The (fake) Christmas tree is still up, as are several of the decorations around the house. There are weeds growing in the front and backyard. Unwanted clothes are sitting in a box in the bedroom.

But I have a New Year’s resolution: Chill.

I think it’s caught my husband off-guard. We want to replace the carpet and linoleum downstairs with click-together fake-wood flooring. And we’ve been discussing it for months. We also are looking at ways to create more storage around the house. As we talked about it over the weekend (and discussed a future entertainment unit) my husband said, “Well, the flooring comes first.” My response: “Oh, I know. This entire project will take about a year.”

I think I stopped him in his tracks. Usually I’m in a “do it now mode, and if that means hiring someone, fine.”

But in the last few weeks, I’ve started working 40 hours. And after an unfortunate incident last week when I snapped and yelled at one of the kids for drawing (in ink) on the couch, I realized: It’s really time to chill (the ink came off with a dabbing of hairspray, thank goodness).

So, while I did get much of the laundry done and put away this past weekend, the tree remained up. My husband cleared away the gift clutter. The kids and I went and saw a puppet show and played at the park with a friend and neighbor. We had lunch with my grandmother for her 86^th birthday.

It’ll all get put away and cleared away and remodeled at some point. But my daughter saying, “Mommy, play with me,” while holding up one of new dolls won’t last forever.

So if the tree is still up around Valentine’s Day, I’ll just add a few red hearts.

Posted in: Michelle Reese |

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