The New Year

 


    My alarm went off at 5 AM as it always does. After going to bed at close to 1AM, my first thought was to turn it off and go back to sleep. I couldn't do it. The cats needed to be fed and I didn't want to interrupt my usual morning routine.

    I gave each cat half a can of wet food which is their treat twice a week and on holidays. While they ate I took down all our old calendars. We usually have three. Two of them are traditional hanging calendars in the kitchen and in our computer room. The other is a page a day calendar in the kitchen. I buy different page a day calendars every year. This year's calendar is inspiring quotes from women.

    I gathered the old calendars up and put them in the recycling bin. Then I put up the new ones and threw any any nonrecyclable packaging.

    As most of you who read this know, New Years is my favourite holiday. Last night we celebrated with an assortment of dips, chips, a cheese ball, some vegetables and steak bits that C makes each year. This year's batch was particularly good. Lately we've been streaming movies. While we ate we watched Conclave at my request. It's become a favourite of mine. It's well written. It's well acted and it's just plain good. 

    There was plenty of time to watch another movie, something light and fun and hopefully free. C decided on Grease, the original version. I remember watching it when I was younger. Having seen it several times as an adult, I'm surprised my parents allowed it. There are some lines in songs and other bits that I'm not sure I would have allowed a child to see. When it got close to 12,C found a countdown show on TV. At midnight we toasted with our sparkling juice and kissed. It was now 2025. We made it through another year.

    There are a few things I want to do this year. The first is to decrease the amount of time I spend looking at screens. I watch You Tube way too much. I want to spend more time reading actual books and listening to music on my stereo. One of my jobs is to sort through my CD collection and organize it getting rid of anything I know I won't listen to.

    I also want to declutter a bit. I tend to hang onto stuff because I've had many experiences where I've given something away or threw it out only to want it or need it later. This morning I started decluttering by unsubscribing from a number of podcasts that I don't listen to. My plan is to go through all my clothes and get rid of things that are too worn or that no longer fit. That's a pretty safe thing to do.

    I haven't been practicing my instruments as much as I would like. It is time to change that and also to learn how to play the autoharp we have. my goal is to practice and instrument at least 15 minutes each day. Fifteen minutes is not really enough time to master an instrument, but it's a start.

    There are more things that I'd like to do but this is a start. I hope all of you have a happy, healthy and safe new year.

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