One Little Word (OLW) workshop with Ali Edwards

I am not good at resolutions... especially the New Year variety. I also don't believe January 1st is a magical date where if you set a resolution at that time it will somehow be easier to keep. What if at the end of January you get so fed up with something in your life, you need to make a change... you  certainly are not going to put it off until the following January because that is when resolutions are made. Usually it is pretty clear when a change needs to take place. This year, about half-way through, the little bulge around my middle started talking to me, especially  when I was sitting at my computer and several rolls of fat were making it harder to sit comfortably. So finally, after one false start, I cracked down and got back to running (while it was still warm) and hitting the gym once it got colder. After five months I have lost 10 pounds and am back under 130 pounds. Depending on which formula used to calculate ideal body weight I may or may not have a few pounds to go... but there is definitely some toning left to go.

My point is, you have to BE READY to MAKE A CHANGE. And that can happen at any point throughout the year. The key is to recognize that you are ready and take action! I wasn't ready to work off my extra weight in January (or February through July either) but when the end of August rolled around KaPow! I was ready. And I jumped in, jogging stroller and all.

Now on to this year. There is one thing (or many things grouped together in one category) in my life that needs serious attention. While I have not made any official resolutions in the past, I have often said "this is the year" I will take care of this THING hanging over my head.

That thing - UNFINISHED PROJECTS!

These projects are scattered throughout the house and plague me as I walk through each room.

• A scarf I started knitting over a year ago is still sitting on the end table by the couch. I figure if I see it there I will pick it up when I am watching TV. Not so. (And the list of knitting projects I have purchased yarn for but have yet to start is long.) 
• The advent calendar (which required gluing together 25 little boxes) that I also started over a year ago, has seven boxes left to assemble and paper to decoupage... sits in my craft room giving me the evil eye. 
• A pile of abandoned books on my bedside table. They are either there because I am too tired to read at night or I got bored and didn't want to finish them.  
• A promise I made my mother-in-law (in August) to send her pictures of my youngest son so she can scrapbook them, left unfulfilled. I do lots of other things on my computer, but I can't take a few moments and do the one thing she asked me to do for her. That needs fixing and is the first thing on my list of projects to FINISH this year!
• Important decisions I know need to be made and acted upon that would put our minds at ease. This may not seem like an unfinished project, but it takes up space in my mind... so if I were to just do it and FINISH the task, well that would be awesome.
• And this one I am a little afraid to admit, but I will speak about it here with hope that admitting this will help me make a decision. Two summers ago (July 2012) we went to Las Vegas and I bought a pair of shoes. I wore them on the plane, we made it home and got everything in the house, and a little while later I looked down at my feet and there were all these little white bugs/mites (very very small) crawling around on the shoes. It freaked me out and (after scrubbing every inch of my body in the shower) I dumped them in a tub of water to hopefully drown and kill whatever those little white things were. After the shoes sat in the water for a while I dried them out and set them just inside the sliding back door. AND THERE THEY HAVE SAT FOR THE PAST YEAR AND A HALF. I can't bring myself to wear them and yet I can't bring myself to get rid of them either. I see them every day and it really bothers me that I can't make a decision and FINISH that one small chapter of my life.

The list is a lot longer than this, but you get the idea.

So this year I decided to sign up for Ali Edwards' One Little Word workshop. My word: FINISH. I hope Ali's monthly video installments will help keep me accountable and on track throughout the year to finish my projects. And a rule for the year - I am absolutely not allowed to buy supplies for any new (personal) project until I complete (or get rid of - because I know I will never finish it) each an every unfinished project.

My hope is that clearing out these projects will free up space in my brain that has been swelling with mental clutter for years. I bought this journal (see picture below) to help me out... yes, I am a procrastinator most of the time, but by choosing to FINISH I hope to chip away at this part of my personality. While this journal may seem like the opposite of what I need, it will actually work out well and adds a little humor to each week.

For example: "Procrastinator Wisdom: A fool shovels snow; a wise man waits for it to melt." That is fine with me. While the snow melts I will hunker down inside and FINISH all my knitting projects!

If you could invite One Little Word into your life this year what would it be?

** All scrapbooking products used in my FINISH word art are from Designer Digitals.