New Year

 


        The snow is falling softly outside. I am nice and warm inside with a fresh cup of tea.  The brisket is in the crockpot. C and the cats are sleeping. 

        Normally I would be going around the house taking down the old calendars and putting new ones up. Between work and and all the other things going on during the holidays, we never got around to buying new ones. I had already decided to stop buying page a day calendars. There aren't any new ones that interest me.

        I haven't even written down the things I want to do in the new year yet. The time that I would have spent on this task was devoted to writing my mom's obituary and answering condolence messages. I'm honestly not sure if I want to write a "resolution list" this year. Last year I did pretty good starting out and then all the good habits that I wanted to get into fell by the wayside.  The planner I bought to track what I was doing and provide a way to be accountable didn't get used.

        Then again, the whole magic of a new year is that you can try again and again and again. Those habits that I wanted to get into are still habits I want to acquire. I want to practice an instrument at least three times a week. I want to vacuum the living areas and sweep the kitchen once or twice a week. I want to drink a certain amount of water daily and exercise regularly too. 

        I want to get back to reading books again. I love reading books but lately I've been watching You Tube videos which isn't bad, but reading is better.

        There is no reason why I can't start over and do these things daily and weekly as I wanted to last year. Instead of getting upset with myself for not being consistent, perhaps I should offer myself a little grace.

        Grace may be my word for the year along with hope. Most of what I'm seeing in the world today is dark, scary and anxiety producing. That's not all that is out there though. There are still flowers being planted. Friends meeting for lunch or coffee. People helping others and cats doing cute things. Maybe it would be good to pay more attention to those things. Look for good things going on and if opportunity arises, do some good in the world myself. 

    Grace and hope, that's a good way to start a new year.

        

        

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Day

              This past week was the last part of a stretch of six working days in a row. The reason why I can do  a stretch like that is because Sunday is the first day of the work week. That means a when I work from Thursday to Tuesday it's only three days in a row each week. Before my boss went home for the day on Tuesday, I asked her to give me my second shingles shot. I knew I had the next two days off in case I reacted badly to it which I did. (This is normal for me which I'm perversely grateful for. At least this means I have a working immune system.) Wednesday was spent feeling sick except for a few hours in the afternoon when I fortified myself with ibuprofen and a Coke Zero so C could take me out to lunch at a nearby Indian restaurant. It was delicious.               Thursday I felt better and went to visit my parents as usual. Yesterday I was back at work for one more day. I have the weekend ...
Read more

Valentine's Dates

      C and I had a Valentine's date day today. I have a 12 hour shift on the actual holiday, so celebrating  before or after work is out of the question. Over lunch I was trying to think of something to write about this week. C suggested writing about Valentine's day dates.     There were three that were very memorable for vastly different reasons. The first one was before I got married. It was the day that my boyfriend at the time served me a heart shaped jello for dessert. It had the potential to be a romantic gesture, but it was an anatomically correct heart made with a little evaporated milk and covered in cherry sauce to make it look real. I think I also received a blender as a present that year. The next two were when I was dating and engaged to C. Our first Valentine's Day dinner was at Culver's. C was a house musician and working at a coffee shop. Knowing he didn't make much money, I suggested Culver's as a place to eat. He gave me a lavender glass...
Read more

Paczki

      After we checked out of the St James last week, we went for a stroll around town. I wanted to stop at the bakery. Red Wing has a really good one and worth a visit if you are in that part of town. I wanted to get of load of their cranberry walnut bread and maybe some kind of pastry.      As we walked toward the door, there was a large sing advertising paczki (punch-key or poonch -key). According to the internet and the sign on the bakery window, they are a fried, filled pastry of Polish origin. It was a way of using up eggs, milk, butter and sugar before the Lenten fast. They are larger than a typical Bismarck donut and made with richer dough. They are filled with fruit filling, cream, custard or chocolate. They can be frosted or dusted with powder sugar.     I'm always ready to try new things so I looked at the selection when we got inside. There were at least seven different kinds of fillings to choose from. I chose cherry, which is my favo...
Read more