Wednesday, December 31, 2008

53 or 12 or 3 New Year's Resolutions

I can't imagine a New Year's Day arriving without watching the Rose Bowl Parade while eating from-the-can cinnamon rolls, with a pot of coffee on the side, all the while wearing pjs for at least half the day. Then eating ham and scalloped potatoes, with a serving of black eyed peas for me, and some kind of pie. It just wouldn't feel like New Year's Day otherwise.

I also can't imagine not making resolutions. If it finally gets down to it, and the rest of the entire world gives them up, you'll still have my Mom and me making our lists, and it has to be done before January 1, so that we can get right to it!

The question is 'how many, how many?' I could make one for every year but 53 would be awfully hard to keep track of, let alone actually trying to implement that many changes, when it's hard to even get used to sleeping on my other side, or not always chewing on the right side, after the new crown is in place. I've found change doesn't come easy.

I could make 12, as I usually do, one for each month. That doesn't seem so insurmountable. The fact that I've never kept 12 tells me to reach a little lower, and maybe just skip that 10 lb. weight loss, get radical and say I look just fine the way I am, and move on. I don't remember a single funeral I've ever been to, where my first thought was, 'she never did lose that 10 lbs., my, oh my, what a wasted life!'...

I decided this year to just grab onto the very few things that were striking me, and do them with a vengeance. So here it is - my THREE resolutions for 2009.

#1 Read only fiction, for the entire year. Don't read a single 'how to' or 'what's wrong with me (or others)' or 'how to change the world around me in 30 days'. Just read good fiction and that in itself will shape me. I'm a non-fiction girl, so this is big for me. I'm already grieving over the biographies I'm going to have to wait a year for, and that'll make them all the more delicious when I get back to them.

#2 Be nicer to our dogs. Groom them more often. Walk them now and then. Play ball. They'd get by without most of it, most of the time, but I think being nicer to our animals might make me a nicer person to the world at large. Walking them now and then might whittle off a few lbs, for me and the boys, without having to follow some complicated diet plan. I've always loved the quote, "Lord, help me to be the person my dog thinks I am."

#3 Call my parents more often. I'm doing better at that, having resolved it last year, but there's always room for improvement.

Really, you can't call your Mom too often, now can you?

I bought a new copy of the One Year Bible, plan to play a bit more this year, possibly burn the paint brushes when I'm finished with this house, but those are just plans. I'm only resolving to three.

Here's to 2009 - Happy New Year Everyone! And Happy Birthday to my baby brother, Derrell - the New Year's Baby of 1958!

5 comments:

Jen said...

Good ones to go by. I'm only doing three myself and will post today or tomorrow...still deciding for sure on the last one i guess. We hang around the homestead on 1/1 too. i cook up a mess of black eyed peas as well...happy new year friend.

Linds said...

Happy New Year, Bev! I have a suspicion that 2009 is going to be a busy and fascinating year for you! I don't think I could give up the non-fiction for a year though!

Susanne said...

I'm the opposite of you, Bev. I'm a fiction girl and find it very hard to finish a non-fiction book (unless it's a good biography). But I don't think I'll make it my resolution to read only non-fictions. :v)

I can definitely add calling my parents more to my list. And I love the one with the dogs.

Happy New Year!

Barb said...

Wow! Fiction? Good for you...it's about time. You and I have totally opposite reading preferences. I can't stand self-help books. I'm sure it shows. LOL But seriously, fiction, especially good fiction, takes me away. I think you're going to really enjoy books you don't feel you "need" to read.

I've never thought you need to worry about losing ten pounds. I'm serious. I think you look great, healthy, and I'm not just saying that because I'm your sister.

Happy New Year to you, too. You have a very exciting new year ahead of you. I so, so hope that next year you're wishing us all Happy New Year from your new lake house in Texas.

xoxo

Gretchen said...

Lurrrve your resolutions. I'm still thinking on mine and will probably post soon. For accountability as much as anything else.

My dogs can't think that i've been that great--I've been taking a hiatus from walking them since our huge snowfall. Our sidewalks are about clear now, so no more excuses. :) I do look funny, though, with a wiener dog on one arm and a 90 lb golden rtr on the other! Must take off the Christmas neckerchiefs, too!

The calling the parentals is a good one. That and calling friends just because. THere's no reason to wait for Christmas cards, right? I don't know why I don't catch up with folks more often.