Another year has come and gone. I’m not one for making a resolutions, because you usually don’t keep them. I’d rather make smaller goals that are more realistic. So I’m going to make some short term and long term goals and see how that works out for me.

Long Term

Be more particular about who I am friends with. – I have a tendency to find someone that I like and become their friend immediately. Over the years, I have found that this is not a good practice to have. I have accepted that I don’t have to be friends with everyone. There are people that I don’t like, and that’s okay. There are also people that don’t like me, and that’s okay too. I don’t have to have everyone’s approval. Its alright to have acquaintances, but they don’t have to be my friend. I’m hoping this will cut down on some heartache and drama. I really only have time for a few good friends anyway.

Short Term

 Be Healthier Josh and I have made attempts in the past. Overall, I think we do fairly well. We don’t drink regular drinks. I highly recommend Coke Zero. We have started cooking at home (thanks to E-mealz) We try not to keep bad things in the house to tempt us. Cooking Light magazine has got some really good healthy recipes as well.  I’d like to get more strict with our health. And of course, exercise. This is the hardest thing. I need to find something fun, but is exercise as well. If you have any suggestions, let me know.

Get my gun permit I’ve been talking about this for a while. I want to get comfortable shooting a gun, then get my permit. I’m not saying I’ll be packing heat all the time, but I want to be able to if I feel like I need to.

Christmas is over. Months of planning and in one day, it’s over. I ate too much food and got too many gifts. I’m ready to get rid of all the sweets and left over food, take down all of the decorations and get everything back the way it should be. Maybe its because I’m a creature of habit, but I’m totally ready to get back to my routine. Anyone else with me?

We normally shop at Kroger. After Mega-Market shut down, my parents shopped at Kroger. So when I started grocery shopping that’s where I went, because that’s what I knew.  We finally branched out and tried Publix. Here is my comparison of the two

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Just in case you were wondering, the Christmas Card count is up to 13.5 . I’m sure you are wondering how I could have gotten half of a Christmas card. Well, we got one from a long distance family member on Josh’s side to whom we’ve never met. Matter of fact, we had to make a few phone calls to even figure out who they were. To make matters worse, it was a picture card. So I have these people’s pictures on my mantle. So, I’m counting it as half a card.

Anywho, I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Remember, Jesus is the reason for the season. Say a little prayer tonight and thank God for having Jesus to save us all! Happy Birthday Jesus!

Remember when you were little… Thanksgiving meant Christmas was getting close. That’s when you started counting down the days until a big strange man, that you’ve never met, will break into your house,defy all rules of logic and leave you presents! You got to go to Grandma’s on Christmas Eve and she made a special dinner. The entire family (even the one’s you only see once a year) come and enjoy each other’s company.  You sat and waited for everyone to finish eating, and wait for permission to go attack the gifts under the tree. Then you’d watch the weather and Ron Howes would tell you Santa was in Memphis. Its so cool how he shows up on the Storm Tracker!  That meant we had to leave Grandma’s immediately and go to bed. Everyone knows if you aren’t asleep when he gets to your house, he’ll just skip it.  And you did NOT want to be the only kid at school that didn’t get presents from Santa.  There was so much magic in the air.

Nowadays… The holidays mean things are going to get crazy. You have to get a menu together, get the house clean, and break out the special dishes – all the meanwhile keeping up with your normal responsibilities of work and home. You have to figure out what to buy everyone, find it, wrap it, and get together with them at some point in your busy schedule to give it. Now, you go to your families gatherings, and see  people you only see once a year. Except now you wonder why you only see them once a year. The family meets the same time every week. But they can only come when presents are involved.. Hmm…… You are so tired from cleaning house, wrapping presents and making food – you really don’t care what other people bought you for gifts, all you want is a nap! You are too old for Santa to come anymore, so all you care about is if its going to be raining (we hardly ever get snow on Christmas in TN) the next day for you to carry out whatever plans you have.

I guess once we have children, the holidays will mean creating that magic for them. The holidays will then have a whole new definition. I suppose this is the circle of life. 

So be good for goodness sake!! Tis the season for losing your temper. Road rage is amplified this time of year. You’ve got people that normally stay in. But they venture out this one time of year because they have to give gifts for their family. You know who I’m talking about. The people that hit their brakes and come to an almost complete stop at a green light. The little old lady at the bank that has to get 25 envelopes to put money in to give to her entire family for Christmas. People get mad in parking lots, mainly because the odds are against them. There are 3 times the amount of people out and about, you are bound to get mad at someone for something.  This stress rolls into the rest of our lives. Work gets stressful because a lot of people are off this time of year, which makes it more difficult to get things done. You call for a service that is normally no problem. But, the person you normally talk to is off, and no one else has a clue how to do their job.  Or, someone is going to be off, and you have to do your job and their job. (and you may not even work for the same company!) Alas, it is a time for cheer. (or cheers as you drink away your stress) So go Christmas it up with your loved ones and remember, it will all be over soon!

Is it wrong of me to have more compassion for animals than humans? I know that every situation has its circumstance, but to me animals are fairly helpless.  Humans, however, have a little more control over what happens in their life.  I know that some people had a string of bad luck, but there are a lot of organizations out there to help you get back on your feet. (If you really want the help and you aren’t just living off other people’s hard-earned money) Animals, on the other hand, can’t really help that their owners aren’t responsible enough to get them spayed or neutered. Then, they have puppies/kittens and they don’t want them, so they just dump them somewhere or take them to the pound. Bless their hearts. Thankfully, there is an organization that’s called Happy Tales, it helps dogs and cats find a home.  You have to go through the adoption process, but they do not kill any animals. They have "foster" families the animals stay with until they are found a home.  I saw a homeless man the other day and he had a dog. My first thought was "Oh, a puppy! "  Don’t get me wrong, I like to donate to charities that help people get back on their feet, but in general I’m more likely to pick up a stray puppy on the side of the road ( if Josh would let me. We did pick up a turtle one time. He was CRAZY! He kept hissing at Josh. I didn’t know a regular old turtle could hiss, they can.) than I would a homeless man walking on the side of the road. I guess now a days, you really can’t help homeless people like we’d like to, but there is so much meanness in the world.  Anywho, just wanted to see if anyone else ever felt this way.

I work on the 4^th floor of my building. Since I bummed my knee, I don’t take the stairs like I should. I am VERY weird about using the elevators. My co-workers make fun of me. When I get on, if there are more people in the elevator than I’m comfortable with, I’ll take the next one. If that sucker gets stuck, I want to know I’ll be somewhat comfortable with the amount of people in there for however long I’m with them. I’m borderline claustrophobic anyway.  I also wipe down the elevator buttons every couple of weeks with disinfectant.  Have you ever stopped to think how many little snotty hands, or construction workers hands have touched those buttons? And don’t get me started on money.. that’s for another post.

Being in the business of serving people, I know that a lot times, you don’t know there is a problem with an employee, until it is too late. After the problem person is no longer employed, you hear for weeks “I’m so glad they are gone, I had problems with…” Then you are like, “Why didn’t you say something?” And they are all “I didn’t want to get them in trouble.” When, if they had said something, you could’ve taken care of a lot of problems before they got out of hand and the person ended up losing their job. So, because of this, I feel like it is my duty to make corporations aware if I have bad service at their establishment. My latest victim is Arbys. The girl in the drive thru YELLED at me because I checked my order. Heaven forbid I ask for extra sauce. I know the big wigs up in corporate have no idea this is going on. But I’m sure they want to know. I understand if someone’s having a bad day. I don’t go all crazy over one incident (unless its major) but this was my 3^rd bad experience at Arby’s. So please, if you have a bad experience, tell someone!!