Holidaze / Resolutions Revisited

Seriously?! It's that time again?! This post is a blend of 2 separate posts I've been mentally working on over the past couple of days but have yet to get out so I've combined them here into one entry. I have a good excuse though for not getting the post done. We've been busy doing absolutely NOTHING these past few days. Nothing other than enjoying our vacation that is. This past holiday season was ridiculously busy and blew past us (hence the clever "Holidaze" portion of the title!). It seems as though I was just finishing Halloween candy and suddenly I'm baking cookies for the big man in red to enjoy after he brings us the spoils of our good behavior this past year. Where did November and December go exactly? The holidays were so busy I didn't even get Christmas cards out! That just killed me because it is one of my favorite parts of the holiday season. Luckily Amy helped me to come to the conclusion that I can send out New Years cards! So improvise I did and they are ready, anxiously awaiting me to address and deliver/mail them! I'd post a I true of them but I don't want to ruin it for all of the friends and family (you know who you are!) that are daily visiting their mailboxes, hoping to find the treasure of said card inside! Worry not, they are almost on their way! So, 2011 is quickly coming to an end and I cannot believe it. Professionally speaking I can't either, 1/2 of the school year is over?! Only 5 months left to fill the minds of my little Firsties with tons of phonetic and mathematical knowledge?! Anyway, back to the topic at hand. The past week was spent enjoying quality time with the family, our couch, and our DVR. We had the cousins over for a sleepover and that was tons of fun but other than that we have been working hard on relaxing, basking in just being. We definitely all need it here after the crazy past few months we've had in Drosche Land. Maybe 2012 will be slower? More even-paced and calm? HA! I'm sure it will prove to be crazy and fun as always though!

On to the second part of my post. This past week I suddenly remembered that my first post of 2011 was about resolutions. Really, I made them? What were they? I'll admit, like millions of others life got in the way and I quickly forgot about them. So, I hesitantly re-read that post, found here, hoping I hadn't failed my past self too much. The only thing I remembered was that I had made 10 (that's an awful lot past Dusty, nice going) resolutions because it would be easy to come up with an easy success/failure percentage. Honestly, it wasn't as bad as I'd feared. I'll revisit and update them here so let's see how I did!

1: "Lose the 4 (or 5 depending on the day) pounds I have put on this holiday season.". Success! I got back to my normal weight and I'm happy to say that this season I've managed not to put on only like 1-2 (again depending upon the day) pounds! Not to bad, granted I began the Christmas break with a wicked stomach bug which allowed me plenty of flexibility but hey, it's all good!

2: "Be a more active member in the financial freedom of our family (Amy stop rolling your eyes).". Um, fail I think. I don't think I did all that much better and I'm sure that Amy would agree!

3: "Be more patient with the kids, not everything has to be done my way (Amy, didn't I just ask you to stop rolling your eyes ;)!).". Um, success? I think so yeah, I mean we all have our days but overall? I think I'll count it as yes (we'll see if Amy agrees!).

4: "Finish the Bible reading plan I began last year (only about 2 months left) AND start a new one!". Success! I not only finished that one but 2 others! I love it and highly recommend it! I'm going to begin a new plan tomorrow, I need to peruse them and find one that I like!

5: "Begin praying for the adoption process and our daughter.". Hmmm. I did this, lots. Bt as you know we had to stop the process so I think this one no longer makes the list. Although 2011 taught me that everything is on HIS plan, not mine! We are eagerly awaiting #3 so it is a twist of things from this time last year, but all is well!

6: "Finish my Masters!  (Yes I know this will obviously be done, but it'll give me something to check off and provide motivation!).". Success! Yes I know it was a given, but I still think Amy and I finishing our Masters is a big deal!

7: "Take more pictures of the boys and document everything (should be a cinch with my new camera!).". Success! Thanks to Sunday Snapshot and my fabulous camera from Amy last year I think I've done a great job!

8: "Stop worrying/thinking about the move.  What is meant to happen will happen.". Success? Technically speaking I did stop, yes we took the house off the market and decided not to move but it was a big decision, I'm counting it!

9: "Start reading for pleasure more (I still haven't finished Breaking Dawn!).". Success! I have done this! I just finished The Winshaw Legacy but Jonathan Coe and am currently about halfway through The Help (I highly recommend both!). Funnily enough I still haven't finished Breaking Dawn so I need to get that done. I also have the Steve Jobs biography burning a hole in my iPad!

10: "Drink more water!  (Not instead of caffeine, I'm not cutting down on that, but in addition to!). Hmmmm. Ok, I'll concede with this and claim fail! I have gotten slightly better, maybe, but still a far cry where I should be. Oh well, I have enjoyed coffee and caffeine in all it's other forms though!

So, there you have it. Not too shabby huh? Take off the adoption resolution to bring me to 9. 7 successes and 2 failures gives me a 78% success rate. Could be better but it's not failing! Well, how did you do on your 2011 resolutions? Success? Fail? Mixture? I haven't decided about ones for 2012 yet, I'll be thinking and posting about that tomorrow. I'm thinking less than 10 though, mainly because I can't think of 10 things right now, we will see if divine inspiration occurs. Until then I'll be content with my 78%.

2011. Overall it was a good year I think. We had our share of ups and downs here in Drosche Land, but who didn't? We were, are, and remain extremely blessed. 2012 is already poised to be a big year for us and I am so excited! I'm entering the new year with positive thinking and anticipation. I hope that you enjoyed 2011 and are ready for a blessed 2012. We will see if I post more in 2012 (I hope so!), I think my overall post number was lower this past year than in 2010. So, I hope you are ready to join me for the ride! See you next year!

All is well, for auld lang syne, in Drosche Land.

Resolutions!

Well, 2011 is officially here.  We decided this year to ring in a new year quite uneventfully by relaxing at home and blissfully doing nothing.  Boy did we do it too!  After Amy and I picked up the boys from my parents' house following our Date Night we made a quick stop at the ridiculously crowded grocery store before heading home to enjoy our brand new couch.  Oh, I totally forgot to mention that the other day so I will go off on a tangent here for a minute to discuss this.  Amy has been gently insisting (bugging) me for the past year and a half to get a new sofa.  I have been holding out and I must give myself credit for lasting so long.  However, I was blindsided the other day when out of the blue Amy mentioned we would go couch shopping.  I was trapped so I went a long.  A day of searching later we are the proud new owners of the most amazing couch in the world!  Thank you Gallery Furniture for your awesome furniture and great deal!  It has 4, yes 4, recliners and a console where we can hide things like remotes!  The best part of it is the fact that it is a 3-piece sectional that includes a full-size sofa, love seat, and a ginormous wedge.  So we can rearrange it however we see fit.  This will come in very handy when and if we ever do move since we obviously do not know what kind of living room we will end up with.  Needless to say, we are thoroughly enjoying our new couch and have been spending as much time as possible lounging on it!  But I digress, time to get back to the post at hand.

With the arrival of a new year I have been debating what my resolution(s) will be.  Such a difficult decision to make every 12 months.  What can I realistically accomplish, stick with, or do???  Maybe this year I will just list all the things I can think of and attempt to get as many of them checked off as possible.  After all, I do love making a good list.  That way if I don't finish all of them I will still have some sense of accomplishment when I check things off.  So, on with the ideas.  Some easy, some quite lofty.  We will see what successes 2011 brings.

-  Lose the 4 (or 5 depending on the day) pounds I have put on this holiday season.
-  Be a more active member in the financial freedom of our family (Amy stop rolling your eyes)
-  Be more patient with the kids, not everything has to be done my way (Amy, didn't I just ask you to stop rolling your eyes ;)!)
-  Finish the Bible reading plan I began last year (only about 2 months left) AND start a new one!
-  Begin praying for the adoption process and our daughter
-  Finish my Masters!  (Yes I know this will obviously be done, but it'll give me something to check off and provide motivation!)
-  Take more pictures of the boys and document everything (should be a cinch with my new camera!)
-  Stop worrying/thinking about the move.  What is meant to happen will happen.
-  Start reading for pleasure more (I still haven't finished Breaking Dawn!)
-  Drink more water!  (Not instead of caffeine, I'm not cutting down on that, but in addition to!)

Ok, so there are 10 things.  I'm sure more will pop into my head over the first few weeks of this new year, but for now that seems adequate right?  Some seem like easy successes, others more ongoing ideas.  Maybe I'll revisit this post in 364 days and see how I've done.  Plus having 10 things will make figuring out percentages easy!  Ok, now let's get to work!

All is well, resolved, in Drosche Land.

    Our awesome new couch - huge & wonderful!