New Year Resolutions

I just realized that its January 15th already! Yesterday at my French class I was still writing the date as 14 Janvier 2009!!!!! January is the month for new beginnings and change! This is the time when you are contemplating on your life and writing down NY resolutions. Me, do I believe in NY resolutions? I believe that NY resolutions are made to be broken, having experienced it many many times in my many many years of making them (yes, I am that old....), so instead of making a list of resolutions, why not make a list of what you would like to do MORE in your life and what you would like LESS? Its more moderate than the carved in stone resolutions we make year after year only to find that by the end of the year, you have broken 90% of them!

What would you like to do MORE? More reading, more writing, more travelling, more sleeping,more dreaming, more yoga, more organizing, more pampering sessions, more savings, more time with family? And what would you want to do LESS? Less eating, less TV, less complaining, less stress, less spending, less drinking, less smoking, less caffeine.

I believe by starting out doing more or doing less of something you will find that your resolutions are easier to achieve at the end of the year. For me, my list is as follows:

1) Less time on Facebook/ email/ blogging = More time reading to Lucas
2) Less time inside this apartment = More time outside - a walk around the block or an hour at the playgym with Lucas. I am making a point to get out of the apartment everyday with Lucas.
3) Less time spent cleaning (I am not going to stress about picking up all my hair on the ground with masking tape...) = More time spent reading which is my favourite past time in this whole wide world... so the overflowing laundry can wait til I finish another chapter on my book :)
4) Less time chatting online = More time socializing (I admit I haven't put that much of an effort in making new friends after my disappointing encounter with one of the girls in my class, and I have been totally immersed in being with Lucas which is not healthy, I know. But sometimes I feel like I have no time for anyone else in my life, being so caught up with my life as a SAHM and also being the cleaner, the cook and the educator. But I will make more time and effort for my new friends on my "time out" when Fred stays home with Lucas.)
5) Less drinking coffee = More drinking water ( I don't need to elaborate... 2 words :canker sores"....)
6) Less "quick meals" or instant meals = more healthy, fresh meals for my family
7) Less TV time in the evenings (except when my favourite series are on, of course...) = more time revising my French
8) Less time stressing and focusing on the bad = more time being thankful for our many blessings and more time appreciating all the simple things in life (Fred and I were just reminiscing about our life in Kuala Lumpur and about our beautiful apartment and our friends we left behind and the "high life" that we got used to in KL - breakfast at La Bodega, coffee at Starbucks, bagels from San Francisco Coffee, yummy meals at Delicious, Rocky's, Nirvana's, Chili's, Rama V and all that salmon sashimi...Compared to that life, being here in France is a far cry. But we are thankful that we have enough, we have a roof over our heads, we have a warm and comfortable place - in the news recently there are families in France who are cutting down on food so they can increase heating in their homes...; we have food on the table; we have good health; we can each have our "extras" - in my case, books from Amazon and my little shopping sojourns :) So yes, we are indeed blessed and are thankful for what we have.

And lastly as I turn 40 this year, this is my New Year Prayer:
God, grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway,
The good fortune to run into the ones that I do,
And the eyesight to tell the difference.

Bonne Annee everyone!