Do you have a word for 2012?

One little word can change how you think. For 2012, my word is enhance. I'm not sure if I chose it or if it chose me but at sometime of the day, everyday, that word crosses my mind and helps me to make choices. I want to enhance my home with the things I do, I want to enhance my family by the way I choose to spend our time together, even how I spend my money is affected by the word "enhance." When I'm standing in a store, I ask myself, "Is this 'thing' really going to enhance my life or someone else's?" Just yesterday I was in Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I was looking for pillow tops for the boys beds in their room. For the past week and a half they have been sleeping in the basement in the guest room while their closet was being put back together. They did not want to go back to their room when the closet was done. I think they liked being in the basement, away from everyone else for a while, but they also told me that the beds in the basement were so much more comfy than their own. Their beds are platform beds, they have drawers underneath the beds and so there is only a mattress, no box spring. How could I make their beds more comfy for them? So there I was standing in Bed, Bath, and Beyond trying to decide on what kind of mattress topper to get for them. I wanted their beds to be comfy, but within a reasonable cost. Some of them were really beyond what I wanted to spend and I needed two. But I didn't want to go the cheap route either because they really didn't seem like they would "enhance" the boys' comfort. So middle of the road I went, still not cheap, but hoping to make my boys a little happier. Now I only had one coupon left from my organizational craze from a few weeks ago and when I bought Molly's new bedding set last month. But after standing in the aisle where the mattress toppers were, which Molly informed me was forever, unzipping bags to try to feel how thick they were, how soft they were, and reading labels, I finally made a choice and we made our way to the checkout counter. There was a gentleman in front of us with his daughter just making one purchase. He looked at our cart with the mattress toppers and some refrigerator bins I picked up because the ones I got last time worked out so nicely that I decided I needed a few more as well as a few other organizational items that made their way into the cart. He saw all this and then asked me if I wanted his two coupons that he wasn't using. I told him they don't expire and that he can use them another time but he insisted that he had a ton of them at home and said that I could have them. He enhanced my day by giving me his 20% off coupons and I enhanced my boys' beds because they said they loved them this morning and that their beds were definitely more comfy.


One little word can change your thinking. But this is not a new concept, having a "word" to keep you focused, to help you make decisions. I was on the computer the other day and came across a blogger, Ali Edwards, and she has a whole online workshop that you can sign up for called One Little Word 2012. It was a little too much for me but I did enjoy reading some of the words that people had chosen and why: experience, joy, adventure, time, listen, and focus just to name a few. Some were only two letter words: up and do. "Up" meaning ready, eager, open, awake, into a happy mood. What a great word when you stop and think about the meaning. The person who chose "do" said that she was "done" mulling things over. She would mull over everything and this year she wanted to "do." Having a word for the year instead of making a New Year's Resolution seems like a great alternative. How many times have you made a resolution and then broken it by now, three weeks into the new year? Picking a word instead of a resolution I think will make you happier because we always feel guilty when we "break" a resolution. Picking a word gives you focus to make your life even better than it is today. I certainly can relate to that and so now that the boys closet is finally done, I am off to finish enhancing my new scrapbooking room...one photo box at a time, one shelf at a time, one drawer at a time.


Do you have a word for 2012?