Good Bye 2010

I have to say, 2010 I'm not that impressed with you. There were some good time (the Harry Connick Jr concert was AMAZING!), but overall, 2010 was a hard year for me. I did manage to accomplish the 2 things I felt were necessary-

(1) Getting Mickey a diagnosis. This was big for us. Hubby and I both make the decision that no matter what, we were going to continue to push towards getting her a diagnosis this year. That meant more specialist and more testing, but we pushed through. In the end, Mickey has been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. It's very rare in children her age, especially since we know for sure she's had it since 2 (maybe even before that). There is not much that can be done for here at this age, so we have chosen to manage her symptoms with diet and suppliments. So far it's working pretty well and she is no longer in pain on a daily basis.

(2) Getting control of my weight. This is still an on going battle. I have completely changed the way I eat and what I eat. As I like to put it- I have scrubbed my diet clean :). No more lying to myself about my food choices, now I know they are healthy. Along with my girls, I have chosen to go gluten free. I have a gluten intolerance, just like they do and eating foods that contain gluten, keep me from losing weight. I started going to the gym again in July and also began working with personal trainers. Since July, I've lost 25 pounds (it was closer to 30, but I gained a few like I do every month right before my period- isn't being a woman fun!). I still have a long way to go, but it feels good to know that I'm  on my way.

I have high hopes for 2011-

(1) MOVING! This one definitely tops the list. We want to move closer to our friends and family. Also, with Mickey's Fibromyalgia, she would do much better in a dryer/milder climate. We were hoping for Southern California, but lately we have really warmed up to the idea of moving to Arizona. So right now, that is our current mission (hopefully to be accomplished by no later than summer of 2011).

(2) Continued weight loss. This is very important to me. It's not just a vanity thing. I'm not trying to like a super model or anything crazy like that. I just want to be the healthiest possible and that means getting to and maintaining a healthy weight. I have made too many excuses for far too long and I know that if I continue down this road I will burden my body with health problems that will just make life harder. I need to be able to not only take care of my family, but be able to help Mickey. She is growing up with a life long illness that will sometimes break her down and leave her in pain and miserable. She needs help and support, but also a mom that shows her a healthy example of how to live.

(3) Homeschooling. Mickey will start kindergarten this Fall and Amee will start 5th grade. I plan on homeschooling both of them. We had already made plans to homeschool Mickey, her health problems will just make public school too stressful. For Amee, really I'm just done with public schools. She has fallen into a gray area of struggling just enough to make her miserable, but not enough to get extra help. I want both of children to succeed and be able to follow their dream careers (even if they do change 50 times lol), so Amee will be homeschooled as well so that I can give her as much focused attention as she needs.

(4) Do more activities with the kids, including at home activities. This should be easier since we won't be fighting a public school schedule anymore :).

(5) Clean more. I'm a horrible housewife, lol. I'm not the worst, I don't sit around stuffing my face all day and watching trash tv, but I could be better. I've already started. I'm doing better about keeping up on the vacuuming and getting the kitchen pretty much clean the night before. Laundry is still an issue. I get it done, just not usually put away. I have gotten better about folding and putting away the girls laundry (making it easier for Amee to pick out her clothes in the morning), but I still just throw our clean laundry in our room and forget about it. I think I'm going to start making a cleaning schedule, that way I put 1-2 day aside for laundry and can get it all done and put away.

(6) Set more time aside for blogging. It really is theraputic for me. I usually do think about it, but then I find something else that needs to be done and forget. Just like my me time at the gym, I need some me time for my brain.

I think that's pretty much it. There are a lot of other little things I want for next year, but they all kind of fall into the other big things (most of them fall into the moving catagory lol).

So good by 2010, sorry to say we aren't going to miss you! Bring on 2011, please don't dissapoint!