Resolutions

How are you doing with your New Year's Resolutions?

Have they fallen by the wayside ..... are you sticking with them ..... or are you telling everyone that you're sticking with them but really just keeping up a facade?

Well, I'm telling you today that my resolutions posted in January, are still first and foremost in my mind. I will not say that I have successfully completed them, but I am in the ongoing process of running towards that finish line.

I resolved to "take back my life" and make this the year of Barb and that is exactly what I have been doing.

Along the way, I have been firm in my decisions ~ no fence sitting for this girl. When I make a decision to move forward ~ I do.

One major decision I made was to remove the resentment, bitterness and anger from my mind. I realize that my family is as it has always been ~ I am NOT the problem, so it has been quite simple for me to remove myself from the equation. This I did for ME, not for anyone else. I had to come to the realization that the resentment, bitterness and anger was hurting me and no one else.

Due to the upheaval not only in my life but my home as well, my attention to my physical condition went by the wayside. So, how did I correct this you ask?

I spent about one week in the basement cleaning, throwing out a lot of stored unnecessary items and rearranging and I now have my exercise area set up again with a treadmill and recumbent bike and I have faithfully walked or rode every morning for 12-15 minutes for about 6 weeks now. I'll never be ready for a triathlon but I do feel more energetic because of this particular attention to one part of my life.

I also resolved to spend one day a week with my grand babies and I have given them back Thursdays. Now having said this, I have missed a few here and there, due to illness, chauffering my mom to appointments, but I thoroughly enjoy spending time with them, giving them me in whatever ways they want ~ game playing ... movie watching ... singing ... talking or just loving each other.

Don and I have started to go out without mom, leaving the guilt feelings here at home and not allowing them to fester while we are out together. Every time I leave the house, I cannot allow her to overwhelm me with feelings of guilt because I am not taking her with me. Before my dad passed away I certainly didn't take her with me each and every time I went out, so why did I feel I had to when she moved in.

So as you can see I am overcoming quite a few of the obstacles that had been stumbling blocks to my happiness in life.

Mom too has started to make a few changes herself ~ she has gone back to church on Sundays which gives Don and I a couple of hours to ourselves. She is talking about going to visit her sister in April. Not only will that be good for her but it will give us a break too.

And I'm back to crafting regularly ~ knitting, quilting, baking, painting, etc...

So as you can see, I'm well on my way to reclaiming me.

As I write this post, I have just completed the finishing touches on an angel food cake with fresh whipped cream & raspberriess and shaved dark chocolate curls. As well I have had a lovely pot of marinara sauce simmering for hours filling the house with wonderful aromas and I'm sipping a deliciously fruity glass of sangria. Why all these specialities today. These are for my sister Fran who is coming here today for her birthday dinner a little later as her birthday was last Friday ~ but better late than never.

So salute to your resolutions ~ keeping them ~ and succeeding in your determination to follow them through to completion.