on 2014

Today's blessing:
New beginnings

Sound cheesy? Sorry, it's practically mandatory on this day!

I've never really been one for New Year's resolutions. I tend to go the way of the majority of the rest of the population and fail on my good intentions by February or March. Then I feel like...well...a failure! There are lots of things I would love to do this year.

Get healthier. I'm not going to say lose weight or diet or be skinny again. I've already decided that I'm going to make a very conscious effort to avoid phrases like those at all costs. I want my daughter to have a positive self image, and I know that starts with me. So I want to make sure that I'm healthy.

Let go of my perfectionism. Not going to happen overnight. Flylady has a few great things to say about this, and I'm going to keep working on it, one baby step at a time. I'm starting right here, right now. I've given myself 15 minutes to get this post ready to publish, and whatever I have after 15 minutes is good enough, and certainly better than the nothing I would have if I edited and tweaked until I got it perfect! (Four minutes and 32 seconds into this, the kid came up to me and said, "You want mommy!" We're still working on pronouns. How could I resist that? So the snuggle break that I just took did not count towards my 15 minutes!)

Remember more. This one, I can do. In fact, this is where my new project comes in. I'm sure I saw it on Pinterest at some point, but I can't find the pin, so I can't credit the wonderful person who had the original idea. I'm especially excited about this project, because I think it's one I can actually keep up for more than six weeks! As an added bonus, I had all of the necessary materials on hand. Here's what you'll need:

• Index cards, a notebook, or sheets of paper in pretty much any size - I had a bunch of 6x8 (or something like that) index cards that I had purchased for another project that, guess what, I never got around to. Eventually you will need 365 (plus one more, but not until 2016) of them.
• Something in which to store them - Again, I used the file box I purchased for the previous failed project. It's pretty and purple. Bonus!
• A utensil with which to write - I happened to have pretty pens that I bought on sale, so I figured I might as well use those!

The Supplies

Here's what you do:

1. Take one index card, the first page of the notebook, or a sheet of paper.
2. Pick up your writing utensil.
3. Write "January 1" on the top of the card/paper.
4. Write "2014" underneath on the first line.
5. Next to "2014," write something that happened.

See? So pretty, and so full of possibility!

That's it. It can be as simple as "Mommy braided P's hair for the first time." or "P counted to 14." (We're currently stuck at 13, but today just might be the day!)

It's a bit of a miracle she even held still for this - behold the captivating powers of Elmo's World! Maybe next time I'll make sure I have a comb on hand so I can try two braids...

 Really, that's all. Do this everyday for a year. Then next year, you're back at your January 1 card, and you move on to your 2015 memories. I also started a card with our address as of January 1. With a soon-to-be pastor in our midst, I know we'll be moving a fair amount - at least twice in the next two years - so it'll be nice to be able to look back at all of our past homes. Maybe at some point I'll even snap a picture and tuck it in there, but I don't want to get too fancy today!

I did get a little fancy and write each month on a sticky note to create a nice little file. Actually, I had that done from the last project, too. I'm really great at starting projects!

It's so easy, even a not-quite-two year old can help!