this month, i will (or at least, i will try to)…

Hi again. It’s me. I’m back. From a big long vacation*. In total, we were gone for 11 nights over the holidays. It was a break from reality and although it was filled with much sickness and little sleep and although we were all quite ready to be in the comforts of our own home, it was nice. Really nice. More on that later, of course.

We’ve entered a new year. 2013. And, for me,  a new year always comes with a sense of hope, motivation, planning and goals. Surprisingly, I’m not much of a resolutioner. I don’t like them. I’m not sure why. Perhaps because I feel like they are too broad. Too big. Too scary. I’m not one to say “I wan to be healthier this year” or “I want to be a better wife and mom” or “I want to learn a new skill”. I mean, all of those things are fabulous and great things to aim for – but they just don’t do it for me. I am, however, a very goal oriented person. I set goals. I write lists. I cross things off lists. I evaluate my accomplishments. I guess I just do it on a much smaller scale than the whole new year’s resolution thing brings to mind.

With all of this being said, I’ve decided – instead of writing about resolutions – to resurrect something I used to do here on this blog all the time. My monthly goals. I used to sit down at the beginning of each month and write out a list of things I hoped to accomplish that month and then at the end of the month I’d sit down again and evaluate how far I got. It helped keep me motivated and on track. And it was also eye opening and helped me learn how much I could push myself. How much was too much. How much was not enough. So, I think I’ll give it a go once again.

So, this month I will:

Put away and ORGANIZE Christmas: at this point about 80% of my Christmas decor is taken down. The tree came down on Christmas day before we left. Hello, I’m not crazy enough to leave for 11 days with a real live Christmas tree in my house. I’ll be cleaning up pine needles for fifty five months as it is. Since we got home yesterday morning, I’ve gradually gathered up most of the rest of the decor. The problem is, it’s all sprawled out across the pool table downstairs. The full, unfinished basement is both my best friend and my worst enemy. It’s awesome that I don’t have to be sitting on top of all the disorganization but it’s also dangerous. Don’t want to deal with this today? BASEMENT. Don’t want to sort through this pile of toys? BASEMENT. Don’t want to put my decorations away? BASEMENT. You get the idea. So, I will get my decorations not only taken down, but organized and put back into place on the shelves downstairs. Last year when I packed them up I was pregnant and nauseous and exhausted. I knew I would be in a new home the next time I saw them and did not do a stellar job organizing it all at that point. So, this time? I am going through it all and purging stuff I no longer want.

Select photo book photos: I recently finished Gwen’s birth book and so next on the agenda is a 2012 family book. I was hoping to get a good chunk of this done while we were away and I didn’t have housework looming over my head but that didn’t happen. My laptop bit the dust for good at the end of December and so all of my photos were stuck at home on my external HD rather than on my laptop. I was totally kicking myself for not having an online storage backup! So, this month I will at least get the photos selected and organized.

Blog about our holidays, Gwen’s 6 month update and two house before/afters: I know writing about our holidays could very easily get skipped over since the festivities from the days leading up to Christmas already seem a lifetime away but this here blog is a scrapbook of our life for my kids to see someday so I do want to go back and write about it. Even if it bores you all to death. Also, my Gwennie turned six months a few days ago (!!!!). Don’t think I forgot. I’ve just got to snap some pics and then her update will be ready to go. I’ve also got so many houses pictures to share. So, two posts devoted to house before/afters is on the list for this month.

Organize and purge toys:  I’ve already picked through and started a pile (downstairs, on the pool table, are we surprised?) of things to donate. My aim is for every toy in, one goes out. So, after the Christmas we just had? I guess that means approximately 895438599804358 toys are going out.

Deliver donation pile to Goodwill: There is another pile on the pool table (I’m telling you, it’s a bad situation) of random things that I’ve tossed down here and there to be donated. So, by the time I have the toys sorted through, I will have a good chunk of stuff to send to Goodwill. The goal here is to actually deliver it. Instead of just making a bigger pile. Sidenote: Remember how I made about 456 trips to Goodwill in the months leading up to our move? And donated something like 16 garbage bags and 11 boxes? HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THERE IS MORE STUFF TO GET RID OF?

I have a few more ideas of things I’d like to add to the list as goals, but let’s face it, we’re already one week in to the month and I’m not about to get too crazy here. I think that this is enough to deal with as it is and I don’t want to have to hang my head in complete shame at the end of the month when I come back to report.

What’s on your ‘to-do’ list this month?

*Does the word vacation even exist when you have small children in tow?