The weather has been so warm this week that Moe decided to make a "mud man" since he won't be making any snowmen in the near future. It's expected to turn colder in the next couple of days; I know it's wishful thinking to hope for some snow. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. For me, Christmas break was just the right balance between celebration and relaxation, and now I'm ready to get back into our normal hectic routine.
I don't usually make New Years' Resolutions, because I'm not very good at keeping them. I was looking the other day at my very first post, and the resolutions I listed there. I actually kept some of them, at least for a while. I started writing out some new ones for this year, and my list kept getting longer and longer. I probably made too many:
Exercise 20 minutes a day, 3 times a week, minimum.
Expect more chores from kids. And maybe call that housecleaning lady.
Read 2 books a month: One spiritual and one fluff.
MAKE time for prayer EVERY DAY, even if it's only five minutes. Maybe ten.
Put Jesus first, others second, myself third.
A relatively nonspecific career-related resolution, basically telling myself to decide what I want to do with the rest of my life--and do it already.
Quit sleeping in on the weekends.
Go to at least one additional Mass every month, besides Sundays. Holy Days of Obligation don't count. Or maybe they do. Baby steps.
Limit my online time and stick with it. This includes Twitter, blogging, Facebook...Spend some of that time reading a BOOK. Spend my time online carefully. This may mean less blogging. Get over it.
Invite people to my house more often. This includes priests, friends I don't get to see as often as I'd like, people I don't want to lose touch with. And relatives.
Support my favorite charities actively and consistently. Make a plan and stick with it.
Don't rely on Facebook to keep in touch with people I love. Pick up the phone and call them. Make time to visit them.
Plant a garden. (This is the one I'm least likely to keep, but there it is.)
I woke up this morning with some nagging thoughts about how I spend my time, and whether or not I should spend less time blogging or just quit altogether. Just this past year, between my two blogs, I put up 92 posts. If I spend an average of two hours on each one (let's be realistic, shall we?), that's 184 hours I spent here, and 184 hours that I wasn't doing laundry, cleaning, reading, exercising, or just having a conversation with someone in my life.
Sometime late yesterday afternoon I decided to put together a post for Cooking Nick's Books. I figured Christmas vacation was almost over and we're having leftovers anyway, so I sat down and started writing and going through pictures. Right around 6:30, I asked, "Is anyone hungry?" We had eaten a late lunch, and I figured we'd have a light supper. My husband said, "Not really, but I will be." OK, I thought, I'll sit here for a few more minutes and then go heat up the chili from the other night. Suddenly I heard my husband say, "Are we going to eat?" I looked down at the little clock at the bottom of my computer screen and realized an hour had passed. Moe said, "Mom, you were sitting at your computer for like three hours." Now, I had spent some time printing out work for my Religious Education class and browsing Catholic education sites for ideas I could use (and I adamantly pointed out this fact) but I wondered, Is this really how I need to be spending my time? Granted, my husband was watching a football game I wasn't the least bit interested in, and Moe was working on some homework, and the other boys were playing their new video games they got for Christmas, but still.... And then after dinner I wanted to finish the post while the boys headed into the living room to watch an episode of Star Trek. Joe asked me if I wanted to join them, and I declined.
So this morning as I tossed and turned in bed trying in vain to go back to sleep, I was thinking, maybe I should seriously just quit this fruitless endeavor and spend those hours doing something more tangible. I asked God to help me figure out a way to either a) use my love of blogging to enhance my relationship with Him, bring others closer to Him--and to genuinely touch the lives of others (including friends, loved ones, and strangers); or b). give me a sign, a thumbs up ("Keep it up!") or a thumbs down ("It's time to move on.")
On my last post, I received five comments. Five! That may be a record. Usually I get none. Which is OK, because I'm not looking for recognition, but when people say nice things about what I've posted it gives me the encouragement I need to keep going. Just listen to Gardenia's comment: 
Happy New Year! I'm looking forward to sharing many more musings, memories, and photos with you in 2012, and to reading many more of yours, too!
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