2009

Is it just me, or does that sound really futuristic? Way more than 2008 did...but I'm not sure why. Shouldn't we be buzzing around in Jetson-style spaceship-y things by now? Just wondering.

I've been listening to my friends and family talk (or reading their blogs)about their new year's resolutions, and finally have decided to jump on the bandwagon. What can I say? I'm a follower. Not proud of it, but it's true. Usually I don't make resolutions, b/c I feel like I'm just setting myself up for failure, but today I've been thinking about what I would like to see happen in 2009, and have come up with a few things. So here I go...

In 2009 I plan to:

1) Scrapbook Smarter. I love to scrapbook, and have made a career-of-sorts doing this for others...something I am passionate about and love very much. However, the combination of taking care of class commitments and side work with the quickly piling up stack of my own photos/paper/embellishments, etc. have quickly overwhelmed me to the point that I just look at it all and walk away. Because of that I am now roughly a year and a half behind. Not horrible, you say? Multiply that times three books. Yeah, that's way behind. SO...my plan for this year is to get the boys caught up through 2008 in their individual albums, and then from 2009 on I'm only doing family albums. No more doing things times 3...it's repetitive, time-consuming, a little pointless, and exhausting. That does mean that Harrison will have more albums than Hud, and Hud will have more than Hunter overall...but my hope is that they will just be thankful (someday, or that their sweet wives will be thankful) that I did it, that they won't be counting who has more books. We will see.

2) Take better care of myself. Overall, I am in good health, and am very thankful for that. I'm a healthy eater, for the most part, but I am terrible about going to bed at decent hour, and that has taken a toll. Also, I don't exercise as much or as hard as I would like. I'm constantly on the go, and rarely sit and relax, watch very little tv, and the boys definitely keep me in constant motion, so that all helps keep me from being a couch potato, but I know I can do better. I have a membership to our church's awesome workout facility, and am committing to using it way more. It will be great for my energy level, will get me toned back up, and feeling fantastic. Bring it on. :)

3) Stop multi-tasking. This is going to be the hardest one for me, but probably the most important. I know it will be impossible to completely stop, but I'm going to try. I am constantly on the phone while I'm checking email, or catching up on my dvr while eating lunch, or working while the kids play in my craft room, etc. It's time to stop. Starting this week I plan to do one thing at a time, to be more scheduled with my housework, to get down on the floor and play with my kids every day. My hope is that I will be a happier, more relaxed Jac. It's time to slow down a little, and enjoy life a lot.

4) To REALLY know God's Word. I think my relationship with the Lord is pretty great...I spend lots of time talking to him, whether it be in the car, in the shower, in bed, at the table, wherever. I love praise and worship music, and listen and praise often. Never enough, of course, but I don't think it ever would be. What I don't do is spend enough time with my Bible. I don't have enough Scripture memorized, and that really bothers me. So that is going to change starting now.

That's it for me, and I think that's enough. I hope all of you have a wonderful, fulfilling, happy 2009/