Days 160 - 173

Happy New Year!!! Yes, I've been on holiday and everyone deserves a little bit of a holiday now and again. It has been lovely! I haven't done anything special, but have accomplished a few things for myself. Being that it is the last few hours of 2013, I think you can humor me with one more list, so here it is!

Top 10 Things I Did Over My 13 Day Holiday

1. Celebrated a lovely Christmas with my family.
2. Shopped.
3. Worked...a little.
4. Rested (read: slept...a lot).
5. Ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted it and as much of it as I wanted. (read: Overate.)
6. Shopped.
7. Went to the library and read books.
8. Cooked special meals for the family for each of the special days.
9. Did some baking.
10. Oh yes, and SHOPPED!

I don't really like shopping, but at this time of year it's just necessary. There are gifts to purchase and tons of great sales! Before Christmas it was all about gifts, but after Christmas I was into solving problems around my house. For instance, due to the small size of my closet, there really is only room for 3 pairs of shoes. I have more than that and have been using an over the door shoe rack. However, this had become very uncomfortable for me as it prevented the proper closing of the door and also made it hard to get in and out of the closet. So, I needed to shop for a new solution. Problem solved at the after Christmas sale at The Container Store. I was able to secure a new under bed storage solution for the shoes that works perfectly! Now, I have the three pair of shoes I use most often in the closet and the others are safely and neatly (most importantly) stored under my bed. With the added benefit of taking up under bed space so that monsters don't have room under there, who could ask for a better solution? I also found a better container for storing my handbags while I was at it and bought a special hanger to hold my scarves. My closet was GREAT before, but now it's just FANTASTIC!!

So, I'm good with shopping as long as I have a purpose. Otherwise, count me out. One of the things I did while on holiday was to work on my annual list of 52 Things to get done in the next year. I'll be posting that list on New Year's Day (tomorrow) so be sure to stop back by tomorrow to see what I want to get done next year. 2014 is my year to get all 52 things done...I can feel it in my bones!!

Thanks for checking in! I hope you enjoyed your holiday season with people you love. Now, I have just a few more things to do before a midnight toast and bed time. One thing that is very important to me is that my house be clean when I go to bed on New Year's Eve. That way, when I get up on New Year's morning, after I brush my teeth and make my bed, my house is clean!! Crazy lady, I know, but it makes me really happy when I can have that. My boys worked really hard with me to make it happen and I really appreciate it. So, until tomorrow when I will dazzle you with lots of New Year's fun, sweet dreams, Sweeties!!