love

Like every year around this time, I find myself sneaking back here, to my tried and true blog, apologizing for the weeks months I’ve been away, and promising to do better. So here goes: I promise to do better. I promise I will try to do better, anyway.

It’s also around this time of year that I sit down and take inventory of the last 12 months. In 2013, my goal was to give more of my time and talent (because my treasure was quite limited) by becoming more involved in charity work and volunteering.

By early 2014, it was clear that I needed some of that time back to focus on my family and on better developing my talents– which would hopefully create a little more treasure to pitch in at home. This inspired me to come up with 28 Ways to {better} LOVE Myself. I am happy to say that I’ve kept up with MOST of the promises I made to myself, and 2014 was one of my happiest and most peaceful years yet.

So what goals have I set for 2015?

1. First and foremost, I will continue to refer to my 28 Ways to {better} LOVE Myself, because we all need to securely fasten our oxygen masks before helping those around us.

2. I will remember to count my blessings more regularly. It’s easy to get so overwhelmed by life’s occurrences that we forget to be grateful for all of the wonderful things that we do have.

3. I will set small personal and attainable goals (take the kids’ clothes to the consignment shop, finally learn how to use my embroidery machine, clean out the cabinet under my sink, organize my desk) which will make my life easier and give me a sense of tangible accomplishment.

4. I will be less angry at my 5:30 a.m. alarm. There is nothing that I can do about the time my kids start school, so getting worked up every single morning is pointless and unhealthy. I will try to find the silver lining in my early morning wake-up call, even if it’s still too dark outside to see the clouds…

5. I will go on regular dates with my husband. My kids are 12 and 14 and no longer consider sitting at grandma’s house watching a VHS copy of Blue’s Clues repeatedly a successful Friday night. This, and the fact that I really do dig hanging out with them, has caused a major dip in date nights. I realized last night when Hubby suggested revisiting our honeymoon destination (Sandals resort) and my initial response was “no, because the kids can’t come”, that maybe he was trying to tell me something…and maybe I should listen. We truly love you, kids, but Mom and Dad need some alone time. Want me to go into detail?…yeah, I didn’t think so. You can unplug your ears now.

What goals have you set for the new year? Tell me in the comments!

There’s nothing I love more than being a mom. With all of its ups and downs, I wouldn’t trade in one moment of the last 14.5 years of my life.

I realize I’ve had it much easier than some other mothers. My kids are healthy and happy. Our family is intact, never having dealt with grave illness or divorce. My kids love me, and tell me so. I adore them and never go more than a few hours (minutes) without reminding them of it.

At 14, my son still hugs me. At 11, my daughter still snuggles with me. They don’t talk back (often), or curse (that I know of), and have NEVER, EVER said “I hate you!” (to my face).

Am I a perfect mom? No way! Just last night I flipped out because someone drank my last can of Coke (I realize how insane this is) and made one teenage boy feel REALLY bad about it. UGH! I suck. (So, maybe I would trade in just that one moment.) But, for the most part, I consider myself a good mom, and I would wager my kids think so, too.

This Mother’s Day, I don’t want a present or fancy dinner. All I want is to thank God for giving me the gift of my children and the opportunity to be their mother. If I could ask for one Mother’s Day gift, it would be to grow old enough to watch my children have their own children and love them as I much as they have been loved.