Let's Hear It For A New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!

I HOPE YOU HAVE AS MUCH FUN IN 2014 AS A KITTEN WITH A ROLL OF TOILET PAPER!

I am ready for a new start and I am always glad that every twelve months we get a fresh slate to try to make a better go of it.  Some years are definitely better than others, but New Year's Day tends to give us all a bit of hope and I am reminded of a favorite Merle Haggard tune from the 60's, "If We Make It Through December," with its poignant grip on such optimism. 

There were many blessings in the past year for me, including but not limited to and in no particular order (isn't that the proper disclaimer?!):

• Having a job that pays the bills in a companionable workplace.
• Periodic bonus checks from that same job.
• My continued good health.
• My son Ben's continued employment, and his consistent paying of his bills without complaint.
• Ben's growth in his sense of responsibility and dependability.
• My being able to replace my truck with the car I had wanted for three years.
• Attending Wildflower Fiber Retreat once again, as well as Knit Camp.
• A good harvest and learning experience from my summer vegetable garden.
• Being gifted in July with two wonderful cats, Godfrey and Axl.
• Renewing old friendships and making some new ones.
• Making old friendships stronger.
• Taking a cross country train trip to visit my son, Matt, for his graduation.
• Matt's finding a job in his field soon after graduation.
• Getting to know Matt's girlfriend, Melissa, better.
• My successful transition into crone status awareness.
• My being able to be in the presence of my ex-husband for the first time in 15 years and not feel those feelings I was afraid I might feel.  Whoo Hoo!

In previous years on the first day of a new year, I would take out my new and specially selected calendar and joyfully fill it in with birthdays, paydays, appointments and special notations, while enjoying several cups of my usual hot, strong, black morning coffee.  My favorite is Community Dark Roast right now, but I also enjoy their Cafe Special and Coffee & Chicory blends.  With the Coffee & Chicory, I prefer to add some foaming hot milk to each cup, making it into a delicious, comforting cafe au lait.  Spending part of my life in New Orleans taught me the goodness of such a treat.  Sometimes, but rarely, I will add some sugar and a touch of cinnamon.  

But I digress....  

So, after filling in my new calendar, I would then write down three or four New Year's Resolutions that I would honestly intend to accomplish at the time. Then it was on to preparing the day's well-planned menu while listening to the Rose Bowl Parade on TV.  A menu which, of course, would always include some form of black-eyed peas (for luck), eggs (for new beginnings) and cabbage (for money), a lemon pie, and which would be eaten in front of the TV watching my favorite sport, football.

As a matter of fact, it was because of a football game on New Year's Day in 1963 that my Daddy finally decided it was time to buy the family our first television.  That game was the Sugar Bowl down in New Orleans with the Ol' Miss Rebels playing the Arkansas Razor Backs. The Rebels won the game that year, which pleased Daddy, and the rest of us were pleased because we finally owned a television!

But this year I broke with some of those traditions, mainly the calendar (which in the last couple of years has been misplaced or forgotten) and the resolutions ( which, as is common for most of us, will have fallen by the wayside long before the first day of that year's June) and the menu that requires too much time for me in the kitchen.  This year we were going to have easy!  

So, I dumped some canned black-eyed peas, chopped green onions and celery, parsley, what was left in the bottle of balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, garlic, and a couple of "bloops" of bottled lime juice in a medium sized bowl, stirred it up and put it in the refrigerator to chill.  I boiled eggs last night and made deviled eggs.  I found some rolls in the freezer left over from Thanksgiving.  And I sauteed bagged coleslaw with some onion, garlic, caraway seeds, salt and pepper in olive oil.  Ben offered some of his Christmas chocolate covered cherries for dessert (he got 3 boxes!).  Along with store-made guacamole and chips on the kitchen counter, we can snack and munch and eat whenever we want....on paper plates.  

Around noon I grabbed a Guinness from the fridge and plopped down in front of my computer, with football on TV in the background, to write this blog post, which is exactly how I had envisioned my New Year starting off.  I am really liking this!

Instead of resolutions, this year I have decided to make "life changes."  I will keep these changes in the forefront of my heart and mind until they become a part of Me, rather than writing anything down on paper to be misplaced or tossed aside.  

As for the calendar, my Kindle Fire has an app for my notes and appointments when I am on the go, and my new computer with Window's 8 has a very workable calendar that shows up on my desktop right under the weather report and my email inbox.  I am really thinking that Simple is Better.

There is a great and exciting year ahead at HeartSong Farm!