My Lists for 2007

The coming of a new year tends to bring about thought of resolutions, of "doing it right this time," of turning things around. I'll admit that I've made resolutions in the past, but last year I had an epiphany: If I live my life the way I want to in the first place...if I eat right, move my body, love the ones I love, and all that stuff...if I just starting BEING the person I want to be, well then...what's left to resolve?

So last year my resolution was to not do resolutions but to live a good life instead. Without going through a laundry list of what's good in my life, I will very happily tell you that I think I did pretty well last year. I'm pretty darn happy right now and am excited to continue with my "no resolutions in favor of living a better life" routine for 2007.

But...I still like to make lists and I still like the fresh start of a new year and the possibilities that lie ahead. So, I've got a few lists brewing:

Regarding Books:

I'm currently reading "The Thirteenth Tale" by Diane Setterfield and it's great. It's totally sucked me in. A book about books and authors and tales gone missing...totally up my alley. I love this stuff. And any book that can pull me away from my knitting? Well, it must be good.

It's made me want to revisit my books this year. We just took down the Christmas tree and did some rearranging in the house (to make way for an IKEA toy chest and small table and chairs for Jackson) and decided to turn the former sun room/sitting room into a very small "library." We weren't sure what The Kid would do to our books once he started moving around so we removed our favorite books for a while (banished to the basement!). He definitely pulls them off the shelves, but doesn't rip pages and hurt them in any major way, so we decided to bring them all back.

It was like welcoming old friends back home! I didn't realize I missed my books so much, but both Dan and I are sort of in love with this new mini-library and are getting reacquainted with our favorites. He's big into Tolkien and is now reading...I don't know, something about the long lost tales of something or other (the top shelf of the bookshelf on the right is all Tolkien books and he was browsing eBay today for more...). And I think I'm going to hit some old books that I've been holding on to forever - because they belonged to my grandparents and are truly very old books - but have never read.

My 2007 reading list:

• "The Arabian Nights"...think I can get through all 1,001 tales of Shahrazad? (I know that the spelling of her name looks funny, but that's how it appears in this 1932 edition!)
• "Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson...for those wintry evenings when I may wish to escape
• "Black Beauty"...a gift to my Grampa from his cousin Helen for his (8th?) birthday in 1919
• "Little Men" by Louisa May Alcott...not an old copy, but I loved "Little Women" and just realized that this is a continuation tale about Jo's kids...boys!

There's also a copy of "Anne of Green Gables" that I've got my eye on and "Lady of the Lake" by Sir Walter Scott. The latter is super cool because it's from the 1800s...not sure I could read it since I don't get into poetry much, but we'll see.

Regarding knitting:

Oh yeah, there are lists regarding knitting too, you knew there had to be. The new year brings a clean slate in the knitting world - all of the Christmas Knits are gifted and gone and the Knitter is left with fun new knitting tools and...gift certificates to spend!

My 2007 Knitting List:

• my good green scarf, just about halfway done...love it
• 24 mini-stockings for an Advent calendar-type thing for next Christmas...that's just two stockings per month and they're teeny, no problem
• hmm hmm hmm hmm...a surprise project (Christmas isn't the only gifting holiday!) that I'm really excited about
• oh yeah! Christmas socks for Dan...my first toe-up pair so I'm dragging a little...just cast on, seriously!
• The Peace Shawl...very excited to start this one too

And of course there are other things. I have loads of lovely sock yarn just waiting to warm my feet (and more coming with another swap in the works!) and lots of leftovers with great little ideas in mind. Then there's that gift certificate...likely to be turned into a "me" sweater at some point, but I don't want to rush that yarn purchase. It will hit me...and when it does, I will go to The Yarn Store.

Regarding Other Things:

Well, let's just say that I have other lists. Lots of other lists. Things I want to do, things I want to see, things I want to fix (about me or the world)... But I think this is enough for tonight. I leave you with photos of Jackson's first romp in the snow. Not so sure that he liked it, but we're so glad that they snow stayed!

Going around and around the house by sled this morning, just as the sun was coming up

Dad may have had more fun than Jackson...
...until he discovered crawling in the snow...
...but then he realized that snow is cold when you do a face plant!