Happy New Year!

It's still technically New Year's, since it's still January.  Did you make resolutions?  I guess I kind of did.  Bettering myself is something I try to do year round, not just on January 1.  Two years ago, I committed to reading the Bible all the way through in a year.  I did it.  This year, I did it again...and I brought Hubby with me!  Last year, I did not really make a resolution, but I did end up losing 25 lbs.  That didn't happen until late summer, but it happened!  When I see an issue in my life that needs work, I try to take care of it right then.

Presently, I see my life filled with a lot of unnecessary trash.  I see that trash filling over into the lives of my children.  That is not OK.  The main thing I am referencing is media.  Is there anything wholesome relating to media?  Television is trash.  Facebook is trash.  Youtube is trash.  I'm sick and tired of it.  Yet, I've spent hours of my life staring at it.

I'm done with television shows about these beautiful, single people who live life to be promiscuous with other beautiful (sometimes single) people.  It seems like that's all sitcoms are about anymore.  People sleeping around.  Oh, and drugs.  I don't live my life that way and I don't want to watch pretend people on TV doing it.  And don't get me started on reality TV.  There's nothing real about it.

What happened to wholesome shows like The Cosby Show?  Even things like Everybody Loves Raymond and The Kind of Queens are no more.  There's nothing interesting that I can actually watch in front of my kids.  I miss those family shows.

Facebook is another thing I'm over.  Half the people I'm linked to use it as their own personal complaint platform.  I'm tired of all the negativity and I'm tired of the hidden messages where people talk about others, but pretend that they're not.  The rest of the FB people brag on themselves.  The skinny ones take photos of their belly and brag about how fit they are.  Who wants to see that?  The rich ones talk about their grand houses, their big purchases, their new stuff.  Have they ever stopped to think who they're hurting by flaunting all their stuff?  It's typically those in bad marriages who brag about how good their marriage is.  A friend once told me that the first clue that a marriage is in trouble is when they brag on Facebook how good their marriage is.  It's so true.  The popular people brag about how many friends they have.  The people who live in warm climates brag about the weather.  Come on people...you're stooping pretty low if all you can do is brag about the weather.

Every time I sign on, I get disgusted.  I've hidden so many people from my newsfeed that there's not much point in getting on anymore.  So I stopped.  I haven't signed on for about three days now and I'm feeling much better because of it.  I'm an Instagram person. I can choose who I follow and what I see.  If someone posts something offensive, it's much easier to delete them without their realization.  There's so much less drama on Instagram.

It's unreal how much time TV and Facebook occupied of my already busy life.  When I'm exhausted and can barely make a rational thought, it's so easy to plop down in front of the TV.  We've made a habit of watching it every evening.  When I have to wait for two minutes, whether it be for a ride, at the doctor's, or for a phone call to be returned, I click on Facebook.  Those are horrid habits and I'm trying with all my might to stop them.

SO....I've taken to reading.  I'm about halfway through Pride & Prejudice.  It's not easy reading!  I feel like I'm getting less dumb as I read it though!  :)  I've started that book many times, but have never made it this far.  I don't want my grown up children to recall hours of their mother watching TV.  I would much rather them remember me as a reader.

Cropped from our family picture this year.

That's my New Year's Resolution.  It's as much for my kids as it is for myself.  How can I expect them to not be addicted to media if I am?  I've been a hypocrite!  This family is moving on to things like board games, puzzles, and interesting conversation.  I know I'll never regret an attempt to make us better people who are less dependent on glowing blue screens!

What's your addiction???

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

What a difference several months
makes!  Yes, we have temperature
 swings of 120 degrees where I live!

This is literally the first time I've had to sit down and write with nothing pressing hanging over my head.  It seems like every season gets busier and busier!  I'm not quite sure how much more I can endure!

The kids finally returned back to school today, after a two week Christmas break and cancellations for extreme temperature.  How was your Christmas?  Your New Year's?  Is it just me or does it seems like the end of 2013 and the beginning of this year have been full of tragedy?  So many things have happened that I just shake my head when I hear of something new.  It's almost unbelievable.  Some examples:

• The wife of Hubby's boss had a heart attack.
• The grandfather of my cousins is in the hospital, about to pass away.
• My little cousin, who turned a year yesterday, had another bad seizure and was rushed to ER.
• A man in our church had eye surgery after his cornea separated from his eye.  This is the second eye to do this.
• There was a fatal shooting in our community on New Year's Eve.  It left two children and their father dead.  His girlfriend survived but is permanently scarred.
• A few weeks before Christmas, Hubby noticed a fleet of emergency vehicles on our tiny street.  It was early on a Saturday and we watched through the window to see what was going on.  The medical team brought our neighbor out of the house and took her away.  Her parents quickly rushed out of the house and left in their car.  The police officer on the call was a personal friend of ours so Hubby walked out to talk to them.  We supposed that the daughter of the home had overdosed and our suspicions were correct.  I may have even written about her on here before.  She came over to our yard sale over the summer and was totally spaced out.  I had a few conversations with her mother via text message and she blamed her lack of focus on a new medication.  Even though she tried to cover for her, I knew the girl's condition wasn't normal.  The mother often texted me from work to ask if the daughter's vehicle was in the driveway when she was supposed to be at work.  The whole thing was very sad.  The daughter ended up being in a coma for more than two weeks.  Her mom sent me a text before Christmas saying she was out of ICU but had a long road of recovery ahead.  I haven't heard from her since, but things don't look normal at the house.  I'm guessing she's still in the hospital.  I've done my part by not prying, but praying.  I left Christmas cookies on their doorstep and delivered a bag of goodies to the hospital.  For days, this incident consumed my thoughts.  This girl, aged about 20, was a beauty queen.  Well-liked and popular, she went off to college and apparently got into trouble.  She dropped out and has been working a menial job since.  Her parents are good people, great neighbors.  It breaks my heart to see her mother arrive home around 9:00 PM every night, knowing she's been sitting at that hospital.  I wonder if she's taken a leave from work?  I feel helpless, but thankful at the same time.  You can't take life for granted....who knows where it's going to lead.

Tonight is the funeral for the two youths who were killed.  We have the largest church in the community and my cousin, our pastor, is conducting the funeral.  They expect the father of the girl (everyone has different moms and dads) to cause problems at the service.  Police force will be on site to keep both him and the media out.  It's all a mess.  The woman I'm babysitting for is another half sister of the deceased.  She's scared of the entire situation.

I don't know the beliefs of all my readers, but events like this only point toward the endtimes outlined in the Bible.  People need to get their lives straight because this is about it, people.  Life is short; days are numbered.  

Of course there's good mixed in with the bad.  Those are the things I must focus on right now so that the negative doesn't overwhelm me.

• My little cousin celebrated her first birthday.  The doctors were skeptical that she would survive this long.  She's not well, by any means, but she's here.  That's enough to be thankful for.
• My family is well.  I'm getting my health issues under control and none of us have pressing medical concerns right now.
• God provides.  With Hubby taking a second pay cut, money is tight.  He received more bonuses over the holiday season than ever before!  As soon as I think about complaining, something else happens financially that pulls us through!
• I got my closet organized yesterday!  That might sound menial to most of you, but it was something I couldn't take any longer!  I store all unwrapped Christmas presents every year in my closet for a month or more.  Because of that, I couldn't get in there to properly put things away.  I buckled down yesterday and did some cleaning out!
• My brother moved into a new home.  It is absolutely amazing!  Two of the coldest days this year, Friday and Saturday, were spent moving him out of his in-laws' home and into their brand new place.  It's easily the size of two of their old house.  They have high ceilings and ample closet space.  Their basement alone is bigger than a lot of people's homes!  I'm so happy for them!  Sadly, they are way more organized than we are!  It makes me want to go on a major organization trip!
• Baby Girl, who has been having a majorly difficult time staying dry through the night, has woken up dry three mornings in a row!  That's a major victory over here!  I cut out all drinks after dinner and still wake her up 2-3 times a night to take her to the bathroom.  It's not ideal, but it's working.  :)

My post title was The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly.  Nothing around here is ugly.  I'm thankful to be married to a stunningly attractive man.  I only gained about 2 lbs. over Christmas and enjoyed a plethora of desserts!  Look at this family....

Very blessed indeed!

Sending warm wishes your way!