Every year I make New Year’s resolutions and keep none of them.

This year I’ve decided to scale back on what I plan to resolve in hopes that I can actually keep those throughout the year. My biggest resolution is to be more organized. There is no telling how much time I spent in 2009 looking for scissors, pens, tape, etc. It’s not only the time spent searching but the frustration that builds from not being able to locate said item in less than a minute. We own way too much stuff that we will never use. This is where rummage sales, eBay, and thrift stores come into play. If I can sell it then I just need to donate it. Live a simpler and less cluttered life. Dream the dream and make it happen in 2010.

I also plan to lose weight but refuse to diet. Why? It never fails. When I start a diet, 3 weeks later I am sick. When I get sick I fall off the diet since I have no energy or desire to follow the diet plan. So this year I will be eating less and exercising more but it’s not a diet.

Or I could follow my husband’s lead and make no New Year’s resolutions. Now that is a sure fire method for keeping resolutions. But hopefully by just concentrating on two items I will have some success.

Santa must have approved of the cookies and chocolate milk because he left the little girl exactly what she had wanted. Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas!

I have to admit that I hate to wrap Christmas presents. Love buying them but loathe the wrapping part. I wrap gifts usually the day that I give them – which is a habit that I wish I could break. I blame my lack of enthusiam for wrapping presents on not having a proper place to wrap gifts. If only I had a nice, big kitchen table to lay out everything the process would be so much easier. Oh well. At least for now I will just make due with the setup I have – wrapping presents on the bed as it is the largest clean surface in our home.

Last year some friends had a gift wrapping party where everyone brought the gifts they needed to wrap. Then everyone wrapped their gifts together. You still had to wrap but at least there was company.

One trick to keep from wrapping presents is to just use gift bags. If the gift doesn’t fit, then I keep looking for a gift that will. Besides a gift bag is like two gifts in one since it seems everyone keeps gift bags to reuse for their own gifts.

One thing that does get me motivated to wrap presents is the feeling of accomplishment once I’m done. Let’s hope I get done before Christmas Eve.

One of the hottest toys this Christmas is Zhu Zhu Pets – small, robotic hamsters that retail for $8.00. I hadn’t seen the commercials for these adorable creatures and had never heard of them until I saw an empty display at Toys R Us that said there was a limit of four Zhu Zhu Pets to a customer. Naturally this had me intrigued. What was this popular toy that my four year old hadn’t even mentioned she wanted?

Finally she saw the commercial and then wanted one – or two. Luckily I ran across them in stock at the store and was able to get her two – an early Christmas present.

You can turn on your Zhu Zhu Pet by pressing the button located on its back, forehead, or nose. Just press a button again to turn it off. The Zhu Zhu Pet will scurry off into one direction and then change directions – all the while making cute, funny sounds. My personal favorite sound is the crowing rooster. You can also buy accessories for your pet that it will zoom through – much like a real hamster.

Overall the Zhu Zhu Pet is a cute little hamster that is quite entertaining and might be the best bargain under $10 this holiday season.