Arns in the Far

 Last night as I sat back watching the boys shoot fireworks....midnight approached.  I sat watching them giggle and run like maniacs away from the lit fuse.

 I was happy to sit in the shadow of the porch light and enjoy watching them be kids.  At some point during the 'fireworks show', I started reflecting on the past year and wondering what the next year has in store.

I was thinking about what kind of New Year's Resolution I should set for myself this year.  I tend to get all 'gung-ho, about accomplishing something, and then push it aside for some other goal I have set.  I started wondering if I should set the goal again to run another half-marathon....which has been set as a goal multiple times since my last half-marathon 2 years ago.  I thought that maybe I should go back to the goal of budgeting and couponing.  We were certainly better off finacially when I set that as a priority.  I thought maybe I should go back to my menu planning and get back strict with chores and house cleaning.  My life is so much less chaotic and seems so much more peaceful when the house is orderly.  I contemplated setting a resolution about blogging.  When I started blogging a couple of months ago, I never missed a single day of blogging for 2 months....but then I missed a few days here and there....and then my blogging became much less predicatable.

I was toying with all these ideas for new goals to set and old goals to pick back up for the new year. But then, I heard my Granny......well, I didn't actually hear her.....I am certain that she was sound asleep in her bed....but I heard her wisdom in my head.

She used to say that you shouldn't get too many irons in the fire. 

Except, when Granny said it...she said it with authority and just the right amount of attitude.  And it came out more like this....

"You ort not git too many arns in the far!"

Having "too many irons in the fire" means that you are trying to do too many things at once. This means juggling too many projects at once and something's bound to fail.  Years ago, when a smith had too many irons in his fire, he couldn't effectively keep track of all of them.

I have decided that I consistently have too many irons in the fire.  I try to shuffle the boys to practices, keep the laundry folded and put away, cook healthy meals, teach 18 kindergartners and stay in contact with their parents, squeeze in some running, pay bills and budget, clip coupons, assign and oversee chores while teaching responsibilty and money management, wash dishes, get haircuts, attend church services, nurture a marriage, read, write blogs....and do them all effectively.

I have too many arns in the far. 

The problem is.... I am not really willing to take any of them out.  Each 'arn' is important to me. 

So, my New Year's resolution is not to take some of the irons out of the fire, but to make sure I at least keep them all hot.  This year, instead of totally abandoning one of my goals to focus on another, I want to try to maintain a better balance. 

The irons I want to keep hot this year are.....

1. Improve my Money Management .......including clipping and using coupons when I can fit it in and living within our family budget.

2. Improve the overall health of my family......including more jogging for me and limiting the number of unhealthy meals served.

3. Maintain Order .......... as much as possible.  Our lives tend to get chaotic during the height of sport seasons.  My goal is to keep a calendar of upcoming events and set aside time during the day for chores and payday for the boys.

These are three pretty big irons to keep hot.