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Monday, December 31, 2012

I Wish I Was Better At...

This is my contribution to the New Year's Resolutions theme most bloggers are writing about.  I don't resolve to do anything to completion.  I don't like to set myself up for failure when I can't fulfill a resolution.  I like to set goals of trying new things or improving on things I know how to do.  This way it's not an all or nothing approach, just an adding to approach.

I wish I was better at...Keeping my closet clean.  I'll have my yearly shoe and clothes purge.  I also need to clean some of my shoes.

I wish I was better at...Playing the piano.  I took lessons years ago and could play well.  Now it's harder to find the discipline to practice and keep up the skill.  Ideally I would like to practice for at least 15 minutes a day.

I wish I was better at...Knitting a sock and glove.  Try as I might, I keep getting snaggled on my perfectionism.  Socks intimidate me.  I've made some progress this year.  I actually have a sock on double pointed needles.  The sock is about 2 inches in length and looks hideous.  I would never wear it.  I know that the first time making something it usually comes out looking like the cat had a part in making it.  I'm not sure what I'll do to try and improve this.

I wish I was better at...Gardening.  I'm just lazy about it.  I build up the perceived work necessary in my mind and think it will take hours and hours, or it's going to be very hard work, and procrastinate.  In actuality, most jobs don't take more than an hour.  I haven't had a lot of weed problems.  I need to improve my approach to soil quality.  I need to be more vigilant about protecting the garden from the insensitive cats.

I wish I was better at...Composting.  I do good with this for awhile and then fall off the wagon.  This is completely Jace's fault.  I haven't been successful in winning him over and I have a hard time keeping up composting when I'm the only one doing it.  I also have the compost pile far from the house, which is where I like it, but makes it seem harder to get out there.  The dog tends to smell funnier when I am composting.  I think he may be rolling in it.

That looks like a pretty good list.  I read a blog on GeekMom titled Alternatives to the New Year's Resolutions.   There's some pretty good suggestions you might like.


Sunday, December 30, 2012

Let's Finish The Year

2012 is just about done.  As usual I'm ready to move on.  Kind of the clean slate thing.  I've changed the header and wiped my Book Tally clean. 

2012 was kind of hard.  I had to make some adjustments.  I chose to unfriend 3/4 of my Facebook list.  It was getting a little too personal with people I didn't really know.  You know, the weird email from someone who's still got a crush on you.  I also decided to stop posting statuses on Facebook.  I do some on Twitter but it's hard to think of witty things to say all day. 

The biggest most positive change this year was starting homeschooling.  We are now going into our 8th week.  I blog about it HERE.  It's been a delight and certainly has challenges.  I feel we made the right decision and it fits with my homesteader thinking.

The garden was awful.  Terrible in fact.  I spit on it!  Not really.  I'm pretty sure the dirt was just dead.  I didn't amend the soil as often as I should and it finally said No to growing anything.  There were also cat problems.  Lots of walking, digging, and generally laying on top of the plants. 

We started building another garden off one side of the house.  It's 32 feet by 39 feet.  It will have around 9 raised beds, fruit trees and fruit vines.  We're almost done fencing it in and have started putting in the raised beds.  We have 6 weeks to get everything in and start planting.  Seeds have been ordered. 

I took a year off from doing anything business oriented.  I have thought about starting up the Etsy shop again.

And of course house projects.  There's always house projects.  I'm hoping to actually finish some in 2013.

A big thanks to those who have continued to follow this blog!