New Year's Resolutions

Every year I think of something to work on for the year.  Last year I wanted to remove some of the clutter in this house.

I did succeed in getting rid of most of the baby clothes and things that just accumulate when a baby/toddler is around.  My baby turned five this year so I thought this appropriate.

I got some boxes out of my bedroom that had not been unpacked since we moved in five years ago.  Found my collection of my favorite books.  This is important to me as I rarely purchase books unless I am at a garage sale. I had decided that if there was a book that made my top ten list I would purchase a hardbound copy.  Funny that I only have three of them now because I still cannot bring myself to get out the money for a book when libraries are so plentiful.  Silly me.

I also tacked the shelves in the basement.  I have the boxes of donate-sell-toss to prove it.  Well not the toss one anymore, but I have not gotten around to the sell part yet.

This year I am going to try two resolutions to make my world a better place and ... well you get the idea.  Here are my thoughts on what I am going to do:

Try to instill some type of gratefulness in my boys.  They have no idea how much they have.  Not just material possession-wise.  But in the fact that their parents are married and in love.  That all grandparents are still married.  That family lives close.  That they have plenty of food on their table.  That their parents can go out an buy any toy they want whenever they desire it (although we rarely do that on a whim).  That there are plenty of adults in their world that love them to pieces and would bend over backwards for them.  These things are invaluable and are a part of who they are, but because they are young and in the egocentric part of their development, my boys have not recognized it yet.  We may even begin to do service projects-like Habitat for Humanity as my hooligans love anything having to do with tools.

Second, and more fun because it has to do with food, we are going to tour the USA through state favorite recipes.  I found a "Best of.." cookbook in my holiday frenzy and the idea was born.  I have a die cut machine and a cartridge of the states that I have already used to cut out a continental USA that is approximately 3 feet by 5 feet.  I am in the process of laminating the states.  We are going to  create notebooks with state info and the boys will help me choose which recipe to use for each state.  I am totally looking forward to this.

Happy new year to all!  Be safe!