So, I wanted to post these photos of my cute little New Year's decorations on New Year's Day. And the day after. And for several weeks after. But I use Internet Explorer, and for reasons completely outside the realm of my non-existent understanding of technology, I could not upload photos to my blog. I googled, one of the few things I can do on a computer, and found some suggestions that I upload Mozilla Firefox. I did that, and things seem to be back to normal. But please understand-that was the equivalent of a kindergarten running a marathon. It taxed every little corner of my brain.
That has kind of been my year so far. I know we are only a few weeks in, but it just seems that 2013 is bent on finding my limits. Nothing drastic has happened, but it just feels like I am trudging through mud-it doesn't seem that hard at first but the further you keep going, the weight gets heavier and you get dirtier. I have accomplished precious little it seems-beyond needing a bath!
I'm sure it didn't help that I spent last weekend sicker than I have been in a long time. Thankfully, I am on the mend now, but I am playing catch up like you wouldn't believe. My house is longing for some TLC and that is where I am headed as soon as I am done here. But one of my New Year's goals (I don't make resolutions-those seem to be asking to be broken to me, but I suppose it is all just semantics!) was to blog more frequently. Inspiration hasn't struck, so you are left with broken dried-out crumbs of ideas. Just pretend it is the 2nd, and then this will all seem really fun and new, okay?
I found these absolutely
adorable printables here. I know, you won't be able to use all of them this year, but the blogger has posted New Year's printables for the last couple of years, so check her site next year and I bet there will be cute new stuff!
I am loving the frame over my table. I switched out the
Christmas printable for this one, and it made it feel so fresh. I take down my Christmas decor within a day or two after Christmas day, so everything seemed a little bare. I love that, but we were having friends over for New Year's Eve, and it needed a little "something".
I whipped up this little arrangement with wooden kitchen skewers, hot glue, scrapbook paper and my trusty circle punch. It took approximately 10 minutes. The flags are also from the
"Less than Perfect..." printable set. I used some of the paper from my New Year's wreath, and the cute striped and dotted yellow ones are from a paper pack from Hobby Lobby.
I love to re-use, so you may recognize that yellow bucket from the
"Super Hero" baby shower. I have floral foam that I bought at the Dollar Store FIVE years ago that I use all the time. Definitely a good investment! I shoved it all in and covered it with Mylar strips (also from the DS).
I put up the banner (
printable again! Seeing a theme?) and that pretty much completed my endeavors. It took me about an hour to print and cut everything, but I was so happy with how festive it was without being overwhelming. And the banner can be used again!
My mom has long promoted the tradition of a pinata for NYE. Since we were also having some smaller guests, I thought that would be fun. There were no seasonally appropriate ones at Wally, so we agreed on this monkey, and Josie added a sign so he would be more in step with the occasion.
The kids had a blast beating the stuffing out of him-literally. It was a nice low-key night. I was hoping it would be a forecast of things to come. I am finding out not so much. I am hoping to get my feet back under me soon, I am tired of feeling completely unprepared. I know the stress of worry over the current state of our nation isn't helping. I know I wasn't quite ready for the beginning of this year, but I am not going to give up. So I am thankful that January is a whole month for starting over, not just one day!