Misc. ramblings and resolutions

By popular request, here's a photo of the pasta drying rack DH made for me. As usual, it's larger and fancier than really necessary, but it comes apart completely for storage. With the state of the real estate market, maybe he should go into business selling sturdy pasta racks. This is the last project he completed before we started the complete overhaul of his workshop. Even before the broken pipe incident, I had bought him epoxy floor paint for Christmas. Romantic gift, eh? To use it entails moving everything out of one half, sweeping and scrubbing the floor, then painting, allowing to dry.....that's as far as we've gotten. Crawling around on a cement floor is very exhausting and every muscle I have is achy. It looks great though and it has been a good way to do a thorough cleaning and get rid of a lot of junk.

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I spent most of the day yesterday working at a funeral lunch at my church. A 63 yr. old man had died while shoveling snow with his wife on Christmas day, really tragic. Spending a day in this manner is a good way to put things in perspective. For one thing, you never know when the day will come for you. Not a happy thought I know, but thinking about it can change the way you live your life if you let it.

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As promised, here's the New Year's resolutions for 2009 in no particular order-
1. Lose another 25 lbs. ( I've gained back part of the 25 I lost last year)
2. Don't gain back weight you tried so hard to lose!
3. Exercise at least once a week to start with.
4. Be a better listener, not always thinking of how I will respond.
5. Give more compliments, especially to my kids.
6. Remember when things get tough that other people have it waay worse than I do.
7. Along with #6, be thankful and grateful for everything I have instead of thinking about everything I want.
8. Read more books.
9. Sort my pictures and print off/back up all digital pictures.
10. Be kinder than is necessary.
11. Don't watch so much tv.
12. Go to bed earlier.

Okay, that's it. I realize I'm leaning a little close to the "change your entire life" resolution area, but I think naming several gives me a little more room for success. I'm looking forward to a great New Year's Eve spent with friends and I hope you will have a wonderful 2009!

An Extra Day

We expected to spend about 6 hours on the road today on the way to and from Iowa to celebrate Christmas with DH's family. The icy weather in Iowa prevented the trip, so here we are at home with a free day and no plans for anyone. Nice, Huh? DH and I have been working a little on the remainder of the cleanup from our broken pipe incident of earlier in the week. The kids have been doing various things and are talking about getting together with friends later. Later tonight, I expect we might dive into the giant cheese ball that I made to take along today and probably have a glass of wine and maybe get into the hot tub to soak my back which is still bothering me. All in all I think it will be a pretty nice day. We had temps in the 40's most of the day yesterday, so it was nice to have the streets melted off and the sidewalk and driveway cleared of ice again. We have snow predicted tonight, but that's okay with me.

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I read an interesting post from a blogger named Lisa about New Year's resolutions. Will you be making any this year? I usually do, sometimes I make the "I'm going to change all of my bad habits at once" type of resolutions. Last year DH and I resolved to lose weight. We both did lose quite a bit and I'm still down 25 lbs. from where I was last Jan. 2. We'd both like to lose a little more, so I'm sure that will be on the list. I'd also like to come up with something else in the realm of self-improvement that is specific and attainable. I'll let you know Jan. 1.