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Saturday, February 1, 2014

New Year New Resolutions!

Something about a new year just excites me--it's filled with new beginnings, new possibilities and new outcomes!

 Usually, in January, I am still recovering from the mad rush of Halloween/Thanksgiving/Annual Holiday Party/Christmas, where there is an overabundance of things to do.  But this year was different, I wasn't  exhausted from that Halloween-Christmas preparations as we were in Germany for over 6 weeks.

 I missed our American traditions.We saw only a few children dressed for Halloween.  At Thanksgiving, we enjoyed a seafood plate at a brewery instead of turkey. But the Germans know how to do Christmas!  Each town and neighborhood has a Christmas market with a different theme.  We probably went to 15-18 different markets.  I was enthralled by them! My favorite one was in the downtown of Hamburg, where Santa magically flew through the sky and even stopped high above the crowds to tell the story of Rudolf and to remind the children and adults to be good!

 By the time we got back to the States, there was only a week until we were leaving again to spend time with our daughter in Milwaukee.  I debated getting a real tree, because we ALWAYS have a real tree, but that didn't make sense.  The thought of a fake tree seemed unbearable, but decorating for a full house seemed foolish.  And I wondered would it feel like Christmas if I didn't do all the "normal" things.  I ended up taking out a small table top tree from storage and hung a Christmas wreath on the door.  I finished the Christmas shopping in 2 days and make a batch of cookies.  And I didn't feel as guilty as I thought I might.  In fact, it was nice to just have a break from all the pressures we seem to put on ourselves especially that time of year.

But December quickly passed to January and with time to reflect on the past and the future. I did well with my most of my resolutions.  I even lost that extra five pounds while in Germany from walking 6-12 miles every day.  Not to mention climbing numerous stairs, one day we actually climb 30 (yes, thirty) flights of stairs just from sightseeing. I was surprised I lost any weight because I ate wonderful unknown cheeses, pretzels, breads and beer daily.  I even ate a delicious fruit and nut chocolate bar everyday (and I rarely eat sweets!)  Fortunately for me, I have not found this candy bar back in the States!

I also manage to blog once a month.  And for my house resolutions, I completed the following projects:  new landscaping where the 7 bushes were removed, new planters for the front of the house, new bar stools in the kitchen, new desk chair in the kitchen, painted my daughters bedroom, install new faucets in 2 of the four bathrooms, changed out the towel bars, toilet paper holders, bath hooks, toilet handles and cabinet hardware in 3 of the 4 bathrooms, installed ceramic tile in the lower level bathroom and changed out the cabinet hardware in our laundry room.

This year I planned to blog monthly (and as you can see by the date of this post, I broke that one pretty early!) and make sure I do cardio regularly.  As for my house projects, I plan to take down the wallpaper in the mudroom and laundry room, do drywall repair and skim the walls, paint both rooms and install travertine tile in those rooms, install new ceramic tile in our master bath and in the girls bathroom, change out the hardware in the mudroom, find new light fixtures and find new towel bars, toilet paper holder, and a bath hook for the lower level bathroom.



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