New year's Resolutions - Really!

I want to work as "hard" as last year...

I was looking at last year's resolutions and can't believe how much time I spent last year writing about it.  I even called this time "a compulsion".  I think it is because I had just retired and felt that I had to make the best of each moment.  I still feel that way but am much more relaxed about it.  
What are your 2013 goals?

I do like that last year I wrote 2 different types of resolutions but I want to be more specific...

TO BE in 2012:  Working on these personal goals  

Healthy habits 
Sleep well

Awareness when eating
Increase in spirituality
Nourish and develop more loving relationships 
Consider options for my Swim business (swimbea.com)

Nancy from Blissed out Grandma wants more energy in the new year.  Me too!

In 2013 I want TO BE:

More healthy: swimming, and get rid of my hip pain
cooking different options, (without processed flours) 
Ignoring "bad" food when not at home
Sleeping without "drugs"
More God aware
More loving

Eat more lobsters!!

TO DO in 2012: 

Playing with the grandkids

Traveling / Visiting family and friends

Fishing / Beach bumming

Writing / Reading

Crafting/ sewing Pictures - using old ones and taking new ones

Making jewelry, beading

Organizing - have to do it...

More TEA PARTIES!

TO DO in 2013, I want to continue with these same TO DO goals.  I didn't do jewelry making and not much organizing nor traveling, but plenty of playing, fishing and beach bumming, some crafting and sewing.  I wrote alot until October...
Now we have an ipad for pictures and a new camera that fits in my purse, I want to take lots more pictures. 
NEW: 
Learn about apps, "data plans", and getting an iphone 
Sell lots more Swim with Miss Bea dvd's
Learn to make an ebook about kids Swimming 
Get a ping pong table
And make more blogging friends!  
Organizing - have to do it... 

BE ORGANIZED!

           I'll strive to live in the present moment 

even if sometimes it's just too hard!!

Good-bye Summer!

This weekend we went to the condo one final time before school started - for the kids that is!  I have been retired one year now and this is the second time that I can relax at this time of year and not be all stressed out about going back to school!  Don't forget that I loved it while I was doing it but now that I'm not, it just makes me happy!  We sure packed in lots of crabbing and beach in two days!

Andrew, Lauren and Isabella are ready for the beach!

Some beach activities:

Making real sandcastles!

fishing for small fish to play with!

crabbing at the pier

Yummy!  Crabs for dinner!

hermit crabs to play with!

Andrew found this moon shell with his feet while we were looking for sand dollars in the water.

It is the biggest moon shell we had ever found!  He said that he felt it and thought it might be a crab but still decided to pull on it.  It was stuck in the sand like it is stuck on his hand here!

Isabella is six weeks today!  She still mostly sleeps or cries for her bottle.  These moments of communication are so special!

January Beach escape - Hope for the Sand Dollar

Baby sand dollars and a few bigger ones.  Can you see the one moon shell?

Andrew and Lauren - before we threw the shells back in the water

 We escaped to St. Simon's Island for the weekend with Brian, Mary and the kids.  We knew it was going to be cold and would not go fishing but tried for the beach.  At low tide we usually find some shells and we were so surprised to find lots of baby sand dollars!  We had fun collecting them though our hands froze.  We made a pile of shells and then threw them all back in the water to get bigger and stronger.  I am glad that we don't have to worry about the sand dollar population on our beach.  We don't have any laws about taking the live creatures home.  

Andrew, Lauren and I

                                                                                                                         

Going to the Beach

2007 by Bea Skeens

Going to the beach
A longing in my heart
A yearning for the quiet
The water and the sand

Sunning by myself
Writing down my thoughts
Relaxing with the surf
I don't do it enough

First I met the beach
With my brothers and sisters
As a mother I shared it
With my very own children

And now best of all
The joy and the wonder
The beach to discover
With my 2-year-old grandson
       Sand castles we build
       Jump in the waves
       Chase little fish
       Find pretty shells

Shaking out the towel
Packing it all up
Some sand will come with me
Stuck to my flip flops
To call me again
From the stress of my lists
To the sun and surf
To the calm and the peace

That the beach always gives

To the beach once again
It's never the same

 

These are freckles!

This is the biggest fish I caught in the river.  We had to return it to the water.  It was 26 inches - too big to keep!

We were in St. Simons for more than a week and went to the beach and fished. I got lots of sun - love it!  It was cool but not cold thank goodness!!  

One night while watching TV  next to each other, Don rubbed my leg and out of nowhere said, “What are these spots on your leg?”  I said, “I’m getting freckles!”  I’ve always wanted freckles and have noticed that in the past few years I can see some on my arms and hands and on my legs!  I love being in the sun and that is how you get freckles, right?  Anyway, I know that they are “age” spots and that people would say that I should use sunscreen.  I am always careful not to get sunburned, and being Cuban it doesn't happen very often.  I had osteoporosis and now I don’t.  I take medication and have made a conscious effort to get my vitamin D from the sun.  Now that I am retired, I try to be out in the sun for around half an hour on the days that I can.  I take calcium and a multivitamin and do my walking and exercises.  I am going to enjoy the sun and my freckles.  I will use sunscreen when I am a long time at the beach and when fishing but am not going to get upset about some beautiful freckles! 

Don't worry about me.  I plan to stay healthy for all the things that I want to do for myself, my family, and whatever God wants me to do for a long time!