself to clean as we go and make sure each night, we go to bed with everything put away the way it should be. I'm going to find better ways for organization, things like hooks on the walls for purses/backpacks/lunchboxes, baskets to keep each person's things in and a Shoe Station for shoes to go into when they come off in the house. I'm going to make my house a place I want to come back to.
I'm going to start therapy up again. I've had a lot of depression issues in 2011 that I need to fight off. I need someone to talk to when things get rough. And my friends... yes, they help. And they help a LOT. Writing does help, but it doesn't give the feedback that I always need. So I'm going to start talking to someone professional again. It's a step toward making me better.
I'm going to be more diligent about my reviews and my rating for swaps. I need to be more responsible about things, and that's a good place to start.
I'm going to work harder at losing weight. I'm not going to bring the fattening things into the house and I'm going to put more exercise into my day. As a help to this (and something to better me in general), I'm going to spend less time on the computer and more time playing with my boys (preferably outside).
This aren't the only things I want to accomplish. I want to blog more and get back to being a part of my blogging communities. I want to write more and hopefully participate in NaNoWriMo and NaNoBloMo. I want to end 2012 feeling good about myself, my family and my world. And I know that none of this is going to happen overnight. I need to keep plugging away at these things. Because success isn't instantaneous. It's something that needs to be worked toward. And that is my biggest goal - working toward the things that I want to happen in 2012 and for the rest of my life.
And a lot less fun than the other options.
