Oh yes, the time has come for reflecting and resolutions

It's that time of year, the Christmas cookies are dwindling and you begin to think that maybe you shouldn't have eaten so much.  It's also a time to reflect on your life throughout the past year and see what kinds of positive changes you have made.  From there you think about the changes you want to make in your life for the upcoming year.  Usually this time of year makes me so depressed, I think about all the resolutions from the previous January that were blown off by February.  It makes me so upset and disappointed in myself that I couldn't stick with it enough to make a few changes in my life.  This year however, I am very proud of myself.  My resolutions last year were to loose weight and get healthier (the #1 resolution), become more green in our home, build a stronger relationship with Munchkie's Daddy, and reduce our debt. 

I'll start with the first one because it's the one that makes me the most proud.  So here I go Biggest Loser style.

Things were getting pretty bad, but then this happened, and it got way worse.

Then this was me last Christmas.

It makes me want to throw up (as if I haven't been doing enough of that this week thanks to a stomach bug) just looking at these pictures.  But maybe publicly posting them will make me never want to go back.

These are the jeans in the above pictures.

And this is me tonight.  While I still have a ways to go, I feel much better about myself. 

My next resolution was to go greener in our home and I have eliminated almost all chemical cleaners, using homemade cleaning solutions and use cloth rags to clean (we don't even have paper towel in our house unless Munchkie's Daddy has a secret roll hidden from me).

Munchkie's Daddy and I have had a lot of ups and downs this year but our relationship is the strongest it's been.  It's been a hard year, but we have grown both more mature and closer together.  We are able to communicate effectively and have learned (with some help) how to understand each other better.

I also wanted to reduce our debt and hopefully by next week we will have our car, washer/dryer and all credit cards paid off in full.  Yippeeeeeeeee!!!!!!  This is a huge weight off of our shoulders!

Now, if I haven't already lost you, I am figuring out what I want to do this year to make myself a better person.  Sometimes I feel like I run run run and don't think about how I need to change.  It seems to be this week between Christmas and New Years that I always think, "Oh crap!  What have I even done this year?"  I think that my first resolution will be to think about my resolutions throughout the year instead of just for one week.  I need to try to make myself better all year long, not just in January and December.

Next, I think that I need to exercise.  For more than 2 days.  I need to become fit enough this year that I actually enjoy exercising like so many people talk about.  I hate to sweat.  I hate to feel the out of shape crappiness.  I also hate being around people when I have to do these two things.  I need to get myself into shape, so I am not miserable every time I exercise. If only I could have a free personal trainer who came with a free babysitter and I had my own personal gym in my house.  *Sigh* I'll go back to my $1 Target exercise DVD.

I also would really like to start doing something for other people this year.  I'm not quite sure how this will work out.  I pretty much have Munchkie with me whenever I'm not at work, so maybe I could find some way to volunteer somewhere with Munchkie.  Any ideas?

Organization is something that makes me feel really good about life.  I do not feel like we are very organized in our lives since moving multiple times in multiple years.  It makes me feel very unstable and out of control when there is not organization/cleanliness in my life so I think that I would feel better in general if I could sense this control around me.  I know this is going to be a huge undertaking to overhaul as much as I would like to, general appearance, closets, finances, etc.  Good thing I have a whole year to do it right?

I think it's easier to keep your resolutions if it is a short list and easily obtainable.  If they are obtainable goals, it makes it easier to complete them.  I think part of the reason why I never completed my resolutions were because I never made obtainable goals.  I hope that this year I can be strong enough to make these changes in my life.  Happy New Year!