New Years Resolutions

Last year was kind of my "free" year. We arrived in Nebraska to start our shore duty and I was about 8 months pregnant. I had Scarlett in Feb and things have been pretty crazy since! I don't think I sent out a single birthday card, we ate out way too much, and I have neglected house hold duties A LOT! Well, this year I have decided there needs to be some change!

Here are some of the things that I have decided I/we need to do this year.

1. I need to stop buying fabric by the truck loads. I have an absurd amount of fabric in my craft room and after realized I have run out of room/space to put it, I am done. I will only buy what I need in the amount I need when I need it! No more buying just because I think it's cute.

2. I want to stock my etsy store. I finally came up with a logo, and I am pretty confident in my embroidery skills so I really want to start selling online. Two things that are holding me back is mostly the fear of no one buying my stuff. Second is the picture taking/writing listings. I have a problem with looking at things as a whole and then get overwhelmed very easily. I just need to take it one item at a time and hopefully I can start!

3. Eating out has got to stop. Being on shore duty and Shawn being home as much as he has has led to eating out a lot. This also ties in with #1 and me "taking a year off." I am horrible at planning meals and somehow the time always sneaks up on me in the evenings and instead of cooking a meal, we go out. I am really going to try and work on this. One of the things I am going to try is to cook more at one time! We have no issues eating left overs and already having food in the fridge to heat up a few nights a week would help.

4. Our grocery shopping is a little crazy. How we keep spending $100 at the store and then complaining there is nothing to eat in the house just blows my mind!! I have decided that this weekend we are going through all the cabinets and taking inventory of what all we have. I am going to plan as many meals as I can with the stuff we already have only picking up one or two things that would complete the meal. I hope to partially clear out the cabinets of the millions of can/boxes of food that keep accumulating.

5. Of course there is the ever so popular weight loss resolution. Scarlett will be one year old in Feb and I hope to wean her from nursing around that time. I have given myself free rein when it comes to eating while I nurse and I have gained weight due to it. It's no biggie because I expected to gain weight just like I did when I nursed Savannah, but after Scarlett is weaned, I have a goal of dropping one pant size by the first of next year. It took me 2 years after I was done with Savannah to drop 2 pant sizes so I will just follow that goal again. Of course it will be a bit harder being on shore duty and having Shawn around, but I just hope that if I set my mind to it that he will follow suit and we can both loose weight.

6. Shopping. Not grocery shopping, but random crap shopping. We spend too much money on nothing. Target is a HUGE factor in where our money goes, yet I look around my house and don't see anything but crap. I am over it. There are plenty of other things we could be doing other than shopping and this year things will change. Is cleaning out the garage/bedrooms/closets as fun as going shopping? No. But they are things we have need to do for months, but spend our weekends running round to different stores. Christmas was really hard trying to shop for our girls because there was nothing that they needed. We tend to buy them too much stuff through out the year that I don't feel like Birthdays/Christmas have that special "wow, i'm getting a gift" factor. It's just another day they are getting stuff. And that stuff just gets thrown in with the other stuff that doesn't get played with. This year there will be no more buying just to buy. If there is something I see that I think I want to buy for either of the girls, I will buy it with a specific holiday/occasion in mind.

7. This year I am going to try and do better about sending friends and family birthday/anniversary cards. I don't think I sent a single one last year, but I have already gotten a wall calendar for this year and marked it with birthdays. I want to pick a day very soon and go ahead and make a few months worth of cards so they are ready to go and all I have to do is pop a stamp on them and put them in the mail.

8. I will do better this year about remembering to sew for my own kids. Last year I was so caught up in trying to sell my stuff, that I neglected to sew for my girls. This year I am going to do better about getting shirts for my girls and my SIL's kids, at least, for all the major holidays!

9. NO MORE DRAMA. I am so sick to death of the added drama in our lives that I am choosing to stay out. 2011 will be a drama free zone in this Vrabel house.

I am determined to make 2011 a great year and a year of bettering myself and my family. It is our last year of shore duty before we have to move again and I will spend it enjoying my husband and girls while we are together. I wish all of my friends, family, and anyone else who reads my blog a very, very happy 2011!! =)