Friday, January 7, 2011

Oh, Hello There

First of all, hi.  How are you?  Good.  Good.

Secondly, is it too late to make some New Year's Resolutions?  I mean, I've had them since January 1, but is it too late to post them?  Since I can't hear you I am going to assume you said no and move forward with this post.

Landee's New Year's Resolutions
(these are not binding in anyway, shape or form and must never be mentioned again by anyone if they see me failing miserably at any of them)


1) Be better about keeping up relationships with friends and family members.

  • These days it is NOT HARD to write someone a quick email, write on their FB wall or give them a quick call, send a text or leave a comment on their blog.  Anything to let them know I haven't forgotten about them.  This will be particularly important this year as I am 99.9% sure some ward boundaries are being re-arranged and we will be one of the few families moving over to a new ward.  I'm trying to look at it in a positive manner ("We will double our friends!"  "We get to go to the new/beautiful church building!") but in the mean time I've been fighting back the tears and being unsuccessful.   This brings me to #2.
2) Look at things in a more positive way as much as possible.
  • I recently came across THIS article on housekeeping.  And I must say, aside from the weird naming of the house thing, I agree with it 100%.  It is all in how you look at things.  The paradigm shift.  The attitude adjustment.  The gratitude for the things that mess up your house in the first place.  All good things I will be working on.
3) Be more environmentally aware and try to reduce my carbon footprint (even just a little).
  • I'm in love with my little reusable bags I bought at the grocery store.  I love carrying in the empty ones and coming out with them filled.  And don't even get me started on how adorable they look all lined up in the back of the minivan.   They hold a TON of stuff (normally this same trip to the grocery store would have used at LEAST 20 plastic sacks).  Their long handles make it so I can sling a few up over my shoulder to carry in the house rather than lining them all up on my forearm and causing me extreme pain.  
  • We started recycling our soda cans almost a year ago.  Wow.  We drink a lot of pop.  K, it's mostly me.  But I at least don't have to feel guilty about tossing all my DDP cans into the landfill anymore.
  • Do you think I could get Sonic to fill up an empty Sonic cup that I bring back?  I mean, I'll pay full price (half price at Happy Hour though) but I want them to reuse my cups.  Those styrofoam cups are HUGE and I throw them away all the time.  Dang.  Guilty feelings returning.  Maybe I'll get a Prius to offset that.



4) Do more of this kind of stuff with the kids.


  • Over the holidays we had an elf come and visit us everyday for the last 12 days leading up to Christmas.  His name was Clarence and he left us little presents or activities to do every day to make the count down to Christmas go by faster.   One of the things he brought was this 1000 piece puzzle.  I had forgotten how much I love having a puzzle out to work on a little here and there.  At any given time you could look over at the dining room table and see anywhere from 1-4 people sitting there working on it.  I should have one going at all times.  Why not I say.  Why. The heck.  Not.
5)  Get Crafty On Your Hineys!!!  Or at least on my own hiney.
  • No, I'm not going to turn this into a craft blog or anything like that.  But I am currently OBSESSED with craft blogs.  I don't know what my deal is but I've added about 100 of them to my Google Reader and I LOVE reading them.  It reminds me of the couple years after I had completely stopped scrapbooking but would still read my scrapbook magazines cover to cover the second they arrived in the mail.  I'm not going to make hardly any of the projects but I love perusing them for some reason.  
  • I did, however, have a couple of my adorable YW come over and we made these "anthropologie inspired" necklaces.  I ganked this picture off of their FBs.  I think their little sister took it with one of their cell phones?  Anyway, it was such a fun afternoon and we've decided we will try to do something "crafty" once a month (plzthanks see #1 and try not to remind me that I will no longer be in the same ward as these two cuties in about 72 hours). 


6) Not a resolution but check out my awesome milage I had for exactly 1 mile yesterday.   It felt magical.


7)  Somehow figure out how to spruce up the house.  We've been here for almost 5 years and some things need to change.

  • I need new carpet for the family room.  This is my minimum requirement for 2011.
  • I want to lower the bar betwixt the kitchen and the family room.  It is so high I would have to special order bar stools.  It is so high it causes a strange division between the two rooms that I don't like.  It's so high it's literally good for nothing.  I want it normal bar height ASAP.
  • I'm wanting to do some painting.  If I do you can expect before & after shots.  Don't worry, my pretties.
8) Double our temple attendance from 2010.  I won't tell you how many visits this will require but believe me, it's veeerrrrrry doable.  We suck.

9) Find a homeless guy with an amazing radio voice, take a video of him speaking, post it on YouTube and get him an announcing job with the Cleveland Cavaliers.




Wait, wha?  K, nevermind that last one.  Apparently the Cavs already have an announcer.

13 comments:

Carol said...

Welcome back. You've been missed Landeelu. Impressive resolutions and I will support your desire to lengthen your stride. (MY stride is just fine TYVM) And just so you know, I totally understand your reading scrapbooking magazines even though you didn't scrap book. I'm the same way with cookbooks. I received the newest "Barefoot Contessa" cookbook and I sat down and read it cover to cover. Won't be cooking much--but it was a good read and looks so pretty up on the shelf completing my collection. Makes me happy.

Cristin said...

Sweetsauce! I've gotten on a craft kick too...well at least looking at craft blogs. Looooooooove them!

Memzy said...

Somebody het that guy a JOB!!! He's not joking around with that voice.

Kathleen said...

Will not be reminding you but ENCOURAGING you!! Looks like you know something I don't...new ward boundaries?

Carol said...

I need links to your favorite craft websites. K?

Elder Jack Anderson said...

I think I'll do a post soon of my favorite craft blogs. And the reasons why. And the things I actually do end up making. What's hilarious is that 90% of them are LDS. We rule the crafting world on the internet.

And Kathy, I hope the question of the new ward boundaries was answered today at Kim's. My world is being turned upside down.

Cristin, YAY!! Really?? Will you share your fave craft blogs too? I don't want to miss any.

Flem said...

I love your list--I was just going to write a blog on my new obsession with natural productos...

And as for your reusable mug, I think they would totally love it. Mom, driving minivan, playing angry birds whilst carrying around a pack of kids in uniform asking to reuse her cub. You would be the talk of the town. Do it.

Jenny said...

I've noticed lately that you've been enjoying the same craft blogs I read. Don't you love all those great tutorials?! I've been meaning to try that necklace for a while; it's so cute!

Good luck with your resolutions!

eekareek said...

You have a lot of energy. I just want to cut my naps down from 2 to 1 a day. I love making crafts but they look a little elementary school so they get thrown away.
EEK! A.I. is starting soon!

Hot Pants said...

I didn't think your bar was too tall. It's actually perfect.

Annalisa said...

I'm a fan of number 1 and number 10. Will ad those to my list not made yet. We can work on our double attendance too and it won't be pretty. We did go once though. A temple session in another language seems doable since it's always the same:)

E said...

I can't wait to hold you to all these promises.

I have all these secret blogs that I visit daily, but I can't bear to share them. They're too secret.

Hey, did you see when Ted Williams was on the Today Show with his mom? And she kept calling him a disappointment and a disgrace to his family. It was super uncomfortable. Google it.

Princess Kimi said...

I noticed you having texted/emailed/talked on the actual phone/posted on my FB wall any more than last year. Wait..maybe a little.

K, but let's really think about the height of your bar...mine is also freakishly tall as you know..and would also require special order barstool/chairs...but..it being that much higher than the actual counter hides all the crap we have on the actual counter....so...but yeah if one of your goals is to always have your kitchen counter clutter free..then you have my blessing. Also gross about reusing the styrofoam cup. I mean I reuse mine a couple times refilling it with home-made drinks from cans until all the rabbit pelt ice melts...but then it's history..because again..it's gross. the rest of the list seems fine. I will re-read it to make sure tho. brb. ::: going to disturb T-Bone :::