Who Isn't a Fan of Freshness?

Okay, let's play a little game. What do you think of when you hear the word 'fresh?' Here's my list: new, beginning over, warm out of the oven, right off the tree apples, clean sheet smell. All really good stuff! I think New Years Day is all of those things. It's a new start, clean slate, open road, all laid out before you to do whatever you desire with. I love that feeling. Just like starting a new school year makes me get all reorganized and re-energized, New Years makes me more motivated to better everything I do. I've said a jillion times that I don't like New Years resolutions though because there's an implied meaning with that that equals failure. (to me anyway) but there are ways I want to better myself and things I really want to do this year. Some are specific and some are just general, but here's a few things that are really on my mind and effort list:

1) getting fit....I feel so much better when I exercise but I don't think I've ever been 'fit' my whole life. Two and a half weeks into Insanity now, I can say I really want to be fit and think I'm on my way. I've made changes to how I eat, which I'm not ridiculously crazy nutso obsessed about, I DO have junk food a little bit but I not everyday and when I have it it's in small amounts. And I DO excercise most days but some days it just ain't happenin, and that's okay too.

2)enjoying life more....I hate feeling like I'm rushing around and just 'getting through' things. I have been queen of the to do list for as long as I can remember. I'm not going to be ridiculous and say I'm not going to write to do lists anymore because that's just unfathomable to me, but I do want to focus more and enjoying the moment I'm in and not just marking it off the list, if that makes sense.

3)becoming more organized....okay some people think I'm super organized, but I think I really just have them snowed. I may appear to be organized, but I'm not as organized as I'd like to be. Example: I found this menu planning thing online and I've done it for the last month now. I make a menu of what we're having for dinner the next few weeks, make one trip to the store and get all the ingredients, and voila my life after 4:00 becomes SO. MUCH. EASIER. Just not having to use brain energy to figure out what to make for dinner has taken so much stress off of me. Before I'd come flying in the door, drop all of the bags and kids I haul in here, go to the pantry and stand and 'think' about what I could make when really I was so distracted by everything else I needed to do I was incapable of focusing my attention on the task of dinner. Birthdays another perfect example....I have really good intentions of being thoughtful and caring to other people....I see someone's birthday's coming up and I think of something great to do for them or get them or whatever, but then I'm always scurrying around the day of or the day

before trying to pull something together....If I was more organized and planned my time better I'd be less stressed and do less scurrying. :) I'm not a mouse...I'd prefer NOT to scurry!

4) take more time to pray and learn more Bible verses. Being caught up in the scurrying, I feel like when I attempt clear my mind to pray, I'm once again jumping from one thing to another in my mind. I've gotta get a grip on this. For REAL. The most important thing for me to do as a Mom is to teach my boys to keep Jesus in their heart and if I want them to, I gotta lead by example. Time to step it up sister. I bought a book last week that's 100 Verses Every Christian Should Know and I have plans to put them on index cards and hang them in the laundry room. That seems to be where I do most of my 'thinking' anyway and believe me I spend plenty of time in there. :)

5) and this sounds extremely shallow after #4, but seriously I'm obsessed with PINTEREST! and my #5 thing I wanna do is a few things that I've pinned on pinterest. I'm not giving a number because I'm nearing 300 pins and I know that's insane, but just a few craft projects, a few recipes, maybe a meal planner calendar, decorate the boys room...ya know those kind of things.

And this picture reminds me of the most important thing I should do in 2012...and that is soak it in. I need to sit on the couch some with these two punkins. (and get rid of that binky)