Resolutions

I typically make a handful of resolutions each New Year. They tend to be the usual ones that everyone makes - lose weight, exercise more, that sort of thing.

This year I'm still making those, but I'm making a few more as well.

I will finally start watching more dvds. Yes, that sounds like an odd thing to resolve to do. But I tend to buy lots of dvds and then they just sit there on the shelf. I want to watch them, but I feel guilty about it when there is so much that I NEED to do that I'm not doing. Instead I watch television - somehow I don't feel as bad about that one because it's what I do as I'm deciding what real project to tackle next. I just never seem to actually decide, hence all the tv watching. Which leads to . . .

I will watch less television. There are a few shows that I really love, but I have the TV on most of the time when I'm home. Which means that I watch quite a few shows that I don't really care about, when I could be doing something more important with my time. This year I intend to only turn the TV on when there is something specific that I want to watch.

I will finally clean out the closets. Sounds like a silly resolution as well, I know. However, I've been putting it off for years now because I dread it so. You know the cartoon closets where the avalanche buries the poor unsuspecting souls that open them? Yeah, ours are just about that bad. That's because there are boxes lurking in the back of most of them that we never opened when we moved last. Full of things that we didn't want to get rid of but really had no use for. Those boxes take up so much room that the rightful occupants of the closets don't have ENOUGH room, leading to those pesky avalanches. A couple of closets we basically don't even open anymore, and I don't really know what's even in them. Not a good thing, and I will fix that this year.

I will cook. At my recent physical there was a question on the paperwork that asked me to describe my typical diet. I had to admit that it consists almost entirely of convenience foods. I eat out FAR too often. When we do eat at home it's typically prepackaged frozen stuff or pasta. I like to cook but I don't usually take the time. I will this year.

I will spend more time outside. When we vacation at the beach or at Disney World, I'm outside most of the time. At home, though, I'm outside long enough to get to or from the car and that's pretty much it. I've gotten into geocaching which should inspire me to get out more, and I intend to start walking the dogs more. I also have a bike that I want to ride along the greenway here. I also want to do more landscaping in our yard this year. I've been meaning to put in some flowerbeds and this year I'm finally going to do it.

I will practice more. I used to be very good at playing piano and flute, but somehow over the years those slipped by the wayside. I was getting good at juggling but stopped working on that as well. I'm also trying to get good at playing the Irish Whistle, but rarely practice. I'm going to devote more time to getting better at each of those things. I also really want to learn to play the bagpipes - but that might wait till another year.

For the most part I think my main goal is just to work on time management. Most of my goals would be fairly easy to accomplish if I just make myself take the time for them. I'm still trying to finalize my list - I don't officially start my new year until Monday, when the Kidd goes back to school. I'm trying to work on some things this week, but next week is when all my "Self Improvement Projects" will really start.