A New Year’s Resolution that I can actually accomplish for a change!

For the first time since giving birth 7 1/2 years ago, I am not including “must lose 10 lbs.” on my New Year’s resolution list. I refuse to beat myself up any more. I’m ok with the fact that I will not be the size 2 that I was in college and equally ok with not wearing a bikini this summer. Lord help me when the tankini goes out of style! I may have to don a wetsuit!

I have decided that this tummy that birthed four kids including twins is just fine as is. Now I’m not going to run out and fill up on cheeseburgers all the time. I will maintain my healthy lifestyle and work out and eat right (my latest approach is the book, Eat Right for Your Blood Type – this actually makes sense to me for once!). I’m also hoping that my Invisalign weight loss plan will kick in at some point – I never snack because it’s such a pain to brush my teeth and trays. You’d think I’d be a twig, but no. My body is the devil and my metabolism auto-adjusts to any curve ball thrown to it. The only thing that has worked for me is to cut out carbs altogether. But I’ll be honest, I’m just not a nice person on this plan. I lose a ton of weight – yes. I feel better than ever – absolutely (why is this not enough for me?!). But I don’t get my wine and let me tell you something, 2009 is going to be a rough year for a lot of reasons and it’s not the time to live without my wine. I’m just going to leave it at that. So, weight loss is not a New Year’s resolution for me. I do not have the time to obsess over it and I have far more important things to worry about, like organizing my life. Whew, I feel like a ton of bricks has been lifted off my shoulders!

So yes, you read it accurately, no more diets for this mama – 2009 will be the year of organization! I’ve already cleaned out my closets and am quickly moving onto the real beast – my computer. This thing is a mess! My photos have no organization to them whatsoever, just dates. And poor Ansley – my 7-year-old. She has no digital footage of her first two years of life, just photos and I have probably lost all of the film negatives (can you believe that we actually used archaic negatives?!). Aside from this, I am super organized with my kids’ things, especially their clothes and toys. We are a no-clutter zone in our house and we recycle often, thanks to consignment sales. I sell or donate everything I can each season, mainly to keep some sort of order to my house.

But when it comes to my personal stuff, I’m not so organized. My files are brimming, my work space is comical – you guys would keel over if you saw my set-up! I am a true post-it queen – somehow I manage well on the fly, which I often attribute to my adult onset of ADHD. I function quite well with it but I drive my husband CRAZY! He is Mr. Anal in all aspects of his life, so observing me and how I do things is quite painful for him!

So I’m working in phases. Phase 1 is my computer – I’m thinking this should take a full month. This will include organizing photos, emails, music, etc with hopes that someday, I will be organized enough to start online scrapbooking and perhaps making home videos. Now that’s a stretch, but not completely unattainable! Phase 2 will involve my everyday life. I need to plan my weeks on Sundays and work in appointments, school activities, CSP activities and grocery shopping (can you believe I still haven’t done any online grocery shopping?! I’m still in denial!). If I plan right, I will never forget another show n’ tell at school, never forget Donuts for Dads (I’m still in the doghouse for forgetting this last year – the memo never even made it to dad! I know, that is inexcusable!), never forget another half day or dress-down day, the list goes on. Here is a funny example. December was a crazy time in my house. We kept all of the memos straight but some of the executions got tweaked a little. We had 3 school Christmas parties to attend on the same day, 2 at the exact same time. So how does one successfully do this? I’m not sure how successful we were, we just did it. But the donut platter didn’t make it to Isabel’s Christmas party – the twins’ class got a few extra treats! And my husband delivered the wrong Christmas cards to the wrong teachers. They just looked at him and smiled. And then they sent the cards to the appropriate teachers! So yes, we’re sometimes a mess, but we get it all done somehow. But I can definitely use some improvement here and I just need to simplify my life the best that I can.

So share your organizational tips and even better, share your New Year’s resolutions. If anything, it will make you laugh either at yourself or at someone else’s mercy (like me!). And we can all try to help each other out. Happy New Year, Smarties!