Shalom Y'all

Good-bye 2013, hello 2014, peace everyone!

So I haven't posted in ages. What else is new? ;) Well, I'm doing the 2014 Goal Setting plan from www.laracasey.com/blog so there's that. :)
This is a rambly post so consider yourself warned.

It's been a good year. I've learned a lot. Good things have happened.

A great family trip where I stressed less planning than I ever have before.
A great Christmas project with my cousins - I learned both that my cousin Ashley gets stuff done and that we all feel like the awkward less eloquent one.
My son started Kindergarten and we are all doing okay with it. And he's reading so well. It makes my heart practically burst.
I tracked my craft spending and did okay keeping my spending in line with my use.
I hosted a challenge for Hope You Can Cling To on Splitcoast. It is my favorite crafty event of the year and I was so honored to participate as a hostess. You should check it out next year. October 1 and the rest of the month.
We got a dog. We lost him. We got him back.
I went to a Carry On Warrior book signing with my mom. So fantastic. It was spur of the moment, I loved meeting Glennon. And it was the first time in ages my mom and I did something just us.
I learned to knit and crochet pretty much entirely thanks to my friend Jaala.
My sister came to visit. We bonded over how weird our parents are. :)
Good friends had beautiful, healthy babies.
An awesome mommy date with one of my dearest friends for her birthday. Definitely repeating this year!
I read more books than I have in ages! - Carry On Warrior by Glennon Melton , Desperate by Sarah Mae and Sally Clarkson, The Gifts of Imperfection and  Daring Greatly both by Brene Brown, The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin. All good!!!
I gave up sugar for the month of June and 2.5 weeks in November. June was easier.
We sent a lot of happy mail including art and cards to Jeff's dad.
 I paid more attention to how my clothes make me feel. I like boatnecks and stripes and especially boatnecks with stripes. I'm getting rid of everything that doesn't make me feel awesome.
Lots more things, but that's a good start. :)

There were not so great things, too.

I worried a lot. I need to stop that. Worrying is not the same as thinking things through. We went to an absolutely amazing wedding and I truly loved being there, but leading up to it I was a mess. It was black tie and I felt very not enough going into it. Such wasted energy.
Keeping a household budget was such a fail this year. I just did not do the work.
I yell too much.
I have expectations that no one knows about and I get grouchy when they don't happen.
We have too much stuff. Dealing with this stuff takes energy and time away from people.
We don't have good spiritual habits and rituals and are more catch as catch can when it comes to teaching the kids.
My teeth are in pretty bad shape. Flossing is definitely on the agenda.
I so want things to go organically that I tend to give up when there isn't any flow. I'm learning, slowly, that flow usually comes later so stop giving up.

There will be more coming. I will do posts on what fires me up, what my vision is for this year, and why I chose my word for 2014, Enough.

Here are some challenges I'm doing at the start of this new year:
The 100 cards or projects in 100 days challenge on Splitcoast with no shopping. Man, I need this. Am I going to love it? Doubtful, but I need it.

Stamp to Spend. I did this last year and it really helped me. The basic idea is you "pay" yourself a certain amount for each crafty thing you do and then when you shop you don't spend more than you "earned".  I need to do better with my spending in the first place, but I am ending the year in the black on stamping and knitting, and I rocked it with sewing.

A Target fast.  I spend a lot of time and a lot of money at Target. They sell cute stuff and it's pretty cheap and there is nothing wrong with cute, cheap stuff necessarily. A lot of my favorite things including one awesome friend have come from Target. But just like sugar, too much is not good. I need to clear my head a little and make space in my house and my heart. I do get a lot of necessities there and I use their pharmacy so I will have to go occasionally. (For example, I have 10 Dollar Spot calendars to take back.) I'm going to try to limit it to once a month and only shop from my list then get out. No coffee for me, no icees, cake pops, or popcorn for the kids - no wonder they love Target as much as I do! I can check Cartwheel and the target coupons for things that are already on my list, but not add things to my list because of them.

There will be more. I'm hoping to do the contentment challenge later in the year and do more no-sugar months. This is enough for now.

Oh, here is my to read list so far. If you are still reading this post and have any book suggestions please let me know!

The Night Circus - recommended by my mom and my neighbor, on request from the library
A Confederacy of Dunces - one of my husband's favorite books
Where'd You Go, Bernadette - recommended by the tiny twig on IG
Interrupted - recommended by Lara Casey
The Story of Stuff - just looks interesting, on request from the library
It''s All Too Much - a reread from 2012, but it really fired me up
Say Goodbye to Survival Mode - Crystal Paine's (Money Saving Mom) new book, I really enjoyed her first one.

And my one bona fide resolution for 2014? Buy comfortable bed pillows. Ours are all lousy.

I'll end this terribly long post with one of my favorite cards from 2013.

Shalom y'all!