Here we go folks!

I don’t have a very good memory for certain things. I freely admit it! In the past I have made resolutions for the new year, only to forget within the first two weeks that I had promised myself to drink less or exercise more. Let’s face it, if something isn’t enormously important to me, I put it out of my mind and move on, which is why I rarely make New Year’s Resolutions. Resolutions, with a capital R, sound so final, so set in stone, and if you break (or even bend) a Resolution the flying monkeys will swoop down and castigate you and fling their poo and all sorts of awful things will happen! Not for me, nope, thanks for playing, take your Jiffy Pop and leave.

However a few years ago, a woman who’s blog I read did a monthly resolution (note the lower case r, by the way, no flying monkeys here). Each month she would do something new to work on improving herself, her life, her marriage or her home. Being that I have a pretty good chance at remembering a resolution for thirty days, I have decided to give this a whirl. I just hope that in two months I will remember that need to change to the next resolution. I hope to blog at the beginning and end of each month about the designated action, once with a plan and once with the result. Wish me luck!

January: try a new food each week

February: no fast food

March: walking more, 20-60 minutes per day, 3-5 times per week

April: read to Melody at least 3 times per week

May: no TV 4 nights a week

June: make dinner 6 nights per week

July: migrate this website to WordPress

August: no more than 1 soda per day

September: blog every day on all three sites (omg!)

October: no candy or cookies

November: write a short story

December: get to work on time

I figure a lot of these are stretch goals and there will of course be circumstances beyond my control that prevent me from being 100% perfect. Heck, 90% is still an A in college, so I will even allow myself to slip up from time to time. Besides, I am in no way close to perfect, I’m just a perfectionist. Frustrated much? Yes. I just want to try to improve my well being and happiness, and these seem like areas where I could use improvement, and also, areas where I feel like I can let go of old habits.

So, January’s resolution is to try a new food each week. I chose this for January because in a bit of a cheat, I have already tried a new food this month. At my big family dinner last week, my cousin Diana brought roasted brussel sprouts. In the past, these miniature cabbages were either bitter, slimy or mushy, all of which are unappealing in food, so I thought I didn’t like them. But, I took my “no thank you” helping and actually enjoyed them. Diana told me the secret is in roasting them with a bit of olive oil to bring out the deeper flavors. She claimed there is a sweet flavor but I don’t buy that. Let us say that they were not bitter, slimy or mushy, and actually were quite good! I must figure out what my next three to four foods for January will be. I’m pretty much an omnivore when it comes to food with the exception of veggies, so the foods may all be produce. I also plan to consider “rerun” foods, e.g. foods I didn’t like as a kid, as new foods since I’m the type that if I didn’t like it when I was six, there’s a good chance I never touched it again. 

Wish me luck!