The topic for Monday Listicles is 10 THINGS YOU HAVE NO INTENTION OF CHANGING IN 2013. This one came from the lovely guru herself , Stasha at The Good Life.
Erin: Our girl Stasha is definitely speaking our language on this one.
Ellen: We are in no way disrespecting resolutions. We both agree that they are noble. It’s just I’m not into making promises in the deep dark of winter that I know I’m going to depress myself by breaking. Resolutions are just so much pressure. I’m more of a September — back to school, shiny new shoes, fresh start — kind of girl.
Erin: Aww, you make me want to bring you a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils. (“You’ve Got Mail”, anyone?)
Truth be told, I’m really more of a July—too busy hanging out by the pool with a cool drink to bother with some pesky resolutions–kind of girl. But I do like to at least go through the motions of recording goals, so we have a tradition for that.
Every New Year’s morning, I set the dining room table with butcher paper (or plain sheets of paper if I run out of butcher paper like I did this year!). There are six different headings and everybody who is around has to finish the statements in the heading (Sorry, SIL and BIL, but you stay, you play!). This little tradition always yields funny and sweet results. Check out these gems from this year.
But even with these fabulous resolutions to inspire you, here are . . .
10 Things That Will Not Change In 2013
On a Scale of Sappy to What-the-Fudge?
1. Savoring the Moments
Erin: Even though it seems completely inconceivable, I have a high schooler. I know I’m not just looking at this through mommy goggles, either. My lifelong friend Rob’s comment about our Christmas picture— “Holy crap, that’s Ace?”— just cements that it’s unbelievable. Ace will be going to college in two and a half years and I am soaking up the moments we are all together. I am basking in the times we can just be.
This may be uber-over-the-top-sappy, but this is my life right now and I am unapologetic in recording it all in my heart and head and blog to tuck away for those moments later when he will be off doing awesome things and we are just left missing him.
Ellen: I would be making fun of you right now but, *sob* I have a ninth grader. And I’ll miss Ace, too.
Erin: Okay. Somebody pass me a tissue. And a cocktail. I have to go sign him up for driver’s ed.
2. Alone Time With Our Husbands
Ellen: Not every household is made up of two parents, but if yours is, you have to work to keep that relationship strong.
Erin: And that means vanquishing the guilt over spending time away from your kids! It is more than okay to spend time on your relationship/marriage. Think of it as a gift to your kids. And your sanity.
Ellen: And here’s a little Sisterhood Secret for you: The more routine you make it, the easier it is for you to maintain and for your kids to accept.
Erin: Swap with friends . . .
Ellen: She means babysitting kids, not husbands.
Erin: Put it in the budget, tell family members to give you babysitting instead of gifts, spend a small fortune on camps. Do whatever it takes.
Ellen: A night in a hotel can really readjust your meter for not sweating the small stuff. If you know what I mean.
3. Writing Things Our Kids Can Read
Ellen: I am constantly preaching to my children about not offering up anything to the internet machine that they don’t want to see immortalized forever. And since we are more lead-by-example kinds of mommas, we try to keep it PG-13 around here, even up there in point #2. I keep a heavy lid on my robust swearing habit in real life, so why let the bombs fly here? Where it can be Googled.
Erin: We also try to be fair and kind and to not write anything that is going to be hurtful or offensive. But we’re not saints,and we’re not perfect.
Ellen: The one group we don’t honor are those poor souls who have lost their senses of humor.
Erin: But hey, it’s a hard knock life for those buttercups anyway, so what are you going to do?
Ellen: But maybe we should set the filter standards higher for the pictures we post.
Ellen and Erin: NAH!
Purty as princesses.
4. Our Blogging Cooperation – Bloggeration
Erin: We are not gonna lie to you. It takes some a very specific friendship to be able to blog together like we do. I swear I can handle Ellen, because her voice sounds an awful lot like my husband’s in my head.
Ellen: Alright! I have one thing that could change for 2013! Could you please stop saying that? Creepers.
Erin: You know what I mean. I need your “type” in my life—the type that brings me down to earth and keeps it real. You even share the same birthday. How’s that for creepers??
But the truth is that among the many other things we have learned from blogging together this year, we’ve also figured out when to walk away and when to give some slack.
Ellen: Interesting. You are truly one of the most forgiving and easy-going people I know . . . except when you’re not. Which leads us to our next point . .
5. Bunco
Erin: Dear sweet well-intentioned friends, please do not invite me to Bunco. Bring on Trivial Pursuit, Scrabble, even Just Dance 4! I rock at real games. But this “game” makes me yearn for that dark beast of board games, Chutes and Ladders —the game that subjects adults to hours of mind-numbing climbing and sliding repetitive hell.
Oh, but Bunco is about socializing and hanging out and drinking lovely girl-y drinks, you say! You love all that, you say! Well, the little BUNCO dice are the evil overlords of fun and they seem hell-bent on interrupting my good time flow. They determine where you sit, who you hang with, and where you move. I will have just settled into my chair with my cocktail when I am sent packing because I didn’t roll 3s. Makes me tweak-y.
Ellen: And rant-y. Good grief. Dude, I just think you don’t like to be told what to do. You’re not comfortable unless you are the Grandmaster Game Master. What was that guy’s name in Saw? If anyone wants to invite me to a night out with friends, snacks, and wine, tweet me up.
Erin: Oh my word. Moving on . . .
6. Hobbit
Ellen: I know we just said we aim to not purposely offend anyone, but we are making an exception with The Hobbit. We are just not entertained by hairy barefooted fantastical little freaks. We are not going to see it.
Erin: Not in a theater, not in a plane.
Ellen: Not on Showtime, or Netflix, or even on a train.
Erin: Not out of Redbox or Xbox, because it would drive us insane.
Ellen: We’re just not going to view it, have we made ourselves plain?
Erin: We’re hoping our love for Dr. Seuss counteracts your offense springing from our hatred for hobbits.
Full disclosure: Erin’s whole clan saw it to mixed reviews. 3 out of 5 stars.
7. Fat Pants Free Zone
Ellen: This one is my rant, but Erin is whittling away so she is chucking fat pants away left and right. I, on the other hand, have one pair of jeans that fits me and a whole GAP store full of jeans that are just a little snug — if, by snug, I meant like a freakin’ tourniquet. But I am not buying any “fat pants.” I will lose the Fifteen (lbs) After Forty (years) and triumphantly wear my wardrobe again. This I pledge for I am Sparticus! Too dramatic?
Erin: Absolutely not. Just try not to burn Athens in your wake.
Don’t hate Erin because she looks like she’s wearing clown pants.
8. The War and Peace Trap
Erin: If the last one was all you, then this one is all me and has been for like 15 years. Every year, I always have the best intentions of reading Tolstoy’s War and Peace and every year I find about 52 books I would rather read more. Every year, I think roping my pals into doing it too means that I’ll actually follow through. And every year, a handful of lovely, sweet victims, er, I mean friends, add this tome to their list of “have-read”s while it remains solidly on my “to-do” list.
Ellen: How many times has this happened?
Erin: I’m out of digits.
Ellen: And let the record show I have never fallen for this trap.
Erin: But this is the year! It’s gonna happen.
Ellen: Not. Falling. For. That. One.
9. We are Fourth Decaders One Directioners
Erin: In fact, if anything, we’re kickin’ it up a notch.
Ellen: We are going to see One Direction in concert! That’s right! We are going to stand in the midst of throngs of hormonal teen and tween girls and sing our little hearts out making memories all the while.
Erin: <singing> That’s what makes us beautiful.
Ellen: And smart. We got huge Mom Points on this one. And it was the easiest Mom Points ever, because you know I love them.
The lads and Ellen had a brilliant Christmas.
10. Christmas Decorations
Ellen: As we have stated before, we are very traditional and sentimental about our Christmas decorations.
Erin: But let’s face it, we are also very pressed for time in December. So, we’re considering just leaving them up until next year. Save some hassle.
Ellen: Never mind we both have live trees.
Erin: Well, how about just the outside ones, you know, because mine were so spectacularly gorgeous.
Yes, we realized that there were shorts in the line. No, we didn’t fix it. Yes, you should be very grateful that we are not your neighbors.
Ellen: The kicker is you actually chose to plug that sadness in every. single. night. And your next door neighbor looked like the scene below. I think you have enough bulbs there to spell out “Ditto.”
Erin: Yeah, I’ll file that suggestion away for next year. Somewhere . . . where the Christmas lights don’t shine.
Source: google.com via Sisterhood on Pinterest
So, whether you decide to make a resolution this year or not, we both hope you have a great new year. You can definitely start out on the right foot by checking out Monday Listicles and exploring some of the great bloggers there. It’s easy. You can do it in your pajamas. So get over there already!!
— Ellen and Erin
Leaving up the Christmas decorations until next year is a great idea (although I just took the tree down today…). I don’t Bunco either 😉
Stacie @ Snaps and Bits recently posted..Google Me Q412
So with you on the pants one. I am down to to pairs if jeans and some snappy track suits (whatever, don’t judge), and I refuse to buy a single new pair of pants. Because I have multiple pairs that I *should* be able to wear.
thedoseofreality recently posted..Friday Feasts: How Pinterest Inspired Us To Change Our Lives
P.S. It would have been a coherent comment if I was not typing on the damn Ipad. And, yes I am aware that is a first world problem.
thedoseofreality recently posted..Damn You, Amazon.com
Ha! But at least you have your snappy tracksuits. 🙂 Ellen
LOL!! Just cannot choose which one of your resolutions I loved the most!! and, yes, totally forgiven for anything if you are Dr Seuss fans!!
Roshni recently posted.."She was asking for it"
You mean UN-resolutions? 😉 Thanks! Ellen
Oh this killed me! Spartacus, Athens, the fat pants, you have got everything in your anti-resolutions but the kitchen sink! LOVE this! PS: Ellen you look great.
Ado recently posted..The 21-Day Vegan Kickstart Program For Die-Hard Carnivores Like Me
You’re so sweet! I thought the cardboard cut-outs made my cheeks look plump, though. Darn those pretty boys. 😉 Ellen
Amen to 1, 2, and 3!!!
Yes!
This post is the best example why I love you so much – you ladies are pure awesome!
Kerstin @ Auer Life recently posted..Happy New Year
Thank you! Pure awesome because we have not set ourselves up for failure. It’s all in how you stack the deck. 😉 Ellen
I would love a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils – I think of that line every September. And I love the butcher paper resolutions. 🙂
Kim@Co-Pilot Mom recently posted..Don’t Go Changing
I’m so glad you got that reference because at first I was like, “Girl, what are you talking about?” When she reminded me of the movie, I couldn’t believe I forgot it! 🙂 Ellen
Love the ditto. Lol
I REALLY want her to do that next year, Laura. Ellen
My mom habitually left up the christmas wreath until about easter, when she could replace it with some nonsense made of early spring flowers. because nothing says “welcome” on your front door like a sagging circlet of yellowed “evergreen.”
love your list, applaud the hobbitian boycott (saw it under duress but really, what are those movies without Viggo? NOTHING), marvel in awe at the loss of fatpants (she says, yoga pants comfortably wedged below her tummy)…happy new year to two of my fave bloggalinas.
deborah l quinn recently posted..gun violence…justified?
You are so sweet! And I still don’t have our real Christmas tree out yet, let alone the evergreen wreath off of the door. I’m going to set a FIRM Easter deadline. Meanwhile, I’m going to go make Fave Bloggalina sashes for Erin and me. 🙂 Ellen
The pictures that you guys add to this really take the cake. I appreciate the reminders on 1 & 2 especially because I’m terrible at it…. as someone said on my FB page the other day, the days are long but the years are short 🙁
Kelly @ In the Mom Light Blog recently posted..Motherhood is Funny, but this Shit is Serious – The Great Debate: Ball Taps -vs- Birthing Babies
You’ll get better at it. It just takes raising your head out of the trenches. And stick around. We have tons more pictures where those came from. 😉 Ellen
Lol, I love it!
Kelly @ In the Mom Light Blog recently posted..Motherhood is Funny, but this Shit is Serious – The Great Debate: Ball Taps -vs- Birthing Babies
You two never disappoint. Great list of un-resolutions. Never even heard of Bunco, have read War and Peace and liked it, will probably go see the Hobbit under duress and … I’ll see you at the concert ROFL have an amazing 2013.
paul recently posted..10 for 2013
Glad to see you Paul! Wait, are you going to a 1D concert or were you just kidding? And please just write Erin a summary of War and Peace so I can stop hearing about it. 🙂 Ellen
As always your blog post was totally entertaining and fun! I love all your ideas and choked on my drink when I saw the picture of Erin’s outside lights!!! That is freaking HILARIOUS!!! Oh you two are such a HOOT! Thanks for making me laugh.
Chris Carter recently posted..New Year Resolution 2013
And those lights are the real deal and NOT staged. I ribbed her mercilessly for a month and insisted that we post a picture. 🙂 Ellen
This is such a great list!! And I love the way your voices come out in the post (my first time visiting here – thanks to Monday Listicles) so yes, I’m glad that you’re planning on continuing your collaboration!
Christine @ Love, Life, Surf recently posted..2013: Things that will stay the same
So glad you stopped by. And yes, we practically ooze Ellen and Eriness, so glad you find it appealing. 🙂 Ellen
It is always a good time to ‘Dr. Seussify’ a post. 🙂 I’m with you on ‘The Hobbit’–not going to see it either. I liked LOTR & I enjoyed reading the Hobbit a couple decades ago, but I don’t feel like paying a tonne to go to a theatre to have my hearing damaged for a movie that’s been fairly consistently panned by critics. The fact that they’ve divided the story into three movies just seems like a money grab to me. 🙂
Lisa C recently posted..10 Things I Have No Intention of Changing in 2013
Exactly!
Screw War and Peace! Life is too short! Better to savor the moments…
I’m one of those weirdos who gave up on the second book of “The Lord of the Rings” and never went back. Not terribly interested in “The Hobbit.”
I love the fact that you blog together–I always enjoy reading your posts!
Marie recently posted..10 anti-resolutions
Thank you! I’m totally using “Savor the moments” as a defense against War and Peace. 🙂 Ellen
This really is one of my favorite blogs. You two are hilarious while also being smart. I love visiting here.
Wayne recently posted..Monday Quiz
You have made my day with your wonderful compliment. Thank you! Ellen
I’m so glad that on our first, dreaded day back to school, I get to read a listicle of yours to cheer me up.
christine recently posted..Monday Listicles – Basically, I Resolve to Remain Lazy and Annoying
Happy to be here for ya! Ellen
Is it weird that my favorite picture here is the one of Ellen with the Flat One Direction boys?
Heh.
Alison recently posted..Do. Or When The Easy Becomes Difficult
Alison, in my mind they are real. 🙂 Plus my girls keep moving them all over the house to scare the bejeesus out of me when I least expect it. Ellen
My post holiday job is to take down the tree and indoor decorations. Done and Done.
Hubby’s is to take down the lights outside.
Still waiting.
for like……4 years.
I’ve read War and Peace!
No, I won’t again. don’t.even.ask 🙂
Rorybore recently posted..4M: Jingles All The Way
You crafty girl! You have eluded Erin’s trap. Ellen
You guys always bust out the unexpected and make me laugh…I’m nodding along, and then out of nowhere- the Hobbit! Hilarious! You guys have the best pictures, too…Loved it!
Stephanie @ Mommy, for real. recently posted..I Am Who I Am and Other T-Shirt Slogans
Thanks! Funny things is, our friends are now starting to groan every time we say, “Take our picture!” We’re like, “Shut up, we need a stockpile!” Ellen
So glad you clarified that whole swap thing. I was all “WHOA” at first. Almost high fived the laptop (which of course would’ve sent it crashing to the floor) for your being so open and bold.
Either way…swapping babysitting favors is awesome too. 😀
Bunco? Yea, no
And none of our Christmas stuff has come down yet. Maybe by Valentine’s day…
Ducky recently posted..Nope! Not Gonna Do It!
You are very ambitious. I set a hard Easter deadline. Ellen
No spontainious exploding. Now that’s a resolution I can probably stick to!
BonnyBard recently posted..How am I feeling, facebook? You really want to know?
You guys are awesome! I love your back and forth banter. It’s the best. Love your list and the picture with Erin with her hands down her clown pants is priceless!
Kate recently posted..10 Things Stayin’ The Same In 2013
Yeay for blogging together, forever!! I never thought about it, but you made me think. Swingers have no one to babysit their kids ha?
Stasha recently posted..Monday Listicles
That eecard at the beginning is the whole problem with my weight loss efforts. Ugh.
I’ve never played Bunco, but it sounds dreadful. I hate being forced to get up and move around outside of a fitness class.
Azara recently posted..10 things I won’t change in 2013
Love this! I love #3 – it is so refreshing to read a blog that is committed to being funny, honest, and ‘real’ without all the sailor talk. I will be joining your blog for sure!
Carrie recently posted..You Can’t Make Me
Thanks, Carrie. Glad to hear that we are all on the same page. Erin
Loved this!! Now how do you two do this? Do you send emails back and forth to respond to? Meet for coffee with a laptop? Love your blog. Love #2. I only have one child, but we live “away”, so no family or BFFs around to swap kids with or get gifts from 😉
Kenya G. Johnson recently posted..From Regular to Decaf…
We should probably do a “behind-the-curtain” post this year, but it really is a little of everything. We talk on the phone a lot. A LOT. It has gotten easier for us as we have found our blogging rhythm. Hope the new year means that #2 will happen for you, Erin
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I stumbled upon your blog tonight (this morning?) from a link. . .somewhere. . .and have spent from 2-4 a.m. laughing, agreeing, and linking on FB. . .ha! Love your blog! Glad I was introduced 🙂
Aww, thank you!! So glad you found The Sisterhood and that you wanted to stick around. Erin
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