Happy New Year!

While I like to think I'm my own person, travelling along at my own pace and on my own path, happy with who I am, there is a part of me that wishes I was more. Why else would I look forward to January 1st every year? The promise of changes for the better, a new year and a clean slate fill me with hope and excitement. The Captain never makes resolutions for the new year, claiming it's melodramatic and we should be working on our stuff all year round. The Captain is a party pooper.

I've been giving a little thought to what I want to accomplish in 2009, and here's what I've come up with:

1. Organization: This year I will finally gain control of my space. We are overloaded with all manner of crap, the worst offender being the boxloads of books we've lugged from province to province since we were university students. The Captain is partial to his books, so getting rid of any of his collection is out of the question. However, I have many that could go. Craft books I'll never use, novels I've read and won't read again, even the odd cookbook. Thelma, the Karaoke Queen, and I are planning a joint garage sale in May. At 25 cents a pop, I'm hoping the books will fly off the table and find a new home where they'll be used and enjoyed. If not, I'll take them over to Value Village and drop them in the donation bin, then have a small thrift store spree. Either way, it's win-win. And for those books left here, it's time for a new organization system. A few new bookcases for the living room, perhaps a few tubs and bins for my crafting area, maybe I'll even get around to organizing the closets! Yes, 2009 is the year of order and method around here. I can feel it!

2. Productivity: I spend a lot of time mentally lamenting how much more crafting I'd like to be getting on with. As much as I like to think it's a time problem, it's really only partly a time problem. It's also a time management problem. With Rosemary's Baby starting nursery school one morning a week next week AND still taking a nap in the afternoon, there's really no reason I can't get the boring housework done and have a little time left over to make some cards, knit my kids sweaters or do a little beading. And I do already know the way to accomplish this. After I've checked my email in the morning (and updated my blog, of course!), the computer needs to stay off. No more floating around cyberspace while I have another cup of coffee, reading about the profound religious beliefs of celebrities, looking at ballgowns I'll never have occasion to wear, or checking out new card and earring designs I could try (okay, maybe I'll still do that one on occasion). The internet is a colossal time-waster, and I need to start using it only to my advantage. Web Sudoku probably doesn't fall into that category, does it?

3. Newness: The Captain commented a few evenings back that this blog is the first new thing I've tried in years. I argued back that I used a different fruitcake recipe this holiday season (it was dry and dreadful), to which he replied that this was not exactly what he meant. And it's true. If we don't try new things, we do run the risk of our brains turning to jello, so I plan to make a conscious effort to look for new and interesting experiences in 2009. I've made a good start by ending 2008 with my first trip down a toboggan hill in over 20 years (Firstborn laughed all the way down. I screamed like a girl.), and I have begun to explore the world more with my new camera. Feel free to make suggestions, but I refuse to jump out of anything or encase myself in a barrel. Let's keep the new experiences at least physically safe, shall we?

And I think I should stop there. That's not very many resolutions, but they're all pretty involved, and I'd like to be successful this year.

I hope my (3) loyal readers are successful in their New Year's resolutions, and have a happy and healthy 2009. Restrain yourself, people. It's January!