As an avid list maker, I have taken my virtual pen to virtual paper to jot down my '2013 To Do' list. It includes people to see, places to visit and a few personal goals thrown in for good measure.
- This year will see a huge change for me as my baby boy Freddy will be starting school. As a summer baby, he will be just 4 years and 2 months old as he joins Reception class. I've applied for a place at our local school. He has his pre-school jabs next week, which makes it feel very real! It breaks my heart just to think about it! However I intend to spend the months up until September preparing my son to be ready for school. We will do reading and writing and counting and crafts together. His fabulous nursery has made him so much more confident around other kids and will stand him in good stead for the hugest step in his little life to date. For me, I will have much more free time. I pledge not to become a couch potato glued to Jeremy Kyle and This Morning. I will blog, I will volunteer, I will get fit and I will do more domestic goddess style cooking (I'm loving my slow cooker!) I will be productive!
- My blog is now over two years old. It started with no expectations. It grew quickly. For a moment I thought I could make it something special and find a niche that would fit. Then I was seduced by opportunities and PR contacts. It evolved into something else. It took on a life of its own. In 2013 I want to reclaim my blog and steer it in a direction where I can be really proud of it. I am not precious. I am realistic. I am happy to work with brands. I enjoy doing blogger competitions. I will never be dictated to nor will I lose my integrity. I just want to find a bit more structure and balance. As long as I enjoy it, Inside the Wendy House will continue. (I even bought my domain name - but am too scared to use it!)
- This year I really want to see the people who I care about that I haven't seen for a while. Last year flew by and I neglected some of the relationships which matter most to me. I have some amazing friends out there that I need to catch up with. This personal housekeeping is long overdue! I also want to try to nurture relationships with other relatives. I hardly know Ian's side of the family, and I'd love to rectify this in 2013!
- As I am now a granny, I will make sure that I do as good a job as possible getting to know the adorable little boy who is my grandson. It is an amazing feeling seeing the new generation of our family emerge and observing as the changing relationships develop.
- Last year I was lucky enough to give my family lots of amazing experiences through blogging and comping. I hope that 2013 gives us as many brilliant opportunities. I love watching Freddy's face as he witnesses something new and the girls love family days out. We have our Merlin Annual Passes too plus we have our Butlins and Centre Parcs holidays booked up. I want to fill the calendar with as many events as I can to punctuate our year. I want Freddy to visit Warwick Castle this year. He loves historical places and is so interested in castles and towers. He is an old soul at heart!
- I intend to celebrate milestones and special days as memorably as I can. We are beginning 'Operation Reclaim The Dining Room' and hope to enjoy many sit down meals together now Freddy is more open to the idea of sitting at a table for more than 5 minutes at a time. In reclaiming our dining room, we will also be re-doing our living room, donating a load of stuff to charity shops and sorting out the chaos that is just beginning to subside now Fred is getting older and is less of a whirling dervish of destruction.
- Following on from celebrating special days, I intend to experiment more in the kitchen. So for Burn's Night, homemade vegetarian Haggis will be on the menu. Celebratory pies will be invented (my New Year's Day pie was pretty good!) and baking will ensue (themed gingerbread houses anyone??) I plan to add a few more dishes to my repertoire. I will be posting recipes on my blog to share my love of veggie food and grouping them on a 'Food For Thought' tab on my homepage.
- Lastly, I want to take photographs to document everything and preserve special memories. I won't be doing any official Project 365/52 entries this year, but I will be taking pics everyday. If I decide to post any I will. Simple as that! Oh the freedom :)
Add to the list: drop a dress size, buy some jeans that fit me, revamp my underwear drawer and go on some quality dates with my husband and I'm pretty much set to make 2013 as good as I can. I hope that this year our highs will outnumber our lows. I hope that we grow stronger in light of our inevitable challenges. I intend to take stock of my blessings regularly and hold my loved ones close.