Make-up: Everyday

I've been thinking about my first post of the year for a couple weeks now, but have not had a chance to actually sit down and do it! Work has been crazy busy, which I like - but wow - that's when I blog! Don't these people know that? Things have finally settled down, everyone is in their course (for the most part) and another semester is underway. Thus, ends my hiatus from journaling and begins a new year here on the old bloggity blog blog blog.



I don't know that I've ever officially made New Years resolutions in the past. Pretty sure growing up, we always started a new diet on January 2 (or 3 or 4) but that's about it by way of resolving to change. This year - I've been thinking about lots of things that I would like to resolve to do or develop over the next coming year to improve life with my Cinderellas and Princey dear.

If anyone was to ask me if I've made any NYR's this year, I would say

"Yes. My NYR is to wear make-up everyday."

Sounds incredibly vain and somewhat strange, but it's sort of an all-encompassing statement for my resolutions this year. Many of which, of course, I don't want to get into with just anybody, so I have my pat phrase, and - yes - that's an actual resolution of mine. But to me it represents so much more of what I want to do with the year 2009.

I remember back in high school and in college and during my time as a teacher at Howie and I don't ever remember I time when I wasn't concerned about putting make-up on. I always made sure that I wore make-up - wouldn't be caught dead without it. No eyeliner - are you kidding me? Not in a million years - I could go without eye shadow, but never the fundamental basics!

Well, then I got married. And for the first couple of years I kept up the make-up - at least while I was at work and church...but then, after becoming a mommy and coming to realize the incredible sleepLESSness that comes with that particular job, little by little the make up began to fall away. It's HARD to take care of two other people and yourself! Throw in a pregnancy with your second while raising a toddler - and pttthhhbbbt! Bye bye - I think for about 3 months in 07 I didn't even HAVE any makeup to put on. I remember, because I got some for my birthday. I remember thinking - "I'll bet everyone's glad I got this!" Probably tired of seeing me look tired and ragged.

Point is: I let myself go. And I have a tendency to do that with many things in life. (<--Could be the reason I don't make resolutions!) I get gung-ho for a while and then, if it's too much of a hassle or gets boring to me or if I don't make the time then I drop it. Well - there's a few things I don't want to drop this year. Taking care of myself is one of them. And so - I resolve, among other things, to wear make-up everyday. That way, I at least look like I'm taking care of myself. I'm secretly giving myself the day off on Saturdays, but if we go out - I'm putting it on!

I resolve to buy myself some contacts & glasses by at least February. Both of these I need - I have not had since last spring, after I had Annie and my eyes felt like they changed. The contacts were giving me headaches and so - after my box had run out, I didn't replace them - haven't since. I can see fine, and my vision is not that bad - I'm okay to drive, etc...but - things are definitely clearer with the lenses. I could've bought them anytime last year - I have the insurance on them, just never did it. Never took care of my eyeballs. I also resolve to make an appointment with my asthma/allergy specialist, which I have a huge feeling is going to lead to an appointment with an ENT, which will most likely result in sinus surgery. I just gotta buck up and do it. Doctors, ugh. (Oh, and don't even ask about the hearing aids...I'm getting there...)

I resolve to stick to a 200-250$/month grocery budget by continuing to use coupons and websites that are at my disposal. I would like to keep it as close to $200 each month as possible, but formula & diapers are added into that and sometimes there are just really awesome sales that would beef up the old stockpile/pantry that I simply canNOT let go and it wouldn't be frugal NOT to partake in them. (i.e. this week, when I'm ultimately getting diapers for .04 each! and Meijer is having mega sales with coupons to match!) and I resolve to track purchases on a spreadsheet. I WILL keep this up. I am greatly enjoying the couponing game still!

Along with that, comes the resolution that I resolve to make most of my meals at home. I told Princey that I would like to make a goal to have date night each month and let that be the only night we go out to eat. A few exceptions could be applied to this resolution by way of celebration dinners for birthdays, vacation or potential emergencies that pop up from time to time. But to just order out because I'm too pooped to make dinner - I'd like that to become a thing of the past - too easy of any excuse and it totally goes against my grocery savings to spend money on food when I have a pantry full. Wish me luck on this one - eating out is an indulgence I dearly love. But, I do want to have a monthly date night, thereby taking care of my marriage. And cutting out the eating out will, along with grocery budget, be taking care of my family by way of the kitchen and finances. I also want to be more diligent in domestic duties. Yes, duties, I do not enjoy cooking or cleaning. There I said it.

My last resolution is a whopper - but, I'm going to try to take care of my physical body by implementing a healthy habit each month. This of course, is EVERYBODY's NYR so I couldn't leave it out! We've started January out by employing the "No S" eating plan. No Snacks, no Sweets, no Seconds, (I've added no Soda) after Seven (I added this part as well) on any day that doesn't start with an S. So basically we can eat those things on the weekend. Except we did make a modification - we're starting on Friday nights and cutting out early on Sunday evenings because darn it - Friday night we want to kick back with some fun food. That's just the way it is. So far I really like this plan. I'm only 9 days into it, but I like it. February's healthy habit will most likely come with some sort food goal as well. We haven't decided. Yes, I'm dragging Princey into this - but my Cinderellas can still have some treats and snacks.

After reviewing my resolutions makes me wonder if my New Year's Resolution should be "Not to bite off more than I can chew", but to do that would be in direct violation of my personality. If the only resolution I accomplish is that I wear make-up everyday, so be it - that's still progress. And I'm quite sure my co-workers and the people at church will be greatly appreciative.