2012: The Resolutions

I know that most people believe resolutions are silly. More often than not, they're usually broken before you get to February and then you're all defeated and bitter. (Or maybe that's just me) 

Anyway, I like making lists and creating goals for myself so here are my resolutions for 2012.

Quality time with the Princess

Working full time and being a single parent is not easy. I'm sure that's an obvious statement but I can actually attest to it's difficulty. I also have the added bonus of splitting a great deal of the princess' time with her dad, so between my job, school, her education, and just life in general we don't get many opportunities for fun times with just the two of us. This past holiday without her was really rough for me, a lot rougher than I thought it would be and it just has me thinking that I shouldn't waste a moment with her. She's growing up incredibly fast and pretty soon she won't want to be bothered with me at all because she'll be too busy being emo and teenagerish, so 2012 is going to be all about having those moments. I can't wait to see what kind of adventures we get up to!

Cleanliness. Godliness. You know.

My life is a study in disorganization. I get so busy I don't make time to clean regularly. I do a deep cleaning every few weeks but it usually ends up super messy again within days. I have so much clutter everywhere...books (endless piles of books), clothes I need to give to Goodwill, etc.  My biggest fear is that I'll get nominated for Hoarders by some well meaning neighbor. I just need to do a huge clean sweep and make my dingy apartment house into a home. That way I'll be all set to move the heck out of this place later on this year and won't bring any of my old apartment baggage with me.

Blogging

For me blogging is a fun way of sharing a bit of myself and getting to know other people. I never looked at it as anything other than my little piece of the Internet to share my thoughts and feelings and what not, and I still feel that way. I haven't blogged regularly at all. In fact I often go through a blog-dentity crisis because I simply feel like I blog just for the sake of it as opposed to having a real purpose or theme. 

I have since come to the realization that  I LOVE to blog, period. I love writing in general and getting the chance to express myself really never gets old. So I resolve to do more blogging purely for the love of it and not worry about anything else. If people read or comment that's awesome but if they don't, I still love to go back and look at my past posts and laugh at how utterly insane I am sometimes. I don't guarantee that I'll always talk about reading, writing, being a mom, or Twilight, or John Green or any of the other things I seem to blabber about, but I do promise that whatever it is will be 100% me.

In conclusion, I want it to be made perfectly clear that I appreciate every single person who reads this blog and comments or sends me an email or adds me to their Google Reader! Thank you ever so much! 

Remembering When Reading Was Fun

So I sucked at reading in 2011. Like really sucked. I only read 30 books. That is just simply pathetic. I don't like to set reading goals for myself because life will inevitably get in the way of whatever goal I set, but I would definitely like to read more and put a CONSIDERABLE dent in the books I've purchased but haven't read yet...which are over 100. :-\ 

A Writer Writes...Always

Oh man. Ok so in my list of 32 things I want to complete in my 32nd year, I listed finishing up my initial draft, getting a critique partner, and beginning the query process as goals I'd like to complete this year. I still do want to do this. Seriously. 

I'm going to write a more in depth post about my writing journey some time in the very near future but basically I want 2012 to be the year I turn a corner in my writing. It's time to take it to the next level and even though I'm absolutely petrified, I know I'm the only person holding me back. 

No Place Like Home

Currently, I live in a what I like to refer to as a hole. It's a two bedroom, one bath, tiny little apartment in a nice area that's fairly inexpensive. The hole part comes from the fact that the walls are paper thin, there's berber carpet, and the laundry room is quite literally a Jesus walk from my front door. Suffice it to say I definitely get what I pay for. Now that I've paid off a considerable amount of debt (WOOT!) I'm ready to find a permanent home for the princess and I that includes an additional bathroom, washer and dryer hookups (HUZZAH!), and the possibility of a dog. I decided to start saving towards the purchase of a condo or town house and fingers crossed, that we will be able to move into something of our very own before the end of the year.

I'm kind of nervous committing to these goals...especially because I know eventually some one somewhere down the line is going to ask me about one of them and I'll have to answer. Womp. Womp. Either way, I'm looking forward to the coming year and hopefully getting ALL of these accomplished. 

Any resolutions this year? Share in the comments!!