Blog Your Heart*/One Little Word

One little word. Select a word for yourself or let it find you and live it for the year. Sounds simple, right? That's what I thought this time last year when I picked my word. I thought long and hard about my word. I thought about my word in the shower, as I was sorting through junk mail, as I drifted off to sleep next to a night stand piled high with scrapbook magazines. And it came to me as if in a dream. Or maybe it was a wish. My word for 2011 would be organize. Surely picking the word and writing a blog post about it would mean that I would live this word and, as a result, all the clutter in my life would vanish -- or at least be neatly put away into one of the many bins I continue to buy in my never-ending quest for a clutter-free life. Ha!

It's January 1, 2012 and I am back to report that I failed miserably. Yes, it was just one little word but I couldn't embrace it. Those eight little letters got the best of me! With the exception of a stack of magazines which finally made their way into the recycling bin, clothes that went to Good Will and my stamps which I organized into labelled binders, my house is no more organized at the start of 2012 than it was at the start of 2011. I did make two cabinets a Gluten Free zone for Melissa but now when I cook, I can't find my spices because they are no longer in the place they have been for the last 18 years. More organization is definitely needed in this department! I still can't figure out how to make the most of Photo Shop so I never get around to posting my pictures on Shutterfly which is something that my sister in California always asks me to do. My Project 12 became a Project 3 as everyday life got in the way of scrapping these monthly recaps in March. My December Daily has turned into a A Week in December but I did take all of the pictures so who knows!

Maybe guilt, or frustration, or defeated should be my word for 2012!

Or maybe patience is the word for me this year. Patience to accept the non-perfect days as my reality now. Patience to get through some of the tedious tasks that need to be done (like photo editing) in order to get to the good stuff -- like scrapping! Patience with my kids. With two teens in the house surely I need to embrace this now more than ever! Patience with myself to find a way to eat better and maybe get to the gym. Who knows, maybe I will even have the patience to organize my house or at least go through another pile of magazines!

It's just one little word. How hard can it be?

*Blog Your Heart is a monthly challenge created by Stephanie Howell who brings a refreshing honesty to all of her blog posts. Thanks for always telling it like it is, Stephanie!