HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Yes, I am a bit late with the midnight felicitations but at midnight I was sawing logs.  I no longer stay up on New Years Eve.  After years of doing that and feeling pretty sleep deprived the next day, I realized that the New Year looked a lot rosier with some sleep.  So, I retired around 8:30 p.m. with the first book of my 2015 challenges and was down for the count a little after 9 p.m.

Another thing I no longer do is make resolutions.  I try to review the prior year and make note of what went well and what didn't. If something worked out I will continue but if it didn't I will see how to tweak it to make it better -- or discard it altogether. 

A few of the things I will be doing this year are:

Maintaining a healthy eating plan.  Not a diet, mind you, but eating for good health.  The healthy eating plan went well (until Thanksgiving/Christmas -- opps) and I will continue to practice what I worked out to be a good fit for me.  This requires eating at home more so I need to work on some new recipes. 

Exercising more -- I don't like to exercise so I have been trying to work out a non-exercise routine which, obviously, means walking more.  I will be wearing my pedometer every day and keeping closer tabs on my steps.  I might throw in a hula hoop but, for today, I am sitting out with a gimpy knee -- I have learned to rest through a problem rather than just continue and make it worse.  I don't know what I have done to my knee but it isn't good so I am resting.

Evaluate my crafting life.  I do like to make things.  I have pretty much fallen out of love with quilting for a variety of reasons -- mostly because I don't have room to spread things out and it becomes so challenging that I don't really enjoy it anymore.  I might try some of the quilt as you go techniques but for now, it is going to the bottom of my list.  I do like to cross stitch and have challenged myself to starting a project -- one project -- a month and finishing it.  It will have to be small but that is ok.  Anything to get me back in the habit of stitching.

Teaching myself to loom knit.  I have tried traditional knitting and my brain clearly doesn't roll that way.  I do, however, have a set of knitting looms and I am going to try my hand at it.  My goal is to knit dish clothes.  How hard could that be?  For me -- probably quite difficult but we will see.

Continuing my reading challenges.  This year I have signed up for so many reading challenges but most of them overlap to some extent so it should be good.  I have already started my first book for the Newbery Challenge. I chose "The Giver" by Lois Lowry.  I have read one of her books before and enjoyed it so I am hoping this one goes well.  It is a dystopian novel and those sort of tend to freak me out but so far it is ok.  I will review here.

So, I know that doesn't sound like much but it is enough for me.  There aren't too many changes I would make to my life -- I like calm and quiet and I pretty much have that.  I value good health and so far so good.  I like being busy but I have learned to appreciate and embrace relaxation and time spent just doing nothing.  It is all about balance and I guess that would be my goal for the new year -- good balance.

So, on that note -- have a wonderful New Year's Day, stay safe and warm and join me back here anytime for a bit of a chat.