Beginnings

Yesterday, I got the best gift ever.  A whole morning with the house to myself.  The Husband took the kids out to run an “errand” (which turned out to be purchasing a new guitar at a specialty guitar store in Mississauga).  And I was left to my own devices.  And I did . . . . absolutely nothing.  I was so excited by all the things I want to do/try/learn/be in the new year, I ran around the house dabbling in lots but never really focusing in on any one thing.  Which meant that when the Husband and the kids walked back in the door, I was kind of disappointed in myself; I had pretty much squandered the best gift ever.

Which leads me to today.  Today we have no commitments until early this afternoon.  Since everyone was up early, we have a huge stretch of time, with all of us at home, to focus in on some of the things that we want to get done.

I titled this post “Beginnings” because tomorrow is, in a funny way, the real start to the new year for us.  Tomorrow is the day that we embark on our annual “dry” January.  Tomorrow is the day that we re-discover fitness routines.  Tomorrow is the day that we re-establish the way and the things we eat.  And tomorrow is the day the kids get back into their routines.

Which means today is the day that I get organized for this new year.

I’ll be tackling my normal Sunday routines this morning; packing the activity bags for the week, printing the kids’ weekly charts (where we track their chores and things like practicing piano and doing homework), and of course, menu planning!

I’ll also be tackling my to-do list; meaning this year I plan to write a giant to-do list for everything that I want to get done in and around the house.  With everything that’s gone on in the last few years, it’s been really easy to let things go around here – we’d all rather just relax and have fun than do chores like cleaning out the furnace room.  This will be a road map of sorts for me and the Husband over the next few months.  And hopefully it will help us all to be able to enjoy our house a little bit more knowing that there isn’t a massive list of outstanding things to do!

And I’ll be sitting down with the Husband to figure out how we will each find time to accomplish the goals we have for ourselves this year.  For him, it’s ensuring that he gets to the gym multiple times in a week.  And given his new guitar purchase yesterday, I’m sure it will also entail making sure he has time to practice.  For me, it’s less about making sure I can get to the gym (because that’s pretty much a given for me given my daytime schedule), and more about finding a small window of quiet time for myself to work on the projects that I would like to accomplish this year.

And on that note, I believe it’s time for me to simply begin working on what I want to get done today!

PS: The image I used for this post came from this site; she’s got some pretty awesome posts on her blog!  It’s definitely worth a look!!!!