New Year's Resolutions

I took a little bit of a break from blogging. Not that I was that consistent to begin with, but still. It started out when I was reprimanded at work for using the internet too much. I think her exact words were "playing around on the internet." lol Yeah, it's kind of childish that I, a quasi-responsible adult was using the internet at work, but hey, I'm not alone, right? When I had work, I got it done quick. I simply had nothing to do. So I guess they finally noticed there wasn't enough work to go around because on Wednesday they gave me my last paycheck. I know I wasn't the only person to get laid off on New Year's Eve, companies all over are doing a little house cleaning before the new year. I suppose I could have been extremely unhappy about it since I am about 2/3 of my households' income, but what good is that going to do me? I've been in situations less serious than this and when I "lost it" things got progressively worse. I am making a conscious effort to stay optimistic and hopefully I'll pull through this with minor interruptions to my family's life. On a positive note, I'll be blogging more; for the next few days anyway. lol

I've been thinking about my New Year's resolutions the past couple weeks, and this is what I've come up with:

1. Be more environmentally conscious. I have been a little lax on recycling, so that's the first thing I'm going to work on. I would also like to do more research on being Green, Green building and the like. If I could get a job somewhere in that field, I would be pretty happy. I'm reading an article on T. Boone Pickens (you know the Pickens Plan commercials where you're thinking "who the hell is this guy?") and his vision to curb our nations dependency on foreign oil and develope better natural energy alternatives. I want to learn about what's in the future of Green Tech, and see if I can't carve myself a niche in that area.

2. Think health, be healthy. I know the cliche resolution is to eat better and exercise more but I've seen what a positive change it can bring about in peoples' lives and I want a piece of that. I'm going to make more food at home and brown bag it when I get a new job. I am going to be conscious about what I buy and eat and feed my husband because neither one of us is getting younger and the better we take care of ourselves now, the easier things will be on us later. That's what I'm going to tell myself to keep my motivation. In addition to better meals and maybe a daily walk and stretch, I am going to continue to work on my positive thinking and self-esteem building. I think I've made good progress over the last few months and I can feel myself changing for good. Maybe I'm going through a maturity spurt or something... lol

3. Save money, shop wisely. I used to be so good about clipping coupons...and never using them. I tend to be more loyal to brands than my bank account. I spend way too much money on not a lot of food. I am going to start picking up the Sunday paper and printing coupons online and organizing them in this little nifty holder I got in the dollar bin at Target. I am going to shop around for good deals and remember that sometimes you have to forgo that juicy steak dinner for some mac and cheese every once in a while. I am against buying in bulk, and freezing meat grosses me out, BUT I know these are things I am going to have to get over to save some dough, so I better start looking into it. I always thought it was strange to buy food anywhere but the grocery store, but you can find good deals on things other places. I know I mentioned Target already but I found myself in their packaged foods aisle and they had a huge variety at much better prices than Vons. They even have specialty foods you can't get other places. Archer Farms makes all kinds of ethnic boxed meals that I wouldn't be able to afford to make from scratch, all for the same price as a Home Style Bake!! Best of all, they're on sale right now...

So there's my short list. Of course there are many other minor things I would like to improve in my life, but these are my major goals for the year. I think as I work toward these, all the other things will fall into place in time. I will also make a conscious effort to blog more. I really do enjoy writing and reading what other people are doing and thinking. It's been kind of my therapy for the last few months and I'd like to make it part of my routine, kind of like at the end of Doogie Howser MD where NPH typed out whatever he had learned in the episode...lol Yeah, you guys know what I'm talking about, you've probably thought the same thing. Anyway, hope you all had wonderful holidays and I wish you the best in this new year.