Forget Regret: October 2011

What a cute lil' nerd :)

circa 2010

Today my husband took the girls on a road trip to visit family in South Dakota for the weekend. He's going down for the annual Nerd-o-Rama and Zombie party. Have I mentioned that my kids love zombies? No fear in these kids, I tell ya! My kids are pretty awesome. So, anyway, they are all excited to dress up like the living un-dead and get their scare on. I can't wait to see pictures!

I did take part last year, and had a really great time, but this year I decided to stay home and take it easy. I figured it would be best to keep Alex home this year because he's prone to crabiness and this weekend would be surely filled with late nights and lots of activities. Besides, I just got home from a very busy trip to San Diego and I'm not sure I'm ready for such a busy weekend. I had a feeling that I would go and be miserable most of the time and then come home and need a week to recover.

So, in the best interest of all involved, I decided to stay home and keep my handsome little guy with me. We've got nothing special planned. Lots of writing and housework and playing and resting and maybe some cooking, I don't know. I just want to take advantage of this time that I have to get things done!

My biggest goals for this weekend are to get a lot of blog posts written to have ready for publishing whenever I don't have the time to write time-sensitive posts. In other words, general topics that can be posted at any time. My other goal is to get our house cleaned up and do some major decluttering. I don't know why there is ALWAYS a ton of stuff to get rid of. Seriously, why?! We don't even have much money so where is all this stuff coming from? How do we get it?! Is it breeding in the closets and toy baskets? I want to be ruthless. I've got boxes at the ready. It's time to let some things go.

Stay tuned.

While I was on my vacation in San Diego for my little brother's wedding (more on that to come), I turned 32. This is weird for me. I completely remember my life at 12 years old, when my own mom was 32, and it's so strange to think that I am at the same stage in my life, chronologically, as my mom was at that time.

For many people, the first day of a new year is a time for reflection and resolving to change, for me, that day is my birthday. I have so many things that I have been thinking about lately and I have much to write here but for today I've decided to just do a fun post, nothing serious. I'll save that for a time when I am ready to set aside an hour of my day. :)

And so, without further ado, I present to you 32 things I hope to do this year!

PS: I'm sorry for the humongoid photos here. I am too tired to try to resize all this junk.

32. Play with my kids more. I mean, get down on the floor and really play with them.

31. Change my image. My look, if you will. I want to change the way I dress and all that good stuff. I want to dress the way that I feel. I don't know how to explain that better, but I'll get to that another post.

source: http://blogs.lexpress.fr/cafe-mode/2008/09/16/a_nous_les_petites_anglaises/

30. Eat at a new restaurant. I don't mean a chain restaurant, I mean a little, family owned place around this area.

29. Blog more. Yeah, that one is always in the back of my mind.

28. Plan monthly dates with my husband. Even if it's a stay-at-home date, I want it to be planned.

27. Potty train my son. Seriously.

26. Get pregnant. This has to wait until my husband has a good job, and I'd like to lose a little weight beforehand, but this needs to happen this year or else I think we're done.

25. Lose weight :) yeah, I really would like to lose at LEAST 40 lbs. before I get pregnant again. Ideally, 55 lbs. but I'll be happy with 40.

24. Take a trip. I'm hoping this trip will involve San Diego, child free, with my husband, for my cousin's wedding, but if that doesn't happen, I'll be happy with whatever I can get. I just want to go SOMEWHERE!

23. Put more time into my business. Yeah, I have a business. Did you know that?! :) I need to devote more time to it. I want to devote more time to it.

22. Work on my photography skills. My dream job is to be a photographer. I hope to be able to do it one day. For now I'll just keep practicing.

source: http://www.redbubble.com/people/emmakoehle/t-shirts/3546699-oh-snap

21. Get a new camera... and keep it. Haha! I bought a camera awhile back but had to sell it because we needed the money. So this time I need to make sure that we will not have to sell it. Yeah.

20. Get more involved in our community, and teach our kids the importance of this, as well.

19. Shop at a thrift store monthly. Even if I only buy one thing. I love to shop at thrift stores and I should do it more often.

18. Declutter. A plan for this will follow in another blog post.

17. Learn Japanese. At least, start to learn it. I need to. I want my kids to learn, too. I have a Japanese sister-in-law now. Did you know that? :)

source: http://amandalogophotography.com

16. Read a new book each month. Book list to follow.

15. Crochet more. I love to crochet. I want to learn new techniques and make more stuff!

source: http://www.etsy.com/listing/55248954/little-lamb-wool-sizes-from-newborn-to

14. Volunteer. Somewhere. I need to figure out where. But I'd like to do it regularly.

13. Speaking of regular: GO TO CHURCH and GET INVOLVED THERE! I'm so bad about this. I need to do it. I need to get past my shyness, and my ability to put what's important on the back burner.

12. Stay involved in the local homeschool group. I finally found a group! yay! Now I just need to stay plugged in.

11. Teach my kids how to be keepers of the home by modeling and helping them.

10. Relax more. Worry less. I'm getting so much better at this. Just keep working on it.

9. Go sledding with the kids more than just once all winter.

8. Teach Jenna how to ice skate.

7. Help the kids develop and KEEP a good routine.

6. Redecorate my bedroom

5. organize the craft room and really make it useable. Then use it.