Day One and My Word

It's the first day of a new year and I started it out right! Waffles and bacon! Whoop whoop! (Okay, not for me, but for everyone else!)

Josh had a friend stay over so he was busy with them. Drew was just getting back to "normal" after his sleepover the night before with his friend, Joshua where he was up until about 1:30 am.

I purged today... the kitchen, the junk drawers, my computer files. It feels good!

The majority of my day was spent getting my Household binder set up for the new year. I'm ready to go with new Daily Dockets so that I'm focused and will get things accomplished. Scheduling time to do the things that I WANT to do instead of getting side tracked on things like Pinterest and Facebook.

The eating plan is back on track. I will say I was quite tempted with the chocolate dipped / sprinkle-covered pretzel rods I made for Benji but I have resisted (so far).

We got the outdoor Christmas lights put away -- hard to have an excuse NOT TO when it's 70 degrees outside!

I got the garage cleaned up.

My car cleaned out.

My "in box" whittled down to a manageable pile.

About a dozen magazines read and recycled with the interesting articles and/or recipes I want to review pulled.

I unsubscribed from about four e-mail newsletters in an effort to further simplify and streamline and maintain focus.

You know, that is my word for the year -- "focus"

Every year, Ali Edwards, does a "One Little Word" challenge on her blog. This year my word is "focus."

Webster's online describes "Focus" as a noun

a : a point at which rays (as of light, heat, or sound) converge or from which they diverge or appear to diverge;specifically : the point where the geometrical lines or their prolongations conforming to the rays diverging from or converging toward another point intersect and give rise to an image after reflection by a mirror or refraction by a lens or optical systemb : a point of convergence of a beam of particles (as electrons)

2

a : focal lengthb : adjustment for distinct vision; also : the area that may be seen distinctly or resolved into a clear imagec : a state or condition permitting clear perception or understanding focus>d : direction 6c focus>

3

: one of the fixed points that with the corresponding directrix defines a conic section

4

: a localized area of disease or the chief site of a generalized disease or infection

5

a : a center of activity, attraction, or attention focusof the meeting was drug abuse>b : a point of concentration

6

: the place of origin of an earthquake or moonquake

7

: directed attention : emphasis

— fo·cus·less adjective

— in focus

: having or giving the proper sharpness of outline due to good focusing

— out of focus

: not in focus

I'm actually leaning more toward the definition of 2b, 2c, 5 or 7.

adjustment for distinct vision

a state or condition for permitting clear perception

a center of attention

a point of concentration

I want my vision (in my head... in my heart... in my life...) to be clearly defined. I want the purpose of my attention on whatever I'm doing to clearly have a defined purpose that is beneficial for the greater good.

I don't want to be the center of attention, rather, I want the center of attention in my life be the things, people, activities that I am focused upon.

At times I feel like a jack-of-all-trades master at none. I want to fine-tune my skills in photography and I realize I won't get to that point, if I don't focus (literally) on that.

I want to focus on my children. They really grow up so quickly. I want them to know and understand that spending time together is a focus in my life.

I want clarity in my relationships.

I want to focus on the important.

I want to be able to clearly see past the imperfections in my life (and others) and focus on what is the most important thing -- the person inside -- kind of like taking a "What Would Jesus View" approach with people.

Focus. It's my word for 2012