new start

I hope everyone is back safe and sound from your holiday travels. It felt good to come back to work today. I had so much been looking forward to a relaxing break over the holidays, and in some ways it was, but in other ways... um, I am very glad to be back at work. I think I OD'ed a little on family time.

I am pondering New Year's resolutions and what to promise to do this year to make the world a better place and myself a better citizen of it. Every year I get awfully ambitious. This year I think maybe keeping it simple will be a smarter thing to do. In contemplating this year's resolutions, I thought it might be wise to see how last year's resolutions fared in 2006.

The 2006 Resolutions End-of-Year Progress Report

2006 personal resolutions

• Stop thinking that my job is the most important thing there is.

So, maybe I don't think this quite so much anymore, but I sure do act like it. Right thinking, right acting. I need practice.

• Go to yoga at least once a week.

I actually did pretty well with this. Many weeks I went twice.

• Stop being so G-darn bossy, especially to Sis and HWWLLB.

You would probably have to ask them how this went, but I continue to make a conscious effort on this, and that's probably the most important thing.

• Wear something I knit once in a while (I have become the butt of jokes at Stitch & Bitch. They just don't get it. I don't feel the need to wear the things I make - I recently learned the term "process knitter" to describe this very phenomenon. But I will do it - to avoid further mockery).

Yes! This has gone well. I think I'll knit myself some more things (and wear them) in 2007.

• Practice violin at least three times per week.

Oh gosh. This may be my biggest bomb. I haven't picked up the violin since March.

• Look up new vocabulary words once in a while.

Hm. I kind of forgot about this one. Does playing more Boggle count?

work-related

• Become a kick-ass fundraiser! Raise twice as much money as last year!

I wouldn't say I have become kick-ass, but we definitely raised more money from more donors this year, and it felt really, really good.

• Spend more time enjoying the wonderful people I get to meet through work.

I don't think I did this. I am such a darned introvert.

saving the world

• Eschew plastic. No more plastic take-out containers, no more toxic Nalgene bottles, no more plastic bags from the grocery store. I have around 100 canvas bags and I'm darn well going to use them.

Man, I suck! I definitely cut back on the grocery bags, but take-out containers? Sheesh. There is plastic in piles all around me right now. Argh!

• Buy less crap. Crap includes: new clothes, anything from Target (even things with amazing ylang-ylang nano elf technology), and especially things that I justify purchasing by thinking about how the item will make my life better. Crap does not include: yarn, pricey Japanese-made knitting tools, or things purchased at thrift stores (it's my list and I'll write my own definitions, thank you).

So, I'd call this last one a C-plus. I did buy a little less crap this year. I participated in the Wardrobe Refashion and went two months without buying any clothes at all, until I crashed on hiking gear at the end of the two-month run. I bought only two Christmas presents, and made everything else that I gave. On the other hand, I have spent a small fortune on crap for the new house at the Home Despot lately. Probably all crap I could have scavenged or bought used at a thrift shop, too.

Overall, I think I was a little too ambitious, and that's probably why my ratings year-end are so mediocre. I'm always setting too many goals for myself anyway. This year, one goal only. But what??? Are y'all making resolutions? Should I resolve to say y'all less? Or more...?