Looking Forward to 2017

It has been interesting reading how people have looked back on 2016 and then looked forward to 2017.  Quite a lot want to shut the door on the old year and never look back, while others have had a wonderful year.  

Ours was a bit of both.  Nothing terrible happened, which we are very thankful for, but there were some rather stressful times. 

The Stressful

Firstly, and obviously, moving house.   We both packed and moved what seemed like a million boxes, however, the actual moving day was left to Mick.  It is much simpler if I go to work and stay out of the way, then come home and start unpacking boxes.  

Secondly, Mum moving to the retirement village in August.  She is now is a one bedroom unit.  It has a nice sized living/dining area, but still it was quite a task to minimise her possessions.  I kept telling her to "be realistic" when deciding what to take and what to leave.  (Poor Mum got sick of hearing it.)  Then Mick would tell me to be more ruthless, which I struggled with.  This was all then repeated in November and December as we did the final clear out for the sale of the house.  

Thirdly, my work was crazy busy over the last six months, peaking in December, when everything else was happening too.  It all got a bit much at times.

The Good

This certainly outweighs the not so good, although it didn't seem like it at times.

We had our lovely trip to Tassie.

We moved into our nice new to us home and started to make it our own.

We collected our new caravan and had a relaxing week travelling home.

Seeing Mum settled in her new unit.

Looking forward

After a week or so at home over Christmas everything seemed to settle down.  So what for the next year?

As I have said earlier, hopefully this year will be a bit calmer.  No moving house, Mum settled, our yard sort of sorted.

Last year I did a blog post entitled "Am I Biting Off More Than I Can Chew?" with my goals for the year.  The simple answer was "Yes". I don't want to make that mistake again.

Lots of people have a word for the year.  I've usually thought that was definitely not for me.  However....there were about a dozen of us here for a New Year's Eve get together.  Some of our guests have been friend of ours for a very long time (over 30 years) and we don't see enough of them, mainly due to their lives revolving around their families.  Now their kids are independent there is more time.  

After reflecting on our evening I this year I think I have a word......

RECONNECT

After a hectic few years it is time to reconnect with friends, things we enjoy doing, just being with each other. When you get down to it, that is why we moved back into town in the first place.

Here are a few thoughts I've had.

READ  MORE BOOKS  Maybe one a month. I used to always have my nose in a book, but that seems to have been replaced by screen time.  We have a bedroom full of boxes of books. We have to go through them to see what we have and decide which to keep or donate.  I think I may have to read a few before they go.

EXPLORE  This is definitely going to happen.  We have another trip planned for later in the year and we always like to go exploring our local area either on the bikes or in the car.

CREATE  Well, that is pretty obvious.  I have so much sewing that I want to do.  UFOs are high on the agenda, but I don't want to jinx myself by over committing.  

ORGANISE  There is still much to be organised and decluttered in our new home. Hopefully I can make some serious progress this year.

NURTURE  I'm not quite sure what I mean here.  Jenny from Elefantz refers to "Gentle Domesticity".  I think that kind of covers it.  More cooking, gardening and home making.

NEW EXPERIENCES Who knows what they will be.  That's something exciting to look forward to.

ENJOY the company of good friends. It is time to rekindle old friendships and spend more time with all our friends.

CARAVANNING  Well, we bought it.  We'd better use it.  It will be nice to get away occasionally.

TAKE TIME  Once again, this is a bit vague.  Maybe it is to smell the roses?  Maybe make a quilt? Maybe be super organised and efficient (as if)?  Only time will tell.

I hope I haven't bored you too much with my ramblings.

It will be interesting to look back at the end of the year to see if any of these wishes have been achieved, or if we continue to be crazy busy.

Here's to a wonderful 2017.