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Saturday, January 3, 2009

Christmas, New Year, and Resolutions

What a stressful time it has been at my house! We just returned home last night and I'm not sure I realized just how depressing it would be coming home to a house whose kitchen is being remodeled. I'm very grateful for progress but boy is it getting difficult. I have no idea when we'll even be able to take down the Christmas decorations - the house is in chaos and this not typical of my home! Thankfully the new countertops and sink were installed while we were away. Chuck is playing plumber right now (at midnight) and hooking up the new faucet. It's coming along, however slowly.


We had a nice Christmas holiday but we are terribly road weary. We did lots of going as we usually do. We spent three nights in Chuck's hometown at my in-laws and we also visited three sets of good friends. It's so nice being with good friends, isn't it? You know the kind I mean - those you just pick right up with even if you haven't been able to visit for a while. I'm so thankful for friends like these! Next we traveled south to have Christmas at my mom's. We had our festivities on Saturday, then we got up early and traveled east a couple of hours to visit Chuck's grandparents in yet another part of Louisiana. It's sad to realize how much things have changed in just a year. Last year we were visiting Granny and Pop in their home, but this year we spent time with them at the nursing home where Pop must live after his stroke. It was great to see them and they are two people I admire most in all the world. We had lunch at my grandmother's house with my cousin and half sister also stopping by. Grandma cooked okra gumbo! Even at 91 she still has amazing skills in the kitchen. We went by my dad's house for about an hour and then made our way back to my sister's quite exhausted.


We stayed five nights at my sister's house, not returning home until New Year's Day. It was so nice to enjoy our nephews while school was out! Here's a pic of me enjoying my new computer (and reading your blogs!) while snuggling with my older nephew. We both love to read, and he finished all 240 pages of that Peter Pan book in one night! Pretty impressive for an almost-8-year-old, I think! (And yes, it does make me very sad that his feet are almost as big as mine. He's growing up too fast.)

We spent lots of family time all together, playing games and doing silly things. My younger nephew got a karaoke machine for Christmas and I had a great time singing with my mom and sis! (If you know me in real life you probably know that I would NEVER sing karaoke with any crowd other than my immediate family!) It was a blast. We also spent New Year's Eve just down the road from Mom's at an old family friend's house. They have a bonfire and fireworks show every year, so it was fun hanging out there. I can't tell you how sad it was to return home after all of that time with family and friends, especially with so much work to be done here. (Sigh)


I've been thinking about resolutions for the new year. It's nothing really spectacular or exciting, just a few simple goals I've decided to work on:

  1. I hesitate to classify this as a New Year's resolution for fear of setting myself up for failure, but I really would like to settle into a regular fitness routine. I could certainly stand to lose a few pounds, eat healthier, and get into shape.

  2. Next, I'd like to work harder on not getting so stressed out by schedules and circumstances. I'm getting better about saying no to people, but I have a tendency to fill up the calendar weeks and months in advance and before I know it I'm all tied up in knots because it gets to be too much. I want to really limit that this year.

  3. I want to have more consistency and organization when it comes to daily devotionals and prayer time. This one is so important to me, and I tend to let it slip (usually as a result of too much activity as mentioned in #2).

  4. This year I hope to get caught up on my scrapbooks. I'm almost 2 years behind already (I do a chronological album for each year) and I have several other mini-album ideas that I hope to work on as well.

  5. Finally, this is just a little something but I've decided to keep a log of the books I have read and want to read in 2009. I wish I'd been doing this for years because I absolutely love to read. I'd love to hear any good recommendations! I've got a stack of books that I'm already dying to tackle this year.

These are my goals for the year. What about you? Do you make resolutions? Do you worry about not meeting your goals?

Oh, and one last thing. Definitely one of the highlights of my year in 2008 was starting this blog. It's been a pleasure to get to know so many of you out there! Because of you 2008 will hold a special place in my heart. Happy New Year, friends. I'm hoping for a year of miracles!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Stacey
Missed you! Sounds like you've had a hectic time.
We arrived back this morning and I feel mis!
Have a rest now!
(((Hugs)))

Lauren said...

I feel for you with the kitchen remodel! We did that when we bought our current house. We were able to get a lot of work done before our lease ran out on our old place, but we still moved into a house that had no kitchen: no floors (except subfloor), no cabinets, no sink...nothing. It is so hard to live in a house without a kitchen! I never realized how much we depended on it until I was washing dishes in the (very tiny) bathroom sink. Hopefully, we will never have to remodel the house we're living in again!

kirke said...

When we moved into our house, C. gutted the kitchen immediately. I feel your pain. As C. was doing all the work himself, it crept along. I went without a stove for two months. No stove = lots of pizza.

I hope you post pictures when it is done. I would love to see them!

Stacey said...

Kirke,
I will definitely post pictures! I'm taking pics along the way and will post when everything is done. Hopefully it won't be two more months! :(

Connie said...

You know, I was thinking about this a lot while you were here... I am so thankful to these new friends you have found. I loved hearing about your new relationships with these special people in your life. I can see how they've helped you to grow and even to heal. I love that they get to know how very special you are!

PS Your nephew is like you in so many wonderful ways. I love that! :)

I Believe in Miracles said...

What an awesome trip! I can imagine that it was hectic. Sometimes when we go home we spend almost every night for 10 days in a different house. But it does sound like you had fun. I can't imagine how tall your nephew is going to be with feet that big already.

I hope your kitchen remodel comes along swiftly.

I like your new years resolutions. I've stopped making them because I find I usually fail.

~~HUGS~~

Beth said...

Hmmm...I too am resolving to eat better and find SOME exercise routine I can stick to. Any ideas??

And to wash lots and lots of dishes in my new dishwasher. ;) Hope your kitchen is done soon so you can join me!

Andrea said...

That sounds like a crazy trip! I hope you are relaxing now to get over it! When do you think your kitchen will be finished?

I make a list of the books I read in the back of my journal and then I also record them on my book blog and librarything.com. I also have a shelfari.com account although I don't have as many books on there. Those websites are great ways to keep up with what you've read and you can even post a review to remind you what it's about. I used to have problems with sometimes getting a book that I'd already read and then forgot about. Now that I write reviews it helps me remember them better!

andrea_jennine said...

Looking forward to seeing what's on your book list. Have you read Dorothy Dunnett? She was my favorite find this past year.