Resolution Solutions

Ok, so I'm a bit late. Yes I do realize that January 2006 is five days old already but I've made some resolutions that will hopefully be the solutions to unfulfilled wishes and dreams of last year, not to mention the minor vexations and the all-too-familiar "oh great Lori, just great" whispered under my breath. No, this year is going to be different. I will not give up on my resolutions by the end of February. Tristan suggested that I look at them not as resolutions, but as decisions--things I have decided to change about my life. He also suggested not writing them down because if I fail to keep one, I might become discouraged and feel guilty. He said "just decide you're going to do it right before you do and then do it." Sounds simple, right? However, I am a person who delights in lists, as does Crazy Aunt Purl, so I must write them out. Well, that and I can't remember anything without writing it down. Plus there's the "cross-off accomplishment factor"--funny how a check mark or a skinny black line drawn through a to-do item can give a person such satisfaction...

Here they are in random order:
1. eat healthier--this means eating at least one thing a day that did not come out of a can, box or shrink-wrap (with the exception of plastic-wrapped leftovers)

2. plan out weekly menus and shop for food once a week--no more monthly stock-up trips that result in 4 boxes of pop tarts, 3 bags of chips and absolutely nothing that could pass for a decent entree

3. Get to know my surrounding environs by walking more--other than my usual routes to the Farmer's Market (for Stitch n Bitch thursday nights), the library and the grocery store (added bonus of exercise!)

4. Try out the stationary bike in the fitness room--at least 3 times before calling it pointless

5. start my Christmas gifts for next year in FEBRUARY

6. Clean more frequently--pick a day of the week and stick to it

7. Keep in touch more, especially with friends in faraway places

8. Do not buy yarn until my yarn stash has been reduced by at least 1/3

9. Read 15 more books next year (2005 total: 58)

10. Quilt more often

11. Call my parents more frequently

12. Stop beating myself up for not completing every task on my daily to-do lists--I'm too ambitious and set myself up for failure

13. Watch less tv (movies without commercials, even though they are on tv do not count)

14. Try to finish my library school assignments at least one day in advance of their due dates

15. Make time for charity knitting

16. Take a Spanish class

17. Make an earnest attempt to declutter

18. Take more pictures

19. Give sushi another try

20. Be less of a hermit--several people remarked to me at Christmas "how come you aren't tan? are you really living in California?"

Of course there are a thousand other things--like filing bills in the filing cabinet the day we get them instead of adding them to a "to be filed" stack on the coffee table until the pile threatens to topple over and smother one of the cats under 13 lbs of dead tree. Ooh, that's another one, use less paper....

Really, it could go on forever but 2006 only has 365 days (well only 360 as of today)in it so I can't be too ambitious.

As a side note, if you happen to have a copy of the January issue of the American Journal of Public Health, take a look at page 33--an article I co-authored as a law student was just published. Now my resume can have a 'publications' section, not that that will do much to get me hired...