New Year’s Resolutions 2009

Well, the New Year is underway, and so far, things are going pretty well. Except for the part about losing weight (I gained 5 pounds over Christmas), exercising more (I carried the laundry from room to room – does that count?), working on my novel (haven’t touched it since November), eating healthy (that pizza last night was sure tasty), keeping my house cleaner (the Christmas trees are still up, decorations cover every flat surface, and now there are boxes piled in the living room waiting for me to find the time to put it all away for next year), becoming rich (the lottery tickets I bought in Texas didn’t win), and getting organized (I know that bill is somewhere under this pile of papers – or maybe that pile of papers, or…).

Sigh. A nice, shiny New Year, and I’ve already put a hundred nicks and dents in it. Here we are, Day 5 of 2009, and things look pretty much like they did on Day 365 of 2008. (And, come to think of it, Day 365 of 2007.)

Maybe that’s not all bad. There’s comfort in consistency, after all.

So what if my goals for 2009 look identical to my goals from 2008? They were good goals, and they’re hardly used, so they still look brand-new. I’m all about recycling.

Better yet, as I sit here at my cluttered desk, surrounded by dusty Christmas decorations, maybe I’ll just skip all the big life-changing goals and concentrate on things I like doing. I’m going to continue creating new recipes for my food-allergic son and his friends. I’m going to read more books. I’ll continue to take on freelance writing assignments. I’m going to make time for lunch or coffee with friends more often. I’ll keep writing my novel. I’ll plan the occasional night out with my husband. And I’ll continue to lead the Davis County chapter of the Utah Food Allergy Network.

There. That sounds like a reasonable set of goals. Now I can ignore the Christmas decorations for another day, right?

New Year's Resolutions and Other Lost Causes

It’s everyone’s favorite time of year – that day when we look back on the past twelve months of our lives, take a deep breath, and say, “Can I get a do-over?” Then we look ahead, consider the vast array of possibilities, and say, “Geez, now what?”

So, in the spirit of the day, I’m going to sit down and dream up some thoughtful, carefully reasoned resolutions to better myself in the coming year. Either that, or I’m going to just make stuff up. You decide.

Kelley’s New Year’s Resolutions for 2008:

1. Mop the kitchen floor. (There, now I don’t have to do it today. I can safely put it off ‘til tomorrow, so that I can fulfill my first resolution.)
2. Stop referring to a family-sized bag of potato chips as “dinner.”
3. Spend less time lusting after Brad Pitt (because Johnny Depp is feeling slighted). (Um, and so is my husband.)
4. Finally figure out how to make pumpkin pie without milk or eggs.
5. Learn to say the word “No” without flinching.
6. Finish writing my food allergy cookbook and find a publisher for it.
7. Box up the books I’ve read, and read the books I haven’t.
8. Clean out my email inbox (3871 emails, and counting).
9. Locate the top of my desk. I’m pretty sure it’s there under all those “I need to look at this someday” papers.
10. Look at those “I need to look at this someday” papers. Oh, never mind.
11. Go sailing in the Caribbean.
12. Win $20 million in a lottery.
13. Exercise more.
14. Exercise at all.
15. Say the word “Exercise” without flinching.
16. Break resolutions #13 – 15 by January 2.
17. Find ways to reach more newly diagnosed food allergy sufferers to offer a helping hand.
18. Get all those photos from 2006 put into albums.
19. Laugh hysterically at the idea of putting all those photos from 2007 in albums. As if.
20. Refuse to take any photos at all in 2008. Hide husband’s camera.
21. Become addicted to caffeine.
22. Blame more of my personal problems on elected officials.
23. Pine away until Lost finally returns to TV in February. Spare some lusting time for Sawyer and Sayid.
24. Watch something in a movie theater that isn’t animated.
25. Be a good board member of the Utah Food Allergy Network.
26. Keep writing my blog. Try to make it funny at least once this year.
27. Learn to enjoy fake farting noises made by 9-year-old boys, because getting the 9-year-old boys to stop making fake farting noises isn’t working.
28. In between managing Homegrown Hospitality magazine, writing my blog, running the Davis County chapter of UFAN, writing articles for magazines, and writing my cookbook, find time to write something purely for fun.
29. Take down the Christmas decorations before the daffodils bloom.
30. Laugh at adversity. (Adversity really hates that.)

There you go: my 2008 plan for self-improvement. It promises to be a challenging, yet difficult year, sprinkled liberally with problems. But I won’t let that stop me from laughing, loving, and burning dinner at least once a day. After all, without goals, you’ll never know when you’ve failed and can safely give up.

So cheers to you, and happy 2008!