Happy Happy New Year, Baby!

Last year was full of blessings and challenges, and it went really fast. I’m at that age where I don’t wish away time, but frankly, I’m not so sorry to see it gone. Now is the time to think about New Year’s resolutions, and I have a few things in mind, but my main goal is to keep up.

Keep up with housework and laundry. You know what bothers me most about housework and laundry? That no matter how good a job I do, it’ll have to be done again tomorrow. Argh. Some major decluttering will make this easier to keep up with. When there is less stuff to get messy, there’s less work to keep the space clean. I should confess that laundry is really not a big problem. Last summer we got our first new washer/dryer set after using some pretty reliable, but mismatched appliances for about 30 years. It’s such a pleasure to do laundry these days when it doesn’t take three hours to dry a load. The washer had a learning curve, but I think I’ve got it figured out now. I was pretty thrilled with the light inside the dryer drum. Yep, that was a novelty for me.

Keep up with meals, making them varied and nutritious and frugal. I cook most of our meals from scratch, keeping recipe ingredients in the freezer so it’s easy to throw together a casserole or pot of something delicious. I start feeling like we eat the same things over and over again, though. Sometimes I’m just weary, mentally and physically, and it seems a Herculean task to put a meal on the table at the end of the day. It’s much too easy to call Greg and have him bring home takeout. He enjoys and appreciates my cooking, but is just as happy to buy our supper and bring it home… January is pantry/freezer challenge month, where we eat from what we already have and buy no new groceries except fresh produce and dairy. This will be the third year we’ve done this challenge, and we have fun trying new recipes to use up what we have.

Keep up with the garden, weeding and harvesting in a timely fashion and preserving as much as possible. Oh, my little garden that I just love. A few years ago Greg built some small raised beds for the new vegetable garden I wanted to start. It’s turned into mostly an herb garden, and every year I learn new ways to use and preserve those herbs. We plant tomatoes and bell peppers, but that’s about it for vegetables. There is talk around here today of adding more raised beds and more vegetables – Greg found the seed catalog that came in the mail this week. He really enjoys the planning part of the garden, notsomuch the planting, weeding, watering, harvesting, processing and preserving parts. I won’t say he never helps, but the garden is pretty much my responsibility.

Keep up with the busy preschool boys and the new tiny girl who will arrive any time now. Yep. That’s where the “Happy New Year BABY” comes in. Our new little granddaughter, Layla, is due to be born next week. Jess and the boys moved in with us last June, so our household is hopping already. Hopefully Layla will enjoy the chaos. You might wonder, if Jess is living here, why I’m the one who has to do all the keeping up? I’m not. Everyone helps around here. I just feel like I should drive the train that keeps us all on track. Some days that goes smoother than others.

We have a couple of big house projects coming in the Spring, and I’ve joined in a challenge to make Christmas presents all year long so the next holiday season will be a tiny bit more relaxed. Jess and I have a small business venture happening in the near future which will require some elbow grease and creativity. In between these things, I’ll be here in my little corner of the prairie, keeping up.