2016 Resolutions

I began this draft of Resolutions in December and forgot all about it, and am pleased to say I have already made some progress on most of these!

• Read for pleasure, and don’t feel guilty about it.  Progress so far: very good, much facilitated by Christmas! I read a forgettable Agatha Christie on my Christmas-gift-Kindle, and now I’m reading Terry Pratchett’s “Wee Free Men” with some Sherlock Holmes in reserve in my digital library, and a sample of Amy Poehler’s and Mindy Kaling’s memoirs just waiting for me to have two pennies to rub together and buy the full book.  Another Christmas present was a paper copy of Anne Tyler’s latest, A Spool of Blue Thread, which I recently devoured (so very Anne Tyler, so very good).  I returned a duplicate Christmas gift and used the $$ to buy a hard-cover copy of Hold Still by Sally Mann.  This book almost made me fail the bar because I picked it up for a brief palate cleanser between study sessions and COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN.  It also kept me awake all night one night, thinking about it.  I went to law school with Sally’s daughter Virginia and NEVER KNEW she was this famous photographer’s kid at the center of this huge controversy about nude childhood pictures of herself and her older siblings, but even without the Virginia connection I would love this book.  So that’s pretty good progress for only two months into the year!
• Host people for parties, and join a book/wine/whatever club.  Done and done – already!  We had mad heaps of people in the house all through Mardi Gras, plus I hosted an early January party for the Prof’s birthday, listening to records on his new record player, and invited our new neighbors to Craig’s birthday party at the park later that same month.  And I’ve joined a book club that my friend is in. I haven’t been to my first meeting yet but I can’t wait.  We are also going to a friend’s house this afternoon to get the kids together and eat lasagna . . . lots of socializing happening up in here.
• Walk more places and don’t feel guilty about it.  Since we now live in a walkable neighborhood, we can walk to the grocery, haircut, coffee – lots of places.  This is part of what I missed in Alabama, the ease of stepping outside the house, slipping into the hustle and bustle of the street, running by the corner store quickly without having to saddle up the kids in carseats or feel like we had to wait til we had enough to buy to make it “worth the trip.”  In addition to this, I walked the bar lectures, I walk the Quarter during lunch break at work, when I get back from that I walk up the five flights of stairs from my floor to the breakroom floor where the microwaves and ice machines are.  My cholesterol started to creep up last year along with the weight . . . I’ve been running as well as walking.  I have changed my thinking and my habits, and I plan to stick with it, even if certain folks stare at this minimal self care and call it Millennial laziness.
• Do the digital thing I mentioned last year (i.e. getting a handle on pix and videos and all the digital stuff that is proliferating in a disorganized fashion), and also the blog archiving. This I have not yet done, but I will.  It’s important.  Since our old desktop kicked the bucket, taking the hard drive with it, most of our memories are on a single external backup hard drive, and if that thing cracks, I’d be heartbroken.
• Don’t fall asleep on the couch every night at 8. (Wrote before the move –>This will be easier when I no longer have to get up at 5:30 and prep the kids for school alone.  I’d like to play games or read or something (not always work, though yes some nights there will be work, too)).  Wrote after the move —> this is no longer an issue!  We don’t have to wake up quite so early to get the boys situated, as we leave the house for school drop-off at 7:30.  Everyone’s bed time is a little later.  We usually put Craig in his bed first, and while we wait for him to fall asleep, we’ll play a game or hang with the big boys (they all 3 share a room, and it works best for Craig to go down first).  Then they go down and I read one of my books or color in my adult coloring book or write letters.  Love it.  I feel like I have more life in my life, if you know what I mean – it’s not all just a solid wall of work.
• Family Game Night.  (Written before the move —>Liam loves games.  I want to put Craig to bed and then play games with the boys.) Written after the move —> See above – we totally do this now!  The boys got tons of games for Christmas and we’ve played them all.  It’s awesome.