Goodbye 2012! Hello 2013!

This is going to be my wordy, deep-thought post for the New Year. :) I've had a lot on my mind lately and I just need to spit it all out. Sometimes I don't know what to do, but if I can get it out and share it, for some reason it helps me see things better.

First I hope you all had a wonderful and merry Christmas and are having a good New Years! :)

We didn't put anyone to bed on time last night...

The girl and the hubby were the first ones out. The boys were pretty excited about the show they were watching. We did put them to bed at 11, then we watched Men in Black 3... but I fell asleep pretty quick. We are not that exciting when it comes to New Years Eve... we missed it by 4 min. lol. Maybe when our little ones are bigger we'll be more fun. :)

And now it's 2013.

The last few months I've been learning a lot about the family and seem to keep getting the push to focus more on my own family. Never a bad thing, right?! :) That and now that we are expecting #4, I have been OVERWHELMED (which is a gross understatement) with feelings of inadequacy in relation to being a good mother. "How in the world am I supposed to raise 4 young children?" It definitely makes me realize that I need to reorganize my life: cut some things out, put other things back in place. 

Source: momsbyheart.net via Holly on Pinterest

Thinking about what "goals" I want to set for the new year, my guideline is that everything needs a PURPOSE! And I want that purpose to focus around strengthening and helping my family, myself, friends, and those around me. I want to cut the clutter and busyness of life! Minimize, less stress, fewer commitments that don't improve my life or my relationships. Basically if I were to sum it all up in one word it would be relationships.

I've also thought a lot about the good friends I've made this past year, and how I feel like I've lost contact with almost all of them. I've been so busy with other things, some that don't even matter, that I have not had time to read blogs, email, etc. I definitely don't want to cut out my online presence. Especially since living out in no-mans land, that is sometimes where all my social interactions come from, at least sewing-wise. I LOVE the online community! But I have feel that I've buried myself in commitments that I think I want to be done with, at least for now. I want to get back to "hanging out" with the awesome people all over the world that I have come to know, and continue to make more friends and meet more people! So all of you out there that I have been unintentionally ignoring, I'm sorry!! I hope we can still be friends! :)

A little bit ago I wrote this post about blogging and sponsors and all that stuff. Some of your comments, which I am grateful for, made me see things in a different light. I don't want sponsors on my blog just because I don't want to feel committed to it. I enjoy blogging just for the fact of sharing my life and my projects with you. I love your comments and feedback. It's fun and enjoyable, and for me I think sponsors would lead to stress and feeling pressured to blog and always come up with new things. Right now I want no pressure. That being said, I think I am also going to step away from The One Stop Giveaway Shop. At least for a while. Even if I got sponsors there, I don't think it would be worth it. Looking back to the last few months I've noticed how it sucks me in to the computer and before I know it I've spent too much time away from my family. I really appreciate everyone who has supported it and used it as a resource!! Thank you! I have enjoyed it, and am always happy to provide a service that others can use, but now I need to be done with that.

Source: cute-spot.com via Jaimie on Pinterest

2013 is the year of Change!

I think to keep my sanity and to keep all of us here on the home front happy, I really need to set up a routine, for all of us. I have been really bad at sticking to a schedule and a routine. Every day seems to come and go on a whim. I get the house cleaned, but there is no order to it. We get things done and have fun, but I think my wee ones would do better if they had a daily routine and schedule that we followed. I especially want them to start helping with chores! I think a routine would help me feel better about all my sewing and projects too! (I can't cut that out! But maybe a schedule would help me get projects finished as well.) 

Anyway, I am still deciding on what exact goals I want to set. And I'm trying to not set too many! I really want to be able to reach them and feel like I am making good strides in my life. I usually don't set New Year's resolutions, or goals, and even though I make a huge list every year of things I'd like to do. My determination to keep them or follow through on them usually doesn't last past the first few weeks of January. I want this year to be different. Not that I want to make New Years resolutions, but rather Life Changes! :D I think a little trial and error in figuring out what they need to be is in order, and that is fine. But hopefully I can figure it out sooner rather than later. 

Now that I have my "guidelines" and purpose laid out, hopefully that will help me be wise in picking what I can and want to accomplish. Crossing my fingers! and of course I want to fit in some "learning new skills" goals, some sewing/crafting goals, and some creating goals! I just need to do them with balance. :) I really wanted to get the house deep cleaned and super organized before the hubby went back to work, just to get a good start on it all, but he's been sick. We haven't done much of anything around here since getting back from holiday travels. lol. :) Makes me realize that this is going to be a lot of work. And that's ok...

How about you? How did your holidays go?

Do you have any big plans for 2013??? :)