2012

I am not going to do a reflective post on 2011.

I spent the first half of the year wishing it away because we were traveling so much, and all I wanted to do was spend a couple of months at home.

I spent the last half of the year wishing it away because I wanted to get away from the worst day of my life (and worse week of my life) as quickly as possible. This event brought on more traveling than we anticipated during the last five months of 2011, but that didn't matter to me anymore. As it turns out, all the traveling we did January through May gave me more time with my dad in those five months than I had in almost two years.

Now that 2011 is gone, and 2012 is here, I can't help but feel a sense of relief. I know it sounds kind of lame to talk about a "fresh slate" when all it really is is another turn of the calendar, but when something so tragic happens in your life, it taints the entire year, and all I want to do is look at a different number.

As I've said in past posts about every new year, I don't have resolutions. Only goals. I didn't exactly meet my goals in 2011, but at the same time I feel like I exceeded them.

As for 2012, my largest goal is to develop a structured routine for meal plans and cleaning the house. I've said this before: meal planning isn't my problem. Sticking to the meal plan is where the issue lies, and I want to improve on that (big time) by the end of the year. And while cleaning the house isn't hard for me, I often find myself with more to clean in a day than I'd like. What I've learned in almost four years of being a housewife is that it is much easier to clean your house when you spend 20 minutes each day (if that) tidying every room. Considering that most rooms don't even take that long (except maybe the kitchen), I could have our entire house tidied in an hour. The most difficult part about that, however, is having a toddler un-tidying everything you've cleaned, especially in her room and the living room. I've come to grips with that and am o.k. picking up after her several times a day. My next step is developing some sort of schedule that will help me maintain the deep cleaning that goes on around here (toilets, floors, etc.)

I also want to find (or create) more creative meals for Hannah Grace, ESPECIALLY her lunches. If anyone has any ideas/links/recipes/ANYthing, feel free to share!