New Year, New Plan

Well, happy new year!

November and December went by in a flurry or house-guests, play-dates, family outings and holiday festivities.  I’m exhausted, but
 like most people, I’m already planning and dreaming about all my goals for 2011. I’ve put up my vision board/goal sheet above my desk and revised my daily calendar to more reflect the personal/business activities that matter most to me. That meant letting go of a lot of stuff that was more “filler” than anything else. Other things were harder to let go of because I felt they were things I did really want to do, but I had to admit that I just couldn’t fit them into my schedule right now. This year, I definitely plan to embrace the “you can have it all, just not all at the same time” way of thinking.

One other big change for me was moving my home office from a comfortable room in the garage to a cozy little corner in my bedroom next to a window. I loved having a separate office where I could close the door for privacy if I needed to, but being outside the house (even if it was only a few steps away) also meant that I sometimes felt disconnected from my kids during the day. Although I try to only work when they’re sleeping, playing with friends or out of house, there are times when I wanted to quickly check email or write something down and going out to the garage office always seemed more distracting than just running into the bedroom quickly.

Anyway, after moving my files, papers, etc. and writing down all my new goals for the year, I needed to unwind (yet again), so I was glad I got an email from TwitterMoms (now SocialMoms) inviting their members to an exclusive preview of the new made for TV movie “Change of Plans”, courtesy of P&G and Walmart.

As many of you know, I don’t have a TV at my house, so sitting down to a network broadcast is not something I do anymore, and that’s just fine with me. I don’t really expect much from TV movies, but I was game to get a preview on my computer while I relaxed after the kids went to bed. A Change of Plans had a lot of the elements that I generally expect from TV movies (predictable, contrived), but I thought the actors were very appealing and the message was a really good one. Plus there was some fun music, which always makes me happy.

The story follows a very career-driven couple, a musician and an aeronautics engineer whose lives are turned upside down when they unexpectedly inherit 4 children from different countries.

The story never dealt specifically with the cultural difficulties the children might experience when transitioning to a new country, school, friends, etc., so that was a little disappointing, but I guess that’s a huge subject to try and tackle in a 90-minute  TV movie. The story of how life can change drastically in an instant, however, was well handled and it’s a great message to show kids that even though life doesn’t turn out as planned, with adjustments,  it can still be great.

You can check out a preview of the movie below and, if you DO have a TV, it’s a good choice for your family movie night. “A Change of Plans” is scheduled to debut January 8 at 8/7c on FOX

Tags: A Change of Plans, New Year