Merry Hallothanksmas and Happy New Year!

It has been busy in the Brown house lately!  I’m sure it has been busy in your house as well.  For us, it feels as though we have been running since Halloween.  At one point I saw a sign that read, “Merry Hallothanksmas!”  I feel this is fitting for the holidays, I don’t really have an answer to this issue, but it feels as though Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas get smooched together in some weird, food eating-celebratory craziness, where I’m just trying to keep my sanity and our family together. The crazy is finally over now, and a new year has begun, along with that comes great possibilities.

I personally don’t make actual new years resolutions; I’m not quite that organized-yet.  But I do have a few goals for myself and family. 

Goal #1- Purge our house of all unnecessary things! I am done with clutter; my goal is to purge our house in six months of all unneeded things.  So far, I have cleaned one closet and purged ¼ of my clothes. Already feels so much better, so I can’t wait to see what the finished product will look like.

This is a picture of all my clothes piled on our bed.  Ended up getting rid of 1/4 of  my clothes that I didn't wear or like.

Goal #2- Try something new as much as reasonably possible.  I want to can new things, so I can expand my knowledge and abilities.  And my diet needs some help; I may not be alone here ;)  I need to expand my horizon in the food department, but for me this is tricky. I am such a picky eater!  And for me I would rather have meat and potatoes then go out on a limb and try something new.  Also, I have raised boys who eat like this as well, so this could be a challenge, but a challenge that I need to face. So far I know of only one thing I will not try, and that is jumping out of a plane or anything with heights.

 

Picture of  my first attempt at canning pumpkin!  These can be used for pie, bread or muffins. 

Goal #3- Continue to grow and learn to be the best version of me that I can be, for my family and friends. I think it would be hard for a person to not get better as they age, wisdom is learned (most of the time) as we age and experience more and more, so is this goal kind of standard?  Not sure but, it is one of my goals. 

There are other possibilities I’m pondering for this year, for a moment today I pondered running a second marathon.  We’ll see about that goal, right now I’m thinking about all the training required for a marathon, and this makes me tired.  I would definitely like to pursue a faster half marathon time and I believe I know what training I need to do to make that happen, so we’ll see if some new training  makes me a little faster.

Possibilities are what make a new year so great.  No matter how bad the previous year was or felt, there is a hope, however big or small, that the New Year will be better.  And hope is so powerful; there are times that hope for the future is all we have. So here is to hoping that your new year is the best year for you and a toast to all our new adventures in the coming year!

                                                            Happy New Year!