Goodbye 2007, Hello 2008

(Click on the Post title for a song)


It is the time of year when most people reflect on the past year, and have high hopes for what the New Year will bring.

Here are some good things 2007 brought to our family:

* Our new kitchen early in the year, that I had been wanting for 20 years in this house (the new built-in dishwasher is my favorite addition).
* A new Brother-in-Law, when my sister got married in March.
* My ability to quit my stressful job and work from home.
* Working from home provides me with a flexible schedule, that allowed me to spend more time with our 3 year old, and our grandsons.
* Our new Son-in-law, when my daughter Megan got married in November.
* A renewed focus on our health and well-being (our will power is another story, but we'll work on that).
* Continued contact with Good friends
* Supportive and loving families
* My kids did not have any major difficulties this year and are healthy.
* My new Bloggy friends !

Of course, the year brought bad with the good, but no point in focusing on that.

Here are my New Year's Resolutions, if you want to call them that. It's a list of what I hope to accomplish and be in 2008.



1) I want to take a few classes this year, for fun. The first class will be either a Health Food cooking class, or a Watercolor class. I'm undecided right now. The local Adult evening school offers both, so we'll see. I need to register in the next week or so. I'd like to take 2 more throughout the year.

2) Since I've been working from home, my brain has gotten a little lazy. I've found I need to keep my mind working more, so I am going to try to do crossword puzzles this year. I've always enjoyed them but don't often think of doing them when I have a spare half hour. I'm dragging out all my crossword books and keeping them in a visible place so I will be more likely to do them.

3) I love to read, but again, don't always have time. We have 3 tall bookcases in the house overly-crammed full of reading material. I've decided that instead of buying new books this year, I am going to start reading the ones we have. I've read some and have held onto them, but a lot are given by others and haven't been touched. Once I read them, I will either try to sell them on Amazon.com or pass them to others. I think I will add a sidebar to my blog soon, with books I already read and would like to pass on, and if anyone is interested, I'll send it to you for you to enjoy. I started a book swap at my old company and everyone loved it. I'd like to be able to get rid of one bookcase by the end of 2008.

4) I want to de-clutter our home and our lives. Our closet is the first place, then the living room, then the game closet, then the basement and...well, the entire house actually. Our house is very small, and I can't figure out how to hide the clutter, like DVDs and books and all of the other stuff that ends up laying around everyday. We are not sloppy, just cluttered, and it is hard to come up with new space for storage.

5) I want us to be healthy and more fit.

6) I want to be less critical. I try not to voice criticism often, but a lot of times I will think it. So I want to learn to be more tolerant.

7) I want to help my mother with things more often.

8) I want to be more firm with Little Grim when it comes to her sleeping in her own bed. She ends up in our room almost every night at some point, and it makes for a poor night's sleep most of the time. With her and the dog, we now need a king size bed. But when she knocks on the door at 3 AM, it is hard to be tough about it.

9) I'd like to have more dates with my husband, so we have to find time for that. Even if we just run out to a local pizza joint or the mall is fine with me. Getting out by ourselves is one of the biggest thing I miss because my income dropped this year. We don't get out the way we used to.

10) Hmm, I don't think there is a number 10.

So that is it. I'm sure I'll think of others. What do you hope to accomplish in 2008?

Happy New Year, Everyone! And Thanks to everyone who bothered to stop here and read my thoughts this year. I appreciate all of you - you help keep me connected (at times in some bizarre way!) with the outside world.

I'll leave you with this U2 song. Click on the title of this post (sorry, I couldn't get it directly on the post like most normal people). See you next year!