Resolute

• resolute [ˈrɛzəˌluːt]
  adj
  1. firm in purpose or belief; steadfast
  2. characterized by resolution; determined a resolute answer
  [from Latin resolutus, from resolvere to resolve]
  resolutely adv
  resoluteness n

So... I don't normally make New Year's resolutions. In fact, I believe the last one I made was in 2004. I resolved to not eat fast food until my wedding in March. (Had to fit into that wedding dress!) I'm not sure if I kept it or not. Probably not. And that's the reason I don't make them.

But this year I decided to make one. Let me back up and explain how I got to this point.

When I got my new radio in the kitchen at the beginning of December, I all the sudden was listening to the radio all the time. And I was uncharacteristically in the mood to listen to Christmas music all the time. But my favorite Christian station wasn't playing much, and I didn't care to listen to a secular station (it seems like they play the same songs over and over). Someone suggested I tune in 88.1, which is a Family Life Radio station. Several times I caught a program in the afternoon called "Intentional Living." They talk a lot about living with a purpose. Setting goals, and sticking to them, instead of wandering aimlessly through life.

Add to this that I've been feeling very convicted about the amount of time I spend on the computer. I just waste a lot of time every single day. And it's not doing anything important! I do blog a couple times a week, but every day I could spend hours online, doing nothing more than checking Facebook and reading the news headlines and emailing. A lot of the time this is while the boys are awake, and I feel like I'm missing out on things I could do with them. I don't want to be one of those parents who's always zoned in front of the computer, whose kids beg them to come play and who puts off their kids so often that the kids quit coming to ask because they figure Mommy's "work" on the computer is more important than them. Or even worse - a parent who yells at their kids from in front of the computer because what I'm doing is so "important" that I can't get up and properly discipline or engage with my kids.

And because I waste so much time, my house is a disaster heap. Now, I can (and do) blame it on having kids and a husband. But the fact that I don't do anything about the mess on the dining room table until it has reached disaster status isn't their fault. Purely mine. If I don't waste time doing nothing, I can get the things I need to done, and have time to do things that I want to. (Like sewing. Or organizing my pictures. Or drawing.)

So my resolution is this: Set goals for each day and accomplish them. Don't waste so much time.

For now, at least, I'm going to write down my goals... Seeing them in writing makes me more accountable, it seems. And I am resolute. This is something that is important to me, and could possibly influence the life of my children.

My goals for this, the first day of the new year: Clean the kitchen. Clean the dining room. Exercise.

I got the first two done, including mopping - which I wasn't planning on doing. But since it took me so long (as I said before: disaster status), I didn't get to exercise. (But I feel like I have anyways!)

I haven't had my quiet time yet. That's what I'm going to do, then I'm headed to bed.

Paul stayed home sick tonight. I thought since he was home, I'd get to bed earlier.

Nope.

(And I realized that by the time I got this posted, it is actually NOT New Year's Day. It's the second day of the new year. Oh well. Close enough.)