Happy Singles Awareness Day AND Happy Valentine’s Day!

Two of the most common new year resolutions have to do with health and finances. Many people have weight loss as a number one resolution. I’ve never been big on making my own new year resolutions. I’m not even sure why. Fear of failure is probably the biggest reason. That’s the same reason I don’t participate in the goal days on my networking groups. I hate accountability. I was talking to my friend Tammy Munson about that the other night. I often keep my projects, goals, etc to myself because I don’t want anybody to know when I don’t accomplish whatever it is I want to do. Or if I don’t do it as quickly as I plan. Let’s face it, life gets in the way. I have several domains that I’m working on getting to a launch point. I hope it will be soon, but I can’t say for sure.

In the last few weeks, I’ve seen in several places where instead of coming up with new year resolutions, they are coming up with a theme for the year. I don’t remember where I originally read about this idea, but I know I’ve seen it several times since. I think that rather than come up with a list of resolutions, I’m going to come up with a theme for the year. I’ve also decided I’m going to have a theme for my business, and a theme for my personal life. So here goes…

My theme for business is going to be “Focus” and this doesn’t mean that I’m going to focus on just one thing. However, I am going to focus on being more productive with my time and I’m going to focus on getting organized so that all my ideas can flourish instead of going stale because I’m too overwhelmed to deal with them.

I’ve given my theme for my personal life a lot of thought, and after much debating and more than a few tears, I’ve decided that 2009 is going to be the year of letting go. I have been through a lot of stuff personally in the last several years. There is a lot of stress, anger and even bitterness. I’m tired of holding onto it. It’s time to let it go. The last few weeks I’ve really felt like God is telling me that it is time to let it all go. I’ll expand more on that later. Please say a prayer for me as I deal with some of this personal crap and get it out of my life once and for all.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS01fBjJK5k

The first thing I did was when he first got home. I asked him if he had a good day at school. He said yeah. I asked him if anything happened that he needed to tell me.

He said, “Well, I finally got my report card today.”

I told him that’s not what I was talking about. I asked him if he had got into any sort of trouble he should tell me about. He looked at me like I was crazy and declared he had not. I then told him that his principal had called me. Now, let me tell you he was looking in the fridge for a snack at the time. I was standing at the counter preparing dinner. So he closes the fridge door to look at me and gives me a look that says I’m crazier than he realized. And he says, no she didn’t. I said yes she did. And then I told him that she had told me that him and a little girl that lives near us had been caught on the playground at recess smooching.

At first he got upset with a look of disgust on his face and said nuh uh, I didn’t mom. Then he got a half grin and told me I was just trying to play an April Fool’s joke on him. At this point it was hard to keep a straight face, but I did it. I told him that no I wasn’t.

I said, “No, I’m serious. She said you and Alexis were smooching.”

Then he starts almost crying and he says but it wasn’t me. And then he proceeds to plead his case for a few minutes. Suddenly, almost in tears, he stops and says, you are just tricking me, right? So I started laughing and I said yeah and then I gave him a hug and asked him to go feed and water the cat.

Ok, so in my bathroom I have one of these whale faucet fountains. I had taken a thin black rubber band and put around it so it would squirt up when he turned on the water. So he gives her some food and then he goes to give her some water. I hid in the hallway and peeked around the corner. He turned on the water and it squirted him before he had a chance to realize what was happening. I laughed so hard I thought I was going to die. OMG I wish I had a camera because he turned around and looked at me, water dripping off his face, and says, was that another April Fool’s Joke? I said yeah. Then he turns around to water the cat and says, “The cat already has water!”

Then he comes out and asks me if I had set up jokes all over the house and to go ahead and just tell him what they all are. He loved it! He loves playing tricks on people and getting tricks played on him, so this was great for him.

Hope you had a great day and didn’t get too many pranks pulled on you…or at least some really good ones!

Can I just say, I’m not as anti-relationship as I pretend to be? No, right now, it’s not for me, but I don’t begrudge anybody who’s found happiness with somebody that right. I do however see Singles Awareness Day as something that maybe people do need to think about. Can I not enjoy Valentine’s Day because I’m not romantically involved? Of course I can. What frustrates me about Valentine’s Day is the concept that it’s for couples in a relationship.

I usually buy Andrew something special and take him to dinner. If you follow me on Twitter you know tonight he chose Burger King. (They had Monster Truck toys which he’s been anxious to go and get one.) Anyway, I don’t see Singles Awareness Day as a “poor me, I’m single and I’m boycotting Valentine’s Day.” I see it more of a, don’t forget that those of us who don’t have “somebody” appreciate and enjoy Valentine’s Day, too.

By the way, if you’d like a little history on Valentine’s Day, check out this post by my sister. She’s a pretty darn good writer. I’m trying to talk her into ghost writing for some extra cash.

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13

I got home from California Wednesday night. We had a great time! I’m so glad we were able to go. Andrew barely left my mom’s side the whole time. It was as good for him as it was her. It was good seeing my grandparents again. I always have a hard time leaving though because I never know when it will be the last time. KWIM? I’ll post pictures soon. I always get so nostalgic out there. I’m so glad I was able to give Andrew a taste of where I grew up. We ended up staying through New Year’s Eve so that we could spend it with my mom. Andrew missed the first day back to school because he was supposed to be back on the 2nd of January, but we were somewhere in the middle of Nevada. What was the school thinking making them come back that soon anyway? I think the rest of the country starts back next Monday…as it should be.

As you can tell by the lack of posts, I wasn’t online much while I was gone. Well, actually I was on some keeping up with the work that couldn’t wait, but I was on dial up down there and it was so slow that I couldn’t really get my blog to cooperate. I couldn’t even Twitter very well, which if you know me, you know that was hard. LOL I’m having a hard time getting back in the swing of things. I’ve been non-stop on the go since arriving home Wednesday night so I’m feeling a big overwhelmed.

The New Year

This time of year most people are setting goals and resolutions and all that. I’ve never been really good at setting goals. I don’t know why. I’m working on it though. I’ll see what I can come up with and post back here soon. The only thing I know for sure right now is that I want and need a change in my life this year. I have been a full-time work at home mom since April of last year. It’s been hard…really hard, but I know that I made the right decision. I need more income to make ends meet though, so my first goal is to make a plan…another thing I’m not good at. 

Until next time…

I’ve been a good mom all year. I’ve fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the doctor’s office more than my doctor and sold sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground. I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son’s red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I’ll find anymore free time in the next 18 years.

Here are my Christmas wishes:

• I’d like a pair of legs that don’t ache (in any color, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don’t hurt or flap in the breeze, but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the candy aisle in the grocery store.
• I’d also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my pregnancy.
• If you’re hauling big ticket items this year I’d like fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music, a television that doesn’t broadcast any programs containing talking animals, and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.
• On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, “Yes, Mommy” to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don’t fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools.
• I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting “Don’t eat in the living room” and “Take your hands off your brother,” because my voice seems to be just out of my children’s hearing range and can only be heard by the dog.
• If it’s too late to find any of these products, I’d settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container.
• If you don’t mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely. It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family.

Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is calling and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back. Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come in and dry off so you don’t catch cold.

Help yourself to cookies on the table but don’t eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.

Yours Always,
Mommy

P.S. One more thing…you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my children, healthy, safe and of course, young enough to always believe in Santa.

P.S.S. Santa has asked that this gets passed on to all the mommies you know

Here he is with Santa.

Merry Christmas!

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