New Year Resolutions

I don't usually 'do' New Year's Resolutions. I think the big thing is that I have complete lack of faith in my ability to stick to a resolution. Another big thing is that I think if you are going to make a resolution then you should make it there and then - you can make an October the 4th resolution that is just as valid.

I think part of the thing is realistic target setting. I am rubbish at that. If you can set a realistic target in a realistic frame then you can really benefit from a New Year's resolution. However so many resolutions can be 'kinder to cat' or 'better cook' or 'more punctual' which are great aims. However they are hard to quantify, hard to know when you have achieved success and hard to know if you are even sticking to it.

Looking at my 'life wish list' I think that I want to push writing, clutterbusting and knitting. But I also want to learn to crochet, read some books, learn the piano, do more crafts with little bear, be more tolerant of evil cat (tough one!), lose weight, take more exercise, eat better... I don't have enough time.

When all returns to normal after the Christmas break I am once again going to try for the two thousand words per day - doable if hard. To do that I need to limit my browsing of the internet but that is not in itself a bad thing. I need to make the call - when I go to sleep, what do I wish I had done? Browse the web or write two thousand words? I also need to be less precious. It is easier to write in chunks, but possible to do it sentence by sentence between housewifery and being mum.

Clutterbusting is hard to quantify. To be honest, I see it as a rolling programme, never finished. I buy stuff. Kind relatives buy me stuff. Little bear is besieged by stuff. I need to organise what I want to keep and lose what I do not need. How do you know when you are finished? I think it is connected to my lack of housewifery, so I will be trying out different versions of FlyLady and clutterbusting and see where it takes me. Hmm, tangible targets are hard sometimes. I will set the minimum of one extra black bin sack or equivalent per week of 'stuff' that is not the usual rubbish of emptied cans and wrappers but is donated/sold/disposed of because it is clutter. That is my minimum. Also every week I want to identify a 'home' for some item that currently is being tripped over, so that I end up with 'a place for everything and everything in its place'.

Knitting is almost a sin for me. I love knitting, it relaxes me (mostly, don't ask about picking up for the neck). I want to have consistently a project next to my chair which can easily be picked up and then put down for a few rows while watching football. My big problem is starting projects and not finishing them. I would log all the unfinished projects I have outstanding, but I don't think I could find them all! I have six at the back of my chair. Despite my good intentions I started a new scarf yesterday with some weird yarn, teddy coral. It ends up with a texture like a long piled bath mat, in a nice way. I finished it today. Knitting helps my sanity, so I am not going to try and regulate it too much. And I have reluctantly realised that getting things finished off is hard for me and no technique so far has worked as I start new projects to cheer myself up. So I am going to keep a tally of things finished off. You will see it grow in interesting ways. One of the things that I need to finish off is a sweater that has been half sewn up for nearly two years. I shall also aim to start smaller items that finish off quicker.

As for the other things, I shall wait and see. I think the first I shall attack is crochet. But that is to be fitted around the writing, the clutterbusting and the knitting. And the writing, the clutterbusting and the knitting are to be fitted around little bear, OH, darling father, visits to family, visits from family, and all the hiccups and ups and downs of life. I shall just aim to do my best, and if I fail on one week I shall just keep going again from scratch the next week.