Weekend Reflections

Today is Ostara, the Spring Equinox.  The sun is shining, birds are chirping on the clothesline, buds are coming out on the trees, and the rhubarb actually survived the winter.

It feels like a good day to reflect on where I've been, where I am now and how I got here, and where I want to be and how to get there.

Spring  -  a traditional time for new beginnings of every kind.  A good time to take a look at what my goals were when I started blogging, and decide what worked, what didn't, and what new goals might be more appropriate.

Goal  -  get another job. 

DONE!!!  And I couldn't be happier with it!

Goal  -  quit smoking. 

No success there yet  -  I have cut down some, though, and I feel myself getting closer to actually being ready to quit.

Goal  -  lose weight. 

A little success, but I think it's time to stop focusing on the numbers on the scale, and put the energy into an overall pattern of living a healthier life.  Yes, I know, that would include giving up smoking.  But it also includes things I'm ready to do now.  Giving up "junk" food / empty-calorie-laden snacks, and walking more instead of jumping in the car.  That will be much easier now that winter is pretty much over.  Walking with my shopping cart to do all the errands didn't have much appeal when the weather choices were icy cold rain, icy cold windy rain, below-zero windy slush ...

Goal  -  de-clutter the house and keep it that way.  

Progress is being made, but so slowly it's hard to see without referring back to my "before" pictures.  There are days when I want to pile everyone else's junk in the middle of the yard and tell them to deal with it without just scattering it randomly back in the house.  There are days when I firmly believe that the house won't look the way I'd like it to until J moves out and Big Guy dies.  But every now and then there's a day when someone actually agrees with me that something can go, or pitches in and cleans a little of their mess themselves.  Those are days I treasure, rare as they are.

Goal  -  use what I already have to expand / improve my wardrobe. 

That's going very slowly, due to constrains of time and available working space.  The "improve" part is moving along nicely ... this week I weeded more clothes, and have two more bags of donations to drop off.  I've decided that it doesn't matter how much I like a garment  -  if it doesn't go with at least three other things I own, I'm not keeping it.

For office wear, I'm down to a base of slacks and jackets in neutral colours  -  greys, black, dark blues, and creams/tans/khaki.  Shoes?  Three pairs black, one pair navy, one pair tan.  Maybe later this year I'll throw some dark forest green or bitter-chocolate brown into the mix.  This neutral base will give me a lot more leeway in choosing colours and patterns for tops and accessories ... I'm all about scarves, actually; I have them in all kinds of fabrics, patterns, colours, sizes, and textures!  Now I'm looking forward to making myself lots of nice sweaters, shells, tanks, and tunics to coordinate with the neutrals.

My current sweater project fits so perfectly into this plan that I must confess I've even done a little gloating about it!  It's a longish tunic-y style pullover in shades of cream, charcoal, dusty pale blue, and cafe-au-lait that will look great with every pair of office slacks I have.  It'll look great with jeans.  It'll look great under a blazer or by itself.  And by this time next week, it'll be finished  -  last night I got the shoulder seams sewn up and the neckband knitted on, which just leaves the sleeves and side seams.  I can't wait to post a picture of it!

Goal  -  to spend less time just watching television and more time actually doing things.

This one shouldn't be that difficult.  These days there are fewer programs I actually enjoy enough that I'd miss them if they disappeared.  I need to get back into the habit of not sitting down in front of the television without something to occupy my hands, whether it's a knitting/sewing/craft project, or mending, or laundry to fold.  Or maybe put some music on, instead of the television, when all I really need is background noise.

Goal  -  get the basement cleaned out so we can start putting in the family room we've been talking about for years.

This is going very slowly  -  in fact, it's almost at a standstill right now.  I'm breaking it down into " mini-goals", for lack of a better word.  First, I want to get all of my own stuff out ... except for the big steel rack holding all the canning jars and gear, and the boxes of home-canned food.  Technically, the canning stuff is all mine  -  but in actual usage it's for the whole family's benefit, like the freezer.

I've been working with J  -  when she can spare the time  -  to get all of her stuff out, whether it's organized into bins in the attic, donated, or whatever.

What I'm aiming for is the day when Big Guy once again claims that he can't do anything in the basement yet because "there's too much crap in the way."  I will smile sweetly and reply in dulcet tones, "Yes, dear, and all of it is yours."