Ok, so here we are at the end of another year.  I think I am happy to have a NEW YEAR since this year has been very ‘trying’.

Traditionally, today is the day for ‘New Year’s Resolutions’ and, also traditionally, over the next month or so we forget our resolutions or realise that we just can’t commit to them.

Having had a bit of experience with setting goals and making commitments which seem hard to fulfill (writing a 50 000 word novel in 30 days springs to mind) I have learned that setting small achievable goals is the way to go.

A goal for today is that I need to make my niece’s birthday card and post her parcel.  Should be quite achievable.  There is a little pressure here because her birthday is mid next week and she lives interstate.  With the public holidays coming up I need to get her parcel into the post today, in an overnight bag, so it arrives in time.  Presents are Very Important when you are turning 6!

According to the Free Online Dictionary, “resolution” means:   1. The state or quality of being resolute; firm determination.   2. A resolving to do something.   3. A course of action determined or decided on.

Hmm.  “Firm determination”.

Ok.  What am I ‘determined’ to do in 2011?

Personal Training … 3 times per week, for the first quarter … which essentially means all the weeks of the school term and whenever Lovely Sharon is available outside of those dates.

Writing … a little bit several times per week until I get the current piece of work finished.

Sharing the JOY … to be happier with life and living and to share about it MORE.  I am committed to BIRTHDAYS: celebrating and acknowledging those special days of all my friends.  That means handmade birthday cards and a Birthday Calendar ~ I’ve just succumbed to the iPhone phenomena and the highlight is an ‘app’ which lists all the Birthdays of those people in my contact list!  I LOVE it! 

Being Creative … ok, so that kind of goes without saying because I really can’t go for too long without either needing to make a card or gift for someone or wanting to play with paper! Another year with Stampin’ Up!  YAY!

Well, there you go.  A good, manageable list of resolutions for 2011.  I think they’re sustainable, too.  I do love the thought that I can get to this time, next year and have achieved all of those things!  Yippee!

What are Your New Year’s Resolutions?

2010 was another milestone for our family: we finished Primary School!  Woo Hoo!

After 14 years at school we have finally left … I drove most of the way to school on my way out, earlier this week, and noted that I just wouldn’t have to do that last little bit of the trip to school, ever again!

Daniel started in Prep in 1997; Josh in 1999; Kels in 2004.  We saw lots and lots of changes in the school, most notably the increase in number of kids. 

Our involvement has been high, especially in the earlier years.  Kels really didn’t have much input at Kinder, from me, because I was so focused on contributing at Primary School.  In fact, Kels was pretty much born into the classroom of one of the very few ‘first’ teachers still at school when we left!

My connection with Primary School has involved years of hearing reading and helping with various subjects in the classroom; being designated “Parent Helper” for the class, for many years; and with fundraising ~ “Community Events & Services”.  David updated their website and managed that for quite a long time; and joined School Council.  We both really ‘moved on’ about 2 years ago so we were very comfortable with leaving permanently, this year.

Kels has had a really big year.  Her social life has been what I guess is normal for emerging adolescents: challenging.  I heard many, many stories about relationships and behaviour and very few about anything academic!  Kels has also been extended strongly in the academic areas which I only discovered from her report and by chatting with her teacher.  The fact that he told me how much he’s pushed Kels to achieve  during the year made me realise that Kels is very capable of multi-tasking: socialising and classwork!

So, our family is experiencing more change; we are having a 3 year change period which began with Daniel finishing High School, followed by Kels finishing Primary School, and next year will be Josh finishing High School.  Our routines are evolving and changing as we go from having children who are still quite dependent on us to allowing them more freedom and independence.

Gosh!  2011 brings me heaps more ‘free time’ as I won’t be doing the school drop off and pick up each day.  Woo Hoo!  I wonder what I’ll do with myself?

2010 has seen over 50 000 words placed in print … I LOVED doing the NaNoWriMo Challenge in November!!!  Thanks, again, to Lovely Beverly, who extended the information about the challenge, originally, and was a fabulous “Writing Buddy” during the process.

The most excting thing about the NaNoWriMo Challenge is getting to read Beverly’s latest novel ~ it was so good that I strongly requested Book 3 so I could see what happens!!  I also thoroughly enJOYed listening to excerpts of Kels’ 16 000+ word story.  I am so excited by the publishing process … Kels’ story will look fabulous done up like a book rather than a PDF.  Beverly’s Anthology of Angel’s Verse looks so professional!

Since completing the challenge, although not the book – yet – I have paid more attention to what role writing plays in my life.  I have blogged pretty consistently throughout the last 3 years, and I thoroughly enJOY the process.  I also carry around at least 2 notebooks in my handbag for jotting down thoughts and plans as they pop into my head.  My ‘stamping’ paper is a pile of scrap printer paper which I use to do my inking on, and for writing plans (and the kids’ job lists!) when I need some ‘brain dumping’ paper.

At this time, I have only 2 goals or plans for 2011: Writing and Personal Training.

After all, I have a book to complete!

Continuing the Year In Review, the next greatest impact on me was Josh’s hospital visit.  Technically, he was in hospital in 2009 but given the most recent visit with surgery, I thought about what I’d learned through this process.

I’ve learned, through Josh’s visits to hospital and Daniel’s recent bout of tonsilitis, that the medical system ‘fixes’ things.  There is no ‘healing’ in the process, though.  Healing and wellbeing are apparently unnecessary in medicine.  There are some basic strategies for managing wellness which, not once, were mentioned to us, or to Daniel, in the journey of broken bones and sore throats.

Dad’s surgery, five years ago, was the same.  He had life threatening/saving surgery, was sent home to the country, and had no support groups or strategies for managing wellbeing and healing, offered or provided.  Thank Goodness, Cherrill (my step-mother) is an ex-nurse.  I believe that she, almost singlehandedly, kept Dad alive for as many years as he survived the operation.  Dad was one of the 2 or 3% who survived the surgery for 5 years.

Watching what my kids have been through, and listening to what Dad suffered, I am incensed at the lack of care the medical profession offers.  It’s all about ‘fixing’ with the intention of curing a problem rather than managing the unwellness to support healing. 

This might seem like a picky thing to be sharing but writing a prescription for antibiotics is not about ‘healing’.  Healing involves the whole person and process … knowing that you can spend too much time in bed and how that can actually send you backwards on the healing front: it makes you more tired … making sure you eat regularly, small meals if necessary, to keep your strength up … phone calls to check on how you are going …

I do believe that all wellness or dis-ease is the result of emotional health or issues.  It works for me.  Therefore, strategies for managing my ‘mental’ health are really important for my ‘physical’ health.

None of this was communicated to Josh, in hospital, or Daniel at the medical centre.

I can actually manage my kids’ state of unwellness better than those in the hospital or medical system. 

So, I have learned that my approach to wellness works well.  I enJOY visiting with my NEW Naturopath (who called me within a couple of days of my first visit, to check in and see how I was doing) and accessing my commonsense and intuition regarding the health and wellbeing of our family.

I was thinking about what to do, this week, having had a full on few weeks leading up to Christmas and not really wanting to start on the typical ‘New Year’ projects that I always feel inspired by, just yet.

The spring cleaning enthusiasm has begun already; truth be told, it began on Christmas Day!  I was ready to clean, clear, declutter, reorganise etc most probably because the busy-ness of December and the preceding month had come to an end.  I finally have time to collect my thoughts and make plans for ‘Getting Things Done’.

Now that I don’t scrapbook the happenings in my life ~ well, I do hope to do a little memory keeping over January, especially Kels’ Grade 6 album ~ this forum is the main place I share my thoughts and everyday experiences.  One day, I may just print it all up into my own Journal of Happenings in Michelle’s Life … or something similar. 

So, this week I am going to review 2010, probably one of the most traumatic and challenging years ever.  And, I’m not sure that there has been much JOY … I wonder if I can ‘find’ the JOY in the happenings.  After all, every cloud does have a silver lining.

Obviously, the place to begin is with Dad’s death.  It was 12 months ago that I received a letter, from Dad, telling me that he was never going to speak to me again … and that’s actually what came to pass.  Well, not exactly but pretty close as Dad was suffering Lung Cancer and unable to speak clearly, if at all, for the last few weeks of his life. 

And, it was this period that I made some really hard choices which cost me dearly … I chose not to see Dad and I wasn’t there when he died. 

Do I have any regrets about making that choice?

No.

But, the fallout from those around me, and the way I was treated, was cruel, and that was really hard.  I wonder if one day I will find out how those people were feeling about me …

I learnt that standing your ground is one of the hardest challenges to manage.  I also learnt just how bitter and vindictive people can be when they are in pain.  I learnt about Compassion and my ability to feel and express compassion to others when on the receiving end of crticisim and perceived persecution.  I learnt that living with the outcome of my choices is often really hard but the gift of being able to care about those around me is really easy.  There is a peaceful feeling when I am doing something from my heart. 

And, Dad’s death has brought me a freedom that I never imagined I would experience in this lifetime.

Ahh.  The JOY of feeling FREE from Constraints imposed upon me for 45 years.

Thank You.

Wishing you a day filled with …

Merriment

JOY

Happiness

Sharing.

May you feel that Life is Wonderful.

Merry Christmas!

It’s the last day of the Countdown to Christmas … Yippee! 

Josh’s surgery was successful, yesterday.  Thanks for your comments of support, Friends.   Daniel is much improved, too, and is going back to work, today, for a few hours.  Suspected glandular fever certainly knocks you around!  Kels is organised and sorted, ready for Christmas/2011/high school.  LOL. 

We’ve got some last minute wrapping to do, some last minute food shopping to do (how could we have forgotten that we do need to eat, in and around Christmas Day?!!), and some serious cleaning to finish!  There is a tinsel trail all around the house!

Today is the day to take some time and listen to all those wonderful Christmas Carols out there … my two favourites, this year, are from Bruce Springsteen and Mariah Carey.  Click on the links and crank up the volume ~ get into the Christmas Spirit and enJOY the Festive Feeling!

Happy Christmas Eve!

Josh is in hospital, today, having the plates removed from his arm … this photo shows the original ‘hardware’ inserted into his arm to support the regrowth of his bones, a pin and a plate. 

Twelve months ago, exactly, Josh had a second operation to have the pin removed and another plate put in.  We have joked that the 23rd of December is synonomous with Josh having an operation ~ I hope that’s not the case in 2011!!

We expect everything to be quite straightforward with the actual operation and the healing process.  Josh is so ready to be fully healed!  The fabulous thing about having the operation now is that he has several weeks for his arm (and emotions) to heal before going into Year 12 and back to being a Gymnastics Coach.

David has been amazing!  He is the best Dad anyone could have.  He has spent all the hospital time actually with Josh and will spend his time at the hospital, today.  The rest of us will be at home, preparing for Christmas, and sending many healing thoughts to Josh, and supportive thoughts to David.

As everyone is home, at the moment, David has taken charge of the dinners, this week.  He has delegated a night to each of the kids, although Daniel may still be too unwell to contribute.

Last night, Josh made home made hamburgers which included actually popping down the street to buy the ingredients.  He makes GREAT burgers!

The night before was Kels’ turn.  I think she spent the whole afternoon in the kitchen!  We started with Nachos ~ homemade Guacamole, homemade Salsa and sour cream, included ~ the followed up with Caramelised Onion Potato Salad, and Lamb Cutlets with Rosemary.  Kels was really keen to have all the vegetables and meat presented on the table for us to serve ourselves and it looked such a fabulous spread of food!

It’s great having the change to normal routine and the extra time to think about what we would like to ‘indulge’ in.  I hope David has some great idea for tonight’s dinner!

I’ve made up another fabulous Tres Chic Handbag from the tutorial by Becky Roberts, this time as a Christmas Gift for Lovely Sharon, my personal trainer.  I also made 4 different cards with a birthday theme so Sharon can be organised for her celebrations during the new year.

My new favourite colour combo is River Rock, Basic Black and Rich Razzleberry … I did make up one of these handbags, last month, and liked it so much that I used my last piece of Polka Dot River Rock patterned paper from the Dashing Designer Series Paper Pack (a bonus buy with the Christmas Bundles from Stampin’ Up!).  I LOVE this paper!!  This time, I added a For You Flower in Black and Razzleberry with a shiny heart (from the Owl Punch and coated with Crystal Effects).

This card uses the Crazy for Cupcakes stamp set and I Love it!  I’ve used this design before, but not in my NEW favourite colour combo.   I like that I can use Dazzling Diamonds as the icing and crystal effects for the cherries.  Add a little retired Double Stitched River Rock Ribbon and a few of the new Razzleberry brads and it’s a gorgeous birthday card.

I am also enJOYing using another retired stamp set, Vintage Labels.  Not sure why but I seem to have fallen in love, belatedly, with the flowery image.  This time, I used the  Well Scripted Stamp Set, from the Summer Mini Catalog, to make wallpaper for the background of the Scalloped Flowers. 

The For You Flower is so versatile and I’ve used it heaps.  I continued with the Razzleberry and River Rock theme using the small polka dot paper from the Brights Patterned Paper pad.  I am also enJOYing using BUTTONS!

Last but not least, the Medallion Stamp called to me so I made a simple card embellished with Pearls and the Polka Dot Razzleberry Ribbon on the reverse side.

Sharon really liked her gift and I liked the fact that each part of it was usable.

I LOVE Stampin’ Up!