Sometimes I'm not too bright.

So remember yesterday, when I'm sure you were crying in your Cheerios that I'd be blogless for the next couple weeks - well... not so much. I don't have to be out at he fairgrounds until NEXT Monday. Whoopsy! Anyway,I don't have any new pictures, and I didn't get to work much on Cliffy's afghan, but have decided to add a little pink - just for effect!

New Years Resolutions. Did you make any? I am - let's see...

1) lose weight - I'll start on crazydiet again once SuperShow is over, which will be pretty easy since Travis will be working nights and wont be bothered by my lunch-meat and peanut filled dinners. I hate that I gained the weight back but it is SO my own fault (not the diet's) because I just cannot keep my hands out of the candy box. Love you Christmas but hate the effects.

2) get my home in order - I have been on a purge lately, and that will need to continue because we just. have. too. much. stuff. I am planning a yard sale in the spring, and have already begun setting stuff aside (baby stuff, Christmas stuff, crafty stuff) to go in said sale. For Christmas I got some more bins for the yarn area, and I plan to use them. I still have so much yarn still in bags in the closet, and while I have plans for a good bit of it - it's not all sorted. I also have the yarn that I got from my folks but most of that will be going into Cliff's afghan. I haven't really worked with this "vintage" acrylic, I am hoping it all washes up nice. But, I think he'll be excited about it even if it is a little scratchy!

3) Get the kids rooms in order - Sean's is pretty OK but I need to find a home for his toy box which is currently living in the dining room. I know where I want to put it but there is a mini-bookshelf there that is holding a couple toys, some books and his shoes. Probably not the best use of the space, but that's it. I also need to get 2 of the 3 bins of clothes (from Jake) up in the attic since they don't fit anymore. I had been trying to keep 1 bin at a time to put stuff in as they don't fit anymore, but that was 2 bins ago. Jake's room is a mess. He is trying to learn to keep his dresser drawers organized (and by organized I mean "able to be shut"), and he is also learning to hang his own clothes. It ain't pretty, but that is his chore. I thought I had a pretty good system in his closet of shirts on the top bar and pants on the bottom, but that would only really work if he were a couple feet taller. And since that wont be happening overnight, maybe I'll put school clothes on the bottom (since he wears them more often) and weekend clothes on top. I also need to weed through some of his stuff to make room for the Christmas explosion.

4) Cook more real food, and keep a monthly or weekly menu - Sometimes I get really good at keeping the monthly menu, then it slides. Right now is a slide, as witnessed by the calendar on the fridge marked "March" (but it's not as bad as that since I used a paper calendar for April... but that's still bad!). This will be more helpful when the rat starts cooperating and lets me have my husband in the evenings. However, I can still cook supper for the family and save his for when he gets home, but I really don't want to promote his dinner-eating that late. I just ordered a couple Semi-Homemade cookbooks which I think will be helpful to me, since time is against me and I really like some of the dishes Sandra Lee comes up with. Speaking of #2, I should probably go through the 90billion cookbooks to make room for the 2 that are coming I have some that I have never used and probably wont. Anyone want a signed copy of Emeril's Life's A Party? Guess I could ebay it. Anyway, moving on.

5) Go to church more regularly & volunteer - I had stopped going for many many months after Sean was born, but did start going again a few months ago. It feels good to go, but I do have guilt about not really getting involved much. It felt so good to help out with the angel tree presents - I felt like I really made a difference. We haven't been involved in a church group in a few years, and I don't think we'd be able to since his schedule is so wonky. But maybe I can volunteer at a soup kitchen like my mom does or something like that once a month.

6) Manage money better - I got a huge raise this year but I don't feel like it's made a difference... mainly because daycare cost for Sean is so high. And while that will be going down a little soon (once he is a "toddler" and is able to eat table food), we need to be more frugal. Starting with not going out to eat as much (see #4). I find that if I don't have anything planned for dinner it is just easier to go somewhere than figure something out. When I had the menu up I could look at it in the morning and get out whatever meat I needed and it would be ready to cook when I got home. I don't have many meals that I make that don't require defrost time - and the ones I do aren't all that great. That's what I need, a cookbook of stuff I can cook without the need of defrosting. Our biggest fallback is chicken nuggets, mac & cheese and corn on the cob or tuna mac. Not great choices to help with #1, but easy and no defrosting required. I would hate to admit how many times in a month we eat that. It's sad really. Anyway, and while eating out is our biggest pitfall, I am sure there are others. I am looking for ways to conserve energy at the house - I bought the light bulbs and am having Travis convert the 3-way lamps to take them. Conserving energy saves on the electric bill.

6 resolutions. That's really not so bad. Resolutions that I want to keep, and really should keep. Wish me luck!