Happy New Year!

I have many, many things for which to be grateful.



Aren't these three just the best? Sterling, Dylan, and Issac (from top to bottom) are definitely my anchors. Those of you who've read the blog before will also be happy to hear that Issac is making a wonderful recovery (you can see that his hair is even starting to grow back from his little surgery spots). After all the testing, the docs determined that he has an autoimmune disease. Fortunately he has responded extremely well to meds and is truly back to his old, normal self now.

S and I are looking forward to another year with all three of them.

So the beginning of the year is the time for resolutions. Resolutions, resolutions... S and I have made a couple and then I have a few other unformed ideas rolling around. Want a glimpse?

1. Start saving money again (this has been derailed a bit with our move to CA, purchase of a *somewhat* more expensive house than we had in OK, and recent med bills) ... we've sat down, developed a real budget with real limits, and are off to play the game of life.

2. Live healthier. This is a big old catch-all resolution. For both S and I it means eating healthier foods. S is also committed to increasing his exercise level (I'm committed to continuing to walk every day... one of those rolling around ideas is whether or not I want to commit to starting yoga again or to using the elliptical machine we bought for S last year).

3. Continue to study Spanish, and actually commit to learning more vocabulary. This resolution has been on my list for yearrrrs. Last January I actually buckled down and started an "adult education" class. The class has been a great starter... I feel like I have a very good understanding of the structure of the language and how the grammar works. What I haven't accomplished yet is the accumulation of vocabulary. This part will be the hard part and I think I need to just start practicing the rote memory skills (sigh... rote memory is not my strongest skill).

4. Continue to knit and blog. I think this will be the easy one and if fact it feels a bit like a cheat to put it on a list of resolutions. I think rather it's just one of my plans for the year. I think the resolution part is that I will finish my first pair of socks, which are now underway (yeah!).



This is the garter rib pattern from Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks. Moda Dea Sassy Stripes yarn on size 1 needles (yes, I'm knitting with toothpicks, yeah me!)

My wishy-washy goal is to start my first sweater. Sweaters scare me in that you have to fit them to your body (socks are that way too but a much smaller knitting investment). Perhaps if I can find a sweater pattern that seems like a good beginner project, I'll make the leap. I'm also committed to finishing swallowtail this year.

5. Increase my research productivity at work. This has, shamefully, declined a bit over the past 6 months (strangely coinciding with my increased knitting and blogging). I am resolved to get back on track though! I have two projects that I like that I should be able to jump right back into. I just have to make the commitment and do it!

6. And on the person front, I commit to being more present and positive with people at work. One of my worst traits (maybe others would think I have worse, who knows), is that when I get annoyed, I show it. I am going to practice being more open, more patient, more caring this year.

That's my plan... I suppose if I'm committed I don't need luck, but wish me luck anyway!!



p.s. Rachel of Yarn-A-Go-Go is having a 100 miles by April 1st party. I've joined in... you should too! It's consistent with goal 2 above and may give me that extra boost I need.