Resolutions for the Making and Breaking?

Since we were out of town through the 2nd, there seemed no point to start listing what I was going to do at the start of the new year.  It's kind of hard to do things at home when you are away anyhow!  Now I am back and ready to attack something as we move through this first week of '15.

Usually my first goal is to have every item of laundry ( except what is on our backs, of course) washed, dried, folded and put away before midnight of the 31st.  This year I had the home stuff done, but I had all the things we wore in N.O. stuffed in a dirty laundry bag.  Because I met the new year with dirty laundry, according to my mother, I will be covered in things to be washed all year.  I am not sure how this is different than any other year, because I never seem to be ahead when it comes to laundry chores.   Time will tell, and today is the time I begin the 2015 clothes upkeep.

I have decided to do a complete food inventory.  I know I have a very well stocked pantry and freezer, but I am not positive exactly how well stocked it is.  I have a feeling I am going to be shocked when I list each item there.  I think I keep buying and re-buying some of the same items that have gotten squirreled away in the corners of the storage areas.

Believe it or not, this is after inventory and a thorough cleaning.  I am not kidding about being overstocked and this is just one of 3 areas I store non perishables.  I may walk perilously close to that Hoarder line.  Tomorrow I tackle the closet in the laundry room and the freezer.  Just for the record and to make me feel better, I am not the only one with white sugar, dark brown sugar, light brown sugar, demera sugar, organic white cane sugar, turbanido sugar, coconut sugar, confectioners sugar, super fine sugar and evaporated can juice sugar, right?


Along the food inventory lines, I am going to sit down with a loosely drawn overview of our yard and see what I can plant in my limited space.  We have neighborhood covenants restricting food gardening in spaces seen by the public.  Last year I planted green beans on the outside of one fence.  Since it has roses in front of it, and the bean vines had a lovely purple flower when blooming, no one objected.  ( I had a huge yield from those planted seeds.  One day alone I harvested about 10 pounds of beans)  I would like to find some additional food bearing plants that look ornamental for the front and side yards, possibly just herbs.  We also had huge success with okra planted on the inside of that same fence.  Once okra starts producing it has to be cut nearly everyday until the first frost.   I know I am going to try a spring lettuce garden in a raised bed, but after spring it will not get enough sun to plant anything else.  We have little luck with tomatoes with the exception of cherry tomatoes, so we have decided to only plant those this year. Besides herbs that might be all I plant, and I will just be an excellent customer at the Farmer's Market.

In addition to this I plan to do some major purging of "things".   I reduced my winter wardrobe by half and have donated most of my old purses and bags to charity.  While Son3 is still here on his Christmas break I am getting him to look through his clothes and donate anything he is no longer going to wear.  Then I am going to go room by room with a thorough deep clean and a Goodwill box.  I hope to cull at least 1/5 of the things we own.  There are things in this house that have not seen the light of day in years and it is time for them to say goodbye.

Beyond that my goals are to be kinder, and to do more service to others.  I have been blessed beyond anything I deserve and always try to give back, but this year I want to be more intentional about giving back on a regular basis.  So I guess my main goal this year is to finally recognize  and implement my mission ( whatever it is!).

Hope everyone has a wonderful year filled with awe inspiring moments.