Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Happy New Year (the six-days-late edition)!

So here we are, almost one week into 2009, and unlike many bloggers, I have not yet posted anything that would suggest that we have ended one year and started another one. Thanks to a whirlwind of holiday get-togethers and nights at work and even some cooking, I have let the New Year come and go with hardly any fanfare at all.

That's not to say that I don't have resolutions. Of course, I have some resolutions! After all, I am a multitasking adult female who is trying to do it all. Why not add some pipe dreams to the list?

Wow, that sounds a little bitter, doesn't it? Suffice it to say that I have, for the past many years, made diet and exercise my #1 New Year's Resolution. And for the past many years, I have failed miserably at it. I have continued to sit too much, move too little, hit the drive through too often, choose chips over veggies, and generally neglect to pay much attention to my health whatsoever...even when I am on a "diet." Although I don't know if this year will be any different, I did begin counting Points again yesterday and journaling all my food...so let the games begin!

I think if I could sum up my resolutions this year into one handy phrase, it would be this: "Get your shit together, Sister!" That covers the diet thing. It covers the exercise thing. It covers the continued paying off of debt. It covers many things. Let me break down some of the details for you.

In 2009, I resolve to cook dinner for my husband and me for four meals each week. Now, this might mean that I cook two meals and we eat leftovers for each, making four meals total during the week. Or it might mean that I cook four separate meals. I am currently working on changing to a weekend position at work, which will make this easier. I will work every Friday and Saturday and one other day during the week, thereby leaving open four nights in which to cook. I will detail any recipes I try on my food blog, Chicken, Again?. However, I won't be posting pictures. When I tried food blogging with pictures, I became a big failure of a food blogger. There is no sense in setting myself up for that again.

Also, in 2009, I resolve to be a better wife. I read something interesting in one of the many magazines that I like to peruse. It was sound advice that I probably should have started taking the day I said, "I do." It recommended that, once you are married, you start thinking of your husband as your first family, as opposed to your family of origin. And I admit that I struggle with this. Even though I am now more than two years into my marriage, I do not hesitate to put my family of origin first when planning for things like holidays and weekends. If my husband doesn't fit into those plans, I don't change them or cancel them to accomodate him. Instead, I just go without him. Now, our circumstances are a little different, in that he has both his family of origin and his children to compete with me for time. And more than once in a while, it does make sense for us to go our separate ways, especially since I work nights and am often asleep during the day. However, I should be putting him and our life together first more often. I don't think he is 100% with this either, but he is probably a bit better at it than I am. So I plan to improve in that arena in 2009.

Part of being a better wife is being better about keeping my home neat and clean. Quite honestly, I am not a huge fan of where I am living. While I do like our house and what we have done with it, I do sometimes wish it were larger and also not situated on a mountain. I wish our driveway were paved and our water came from the city instead of the ground and that we were hooked up to a sewage system instead of the septic tank buried in the yard. These feelings are never more true than during this time of year, when I let my semi-irrational anxiety regarding the weather get the better of me and keep me in a darker-than-normal mood for the duration of the cold/snowy/icy months. Therefore, year-round, and even more at this time of year, I tend not to pay attention to what things are looking like on the inside. I have never been the neatest of people, and clutter honestly does not bother me. However, it does bother my husband, and I would like to be more on top of things, instead of finally cleaning things up when he yells at me about them. And doing this will probably contribute to the overall harmony in our home, which isn't a bad thing either.

So there you have it. My plans for getting my shit together in 2009. Here's hoping that this year will involve fewer ice storms, more joy, fewer drive-thru runs, more exercise, fewer arguments, and more fun! And here's to you and your resolutions...may all your plans come to fruition!

1 comment:

Froggylady said...

Hey girly! With all that cooking and cleaning don't forget to have fun with it! I think your resolutions sound reasonable, attainable, and I wish you much luck in the new year!