February Book - His Last Dutchess

Meh. I think this one was a Kindle Daily Deal.

Creativity Update - week ending 2/12

This week I finished the Valentine's ornaments for J's class:

Learned how to alternate between knitting and purling (this was supposed to come out as a rib knit, but because I'm learning, I accidentally added on a few stitches. This left me with an odd number, which throws off my rows. I'm actually kind of digging the way the stitch is coming out, so I'm going with it.

Also, I broke in my brand new waffle maker this week! I've been dying to get one because all the boys love waffles, and I like the idea of putting healthy ingredients into yummy waffles. I found a basic recipe online that I can keep modifying (switching out whole wheat and flax seed for regular flour, applesauce for oil, adding in pureed fruit, etc.). None of the batches were a bust, but learning how to use the waffle iron was a process. First lesson - DON'T OVERFILL. Drippy waffle batter everywhere.

January Books

I read 2 books in January:

Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay - I really dig all things ballerina. I'd watch Center Stage over and over if I had the chance, and rock ballerina style if I could pull it off. This book, which is about a ballerina, has really nothing to do with those things. I just wanted to put that out there. The book was ok, held my interest throughout, but the ending was really rushed - to the point of abruptness. Neat bow on top, THE END.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - really lovely book with beautiful descriptions and a satisfying story. My book club is reading this right now, and I'm really happy about having a discussion about it over a nice dinner with friends.

2011 - The resolution that started them all

Do you know about The Uniform Project (http://www.theuniformproject.com/)? The woman behind the project wore the same dress (she had 7 versions made) for an entire year, and dressed it up differently every day. She's incredibly creative, and her artsy awesome aesthetic really appeals to me. While I don't think I can carry off most of her looks, I'm completely inspired by her.

I decided to try my own challenge - I got my first sewing machine in 2010, I have a decent creative streak, I have TONS of clothes and accessories already, and I work from home, so I can dress however I'd like. My challenge to myself was: NO BUYING ANY NEW CLOTHES OR ACCESSORIES FOR 1 YEAR - NO EXCEPTIONS.


AND, I kept my resolution. However, the focus of the challenge definitely evolved. What started as more of a creative adventure very quickly became something else because in February we found out we were having a baby - IN A MONTH. We adopted our precious baby boy N the day he was born on March 10. The wonderful, amazing story of how baby N came into our lives is the stuff of another post. For the purposes of this post, let's just say that I found myself with a lot less time for creatively outfitting myself - clean yoga pants were the priority.

I won't say I didn't have time to shop, because believe you me, I can always find the time. Malls were made for sleeping newborns in strollers. However, I started thinking more about having what I need, consuming less, and living simply. This isn't to say that I don't love stuff and love clothes and fashion - because I definitely do. I just became very aware of how much I have and need vs. want, and how I can restyle and reuse what is already in my closet to recreate newer looks. Another trick is that when your mother asks you what you want for your birthday, and your mother happens to work for Nordstrom, just ask for something specific that you really love instead of making the poor woman guess and then having to return it anyway. You'll make everyone's life easier.

Now that my year is over, I haven't gone out on any major shopping sprees - I went to Target and replaced every sock I owned on January 1 - mine were woefully threadbare - but other than that, no new clothes yet. I got some great things over the holidays, and I'm still enjoying their newness. I definitely see the way I shop changing - I see more of a value in purchasing one item I really love and getting lots of use out of it instead of going out and buying "more shirts" because I feel like shopping.

One thing I really enjoyed about my year of not shopping is that I was free of pre-season anxiety. Does anyone else do this to themselves? I'll anticipate the coming season by fretting about all the new clothes that I need/must have/can't live without. I actively worry about the wardrobe items I want. Because I couldn't shop, I just didn't feel that (admittedly INSANE) pressure I've put on myself. What a relief!

Resolution #10 - Do at least one creative thing each week

And last but not least - do one creative project each week. I posted this last, because a lot of my other resolutions dovetail very nicely with this one - knitting, doing things with J, those count! Really I can fulfill this resolution while doing the others. Perfect! I need a little help keeping honest about this though, so I plan on posting weekly project updates. I'll even take pictures, although because I have a "wing it" philosophy, my finished products never turn out as lovely and photographable as the projects posted on the super-mom blogs that end up on Pinterest.

Speaking of Pinterest, I'm one-million percent obsessed. If I spent a fraction of the time doing the stuff that I find on that site, instead of the endless perusing, I'd be a very accomplished person indeed. So far my greatest success has been creating a green blob of goo that El-D and his friend E played with for hours. Also, I once pinned a really yummy looking enchilada bake casserole recipe with weight watchers points, and had 919 repins when all was said and done. That kind of freaked me out, honestly - sort of like when Johnny Fever from WKRP told all his listeners to dump their garbage on the steps of city hall, only to have tons of listeners comply, and then he couldn't go on the air anymore because he was suddenly aware that people out there were listening to him. Totally. Freaked. Out.

Resolution #9 - Learn to crochet

I'm committed to learning how to crochet, but I might save this one for 2013, and really take the time to learn to knit this year. Let's stick a pin in this one for now.

Resolution #8 - Learn to knit

I spend a lot of time watching TV. All the SyFy available on Netflix isn't going to watch itself. I know, not time very well spent, BUT if I were knitting while watching all this television, that turns wasted time into PRODUCTIVE time. Right??? Also, if I develop mad knitting skills, I can make things - don't you want a hand-knit item from me for the holidays in 2012?

I'm learning too! I can cast on, knit, purl, and cast off. Right now I'm limited to long, skinny items. I've even joined a knitting club - the Columbia Sip & Knitters (I call us the "Snitters"). We meet on Saturday mornings, knit, and talk about our cats. I have no cats.

Resolution #7 - Do more homework and crafts with El-D

This one kind of explains itself. El-D doesn't love crafts (all I ever wanted was a kid to do crafts with), and he fights me on learning activities, but we're going to do more of this stuff together, we're going to enjoy it, and we're going to create post-able memories together. Even if it kills us. If he REALLY fights me, Baby N better step up to the plate and start appreciating art early.

Resolution #6 - Have more patience with my eldest child

I adore him - I really do. For the sake of this blog, we'll refer to him as El-D (short for El Diablo). If you knew him, you'd understand that this nickname is HILARIOUS - shout out to my husband who came up with it. El-D has the reddest hair I've ever seen, which is representative of the fire in his soul, and he operates in 3 modes: awesome, awful, and asleep.

El-D requires a lot of patience - a virtue I'm woefully short on. I think that's a big part of the problem. We're a lot alike, and sometimes we just clash. For example - El-D's frustration level tolerance is a negative 5. He goes right from playing happily to "hulking out". I've already noted that I'm an impatient witch, with an equally low frustration tolerance level. The sound of a "hulk out" sends electric sparks up my spine, zapping the crazy parts of my brain. Can you see where this is going?

More than anything I want my sons to have an idyllic childhood. I want them to grow up knowing they are loved and cherished - the stuff we all want. I'm pretty sure that won't happen if El-D's earliest memories are of mommy shrieking at him to stop shrieking. In my defense a huge part of the problem is that El-D doesn't hear the sound of my voice at normal volumes. Often I must shout so he can hear me over the din inside the brain of a very active, imaginative 5 year old boy.

Resolution #5 - No wasting food

It drives me batty when I forget that I have raw chicken in the fridge, and it goes bad, or I cook something that barely gets eaten. I'm doing my utmost to minimize waste. This means being a little more creative with leftovers, making sure food gets cooked in time, and freezing portions of food for later consumption instead of leaving it all in the fridge.

I definitely see more food-related resolutions in 2013. Stay tuned.

Resolution #4 - Read at least 1 book a month

This one shouldn't be hard. I'm a voracious reader, but sometimes life (or a dull book), gets in the way and I put down my Kindle (love you!), and don't pick it up for a couple of weeks. I have a ton of books loaded already (from must-reads to mediocre picks that I only have because Amazon Daily Deals exists), and a HUGE wish-list already picked out online.

Also, I went through this really weird phase when my older son was born - I just couldn't read a book where anything bad happened to anyone. It touched such a raw nerve with me. It actually extended well beyond books into TV, movies, news, everyday conversations. I just couldn't bear to hear about it. I'm a little better insulated these days, but still can't handle anything where something bad happens to a child. My point (and I do have one), is that I stopped reading all together for almost a year - I just couldn't bear it. I watched a lot of Project Runway and What Not to Wear instead. It was a weird time.

My plan is to post when I've finished a book. Also, I go through books pretty quickly, and sometimes can't even remember what they were about just a few months later. Writing a bit about what I've read might help me in the memory department.

Resolution #3 - Wedding weight by 40

So this year I have a big birthday coming up. I'm gonna be honest - I'm pretty freaked out. I'm fit-ish, have a youthful outlook and attitude (read: WAY liberal), and I'm told I look young (no sun - EVER). I just can't reconcile how I look and feel with this...NUMBER. Vain, shallow, just an age, everyone goes through the exact same thing, blah blah blah. It doesn't matter. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who ever turned 40 in the whole history of time with an accurate sense of the horror of aging in terms of what it will do to my face and what it means to ME. ME ME ME ME ME. Yes. I know how I sound. Crazy. And like not such a great person with not such a great perspective on things. I swear I'm usually more...Oh hells bells. I'm an utter nutter.

Anyway, back to the resolution thing. I'm about 10 lbs up from my wedding weight, which was my skinniest EVER. Totally not maintainable, but still. I'd like to get back there for at least 1 glorious moment before I turn...23. (See, I can't even bear to type the number again)

I've also had some EUREKA moments about weight loss in the last few months. You know that actress Ginnifer Goodwin? With the short hair and the really pretty face? Well, she caught holy Hades a few months back for saying that she's been on Weight Watchers since she was 15, and that she's genetically predispositioned to be a much larger woman than she is presently. I think the issue people had was with her body image and admission that she is perpetually on a diet. I disagree. I think she needs a formal program like WW to help her understand what she can and can't eat in a day. I think this because I too need a formal program telling me what I can and can't eat in a day. Without said program, I'm likely to eat my own body in UTZ chip form. (If you don't know what UTZ chips are, please visit the Mid-Atlantic region immediately and buy yourself a bag. Start with the regular chips, work your way around to the Honey Barbecue, and then finish up with the Crab chips. No chip will ever be the same to you again).

Ok. so I have a lot more to say about weight and body image but I'll save it. No one wants to read a Unibomber-style manifesto disguised as a blog post.

Resolution #2 - No library fines

I so love our local library. I take my boys there all the time, participate in the kiddie classes with them, and check out a ton of books and videos. I also give the library a staggering amount of money in overdue fines (videos are $1/day, and the rental time on them is a week). Since we can walk to the library from our house, there is just no excuse.

Part of me doesn't mind paying them for overdue books here and there - I figure my cash is supporting a great cause. However, the fines were getting out of hand, and I found myself lying about how much in debt I was to the local library. Seriously - when you display addict-like behavior over your library debt, you should re-evaluate your choices.

So far this year, I've owed a total of $4 to the library. Here's the breakdown:

•  $2 was totally my husband's fault. I asked him to round up the videos and he left 2 out of the pile. I made him pay the fine
• $.40 was a fine that the very nice librarian waived, but I'm reporting for the sake of keeping honest
• $1.60 two days ago. I paid $1.10 (all the cash I had on me at the time), and the very nice librarian waived the rest

Imagine how bad the problem was - it is only February, I've accrued $4 in fines, and this is a huge success, in my mind. I've also managed to place the blame for 50% of the above fine on another person. There's probably a moral issue I should think on somewhere in there.

Resolution #1 - Write More

Stringing a few sentences together with some degree of skill has always come easily to me. Ideas, not so much. "Write a book" is a permanent item on my bucket list, but since I haven't written a darned thing that wasn't for professional reasons or in the form of an email or status update in eons, that isn't looking likely.

Honestly, I've already written enough on this blog to allow myself to scratch "write more" (more being a relative term) off my resolution list, but I'm hoping to add to that. Get myself in the habit of writing for my blog, start dabbling in fiction, allow another human being to READ my stuff... I don't need to write the great American novel or anything - heck, my name on the cover of one of those baby board books with one word per page under a huge picture will do. 

AND I'm getting ahead of myself. The resolution is "write more", not "get published". There's always the 2013 resolution list for that! 

My life as a Resolutionista

Hello there. So if you're reading this, you're wondering what "Being Resolutionary" is all about. Here's the deal-io -

I love a good New Year's Resolution - and closely behind that, Monday morning resolutions. I go to sleep every Sunday night promising myself I'll stop eating come morning. The idea of a fresh start is just so appealing to me. You wake up on a new day with a can-do attitude and fix all the things you don't like about yourself, try all the things you want to try, and learn what you want to learn in the coming year. I suppose you can do that on any day of the year, but something about a new beginning with a new calendar is so right. Am I right?

For 2012, I have 10 New Year's resolutions. That's a lot of stuff to work on, and I'm always thinking of more to add to the list. (The 2013 preliminary list is already in work). 

Some of my resolutions have weekly and monthly checkpoints, and I thought the blog was a good forum to log my efforts and keep myself honest about what I'm really accomplishing this year. I also plan to use this as an online journal of sorts - to post new ideas, things I've tried, the stuff that's on my mind, but mostly this is an exercise in self discipline, and whether I can stick to the 10 resolutions I've set for myself. 

-H