Welcome, 2011!

I am not one who is much for big celebrations on New Years, and this year was no exception. I was at home and didn't see any balls drop or any other kinds of celebrations on television as I was still knee deep in my own projects. I do still hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday. I started thinking about resolutions early this year, and realized I really didn't want to set them because I am horrible at keeping them (although I can officially say I did accomplish one of them this year by reading, and documenting so I kept track, 100 books in 2009). So this year, for me, I decided to set one big overall goal that I can work on in different ways throughout the year, and then do another goal in smaller increments, like quarterly. For me, I think this is going to work better for me. Plus, I think it's just going to help me in general to have a new goal throughout the year - and I am thinking putting it out there on my blog is going to help me be accountable.

So, my main goal for this year is to draw closer to Christ. There have been a lot of things I have been slacking on that I know I should be doing, as well as extra things that I want to do. I need to get back into regular scripture study, regular prayers, regular temple attendance. I also want to read one church book each month, not a fictional book. I have a lot of them sitting on my shelves and I want to actually take advantage of them. I am pretty positive this goal will help me in my quest for happiness as well. That has definitely been a struggle for me this year.

My first little mini resolution, although it has really turned into a big project, is to get my house organized and keep it clean. I have started this project and am almost done with the organized part. For some reason this year all of the clutter and stuff in my house has started driving me crazy. I am well aware that I have too much for a long time, now I want to get rid of it. The keeping it clean part of it is where I need the three months to try to get into this habit. I definitely have the housekeeping skills, but I don't use them and it shows. I need to work on this more for myself than anyone else coming over. As of right now, I only need to go through a trunk (which I am pretty sure that I will be getting rid of as well), the smaller closet in my second bedroom, and the drawers in my main bathroom as well as finish cleaning the bathrooms and I will be done. Sort of - I need to figure out where all of this stuff is going and how to get it there. Aimee shared a place with me and I am hoping they will come and get it all. I have gone through a lot of trash bags, both for throwing out as well as donations. It's insane. Just one small fact, I have bagged over 200 books to get rid of. That sounds like a lot, but I started out with over 700, but it's still a lot. And I think with my Kindle, each time I go through them, I should be able to get rid of more and more. This time I freed myself of one and one-half bookshelves, which I am pretty proud of. So, I did have this bedroom looking quite nice, until I needed a place to store all of the stuff until it's gone. Now it looks like this:
That's a lot of stuff leaving. I don't know if I should feel embarrassed that I have this much stuff to get rid of or proud that I am letting it all go - or maybe a little bit of both. Because I am doing this, I am looking a lot closer at what I am buying and whether or not it's worth bringing into my home. I need to keep this mindset. It may sound funny, but this is actually very freeing to do. Kind of therapeutic. I have come to the realization, at least for me, that I lose a bit of myself whenever I bring something into my home. It becomes my responsibility, even if it just sits on a shelf. That's a lot of time and energy that could be considered to be wasted. Those are my thoughts, feel free to share yours.