New Year, New You! Blah, blah, blah...

My New Years resolution is not going to be a diet or exercise routine that I will ultimately fail at. I mean, why continue to torture myself year after year with the same old weight loss goals, right? I can't even remember my weight loss goals from last year, how am I supposed to keep them? I know, but my new goal is brilliant I tell you, and here it is: I will make a new plan to de-clutter my life instead. If I de-clutter I'm sure to lose weight, right? Some of the de-cluttering will have to be physical work, after all. 

 Well, that's the plan. 

 So, how long until I fail? I'm being optimistic here, but I give it until July 1st. And, actually, I'm not going to be calling it a failure if I make it to July. But, if I somehow, by a miracle only God himself can provide me, do I manage to finish de-cluttering my life (Which, no one can ever really "finish" because, let's face it, clutter will always arise in new forms) then I will be calling that: goal accomplished. 

 Now don't get all, "C'mon Mel, you have to have a little Faith in yourself." Believe me when I say, this IS me having Faith in me! I have zero reason to feel I can do better than 6 months because I have zero results from past projects. Except I did complete my reading goal of 2014. Yep. I wanted to accomplish reading 100 books in a year and I finished it just 3 days shy of the deadline!!! Actually, I ended up reading one extra! <gasp>

So, my new-found feeling of so called faith in myself comes from this particular part of me that managed to make my reading goal. (But really, it's not me who accomplished this goal. Yes, I physically read those books, but God made it possible. He had me sitting a 2 hours worth of practices almost every night of the week throughout most of the year. And, THAT was a huge reason why I accomplished the goal.) 

 Since I'm on that accomplished goal high right now, I shall lay out the definition of "de-clutter my life." 

"De-clutter" meaning to me: 

 1) My house is clean and cleared of all visible "clutter" 

2) Physically I feel less weight (even if the scale says otherwise) 

3) Mentally I feel more relaxed 

4) Emotionally I feel free 

5) My husband can tolerate me and still continues to love me 

6) My kids are still alive and containing all of their body parts 

7) My dog is housetrained kind of potty trained 

8) I've refinished my Great Aunt's antique hutch that has been sitting in my garage for 1 1/2 years now 

9) I've refinished the two antique chairs that are also sitting in my garage (These are the "major" projects on my radar) 

 And 10) I finish writing one of the four book projects I've messed around with for the past 4 years. Even if I don't ever self-publish or get published by any random company out there, especially Harlequin or Penguin books,(because let's face it, THAT alone would be the ultimate dream come true and I would be allowed to die young if need be) as long as I "finish" one of the four storylines and I can personally say I finished one in 2015 it will be wrote down as accomplished. 

So, there you have it. My 2015 goals. Pretty lofty goals now that I see them on paper. I'm actually already feeling kind of overwhelmed by them. Okay. I can do this. I will do this. I am woman hear me roar. (Or something like that mantra) 

Focus. Okay let's break it down. 

Numbers two and three are only going to happen if I accomplish numbers one, eight, and nine. Number four will happen when I finish number ten. Numbers five and six will hopefully be intact throughout the year. And, we should really just completely strike number seven from the list. after all, you can't teach an old dog new tricks, or so I'm told. 

 I'm feeling better about it now. 

 Time for a latte and starting on number one. And that's a skinny latte, if you're needing to ask. Hey, baby steps here. 

Adios Muchachos 

 Mel 

 P.S. Here are a few pictures of some of the items on the list of ten. I will not be showing a pic of the clutter or the antique furniture, not because I don't want to, but more because I don't have pictures of them. These are the said dog, Cupid, my happy kids and loving husband.