Resolutions & other pretty things

Wow, have I ever gotten out of my blogging groove! I just haven't felt much like writing or reading blogs recently. I blame it on my lingering cold, and dh's bout of gastroenteritis. Nothing drains me more than having to think up meals for me and the kids. ;)

I started my previous post talking about resolutions, but then got side-tracked by trees and stollens, and, in the end, after dusting the flour off my hands, decided to cut the word 'resolutions' out of the title.

But here I am, back facing resolutions again. Michelle (Blog of the Soap Pixie) wrote a fun post about breaking resolutions, and Anne-Marie (Soap and the Finer Things in Life) had her usual thought-provoking post about making resolutions.

I have mixed feelings about resolutions. I hate being told what to do, even if it's me telling myself. This is why I will never join a book club. I'll read what I want to read when I want to read it thankyouverymuch. Goodness, I'm obnoxious sometimes.

That said, there are a couple of things I really, really want to accomplish this year, as I mentioned at Anne-Marie's blog. One is to whip myself into shape (that is, exercise more regularly), and the other is to whip into shape the manuscript I wrote for the 2009 NaNoWriMo. I think it has potential, and since it's been years since I had anything published, I'm looking at this ms with a gleam in my eyes. Incidentally, a gleam in dh's eyes was how ds#1 came about, so how much harder than that could birthing a novel be? HAH!

As anyone who's ever gotten something published will tell you: it's damned hard. This is why I've decided to enlist professional help (no, not the psychiatric kind, although that wouldn't hurt either) by the way of Gotham Writers' Workshop. I consulted with dh on this, and his response was, "so what will you give up in order to take this class?" He wasn't talking about money. He was referring to my 400 hobbies and other endeavors.

The 10-week course will require a commitment of at least 5 hours a week. What can I give up, indeed? Well, I can't give up making ceramics and soaps and paper and knitting because I've got orders for those that I have to fulfill (even though our sales at Artfire is pretty pathetic, and our sales at Etsy is pretty much nil, we've got orders from really great friends and relatives! I have to add, too, that if it weren't for the incomparably wonderful Ms. Carrie (Under the Willow Gift Shoppe), our Artfire site would have had nil sales too). I can't give up on sleep because I am not fit to live with if I get less than 9 hours of sleep per night. I can't give up on homeschooling because the darned kids refused to attend public school.

Sooo, I guess that leaves playing stupid games on Facebook (which I really should give up regardless) and blogging (writing and reading), both of which will have to take a back seat because I am determined to have an edited manuscript that is at least presentable to an agent (even if I don't present it) by the end of the year, if not sooner.

For those who are curious as to what this story is about, I'll just say it's "Two mathematicians, a physicist, and an criminologist walk into a spaceship...". Barump-bump.

Another thing I want to accomplish this year is to read this wonderful book:and follow Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project Happiness Challenge! By golly, I will be happy or I will die trying. ;D

Before I run off to accomplish *real* things, let me leave you with some eye-candy.

Firstly, take a look at these gorgeous bookmarks that I bought from Annie (Imagine and Create). I bought 3 and she gave me a couple of extras, lovely gal that she is!Next are the goodies I got from Julie (Craft Knife) for the Pay-It-Forward giveaway she had. Ok, I screamed like a girl, and I'll tell you why in a second.See the funky CD cover above? Inside is this:
Neat, eh? I need to listen to it and then really tell you how great it is, but the day was spent on bathrooms and things I can't even recall (except for the fruit crisp...gosh was that good). Tomorrow, though...tomorrow, I'm doing some listenin'.

Here's the reason for my scream:
Did anyone else yell "Valeris!" like I did? Did anyone else even think, "Star Trek VI: The Final Frontier"? Am I the only sci-fi nerd who hangs out at this blog? Well, anyway, I showed one side of the bookmark in that first photo and the other side above. Julie makes geeky-cool bookmarks from comic books. You can find them, and other super nifty stuff, in her Etsy store!

The third thing in the pile o' goodies I got were the really cute buttons (see first photo). I've already decided that the tree button belongs with my purse. The boys can fight over the other two.
I think I've wasted enough time on my butt tonight. I don't know why I don't just do some shorter posts instead of bottling it all up and throwing one huge post at you...but that seems to be my style, doesn't it?

Hope the new year has been a good one for all of you so far! Do any of you have an interesting resolution you care to share with me? :)

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams