New Years goals revisited...2013 style

(How long will using the word 'style' continue to make me want

to dance like a chubby Korean pop star??)...I hope for a long time....

So...

As expected, I re-read over my 'resolutions' from 

last year and I can only honestly say that I accomplished 

one of them. One. Of Five. Sheesh.

Are new years resolutions genuinely designed to

help motivate or you just humiliate you??

Short term motivation, long term humiliation.

Here's a link to the aforementioned post:

http://themantasticfam.blogspot.com/2012/01/2012.html

So I'll try to pretend those other resolutions didn't happen

and just focus on the one that I succeeded on...

Learning to sew!

Now, I'm by no means making my own clothes,

but I accomplished the basics of working & troubleshooting

my sewing machine and I can make simple things like bibs and 

burp cloths. I can also use my machine to make fun crafts.

That's all I was hoping to be able to do at this point, so I'm pleased.

A few pictures of my sewing endeavors:

How convenient that I snapped a picture of the one time

I laid hands on this book....not so much a 'self-help' book reader.

My first diaper cloth made at my sewing 

'lesson' with Rachael!!

My first solo sewing project....bibs!

Success! 

Made with love for baby Rowan

Paper streamers! Another fun and easy sewing

craft that Rachael showed me

So fun! And re-usable!

Part of the reason I wanted to have a blog was to be able to look

back and see what I've accomplshed...errr...or not yet accomplished.

And even with my irregular posting schedule I suppose it's 

serving it's purpose. 

I've always loved going back and reading diaries and journals

that I've written in over the years, but I'm also one of those

people who writes consistently in a diary for about a week before

falling off the bandwagon. So my diaries are like a yearly

peek into a week of my life. Still interesting to read, though.

So, since I'm glutton for punishment and a

sucker for traditions I'm going to make a few more resolutions

for this year...but only 3 that I can think of at this moment:

1) Get my passport...this WILL happen!!!

2) Exercise...haha, so cliche. But in my defense

I DID have my first Zumba class on Thursday!!
...don't laugh!!!
Kelly and her friend Emi went with me, and I liked it!!
I'm going to try and make it a weekly thing...

3)  Open a Roth IRA.
Another goal that I made (and accomlished thankyouverymuch)
in 2012 was to increase my contribution
 to my retirement plan through work.  It's been satisfying to see that
account grow and I know I'll feel better if I can also get a Roth started.

I mean, I've only got like another
30+ years of working left....meh :(

So that's my short list for now, if I can think of more
I'll try to come back and add them!
Wish me luck!

Busy Days...where does the time go??

These spring days are flying by!! How is it already April??
As of late my days are filled with....

• Working...extra shifts will be the death of me I'm certain...  

 

• Family time...I had to work on Easter Sunday, so our family celebrated on Saturday. My parents, my sister and her friend Jackson came over and we grilled out.  It was pretty laid-back, but fun none-the-less.  I was lame and took absolutely no pictures...fail.  The weekend before I went over to my friend Lillie's house for an Easter BBQ...it's always so good to spend time with old friends.  Holidays like Easter and Christmas always leave me thinking about the traditions that I will one day want to have with my own family...I find myself already overwhelmed by the responsibility of having children and teaching them the importance and magnitude of days like Resurrection Sunday. I know I have plenty of time to figure these things out and there will lots of learning along the way, but I just want my kids to know the real reasons we celebrate these holidays....I of coarse want their memories to be fond ones filled with fun-times...but it's even more important to me that they know it's not about bunnies in baskets or brightly colored eggs.  How do you find the balance thats right for your family?? I'm sure when that time comes, there will be lots of praying and seeking done on my part!

                                                             

• House cleaning and sprucing up for spring....well, let's be honest...I'm barely keeping my head above water in the house wife category.                                                                                       Roy is back to work, so I've lost my live-in 'Man-Maid'....oh, hello laundry piles and dirty dishes...I so didn't miss you  :(  But what is it about the spring that makes you want to re-landscape your entire yard, while washing all your windows and redecorating your entire house? Maybe it's because the spring always seems like such a fresh start...but, unfortunatly for me... we're trying hard to reign in any extra spending these days so we can pay off some bills, so for now, I will just have to drool over pictures of beautifully landscaped yards and decorated homes.

• Sewing!!  I'm loving sewing even more than I thought I would...unfortunately most of my projects so far are for my best friend who also happens to be my only blog reader :) Hence I will not be posting many pictures of my masterpieces until later...

•  Cooking dinner and packing lunches...something I've never been too great at.  But it turns out that when you're trying to save money, cooking and packing your (and your husbands) lunches becomes part of the deal.  Doesn't sound like too big of a burden, but when I get home from work at 8 in the morning the last thing I feel like doing is putting together some semblance of a decent lunch for Roy.  Alas, I will push-on!!

• This is off the subject....but have you seen the new FOX comedy 'New Girl' with Zooey Deschanel?  It's hilarious...and I'm a tough crowd when it comes to comedies.....but  I don't go a single episode without seriously cracking up and several episodes have had me to the point if tears. Not sure what strikes a chord with me, it's just quirky and often inappropriate in the most hilarious of ways....watch it!! 

• Shower Planning!! As previous mentioned a zillion times already, my best friend Rachael is having a baby in June!! Myself and our friend Alicia are throwing her a shower for all of our co-workers in May. I'm being a psycho and unnecessarily stressing out and putting way too much pressure on myself...but I just want her day to be everything that she deserves!!  At first I just had a bunch of jumbled ideas, but no real plans, but as the weeks have gone on we've gotten a pretty good idea of what the party will be like. I'm feeling slightly less stressed and much more excited.  Part of what has me stressed is just the fact that it's going to be held at my house. I've never had a big party at our house!!  I feel WAY pressured to have our home looking perfect...which is just ridiculous and is NOT going to happen. I should just get over it...No, Beth, we are not going to be buying new living room furniture and painting the house for Rachae'ls shower!! Sheesh...I really think I need some Xanax sometimes!!  I'll try to keep the blog updated on my progress without revealing too many details!

Sew I think I'm gonna like this!!

I'm learning to sew people...
and I'm pretty freakin' excited about it.
Score one more point for actually tackling
my new years resolution list!!

My motivation is solely being driven by my
excitement over Rachael's baby coming in June...
I keep finding fun projects that I want to make
for little Baby Clark
(formerly known as 'Keeks'...but we can't
call her that anymore :)
I'm sure once the baby comes I'll be able to find
tons of projects for our own home...
but baby things just seem so much more fun right now.

Oddly enough, Rachael is also the poor soul who's
having to teach this schmuck how to sew,
Atleast she will hopefully be reaping the benefits from
teaching me...
(assuming any of my projects actually turn out!)

Anyways...my mom got me this new sewing
machine for Christmas, but it's been sitting upstairs
in the guestroom for 3 months just calling out to me-
 I was too intimidated to sit down and attempt to
re-teach myself how to work the machine...

Enter: Rachael the sewing queen.

I lugged my machine over to her house Friday and we
had a little watch and learn lesson...
This was awesome-but unfortunately we didn't get too
far into my lesson before we realized that my sewing
machine was lacking some essential pieces...
say like..... half of it's parts

(Where did you say you got this machine again, Mom??
Sears?? Ummm no....I'm thinking more like a flea market.)

It was okay though, Rachael let me use her machine to
make my first project since 7th grade home-ec...

modeling my diaper cloth

Yay!

I feel all kinds-a domestic!

I just ordered all the missing parts for my machine,

so hopefully I will be up and sewing in

no time!!

Keep your eye peeled for future 

projects!