New Years Resolutions.

I have never been a big one for News Years Resolutions. Partly because I feel like it is a way to procrastinate the things which we know we should do but are to lazy to. That does not mean it is a bad idea. I also feel like breaking a resolution made at New Years has become acceptable almost a joke. I do feel very strongly that goals should be made so this post is full of double standards. I did make 2 resolutions last year that I did not tell anybody about for a long time.
The first one was not to buy any new clothes for me except in dire circumstances. Example my jeans get holes in the thigh and rip apart. Since nobody wants to see my bare thighs I felt that was acceptable. Amazingly I made this goal with 2 exceptions. At the employee Disney store they had Captain EO shirts for $1 and that didn't feel like breaking my rule. The second was a white shirt for the Nebeker Family Pictures. Since white only stays that color the first time I wear it I felt like that was a justifiable one. My jeans even held up. For me I completed a resolution. For the boys I tried not to buy clothes unless absolutely necessary and with the exception of some Christmas gifts and Captain EO shirts we only bought clothes when the boys wore out or outgrew what they had. The older boys only have enough clothes for one week. My youngest has tons of clothes because of hand me downs from friends but only one weeks are in his dresser at a time. The one week rule has helped a lot with laundry and their bedroom floors.
Second Goal: To read Scriptures daily with my children. We start this and then stop over and over again. If we missed a day then I lost my motivation and gave up for a while. What I finally came to realize for us anyway is not to stress over it every single day but to try 3-4 times a week and we have figured out a schedule that works with all the kids schedules. I feel like this is better than nothing.

My main goal for this year comes off of one from the last 4 years that I haven't talked much about but I have found very important. With so much of my life out of my control I have been working very hard not to let things stress me out. So much of my life is contingent on what other people do. Will someone decide to give my husband a job. Will I get the job I applied to. Will my husband have teaching classes this term. The list is long and has been going on for a long time. This year we are in another round of interviewing for my husband. People ask all the time how things are going but we really don't have anything to say until a job offer has been made. Here is the status right now. One on campus interview already took place. 3 interviews will happen this week at MLA. Please pray for him. I am going to try even harder not to let the job market, financial stress get to me.

Goal #2 Finish my detox.
I am 2 days into my 30 day detox which I will post more about when I am done. I only eat sugar the 2 weeks around Christmas and at my sisters weekend. I knew I would need to detox in January and I have many other reasons to complete it which I will save for later.

Happy New Year. May you have the motivation to complete all of your resolutions.

Angry Birds.

One of my goals is to enjoy time with my kids instead of always being bugged with them and frustrated with housework etc. Today on a whim we decided to make Angry Birds from a pattern we saw on Pinterest. Pinterest is amazing by the way and with the exception of making me hungry has given me many ideas and ways to save money. If you need and invite to pinterest let me know. So far today we have made 4 red ones, 6 blue ones, and, 3 yellow ones. They are all sewn but a few need to be stuffed. My back started to hurt and I realized we had been sewing for 6 hours so I decided we needed a break. We came into the living room and went through a box of stuff to figure out what would be best to stuff them with. Low and behold we found green fleece so now we need to make the pigs as well. If I had anything else planned for the next few days it is gone. Oh well. We have  had a blast making them and the beauty of the kids being older is that they actually help not just want to help and it turns out to be more work for you in the long run. Dylan traced and cut out all the fabric for me while I sewed. I can only imagine how long it would take without his help. He even did quite a bit of hand sewing on the beeks and final closing. Here is the final project for the first 4.  These were all made with leftover fabric and felt that I had. I think I might have a hoarding problem. I am sure that my husband and roommate will be happy that I am starting to realize that. That doesn't mean it will change but acceptance is the first step to healing. 

This one is the craziest. Did I mention the eyes are the hardest part.

This one looks like a child of Big Bird and Bert.