From the softer side...

New Year's Resolutions...

I've decided it would be way too humiliating to return to Cuenca and not be able to fit into the clothes I left behind last summer. Clarke and I have been doing a lot of 'comfort eating' these past few months and I now have ten extra pounds riding shotgun on my cheeks...and I'm not referring to my face! Ugggh. My second resolution is to start posting weekly on our blog. It will be a fun way to document the journey and to process my thoughts and feelings along the way.

I have a confession. I like clutter. Not messiness, mind you, but I do like to see my 'stuff' around me. I find it comforting. It drives Clarke crazy. I also save things. Don't get me wrong - I'm not a hoarder. I just like to keep stuff because it is so rewarding to find use for it later! Needless to say, I have had to do this 'downsizing' in phases. Phase 1 was the garage sale last spring - ouch. Phase 2 was getting the house ready to put on the market last August (easier because we had just returned from Cuenca and were 'gung ho'). We just completed Phase 3 and it was actually quite fun. Instead of giving Christmas presents we filled grocery sacks with "treasures" and gave it to the kids as gifts. There was only one rule "you don't have to keep it but you have to take it with you when you leave." You just never know when you might need a mummified alligator head (Clarke's) or a pair of black fruit salad pants (Brenda's).

I'm not big on materialism but I'm a sucker when it comes to sentimentality. I have saved every picture our kids drew for us and still have a note written by our daughter when she was 10. Because Clarke and I have such different tastes, we tended to argue when we remodeled. This particular note was written during one of our remodeling jobs and contains a quarter taped to a small piece of paper with these words penciled "When ever you guys disagree on remodeling or anything else just flip this coin and your problems will be solved." Out of the mouths of babes...

Guess what? There's a remodeling job waiting for us in Ecuador so I'm taking that note along for good measure.

Life is good~

Brenda