Sunday, January 3, 2010

Written on the 2nd, posted on the 3rd.

Today was a great day. I turned 39 and it feels great! I am excited about the new year and what it will bring for me. I get one more year until I’m 40 – which is apparently when everything starts to change. Do you know how many people say, “oh, just wait till your 40.”? It could be in response to losing weight, pms, your eye sight, your memory, etc…. the list seems to be quite endless. The thing is, it’s never really a positive response. It’s not like when you’re a kid and everything is, “I can’t wait until I’m old enough to…..” There must be something to look forward to though – right? I’m actually not going to pay much attention to what people say about their 40’s, I intend for mine to be great and I’m looking at this year to be my prep year. When I think about my 40’s I see myself in great shape, wearing a kick-ass pair of jeans (sorry for the language), running my own business ( a successful one, too!), being out of debt, writing something that makes it’s way through a publishing house, having a home full of kids and enjoying the life God has made for me. I am completely well aware that the road will take numerous twists and turns over 10 years, but that’s the big picture that I see. I also know that it will take a lot of work to turn those thoughts in to a reality, but there are small steps in progress for all of those goals. I am working to lose weight and get in shape, I have a financial plan in place, I am going to my foster parent orientation this month, I am writing a lot and researching places to submit articles and there is a business in the works (more on that later…). Did I mention that in my dreams my house is clean, too? And organized? That is perhaps the most lofty of my intentions. I have NEVER had a clean house. It’s not that I don’t know how to do it, I just don’t do it. I don’t understand the psychology behind it (and there MUST be some), but I just don’t do it. I realize that I’m not teaching my children well in this area, and I do feel guilty about that, just not guilty enough to change it. I know that I need a system that breaks it all down so that it’s not so overwhelming, but I am just not one of those people that gets some weird high from cleaning products and rags (and we all know there are a few of you reading this that do!). To be honest, the only thing that has me cleaning my house and getting things in order is that a home study for fostering will begin this month and I can’t fail because of a messy, unorganized house. The one thing I do know about my 40’s is that as soon as I make more money than I need to spend on bills, I will be hiring a cleaning lady. I will commit to keeping the house tidy if someone else will keep it clean. To some of you this is a cop out – to me it is smart personal management. I am well aware of my weaknesses and my stressors and I am eliminating a big one by simply hiring the job out.
So here’s to the new year – there’s a lot to do in a short period of time, but what’s a year without a bit of challenge to it? I can’t believe I just said that…

No comments: