Backward New Year's Resolutions

I made my New Year's resolutions in October because I think you're much more likely to stick to them if you aren't doing it at the same time everyone else is.  Basically, I hate crowds.  I've made two backwards New Year's resolutions this year and one that's a normal one.  I'm not the girl who can do everything backwards--work with me, people.

I am resolving to be less informed.  Do I really need to know that Nancy Pelosi is feuding with the GOP again or that doctors have figured out how to grow ears? No.  I need to know that Emily has her big math test next week and Ryan has a dentist appointment on Monday morning.  I need to know what the weather's going to be like so I can send the kids back upstairs to reconsider their choices, but the coffee maker tells what the weather's like.  I can pay attention once a week and still be up to speed.

I am resolving to do less for other people this year.  As a woman and especially as a mom, my first inclination is to do everything for everybody but then I resent it when people are so endlessly reliant on me.  I'm going to spend more time doing things for me like exercising and writing and less time volunteering for every little thing that comes along.  I'm going to say "no" more often that I say "yes".

I am resolving to be happier with things the way they are.  We spent much of 2008 and a little of 2009 enduring a series of major family crises and changes and then we spent the rest of 2009 getting used to the new normal.  But we made it through all of it, intact, and the things that kept us happy then are still here.  We are all together as a lovely family unit, complete with arguments and dirty laundry, and that's the way it should be.