Happy 2013!

Soooooo, um, Christmas is over.  We were blessed to have the Arizona contingent of our family come visit, which meant we had 9 people total under our roof for about a week.  It was fabulous, and we made some great memories.

Kids went back to school this past Monday, and our daughter's bday was also this week.  We were insane enough to promise her a dance birthday party, which means that last night our house was full of screaming little girls, accompanied by strobe lights, glow sticks, and fog.  It was deemed a smashing success, but I am exhausted.  I am too old to party like that anymore (anymore? I say it like that used to be a common thing - ha!)  We will all be going to bed early tonight.

I have approximately 4 billion pictures to share - there are several albums over on facebook, but I just haven't taken the time to upload them here. I've also thought, "Oh, I need to blog about that!" several times in the past few weeks, but haven't actually sat down at the computer and allowed my wisdom to spill forth.  I've tried writing on my Kindle Fire, but somehow my thoughts flow better when I'm using a real keyboard versus those silly little touchscreen keys.

A few random bits:

• I've sold a few more items on the local FB yard sale site. And even if I'm not currently selling something, I can go on there for my daily giggles as people haggle over prices or try to sell their "treasures."  Some highlights from this week:  a whole collection of used flip flops for only $5 a pair (complete with stained foot imprint, and no, they're not designer), plus a women selling infant baby clothes and lingerie.  Yes, really.
• I love the convenience of online shopping, and have even been referred to as the "Amazon Queen," but have recently had to return a number of items.  The vast majority of the time things go beautifully, but I am having issues with ONE seller, and it's making me really angry.  Their customer service reps have got to be in another country, and their misuse of English comes off as really snarky, plus I've been waiting ten days to get the money credited back to my account.  Grrrr.
• I miss doing creative stuff!  My crafty endeavors have been sorely neglected, and I really miss that outlet -- plus the kids have even commented that they miss making things.  One of my goals for 2013 is to be more intentional* with my time, including doing something creative at least once a month.  I also am planning to start A on some sewing basics this summer.
• Our house is still far more disorganized than I would like.  This may sound goofy, but in some ways it's almost like we have too much space, because stuff just spreads out and it's far too easy for me to just stack piles in a corner... but I never seem to actually take care of all the misc papers, game pieces, etc.  Yet another thing I'm working on. (And for the record, I am most definitely NOT complaining -- our previous house had much less square footage, so I've fought the battle on that side as well.  But evidently disorganization issues don't miraculously disappear simply by getting more space)

Well, that's all for now -- I will be back before February, though :)

*On a side note, I'm being all trendy and making this my "word of the year" - just something to keep in mind as I go about my daily business. Am I going this on purpose or am I just mindlessly doing what's easy?