New Year's Resolutions

When it comes to New Year’s resolutions, I have in the past made the same generic resolutions that everyone else makes like trying to lose weight, spend less money and get more sleep. Of course, like everyone else these resolutions stay in my mind/resolve about as long as it takes to enter them into the list section of my Blackberry. I think this is because in my heart I really do not think that the New Year begins on the first day of January. I have always thought that the first day of the New Year is actually the day after Labor Day for this is when the new school year started, I had new shoes and underwear, new school books, a new teacher and sometimes even a new school. Everything in my life was starting refreshed after a long summer of fun and foolishness so it was time to settle down and start anew. The fall has always been my favorite season, so it just makes sense that the New Year should begin with my favorite time of the year.

Also I am a firm believer in that resolutions made in January are just another means for self-flagellation. I never keep them and then I feel upset with myself that I am still fat, that my savings account did not grow as much as it should have, I still have not become a Master Knitter, yada, yada, yada. So why set myself up to fail?

Now with all that being said, for some odd reason this January 1st I felt compelled to reflect back and seriously think about what I wanted to accomplish in the upcoming weeks/months/year. I think most of this compulsion is fueled by the knowledge that this will most likely be the last year of our Great Loop boat trip. We have stretched our funds, our time and the distance around the Eastern half of the United States about as long as we can. I find the thought of not being a “Looper” or serious boat traveler most distressing and therefore I am forced to focus my attention elsewhere, hence a new and improved approach to New Year’s Resolutions for the calendar year 2010.

So using my logic while looking at the Julian calendar for 2010, I have only nine months left to finish the things I need to complete before the end of my year. Therefore, I need to make a prioritized list of what I want to accomplish before we cross our wake in Chicago in September. Here goes:

1. Keep the blog “reasonably” current (as many of you have reminded me, I have been woefully negligent in this area)

2. Finish/submit/pass Level II of the Master Knitter Certification (there are only 3 levels so I will be 2/3 of the way done)

3. Lose 20 pounds by working out regularly (even when my knees hurt or it is raining outside or I am tired or it is morning and I would rather sleep or any of the million other excuses I can find)

4. Keep all non-essential purchases (knitting, spinning and wine mostly) to cash only transactions (I find that I spend way less money when it is hard cold cash that I have to hand over to someone else)

I think four major items are enough for me to tackle in nine months – I am retired after all and I do not want life to become too stressful.