Happy First Monday of 2011 to Everyone!

Quote for the day: 

A dog has so many friends, cause he wags his tail instead of his tongue!!!

~Author Unknown

It's that time of year when there's a lot of talk about New Year's resolutions.  I have decided that there are a couple things that I'm going to "work on"...but I haven't gone so far as to call them "New Year's Resolutions".   They are just "Things I Want to Work On in My Life".  :)  

1)  I am going to make more time for family and friends.  Several things have happened to people close to me within the last 6 weeks and it drives home to me how important it is to spend time with friends and family because none of use are guarranteed tomorrow.  Yes, we all think we have "forever" and we'll tell them "next time" how we feel about them.  But what if there IS no "next time"?  I have a tendency to drop out of get-togethers at the last minute.  I can always find a reason to not go to a something...   But I've decided to work on that and make an effort to spend more time with people and build up friendships.   Yesterday we had friends, Susan & Mike, over for brunch and had a great visit!  :)

2)  I want to stay out of gossip and "fights" that aren't mine.  There is a lot of gossip and "shit-stirring" at work...always has been.  My goal is to stay out of the fray and mind my own business.  A friend said she is working toward the same goal and the way she said it was "if my dog ain't in the fight, I'm keepin' it on the porch."  I like the analogy!  :)   "Shit-stirrers" want to get people around them riled up and then they like to sit back and watch as those newly-riled people run around like a chicken with it's head cut off fretting about whatever.  I've decided that I don't need the aggravation.  And there is no healthy reason for me to listen to or repeat gossip.  

3)  I'm going to declutter this house as much as I am physically able to do.  'Nuff said...already started!  Continue reading this post for more information...

4)  I will be gentle on myself.   I tend to beat myself up when I don't follow my roads I have mapped out to my goals.   I've decided to be more like "Jill".  "Jill" is what we call our new GPS unit that Erin and Dale gave us for Christmas.  We call her "Jill" because that is the voice we chose from the options available.  

"Jill" on her maiden voyage in December...

When we mess up and don't turn where Jill tells us to, she doesn't get mad...she doesn't berate us...she doesn't call us names like "stupid".  Nope...she simply says "Recalculating...", figures out where we are, where we need to go and what we need to do to get there from this new location.  Her purpose is to move us forward to our goal.   So when I step off the path to my goals in life, instead of beating myself up, looking back, moving backwards, etc., I will simply "recalculate" from my new position and move forward from there.

Now...onto the decluttering.  Here's what I decluttered yesterday and will be "releasing into the wild"...  

This is a bedskirt that I bought at the Goodwill Outlet and used to have on Erin's bed.  Several months ago we took the bed down so the quilt frame would fit into the bedroom.  I have moved this bedskirt from place to place in the house...not quite sure what to do with it...picking it up...putting it somewhere else...picking it up...putting it somewhere else. I'm tired of moving it and I don't need it but it is in good condition, so I decided to Ebay it.  I posted it yesterday evening and it already has a bid on it!  YAY!    Baby steps...as long as stuff I don't need is leaving the house instead of sticking around...that is the goal.  

Please leave me a comment to let me know you stopped by and to let me know what you have "released into the wild" recently! 

Loretta