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2015

2015

Another year, another list of resolutions. This year I’m going for one big goal and a few smaller goals.

// Get rid of 50% of my stuff — Yes, I am insane. (And yes, Damian, I know I said 30% earlier in the week, but now I’m going for half! — here are some reasons why.) I don’t know how feasible this is, but I want to do it badly. After 33 years of life, 11 years of motherhood, 4 years of marriage, and 3 years of home-ownership, I’ve accumulated way too much stuff. And, by “my stuff” I really mean “our stuff.” There isn’t a drawer, shelf, or closet in this house that isn’t cram-jammed with things, and when said house is 960 square feet things get pretty claustrophic pretty quickly. How much of it do I actually need? I can’t tell because I don’t even know what it all is! My goal is not only to clear out the excess stuff, but also to document my decluttering journey here on my blog. (If I hold myself publicly accountable, maybe it will actually happen.) My guess is that it will take several sweeps of the whole house before I can whittle it down by half, but I’m up for the challenge!

// Do the 52 Week Portrait Project (Again) — “A portrait of my children once a week, every week, in 2015.″ I loved doing this project so much last year, and I know that my readers really enjoyed it, too. I’m looking forward to seeing my kiddos and my photography skills grow throughout another year.

// Read all of the books I got for Christmas before next Christmas — I made this my goal in 2013, and it really helped keep me motivated to finish the pile of books on my nightstand. I received an interesting collection this year, which included a lot of non-fiction DNA books (so I can finally understand what my test results mean!), along with a novel, a biography, and a memoir: Ancestral Journeys, by Jean Manco; Trace Your Roots with DNA, by Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak and Ann Turner; The Seven Daughters of Eve, by Bryan Sykes; Genetic Genealogy: The Basics and Beyond, by Emily D. Aulicino; Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout; Hetty, by Charles Slack; The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls.

I once read that all mothers should have three books going at once so that they always have something to read, no matter the situation: a “stiff book” (i.e. a challenging one); a moderately easy book (i.e. a biography); and a novel — not “twaddle” — (i.e. Eliot, Dickens, etc). I think that this should apply to all people, not just mothers, and I think my Christmas books fit nicely into those categories and will keep me very busy.

// Write lots of snail mail — This one goes on my list every year because I think it’s important at least to try. My grandmother was the postmaster of North Haverhill, NH for decades (and New Hampshire Postmaster of the Year in 1986, no less!). If nothing else, perhaps a love of all things mail-oriented is in my genes. I’d love to write to you, so please add your address to my postable account (if you haven’t already), and anyone can write to me here any time: Kelli Wilson, PO Box 313, Walpole, NH 03608. If you haven’t heard from me in awhile, you can always bring that to my attention :)

Happy New Year, everyone! I’d love to hear your resolutions, so please feel free to leave them in the comments.

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happy new year

Like most people we enjoy celebrating the New Year, but we are introverts and big parties aren’t really our thing (especially not since we had kids…no hangovers for mama!). So, our New Year’s Eve was pretty quiet — I didn’t even make it to midnight. My husband and I drank a little champagne and talked about Viking sagas and manual camera settings.

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On New Year’s Day we always get together with my in-laws for a lucky meal and a few fun traditions. We light twelve candles in honor of the 12 months of the year.

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And, we write down the things from the last year that we want to leave behind, and then burn the scrap of paper in the fire. This year, my list was pretty short. All in all, 2012 was a good year. I’m looking forward to discovering what 2013 will bring.

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2013!

From T.S. Eliot’s “Little Gidding” —

For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.

Happy New Year! 366 days have come and gone, and now a new year has begun. As always, the beginning of the year is a time of hope and anticipation. And, of course, a time of resolutions.

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Here are mine:

1. Paint the basement and put up the curtain walls.
2. Work on creating my “mom cave” so I can be creative without distractions.
3. Finally finish college and have a graduation party!
4. Read all of the books that I got for Christmas, before next Christmas.
5. Write letters to my grandmother once a month.
6. Stick to the budget I created last fall, which was completely disregarded in December…
7. Schedule time to be alone, time to be with my kids (individually), and time to be with my husband.
8. Put up pictures in the hallway.
9. Work on Lillia’s ballet performance scrapbook.
10. Grow some stuff! (Vegetables, flowers, whatever strikes my fancy).
11. See my friends at least once this year. I miss them.
12. Learn how to use my new camera — techniques and composition.
13. Work on the Anna Maria Horner feather quilt (the only craft on this list, for a good reason).

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2012!

Remember when 2012 was in the unimaginable future? We would all be driving hover cars, and eating astronaut ice cream for breakfast, lunch and, dinner. Well, I woke up this morning to find that my car is still solidly on the ground and, thankfully, my ice cream isn’t dehydrated. Still, it does seem hard to believe that we’re already here.

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Yesterday, my husband asked me what my New Year’s resolutions were going to be. I told him, “None! I hate resolutions!” But, then I started thinking about why I hate them, and it occurred to me that they are most often tied to losing weight or giving up whole food groups (yes, dessert IS a food group!), and they most often fail. However, after reading some year-end recaps on some of my favorite blogs, and seeing how much these other ladies accomplished over the course of the year, I decided that maybe resolutions aren’t so bad after all.

So, how about a year of gaining and giving instead of losing and taking away? For myself, and for others, here is what I hope to accomplish this year:

1. Unpack our stuff, and organize the basement.
2. Learn to crochet.
3. Knit something that a person (or animal, I suppose) can actually wear or use.
4. Organize my craft supplies.
5. Help my kids to sleep in their own beds.
6. Finish thank you notes for the wedding (yikes! that was in 2010!).
7. Send out thank you notes for the baby gifts.
8. Blog for confidence (see button on the side).
9. Do a 365 day photo project.
10. Do a major clothing purge and donate what we don’t want.
11. Do something special with my husband on our anniversary, sans kids.
12. Give something to charity every month, even if it’s only a dollar.
13. Participate in some political activism.
14. Save $20 a week for an iPad, as my current computer is on its way out.
15. Create a handmade gift for every member of my immediate family next Christmas.
16. Have a ridiculously immature birthday party for myself (turning 31!).
17. Write letters to my grandmother at least once a month.
18. Find time to read to both of my kids everyday.
19. Explore all of Walpole’s nature preserves.
20. Cook dinner with my husband once a month.
21. Be better about blogging!…and make this my own space.
22. Overcome my fear of tofu, and use it more in my cooking.
23. Read at least two new fiction books. Doesn’t seem like much but,
trust me, that would be an accomplishment!

I guess twenty-three resolutions is probably enough, though I am reserving the right to add to this list if I think of anything else. And, I would love to hear what yours are, if you’re making any!

I hope 2012 brings you happiness, joy, and fulfillment (and a few challenges, to keep it interesting).

Happy New Year! Prospero año nuevo! Bonne année et bonne santé!

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