On Beginnning

I am not making resolutions but…
I do feel the need to make a new beginning in 2012.
What is it about the New Year that makes us feel the urge to change?

A few changes around here:

  • I have four “new” chickens we inherited from a friend.  They lay the biggest eggs!

(They’re picking on my sweet chicken so not sure I like them yet. 
Mom is going to take a few once she has a coop to put them in, so I
think I’ll give her “Meany” or “Big Red” as the kids call her. Then
maybe my old girl will come out from under the deck.) You learn what “pecking order” means when you have chickens!

“Big Red”, “Spotty” and “Special” begging

The Girls Pecking (Pillow is under the deck of course)

  • I’ve only gotten one parking ticket this year!  (Oh, it’s only been 13 days?) Well, I’m making a pact to get a roll of quarters today so I’ll maybe avoid another (before February anyway.)
  • I want to lose the baby weight.  It’s only been 2 months so I’m not pushing it, but watching what I eat- doing “Lose It” again (iPhone app) and have lost one pound already.  Yesterday I used practically half of my calories eating a bowl of oatmeal- did you know there are 500 calories in a cup of Scottish Steel Cut Oats?  Yikes. Gave the chickens the leftover Christmas cookies to get them out of my reach.  Need to go back to yoga.
  •  After getting the estimate to add on to this house I’ve decided to
    purge.  In this market I
    don’t know if it’s worth adding up, and we can’t find anything we like that isn’t a fixer-upper or crazy expensive.   I started on my desk area yesterday and
    ended up making a much bigger mess but I figure it’s a start.  If I can do one drawer or shelf each day it shouldn’t be too bad…
Desk (Mid way done)
Yikes!  All this fit on the bookshelf?
  •  Going to attempt stick to a budget and menu AND use my coupons.  (We’ll see how long that lasts.)
  • Want to start something creative this year 

What plans do you have for 2012?

Happy Friday the 13th!

On Making Resolutions?

I am not going to make any New Year’s resolutions, but do want to try to do the following on a regular basis for my body, mind, and spirit…

  • Attend yoga classes (I feel so much better when I do, and consequently I’m a lot nicer to be around.)
  • Write
  • Purge my closets and home of unnecessary items (I lean towards packrat…)
  • Be positive in my words and actions. 
  • Freelance translate (for pay, I always end up working pro-bono and not sure why.)
  • Tell and show my family and friends I love them more
  • Keep track of my volunteer hours.  (I don’t even want to tell you how many hours I had racked up last year, and can’t because I didn’t really keep good records.) 

*I made the above pic with Picnik.com.  I am so loving that site!