A month in...

We're a month into 2012, and frankly it doesn't really feel like it to me. I think part of that feeling is due to the weather here - we've pretty muched missed winter so far, with above average temperatures and below average snow fall. I have grown unaccustomed to seeing brown lawn for most of January, and it's starting to be a little disconcerting. Snow is predicted for Thursday, but the weekend is supposed to be on the warm-ish side, so even if we do get a good few inches of snow, there's no guarantee it'll stick around for long.

I never did get around to posting my goals for 2012. Here they are:
1. Read at least 12 novels (one a month is the goal, but some months aren't as fiction-friendly as others. I had so much fun with this last year that it just might be a goal for life).
2. Read at least 12 non-fiction books (got to keep things balanced. And setting a goal makes it more likely to happen, I think).
3. Give away 366 things, one per day - remember, this is a leap year! I've got a big rubber maid bin as my current collection site, saving things for our annual church rummage sale. After that it'll be off to the Salvation Army or Goodwill. I'm keeping track of the items on a list on the box lid. I'm only 3 shy for January. Gotta get busy.
4. Write a handwritten letter, card or postcard for every day the USPS delivers mail, which was 24 days this month. I've still got 2 to write tonight, but there's hope... If you start getting prodigious quantities of mail from me, now you'll know why. If you'd like to get some mail from me, let me know in the comments... (This goal is a spin-off of the 52 weeks 52 letters challenge (which always seemed a bit of a weenie challenge to me) and is a result of the success I had sending a postcard every day for a month last fall).
5. Find a place for everything in our house. And then put everything in said place. This is related to goal #3. We've still got too much junk in our house. I still have too much junk in our house. And the Munchkin's growing stash doesn't make things any easier. If any of this year's goals prove bigger than my determination, it will be this one.
6. Get back in slightly better shape. I know, aim high, right? If I could lose 100 pounds between now New Year's Eve that'd be great. But that might be biting off more than I'd actually get around to chewing. So I'm going for 20 pounds or so, and some increased cardio endurance. My gym membership got re-upped this week, after a nearly year-long hiatus, which followed a 10-month-pregnancy-and-post-partum hiatus. It's time.
7. Knit something real. And I'm already on this one - I signed up for a "First Sweater" knitting class at a local yarn shop. At first I thought I'd tackle a husband-sized sweater, but then I found some great orange-purple-pink yard and decided to go with something for the Munchkin instead. I'd hoped to find a new friend or two among my fellow students, but I'm a good 10-15 years older than all four of them. If I'd been looking for Saturday night drinking (and knitting) buddies, I'd have been set.
8. More date nights. We're working on it.
9. Write something every day - if not a card, a blog post here or on the church blog, in my journal, something.

Now that I'm all the way to number nine, I'm feeling like I should come up with three more to get all the way to number 12 for 2012. But I won't.
There is, however, one more thing we're really hoping for - a second child. I miscarried again at Thanksgiving. It wasn't nearly as traumatic as the first time, but dashed hopes and dreams are never fun. There's more to say about that, but I'll save it for another day.

For now, I've got to go write a couple of postcards!!

Happy Eighth Day of Christmas! And Happy New Year!

After worship on Christmas morning. I think the Munchkin was hungry!

Merry Christmas! And welcome to 2012!
As you can see from the total lack of posts from the last two weeks, having my in-laws here didn't exactly promote blog-writing (or much of anything else productive) for me...
More on their visit, and my experience of it, another time.
For now: happy new year! I have a whole host of goals (I've given up on making resolutions - they're too pass/fail for me at this point - goals have the flexibility I need) for 2012. And I'll be sharing them sooner than later, as a little peer pressure to keep plugging away at them might just prove helpful.

Have YOU made any resolutions, or articulated any new goals, for 2012? If you need an accountability partner, just let me know. I'd be happy to virtually kick your butt, if you'll kick mine. :)

So Much

There is much to be thankful for.
Today I am especially thankful for my husband, whose birthday is today. And I'm thankful we were able to get him a couple of gifts that were "just right."
I am thankful for my family, and that we get to be together from time to time.
I am thankful that the Munchkin has great cousins.
I am thankful that I have no pressing need to stay up late tonight or get up early tomorrow to go shopping for Christmas presents or other deals (though we do plan to hit a shop that's got half-price socks tomorrow morning. G's feet are pretty rough on his socks).
What are you feeling especially thankful for??

Thanks 4 Giving

This morning G came home a bit early from the weekly men's breakfast and Bible study he participates in. I wanted to get out the door to try to get into town and parked by 9am. Today was the first day of a new Bozeman tradition: the Thanks 4 Giving Clothing Give Away.
I heard about it last year, but with a newborn I didn't make it out the door to check it out. It's a great event. People donate clothes, from newborn to adult xl, and then they all get sorted and piled high on tables and racks in an old school gym. Then the doors are flung open and anybody who wants to can go and take whatever they want. For free. Anybody. It was a little bit of a zoo, but I'm glad I went.
Unlike many of the others (mostly women) waiting in the line in single digit-teen temperatures, I didn't have a bag in hand. The list of items I was hoping to find included a couple of long-sleeved onesies or shirts for the Munchkin to wear now- somehow we didn't have enough long sleeve first layers to get from laundry day to laundry day. Needless to say, we do now.
I came home with a plastic grocery bag stuffed with previously loved clothing, including a pair of pediped shoes and a pair of Stride Rite shoes. And the great thing is, if anything doesn't fit or work for us, I can just donate it back next year and put it back in the mix.
Today I am thankful for living in a generous community. (Remind me later to write about my first 'GGHAC' meeting a week and a half ago...)

I Know Where She Gets It

Today the Munchkin did a new trick: after emptying the little basket we have our random assortment of coasters in, again, she put. them. back. in. She didn't quite get all of them back in the basket, but I'm not complaining. It's so fun to watch her figure things out, and she was so proud! She held the basket out for me at a full-arm stretch and a goofy grin on her face.
The Munchkin's momma (that would be yours truly) had a bit of an "aha" this evening. I spent about 90 minutes sitting on the floor in our bonus room, sorting through bin after endless plastic bin of photos, rubber stamps, paper ephemera saved (and some even purchased!) for future uber-artsy collage projects. And when I got up, I saw exactly where the Munchkin gets her Entropy-Girl skills. In my experience, such sorting always makes things look worse before they look better, and there was a momma sized empty space surrounded by piles and bins, a recycle bag and a garbage bag. I didn't take a photo- the evidence would be far too embarrassing. But you can get the general idea here:

Increased entropy achieved, the Munchkin moves on to new targets.

Entropy-Girl in Action

The Munchkin (aka Entropy-Girl), Master of Mayhem & Chaos

Here she is, doing what she does best. At least today I finally managed to get that very full basket of laundry into the washing machine!

Super Power Revealed

The Munchkin's super power has been revealed in our home: entropy. The girl's got serious skills in chaos-creation (and it's not like G and I are the king and queen of order, tidiness and a-place-for-everything-and-everything-in-its-place). BUT - we do have a handful of containers intended to keep a few things in certain spaces. There's a basket under the end table into which we put the daily paper and junk mail before it all gets schlepped to the garage; there's a big wicker basket for all the kitchen laundry (our laundry room is upstairs, the kitchen is downstairs, and we generate an insane amount of kitchen laundry with cloth napkins, bibs, towels, washcloths, etc.); and we have a small bookcase in the kitchen filled with cookbooks. The Munchkin can systematically, and with great stealth, remove the contents of all of these containers in no time flat.

Entropy-girl. That's my daughter! (pictures forth-coming, I hope).

How I spent my afternoon -

 - in Munchkin land. Wonderful.

Conversations

Yesterday evening a couple of family friends from what seems like a lifetime ago stopped by. They are a bit younger than my folks, and I think were the first couple my sister and I called "Auntie" and "Uncle" who were not actually aunts or uncles.
After moving so many times in the last 15 years, I must say it's fun to talk with folks who remember when I was in elementary school - and what I was like back in those days. I'm not sure if it's a pro or a con, moving away from the people who know you and your history the best - a little of both, I suppose.
One of the most fun parts of the evening (besides the dinner they took us out to enjoy) was introducing them to the Munchkin, and then watching the Munchkin enjoy their dog, Mandy, who is a Dachshund mix of some kind. The Munchkin is completely in love with dogs, and the conversation she had with Mandy was pretty dang hilarious.

Loving the Library

The Munchkin and I hit the Bozeman Public Library today. I love the library. M's not sure what to think, I think, as she slept through most of our visit (perfect!). I had quite a take, after roaming the stacks for a few minutes. I love seeing what one search leads to, and could easily spend hours pulling books off the shelves. Here's the haul. We'll see how many I can get through before they're due on June 2nd!