Year end round-up

A lot has happened in the last year. I got a house and a cat, in that order. I love them both. One is furrier. I started composting and flossing regularly. I started working on some new stuff at work that promises to keep me challenged. I went to many baseball games and hosted friends and family from across the country. Sometimes I even took them to baseball games or made them pet the cat. Everything is connected.


All was not well in 2009, though. That new house? Robbers liked it, too. And April ended at my agency in the worst way: layoffs. I was lucky to be spared, but morale was damaged and the mood around the office is still not great. There were two family deaths, one especially heartbreaking.


In the end? I'm looking forward to carrying over all the good stuff from 2009 into the new year, and leaving the rest behind.

I've come up with just a few resolutions, and I think they're vague enough that I might actually do them. I've also got some other lifestyle changes in the works, but I want my resolutions to all be somewhat fun, positive changes or improvements.

1. Pay better attention to my finances. I'm not saying anything needs to change, but I've been really bad about being aware of expenses.

2. Cook one new recipe a week. We have so many cookbooks and some of them have barely been cracked. Jacques Pepin, I'm looking at you.


3. Do something to the yard. Anything. There is a small lump of herbs courtesy of a loving sister-in-law but that's it.

4. Dine out at mostly new-to-me places. I'm not saying there will never be a trip to Honeypie ever again. But if I'm so uninterested in doing something new, I should probably just eat at home (this will also positively affect items 1 & 2).

5. Read two books a month. I'm already about 1/3 into Sense & Sensibility and I'm going to let that count toward January.