The First Post of 2014

It's already the 12th day and this is my first post of the year. This likely to be a rambly post so you've been warned.

The holidays were good but hectic at times. Visiting family, having them visit, having some stay over, cooking cleaning, rinse, repeat. I love spending time with my family but seriously it can get a little overwhelming sometimes with some more than others.

My hosting New Year's Day was successful, a few more people than we expected but food was abundant so we survived and everyone had a good time. Clean up was so much easier this year, thank you to my wonderful cousins who helped.

I am spending January without my credit card. I don't walk around with a lot of cash so I'll be using gift cards mostly or do without if it's not available somewhere that I have a gift card for. If it is cheap enough I'll pay cash but it has to be cash already on hand because I'm not taking any cash out of the ATM or using my debit card. I am not an over-spender but I need to re-structure my budget and I need a challenge. I love my credit card and I miss it.

New Year's Day I was late to Mass so I waited an hour for the next one so on the first day of the year I got to spend my first hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament where I prayed my first Rosary of the year. I also got Confession, great start to my year. I prefer the 7 am Mass but next year Lord Willing I may try the 9 again.

I chose my Saint for the year, St Catherine of Bologna, never heard of her before. She is the patron saint against temptations (which is what I focused on) and of artists (which most of what I read focused on).

I picked a word for the year "balance". For the last few years I've focused on one thing or another which usually tends to push other things to the side, this year I want to have every aspect of my life work together. My Faith, social life, personal time etc need to learn to play nice with each other


What I'd like to do for 2014

I'm adding Monday Adorations to my week.
Work on time management.
Bake more and try new recipes, I find joy in baking but didn't do much last year
Do more of my crafts, crocheting and sewing/quilting (barely did any of this last year)
Create a household chore chart and stick to it
Read, continue reading classics, at least one faith based book a month

Last year I tried a few household management charts (chore charts) that I found online but they were unrealistic for me. They were better geared to someone who is home all day, I work with a long commute and can't schedule my days to properly fit so I was constantly feeling overwhelmed and not getting things done. I found something that I want to try:

I'll have to adapt it to fit me but I think I can make this work, I hope.

I should be getting back into regular posting. I have a few post ideas and the Not Alone Series returns this week so I have that.

Looking forward to seeing what 2014 will bring.