My Final Word*

*For now anyway. I reserve the right to change my word when and if I decide to and find a more perfect word or phrase that fits.

Home Made Simple keeps coming back and almost haunting me. That is what I'm choosing despite it's name for a magazine/website. Hopefully there is no copy right infringement by me choosing this phrase as my "word" to live by for the next year.

First let's start by defining the words.

{Definitions adapted from www.m-w.com}
home•made
made in the home, on the premises, or by one's own efforts

sim•ple
Not involved or complicated
Being without additions or modifications
Free of secondary complication
Of Humble origin or modest position
Free from elaboration

This year I want to get back to basics.
I want to grow my own veggies in my garden.
I want to use a clothesline.
I want to get better at sewing.
I want to be a wife that my husband is proud of.
I want to do more home cooking.
I want to use products that I made out of simple, basic ingredients.
I want to simplify and get rid of things we no longer need.
I want to "unplug" more.
I want to read more.
I want to learn more.
I want to enjoy the simple things in life.

I want to continue on the path that I started last year. A path that I feel like I should be proud of.  I think with "Home Made Simple" I will be able to do that.   Who knows it might take me in an even better direction.

I look forward to living 2009 as Home Made Simple.

2008 Word of the Year

At the beginning of 2008 I chose the word cultivate to define my year. This is what I wrote back then about my word.

cultivate

Yes, it's not your typical word that you would chose to define your year by. But I have come to the realization that I'm not your typical woman anyway. It seems to fit.

{Definition adapted from www.thefreedictionary.com}
cul·ti·vate
To improve and prepare
To grow or tend
To nurture; foster
To form and refine
To seek the acquaintance or goodwill of; make friends with.

That was the perfect word for my year. It encompasses so many things. Last year I sought help for my depression. I nurtured and improved myself by doing that. I'm much happier, which makes me a better wife. I've refined myself.

Cultivate also has a sort of gardening feel to it. I grew my very first garden last year. It was a success and I'm planning on one this year.

The one part of cultivate that I knew I would struggle with was making new friends. I have a very hard time making new friends and letting others get close to me. I am thrilled to say that I have found some of the most wonderful friends. Jessi and Amber. I have a feeling that this year was only the beginning and I look forward to getting to know them in 2009. Jessi and Amber "get" me. Jessi and I are somehow finishing each others sentences. They make me laugh so hard that I cry. We rib on each other just have a blast. My Friday nights just aren't the same when I don't go cropping and get my Jessi and Amber fix. Those Friday nights are my sanity savers.

I have so much more in me that I know what I want to say, but I just can't get it out. Let's just say that 2008 was a great year for me. I am blessed beyond measure. I am happy that I realized just how blessed I am over the last year.