Well, Here I Go Again

I'm going to try to start this thing again. I don't know why other than I used to enjoy it. But anyway, since it's January 2nd let's talk about the new year.

As I get older, the end of one year and the beginning of another is less and less of a big deal to me but I can't completely get away from the feeling that it's something since everyone else is talking about it. I don't make resolutions because I'm pretty satisfied with my life the way it is. I know I'm not perfect; I could strive to make a few self-improvements and I do think about eating less/eating healthy but I think that's mainly because I've been eating so much crap during the holidays and I'm ready to get back to what is for me normal eating.

I also think about things like reading more and sewing more and especially sewing from the stash and shopping less but I have never shopped beyond my means and there's actually a good reason for continuing to build the stash and that is that someday my income will not be what it is now and I will have to cut way back on self-indulgent shopping and then it will be nice to have a large stash.

Another thing I think about every year is having a little garden and actually continuing to take care of it instead of letting it go like I always do. I got my first seed catalog in the mail on New Years Eve and saw an interesting tomato variety that I want to try. Tomatoes at least are pretty easy.

A really good resolution for me would be to spend less time on Twitter but I probably won't. I have enjoyed it a lot in the past year. I have discovered several new authors on Twitter as well as seeing hundreds of cute cat pictures so I really can't see Twitter as being a bad thing. Nearly everything in your life is what you choose to make of it.

One thing that is pretty definitely going to happen this year is a major house cleaning and throwing out of stuff. I expect we will be done with the new house this year and moving, even though the back of the new house is only four feet away from the front of the old, is not is not going to be fun. The less you have to move the better and, having lived in the same place for more than twenty years, we have accumulated a lot of stuff and much of it is stuff that probably won't be all that hard to let go of. Well, at least that's what I'm telling myself right now. No doubt it will be a different story when I actually start going through all of it.

So that's my outlook for 2019. No resolutions, just moving forward.

A Brief Spring Complaint

Yesterday was the most dreary and cold Easter I can remember. We went to my brother-in-law's house (a long, long drive) but because of the weather few of the family showed up. It didn't really feel like an Easter gathering at all; it just felt like an ordinary weekend day but it was still nice to get out and see a few of the relatives.

I shouldn't complain about the weather overall though. We have had some very nice early spring days. It just so happens that yesterday and today look and feel more like February.

This is a picture I took in 2016, just because. It's not foggy this morning, just gloomy.

Hello 2018

So 2018 is finally here. I am neither happy nor especially unhappy about that. Years that end in 8 are the years I turn an age that ends in 0 and this year it's going to be a big, ugly one. I'm still not done being freaked out about turning 50 ten years ago in May. But honestly, it seems too unreal to have any strong feelings about it. I don't quite believe it yet. I think after a certain age (say, 45?) we should no longer be required to know how old we are. We should be allowed to say, "I'm 45 plus," and put 45+ on official forms and documents.

Other than that, new years don't mean much to me. It's totally arbitrary. It's just the day when we start a new calendar. Not that I don't think about it at all. But I just can't get very excited about it. The last time I got excited about a new year was 2000 but the new millennium has turned out to be, mostly, a big disappointment.

I've always sort of thought it's weird that the new year starts in January. It should be the first day of spring, or, if you want to keep the months the same, March 1st. Or maybe April 1st. On the other hand, Having it a week after Christmas does feel like a good end to the big holiday season - a way of formally "getting back to normal".

So that's it. Life is getting back to normal, whatever that means in 2018. Normal is always changing you know. I want to blog more, I kind of miss it, but I don't know if I will. Maybe two or three people are even reading this and I have trouble feeling motivated without at least a small audience. Aside from that, I'm not sure I have much to say that's worth the time. Mine or yours. I do, sometime in the next few days or week, want to say a little about the last half dozen books I read. If I can get motivated.

But anyway, happy New Year to all of you who are into that sort of thing.

Not the Usual Carol of the Bells

My philosophy regarding Christmas music is, for the most part, don't mess with it. Do it right. Unfortunately, my notion of "right" is based on an album by the Longines Symphonette that I grew up with that does not exist anymore.

But sometimes I surprise myself. I rather like this non-traditional arrangement, though, to be honest, it doesn't sound very Christmasy to me.

Here's another one. I don't like it as well as the Trans Siberian Orchestra version but it's interesting. In a good way, that is.

I have been pleasantly preoccupied lately so in case I don't get around to posting again in the next couple of weeks, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Holidays to you all.

BTW, I have still been spending a lot of time on Twitter. I'm @uppityokie in case anyone wants to catch me there.

Valentines Day

I don't really care much about Valentines Day one way or the other. It's a nice little "holiday" I suppose but I'm not that emotionally invested in it. We're not really overtly romantic people which suits me just fine. Too often things that look romantic in the movies come across as creepy in real life. Guys who have been called "creepy" might want to make a note of this. Don't try too hard. Just be real.

I think the jewelry stores, and in particular DeBeer's, have ruined Valentines Day. When we were kids it was just that fun little day when everyone got those little Valentine cards that always had some kind of silly pun on them and when you were grown up you would get a prettier card and if he was really serious maybe a heart shaped box of chocolates, a third to a half of which are slightly icky (Seriously, why doesn't anyone make Valentines chocolates that are all one kind, like all chocolate covered cherries or all coconut so you can have a whole box of your favorite kind?) and that was pretty much all there was to it. Just a nice, fun little day.

Now it's become so complicated. Guys are expected to come up with the perfect gift, "perfect" meaning expensive, and there's a definite suggestion that the woman is expected to "put out" in response to this perfect gift. Sorry folks but if that's the way it works that's a payment for services, not a gift. Also, there's now a stigma against being alone on Valentines Day - like it's so sad and the worst thing in the world. I blame sitcoms for that.

Listen people, the movies are not real life. TV is not real life. DeBeer's commercials are not real life. Just because we see it on TV does not mean that we are required to play along. Just do your own thing, whatever feels right, whatever makes you happy and don't be all angsty about it. Take back Valentines Day and make it the cute, silly little day it used to be.