My Goals for 2007

Yes, I decided that with less than two days to go until 2006 is over, I better think about some goals for 2007. Actually I've been thinking of them for some time, but they've been developing and now I think I'm ready to commit them to pen and paper. Well, keyboard and internet anyway! They might change because I'm still thinking about them and refining them.

1. Get a better (or at least more challenging) job. I'm grateful to have the job I have, and it's not the worst I've ever had. Unfortunately the pay is crap and the work is hardly intellectually stimulating. I'm planning on applying to the Probation Service when they have their recruitment period in March.

2. Get my house sorted! I still need a few essentials, like carpet, but all in all it's come along a lot faster than I thought. I just need to get off my ass and do the decorating!

3. Have a real holiday abroad. I needed to carry that over from 2006's goals since I didn't do it. I will ... eventually!

4. Work on the novel I always said I was going to write. So many ideas, so little actually work done.

5. Go to the British Grand Prix. No explanation required for this one, I don't think!

6. Find a physical activity to get involved in. Get your mind out of the gutter. I meant like finding a local Tae Kwon Do school or playing tennis or something like that!

7. Spend more time in mediation and ceremonies. I feel so much better about myself after I do, and I intend to make it a more regular thing, outside the Sabbats as well as do more preparation for special days on the pagan calendar.

8. Save up for a special sporting event in 2008. I'd always said I wanted to go to the Australian GP, so that's one option.

9. Stay on top of the bills. I've been doing great, and I want to keep up the good work!

10. Stay strong. 2006 was a year that taught me a lot. I went from being a wimp who made bad choices to a strong person who thinks things through. I don't do things just because I think I have to anymore. I do things because I want to do them. I've really learned to stand up for myself, and more importantly, that I really like myself.

11. Write more in my personal journal and Book of Shadows. I haven't been doing too badly with my Book of Shadows but my personal journal is a bit hit-and-miss. I like keeping a journal though because I look back at it and see how I grow as a person.

Christmas Pics!

I had a fabulous Christmas! I got to spend it with the boys, had a good laugh with Richard and Donna, and enjoyed being totally chilled with David. Now that is what Christmas is all about! It was one of the best Christmases of my adult life! The only one more memorable would have to be 1997 when I had a two day old baby and an 11-month-old celebrating his first Christmas.


Richard and Donna ready for a night out on Christmas Eve


Super Ricky!


Jack coming downstairs to see what Santa brought


Ricky wasn't quite awake ... but it was 2 am!


He eventually woke up properly and got into the spirit of the occasion.


Donna and Ricky


Richard


Jack


Ricky and Jack

Happy Holidays!

Another Christmas Eve is here, and the massive build-up to Christmas that started before Halloween will be over in a flurry of torn wrapping paper in less than 24 hours.

But this Christmas has been very different for me. Yes, I've bought the presents, wrapped them, and put them under the tree. My season started earlier this month with Yule, and instead of a sharp peak the morning of the 25th, I've enjoyed a steady celebration of a season instead of a blast of one day's festivities.

I will enjoy tomorrow, there's no doubt about that. I'm spending the night with my boys at their dad's house tonight and will get to see them wake up and open their presents in the morning. I'll share a few drinks with Donna while we cook the Christmas dinner (with me dashing back and forth between our two houses), and hopefully I'll be quite merry by the time the turkey is served. What's not to look forward to there? It'll be interesting to see just how many lewd jokes Richard's Uncle Eric tells, but you can't be around Richard without hearing them so there's not a lot of difference having two of them playing at being comedians. David and I also have plans for Christmas night and Boxing Day that I've really been looking forward to!

What I've already enjoyed is reflection over a few weeks of Yule ceremonies and candle lighting. I feel content, not rushed. I've enjoyed a couple of conversations online with Pauline and Don, two of my dearest friends. For the first time I can remember, I'm relaxed on the 24th of December.

That is apart from the housework I'm trying to make up for after two days of being a bit sore from my encounter with a white van driver ... But hey, even he wished me a Merry Christmas!

Oh My ...

Every now and then it's just one of those days when you know you would have been better off staying in bed all day. It's been one of those days for me!

The Christmas driving curse that seems to strike my family hit me today. A few years ago, for two Christmases in a row, in fact, my mother was in car accidents a couple of days before Christmas. She was fine, and neither was her fault, but it started the standing joke about how she shouldn't get out in the run-up to Christmas.

I didn't know the "curse" was going to jump the Atlantic and strike me! I'd been having trouble with my jeep lately because of the extreme cold. Once it warms up its fine, but for a while it makes the most awful noise. So today during my dinner break, I thought I'd take it home and borrow one of my ex's cars so that I wouldn't run the risk of it totally breaking down on the side of the road after work when it was dark.

I stopped for a red light at a roundabout, and BANG! A white van slammed me from behind. How he missed that turquoise jeep stopped in front of him I'll never know! He got out, saw that there was absolutely no damage to either vehicle, wished me a Merry Christmas and took off. The traffic was so heavy I never even got a proper look at his number plate. How many people have said to me "You should have got his vehicle registration number"? Considering what I do for a living, I know I should have, and I did try to! I was a bit shocked by the impact, and what I did get of his number plate vanished in the haze that my brain was experiencing.

I felt fine, headed home to finished what I'd left work to do in the first place, sent a text to someone saying I'd been rear-ended on the dual carriageway, and went back to work. That's when the aches started. Seems I've been given a nice case of whiplash for Christmas. It's not just what I always wanted! I'm fine though. The doctor checked me out, told me off for not going straight to casualty (I felt fine for the first hour or so after it happened), said it was just muscular with nothing broken, and prescribed me some tablets that are going to make the next few days more fun than I could have imagined!

I should have had the afternoon off anyway because we were only scheduled to work until noon with the rest of the day off with pay, but I volunteered to work the full day to get the time and a half. Well, I almost made it through the afternoon!

Tonight I went round that same roundabout on the way to Tesco without incident. I wish I could say going shopping had been incident free, but at one point I lost Jack in the masses of people who had the same idea of waiting until after 10 pm to go in.

And what makes people who, the rest of the year are nice, normal people, suddenly become rude and ignorant because it's a few days before Christmas? It's like they lose all sense of common courtesy once they're in control of a shopping trolley! One woman in a fur coat blocked an aisle for so long it created a back up I can only compare to trying to get off the M1 at Meadowhell!

Now I've had my whinge, the kids are in bed, and I'm going to wrap more presents! It's Jack's birthday tomorrow, and he's already itching to start opening them all!

How'd I Do in 2006?

About this time last year I posted my goals for 2006. I believe in setting goals for the New Year rather than make "resolutions". It's something positive to work towards. Now I thought that since 2007 is just around the corner, I'd have a look at how I've done. Not bad, not good, but the way my life changed this year it's any wonder I met any of my goals!

1. Finish university with at least a 2:1. I did it! This was the first goal on my list because it was the most important to me. And despite everything, I made it!

2. Get on top of my debt. Well I still have some outstanding debts, but I've been able to get on top of them, get most paid off and keep my head above water. I haven't been able to buy the kids all the best stuff for Christmas this year, but for the first time in something like five years, I haven't had to take out a loan to buy them presents! And it feels so good!

3. Either get a good job or find a way into an MSc programme. I found a "real job". Okay, it's not what I had in mind when I started my degree, but it's paying the bills and getting some work experience that will help me. I still want to do the MSc, and maybe I can save up the money I need to do it in the next couple of years. I haven't given up on that idea!

4. Have a real holiday. Didn't quite manage that this year. I almost made it to Texas for a fortnight until that was cancelled. In a way I'm glad it was. I had my interviews for this new job during the time I would have been there. I also met someone special for the first time. I did have a fabulous weekend in Holland with Kate, Diana and Martin in July!

5. Get to my goal weight and tone up my body. Have to go 50/50 on this one. I did get to my goal weight, but I've put a bit back on. I'm fairly happy with how much I weigh though. I don't want to be too skinny. As for the toning up ... well, I'm sort of working on that ...

6. Spend more mother-daughter time with Malorie. I did spend a lot more time with her, and at one point she told me that she thought of me more as a big sister than a mum. That's probably why she rebelled when I had to enforce the house rules. But we're closer than we have been in years, and I know she can tell me anything. Scary, but true.

7. Compete in at least one Tae Kwon Do tournament. I did it! I was scared I'd completely forget my pattern, which some of the more experienced women did, but I made it through and actually scored in the mid-field. I had hoped to compete in the British Championships this year, but circumstances kind of blew that idea ...

8. Complete one family scrapbook. Nope. I haven't scrapped a single page since January. I'll stick that goal back on for 2007. With my life being a bit more organised, I'd like to do it. It's very relaxing, and I have so many great photos of the kids!

9. Keep the house tidier. I pretty much put that goal on to appease Simon. His philosophy was that the kids should do all the housework, but what was left over when I got home from university was my job. Once I get this house into shape, it's going to stay that way!

10. Do one of the things on my list of things to do in my lifetime. Yep, I did it! I had something published! Okay, it wasn't in a glamourous publication or anything like that. It was in the Mark Webber Supporters Club fan magazine. But it's an international publication which has been mentioned in F1 Racing Magazine. Good enough for me!

11. Go through my gradings up to green belt. I didn't make it past yellow tag. With needing surgery, I had to give up on going to lessons. I can't seem to find a local Tae Kwon Do school, but my former instructor has schools in Sheffield and Doncaster, and I'm going to see if I can find a class one night during the week with him. He's a great instructor and never once made me feel like an idiot, unlike some of the instructors I've heard about!

My Kids and Wicca

gdtownshende said...
You know, I've been curious about this, but haven't asked before. What do the kids think of your becoming Wiccan? Do they think it weird? Are they expecting warts to sprout on your nose any day now? Do they not care? Are they wanting their own brooms to ride on? Do they want to go to Hogwarts now? :P

Seriously, though, (all kidding aside) I'm just curious.

They all have mixed feelings about it, but for the most part they're cool with it. Braden calls me "evil weirdo midget witch", to which I always answer, "But I'm not evil!" Malorie wants to learn more about it and has read a few of the books in my collection. Unfortunately she has a bad habit of telling her friends about her mum being a "witch", which has the side effect of turning me into a side show freak! She tends to associate Wicca with the TV show "Charmed" though.

Ricky hasn't said much about it. He's curious but hasn't made any comment. Jack, on the other hand, is absolutely fascinated by it! Last Monday I set up my altar for a Yule ceremony, and he wanted to stay and watch! I bought a few broomsticks actually, and Jack is determined that he's going to have one of them! I've tried to explain that they aren't for riding on but for ceremonial cleansing (like when I blessed my new house, I used one to "sweep" the bad energy out of the house), and I think he understands.

Hey, if anyone gets to go to Hogwarts, it should be me!

Quietness ...

It's about to get very quiet around here! Malorie and Braden are off to Texas tomorrow. I have a feeling that Malorie isn't planning on coming back. She's been giving her things that she can't take to Ricky and Jack, like her precious CD player. She might change her mind once she's lived with her dad for a while, but he spoils her so much, and they're so much alike, that she may decide it's better to be his carer than to come back to England and get a real job!

People probably think I'm a cold hearted bitch because I don't appear to be very upset about it. The thing is, I've learned to take things one day at a time. She has to do what's best for her, and me going into hysterics about it won't do anyone any good. My god, I'm such a different person to what I was like a year ago!

Ricky and Jack are still here, so it won't be quiet all the time. I've even been invited to spend Christmas Eve night at their house. Well, that's mostly because Richard and Donna are going out, but they know that it will mean a lot to me to be there to see the boys on Christmas morning. They invited me to have Christmas dinner with them months ago!

I might just manage to get some decorating done on the house. It's so disorganised that I take one look at the mess, groan, and try not to look again. With the kids gone, I can tackle it properly. That's the plan anyway.

I've also got my job to concentrate on. I knew that, eventually, I might get bored with it because it's not very challenging, but I didn't expect it to happen this soon! It's money coming in though, so I'm not saying I'm bored so I'm going to give up on it. They haven't put me on the phones yet taking new claims, and that should liven it up a bit, at least from what I've heard when my co-workers take calls! I've been making calls to solicitors, insurance companies and garages, which isn't thrilling unless I get to argue with them, and I think I'm just too nice because no one has argued with me yet!