New Years Resolutions....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I have so many resolutions for 2010 that I think I may be doomed from the start. How depressing is that?? Well, lets list them and see what the year brings!

1. Spend more time with my kids....they are getting older and it is the natural order of things that they will spend less time with hubby and me over the next 5 years. I am starting to panic about this!

2. Save money

3. Spend less money - "Hi, My name is Monica and I am a shopaholic" I must stay out of the thrift stores. We have at least 7 thrift stores in our town within a 5 mile distance and those are just the "big" ones. Not a good situation for this thrift store shopaholic! Please pray for my resolve.
The reason it is hard to not shop is because I can ALWAYS justify why I should make a given purchase. Sometimes it comes down to "well I can always sell it on ebay if I decide I don't want it" I bought these beautiful vintage Frye boots for a steal at our local Goodwill and sold them on ebay for a huge profit!



4. With all the money I will be saving not shopping I want to refinish my hardwood floors and paint my kitchen cabinets and repaint the inside of my whole house. Eventually I want to replace my kitchen's white laminate counter tops with dark granite.

I just love dark wood floors...

I love this kitchen although possibly too much stuff on the counters...





5. Spend more time doing school work. My goal is to finish my first year of homeopathic training by June. mmm....that will take some discipline!

6. Keep up with my blog.

7. Organize and clean my house...I am a hopeless SHE "sidetracked home executive" (I read all their books and tried to do the "system" but alas it just didn't work for me. Anyone have any suggestions?)

8. Attempt to keep balance in my life

Bogging Women inspire!

Featuring...




http://pamperingbeki.com/

I just love the jewelry that PamperingBeki creates. It is so simple and poignant. I hope to make my first purchase soon!

These women who are wives, mothers and creative genius' inspire me to be less of the procrastinator that I am. I am sure that you cannot excel in procrastination and be creative and productive!

Here's to you blogging women! Thank you for what you do!

Halloween....not my favorite day of the year.

I used to like Halloween.

When I was a child it was so much fun to dress up. I was an angel one year a cat another. I was a raggedy ann doll once and a belly dancer. The "scariest" costume I ever wore was a witch outfit. Trick or treating was fun and there was so much excitement in the creation of costumes from thrift store finds and boxes of dress up clothes long forgotten during the year. Going out after dark and meeting friends and neighbors on the street are what memories are made of.

When my children were little it was a joy to dress them up and follow them down the street with my hot toddy in hand. I dressed them up as prince and princess, a farmer, an old lady....using dress-up clothes or clothes from my closet or taking a fun trip to a thrift store, paying a few dollars here and a few dollars there to create something out of nothing.





Going back a few years...here are my oldest two as Siegfried and Odette from Swan Lake.

As the kids have gotten older Halloween has become more of a day to dread than to look forward to. It seems that every year the costumes get more and more gory. My little niece and nephew either don't go out at all or have to go trick or treating really early so as not to be terrorized by the crazy costumes kids are sporting these days.

I wrote the above on Halloween day and the stress of last minute costumes and such made me a crabby bah humbug mom! The week was filled with stressful events and by the time Saturday rolled around and with it Halloween, I was ready to snap. We left the house at 12:30 p.m. to go to Home Depot for dryer ducting which would suffice as arms for my sons robot costume. Then to the local thrift store because they sell new packaged costumes and my teenage daughter hadn’t thought about a costume until that very moment. Then home to help put together costumes and prepare the toppings for the chili our friends were making for dinner. I was feeling a little overwhelmed and out of time as we drove into the Home Depot parking lot. I was driving our newly purchased 2006 Toyota Tundra which I haven’t adjusted to yet. It is such a hunk of truck compared to my Honda Odyssey that I have been driving for almost 10 years. The parking lot was filled with shoppers who had postponed their Home Depot run on account of the snow storm.




I never know how much space I have when pulling in to a parking spot especially in the new truck. So I usually over compensate and back up and pull in but this time I was cranky and impatient. I gently, ever so gently eased in and bumped the bumper of the car in the next parking spot over. I haven’t hit a car or anything since my first accident a week after I got my driver’s license. I haven’t even gotten a ticket for a moving violation. Now I was really cranky! I wrote the owner a note and left it on the windshield. There was a message when I got home. It wasn’t until Tuesday morning when I wrote the owner a check for $200 to cover the damage that I was able to finally able to put it behind me!

I still don’t like Halloween and how it has become more of a commercial holiday with the kids wanting to purchase pre-made costumes. I was thrilled that my son created his own robot costume out of boxes and paint. We did buy the dryer ducting for his arms and neck but that is all part of the creative process.


I have to admit even with my fender bender and the stress of the day it was fun to get together with friends over chili and a glass of wine. I sure needed it!

Just a couple of photos of...

Searching....

I am in search of the perfect coat rack to put in my entryway. Just to the right of this set of drawers that holds all of our hats and gloves. I have to admit though that some of the members of the family keep everything BUT their gloves and hats here! I am looking for something old fashioned looking...imagine that.:-) Even though we have an entryway closet, the coats that are being used constantly are always on the floor around this bench. Do you think if there was a rack here they would make their way from the floor to the rack? mmmm......

Yes, those are my beloved Sorels down there on the floor. Trudging around in the snow wouldn't be the same without them.

Learning the Ropes

I am trying to figure out how all this blogging works. I still haven't figured out how to post a comment on someone's blog. I am sure it is very simple and staring me in the face. I know I will get it all together eventually!

After 2 unexpected snow days we are all trying to get back into the routine of life. The kids are moving slowly this morning. I have enjoyed having them home. I would love to go back to homeschooling and have them home all the time. I know the transition would be rough but the ultimate rewards are unending. Homeschooling from the time they are babies is one thing but to bring them home after they have been firmly entrenched in the institution of school is a whole different story. (sigh) Oh well, life doesn't always go as we plan. I know He has a better plan so I will wait and enjoy the ride!

Here's to new beginnings....

I have been inspired to take this journey down blogger's road by reading blogs created by women who make life look so easy. The photos of beautiful homes and lives filled with fun and adventure are an inspiration to me.

I don't really know what I expect from this journey but I am ready to see where it takes me. I have always loved the idea of a diary. I have many a beautiful journal with a few entries and the rest of the book nice, crisp, blank white pages.
They say that writing things down is good for you....lets see what happens.