New Year

Hello, Blog. You know what I like about you? You're like that old high school friend. The one you haven't talked to in years, but every time you run into each other, it's like time hasn't passed at all. Let's catch up over coffee, shall we?

I'm now into my third month of doing transcription. Some days I feel like this is amazingly awesome. Granted, I'm not making a killing at doing it, but it has really done a lot for my sanity, and J's sanity, as well. He seems to be thriving more in school, even though he still maintains that he hates it. I guess when you get off to a bad start, it's hard to overcome. But my days are less pressured, his days are less stressful, and we get to spend a lot of time together, which is something that was severely lacking before with all the craziness. It feels like we can breathe again, and every other word out of my mouth isn't "hurry up" or "we're late" or "let's go." I'll take the loss in pay, because what I have gained is priceless.

So, it's a new year. 2011. I'll refrain from all the 'where has the time gone' crap. I think 2010 pretty much sucked a big one, and I'm not the least bit sad to see it go. Sure, good things did happen in 2010, but I'm eager for this new start. Yes, I realize it's just a day, and nothing really starts fresh and new on January 1. There's no reset button that wipes the slate clean each 365th day, but let me enjoy my little delusion for a moment. If nothing else, it gives us a chance to realign our goals and actions, right? It's a time to reflect and maybe set some new goals in motion. Notice I don't call them resolutions. I think resolutions are sort of dumb, really. As if we can only chose to make them this one day of the year, and then set ourselves up for failure when we decide, somewhere in the second week, that we don't really feel like hitting the gym this morning, or that a danish does sound like a good breakfast after a month of plain oatmeal. Nope. Not going to make 'resolutions' this year.

What I am going to do is make an effort to live more simply. Don't get me wrong. A 5-minute glance around this house will show you that we aren't real extravagant people. What I mean by that is that I'm going to make more of an effort to really enjoy the little things that come our way more. Five minutes of snuggle time on the couch with the dog, or the 30 minutes of uninterrupted knitting time in the car loop. Simple things. They don't cost anything. They're there all the time for our taking. That's what I'm going to try to focus on more this year.

Hopefully I'll also find more time for spinning and knitting, which are some of those simple pleasures that I often don't make/find the time for. This year I'll let go of the guilt if I'd rather sit and spin for half an hour instead of fold the laundry. I'll read that book with Jonas rather than sweep the floor for the third time (yes, I have a very fuzzy, sheddy dog!) In short, I'll do my best to find the happiness that's already there, and not worry so much about the little things. It's really a pretty big little goal, isn't it?

So, what are you setting as your goal in this new year?