I actually don't remember what resolutions I made last year, or if I even made any. So, instead, I am reporting on positive developments achieved over the last twelve months:
I lost twenty pounds. And then gained, roughly, ten of it back due to stress eating and a general lack of attention to my health while we have been dealing with house issues. But I can report that I am back on the wagon. Last night, we went to Del Frisco's as a family. Everyone else ate red meat and potatoes. I ate tuna tartare, steamed asparagus and a nice tomato and onion salad.
Everyone else looked at me like my hair was on fire.
I started cleaning the house. Myself, versus hiring it done. Okay, so this wasn't initially a conscious choice - when the floors started to buckle after The Event, we waved off our housekeeper for a week, and then two weeks, and then the insurance company informed us that we needed to move out, and then we started to pack, at which point cleaning the house didn't make a whole lot of sense, because we were messing things up faster than she could clean. But then we moved into the apartment, and I could have recalled her, but I decided that even I could handle 1200 square feet, and it might be therapeutic, and with the money that we were saving I could pay for some of the things at the house. Update: It has been therapeutic, and continues to be so, and by my count I have saved enough moolah to pay for my built-in microwave and fancy granite sink, plus a couple of other bells and whistles.
I swore off Neiman Marcus. The sum total of my 2011 purchases, I believe, consists of a pair of Kate Spade sunglasses and a shhhweet Alexis Hudson suede hobo bag, which I purchased at Last Call for 80% off of retail, on a day when I had mentally given myself permission to purchase a Tory Burch bag at a much higher price point. So I think that I deserve a TREMENDOUS pat on the back for this one - given that, in 2010, I jumped several InCircle levels on the basis of a couple of shopping trips alone.
Really, I haven't done much recreational shopping this year at all. Even my Montgomery Plaza Super Target activities have declined. As noted previously, having to pack up all of your belongings on precious little notice adds a new sense of perspective - I really don't want to have a lot of stuff anymore, because having stuff means that you will be accountable for that stuff if, say, you have to move it. No bueno.
My good friends say that they don't know me anymore and that they suspect that, possibly, I have been replaced by a pod person. (They said the same thing when I told them that I selected a neutral palette for the kitchen and the boys' bathroom. Predictions are that I will paint everything orange within six months of moving back into the house.)
Right now, I have a little Christmas money burning a hole in my pocket, and I am committed to not spending a dime of it on anything other than stuff that we need for the house. Thus far, I have purchased two induction-friendly cookpots (because all of the Circulon stuff that we registered for isn't magnetic and therefore won't work on an induction cooktop - but, you know, good riddance, because I hate my Circulon stuff, plus it's fifteen years old) and two oil-rubbed bronze towel rings for the kitchen. I have big plans for the weekend - cabinet hardware, wall-mounted soap dish, a lazy susan for my new craft closet. It's gonna get all kinds of crazy up in here.
I have said "yes" more often, specifically to the kids. Yes, I will color with you. Yes, we can bake cookies. Yes, I want to see the magic trick that you recently perfected.
I am also perfecting "no." "No" does not come easily to me, but after the year that we have had, and in light of various issues that still remain, I am prepared to say "no" - no, I don't need a committee chair position in Junior League. Or an officer position in Woman's Club. Been there, done that. Taking a break of indeterminate length. I deserve it. And, also, I need it.
I'm sure that I have made other positive strides in 2011. I just don't remember what they are.
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