New Year's Re-solutions

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas. Ours was pretty quiet, visiting with Mom and Dad for a few hours on Christmas day, having the in-laws and the nieces and nephews over the day after. I HAVE to blog about my nieces and nephews. I love those kids!

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, and as usual, I'm thinking about my resolutions. Or, more specifically, re-solutions since I've made these promises to myself year after year in one form or another. Being a little introspective these days have helped me to decide which resolutions I'll keep in the coming year. And I'm making five. Five changes for the better.

I was reading over my rants in my November posts, and realized how petty and silly I sound. Yes, yes, stupid really pisses me off. Ignorance grates my nerves. Arrogance grits my teeth. Argh! Stop. Breathe. Calm? Okay. Now listen. Repeat after me. I CAN'T HELP HOW OTHER PEOPLE ACT. I CAN CHOOSE HOW TO REACT. Is getting upset worth it? Is getting bothered healthy? Nope. So this is resolution number one. Don't let stupid get me mad. Be a duck. Roll it off my back. Don't succumb to the pettiness and ignorance that surrounds me. C'est la vie. I won't be a doormat- if someone steps on me, you'll hear me. But I'm not going to get angry over pettiness. Or stupid.

Segue into resolution two. Since I'm not letting stupid bother me, I'm not letting ugly get to me either. I'm really going to try to see beauty in the everyday trek of my life. I consider it a good day when I hear and can spot one of our neighborhood mockingbirds. I'm going to treat each day like a mockingbird day and be aware and appreciative of my surroundings. And if my surroundings at the moment suck, then I'll try to get to new surroundings!

This coming year is going to be "The Year of Frugal Living" at my house. I really need to pay down my debt, get my credit score up and start saving. No more needless spending. No more LIRR. Bring my own breakfast and lunch. Make my tea at work. Try thrift store and eBay for absolute neccessities. Try to sell stuff on eBay and Etsy. Actually go to the gym I'm paying for. So, if you want me to have lunch with you, make sure you're paying! lol! Resolution number three.

Resolution number four is a dumb one, but I think it will have an impact on my mood, and how people perceive me. I stopped wearing makeup to work. I wear my sneakers and Uggs into work and never change. I also wear jeans frequently. I always told my ex-asshole that the reason he never got a promotion was because he always wore white gym socks with suits (something about sweating...) Well, I'm guilty of the same thing. I'm not saying if I put on makeup I'll get a promotion, but who knows what people think when they see that I can't even be bothered changing out of my sneakers, or clumping around in my boots. I need to put my best "face" forward.

Resolution number five is big. I've been neglectful taking myself and my family to healthcare. We need to see some doctors and the dentist. I'm fortunate enough to still be employed, so I'm going to take advantage of my healthcare and get everyone checked up. Phone calls start the week of the 5th. Dentist, acupuncturist, GP, Gyno, Optical- it all has to be done. I can't rely on Dr. Evelyn, my Chiropracter, to cure everything!

So, I don't think this list is too traumatic. I keep thinking back the "The Secret", where the theory is if you throw good thoughts and karma out to the universe, good stuff will come back. I tend to be negative and bitter (no, really!) so it's time for a new mindset. I'll have to keep reading this post to remind me. Over, and over, and over!

Happy New Year! What're your resolutions?


Ten Rules for Being Human

My friend Ruddyna sent this to me today. How very introspective.

Ten Rules for Being Human
by Cherie Carter-Scott

1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it's yours to keep for the entire period.

2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called, "life."

3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial, error, and experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately "work."

4. Lessons are repeated until they are learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.

5. Learning lessons does not end. There's no part of life that doesn't contain its lessons. If you're alive, that means there are still lessons to be learned.

6. "There" is no better a place than "here." When your "there" has become a "here", you will simply obtain another "there" that will again look better than "here."

7. Other people are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.

8. What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.

9. Your answers lie within you. The answers to life's questions lie within you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.

10. You will forget all this.

Finishing up the Thankfulness

My last "thankfulness" post was on the 24th. The day after, I got stuck. Not trying to think up a post, but life in general got stuck. Two days before Thanksgiving, we got word that my mom's cancer is inoperable. I had posted that her cancer had come back after her last surgery only 5 months ago. The new surgeon saw her and her PET scan and was worried about a shadow at the base of her skull. He sent her for a CAT scan, and for one grueling week we waited for him to look at it. The news came back bad. The tumor is going into the brain, and she has two tumors on the other side of her neck. They can't operate, and chemotherapy at this point would be experimental, and cause her body even more distress than she's in. Radiation isn't an option. Pain management and hospice care were the recommendations.

How does one go on with life sanely knowing these growths are in your body sucking away your life force?

My mom's my hero. I can't imagine what she's going through. She can't eat and can't hear, and she's being so brave about everything. And my dad...he's being such a trooper. What can I possibly say to ease their pain? What can anyone do? It's hard. Everything I say seems trivial, and I don't know what to do for them. So we visit, and we hug.

So I'm finishing up the thankfulnesses now- starting with my parents. I'm thankful for my wonderful husband. My kids. My in-laws. My nieces and nephew. My family- aunts, uncles and cousins. My friends. My soccer moms. St. Andrew's Lutheran Church. The pets. And, of course, God. I truly have alot to be thankful for this Holiday Season.

Giveaway for KEEN!

Check out this giveaway at Absolutely Bananas! If you win, you can pick ANYTHING from the KEEN website! Awesome. I'm going to win me a pair of camping shoes!
 

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