HELLO FRESH START

2011. Oh, it's going to be a good year.

2010 was a great year. I learned to be a mama. I grew, I changed. I because closer to my husband. We learned together.

The end was a bit rough. A colossal mess of a leaky toilet, ruined floors and ceilings, damaged furniture and insurance claims and a billion calls to try and get things fixed.

But, it went out the best way possible. The most beautiful first birthday party for the most beautiful little girl. And, an evening with friends & family bringing in the New Year with Dick Clark + Ryan Seacrest. That's what I like to focus on.

I'm not one for keeping New Year's resolutions. I am all for making them and feeling the inspiring hype of knowing it's a new year with a fresh start. But this year, it's going to be different. I have a few resolutions in my head but it's more about getting healthy and happy, inside and out.

I, of course, want to keep crossing things off of my 101 in 1001 list. I want to drag out my yoga mat, dumbbells and dusty copy of Jillian's 30-day Shred and get a good butt-kicking. I plan on a total re-organization of our house and getting rid of excess. I want to read more. Take more bubble baths. Have an actual date with my husband. Get a pedicure. Focus on me. I want to really enjoy the small things in life. I want to be a better wife and mom. Be more patient and understanding. I don't want a to-do list running my life. Even though, I will still use (and love!) lists because otherwise, I won't remember a thing!

I want to leave stress and frustrations and my bad ways of handling them in the dust and move forward with a positive outlook.

I know it's going to be a challenge. Life is going to throw me a test every now and then. It threw me one today. I may not have passed with flying colors but I am in the right direction. I function best when everything is organized and in it's home. That hasn't been the case since the incident on Christmas Eve. I am frustrated that our housing managers didn't handle the situation better. I am tired of confining ourselves and L into certainn areas of our house. I am tired of hearing that they have to let the water dry before they can fix our house when they should have started that process one or two days after it happened. It's going on ten days and they are still talking about ripping the floors up to let them dry, but it probably won't get done until Wednesday. I am tired of this netbook (purchased for blogging) making all of my sentences and words jumble up because of the small keyboard. I am tired of having things in my home broken. Today, the man fixing the ceiling broke the glass in the frame holding my favorite wedding picture.

Overall, I am starting this year annoyed. And that's not how I want it. I have to put the stress out of my mind and let things take their course. Then I can be grateful when my house is back to being my home. Not some place where I feel out of sorts and un-relaxed.

I am trying to not freak out with this nutty laptop and a one-year old crawling all over me, yanking off her glasses and being annoyed because we're stuck in her bedroom because downstairs is being scraped and painted and the carpets in our bedroom is still damp from being cleaned.

I need to learn to focus on the good things. Like being fornuate enough to have a laptop and being able to afford Lia's glasses. And being lucky enough that none of our pictures were ruined in the water damage. I need to be glad that things are finally getting fixed and not just focus on what isn't being fixed yet.

All in due time...

I got two good pieces of advice today, in unexpected places.

I was watching Taylor Swift on Rachael Ray today while straightening my hair and she said if she was to make a resolution and prioritize things in life, it would be to be more grateful over anything else. I need to be more grateful for what I do have then what I don't have.

Then, I was trying to catch up on my google reader and I read a post that had a fortune cookie fortune that said "Devotion is worth the effort at this time".

How wonderful is that? It may just be something written on a small slip of paper nestled inside of a cookie, but it's what you take from it. I am taking it in it's most basic form. I will devote myself to what I need to do and where I need to be and I will end up where I want. It will all be worth it.

I may need to remind myself of these things often. But we'll get through the day. And I'm betting next week will have some better days.

P.S. It's also military monday bloghop!