I follow a lot of blogs. So many, in fact, that about two months ago (but after resisting for a long, long time), I set up Google Reader to manage them all for me. I have about 10 categories, ranging from Anusara Yoga to Fashion to Fitness to Photography to Organization (ha – imagine) to Friends’ Blogs. And I check them every day, just the headlines mind you, well, except for all of the Photography ones. I devour those as soon as possible.

A common thread running throughout, however, is how no one is really doing New Year’s resolutions. How they have all of the intentions but don’t really write anything down. About how they’ll fall off anyway so they’ll just keep plugging along just so and be just fine, thank you very much.

Hmmm.

Anyone with me on remembering the commonplace definition of insanity?

I read a book about this time last year (The Happiness Project), and while repetitive and somewhat elementary (owie – harsh criticism), I thought it was brilliant that the author made monthly resolutions v. yearly ones. I started that last year, and while it was pretty loosey-goosey, I really liked it. It gave me a sense of accomplishment right away, and it kept me progressing in a forward direction and focusing on doing life better.

So to hell with all of you who say you’re not making ’em. In fact, in the NYE words of my fave current Tweeter, Rex Huppke, “I can’t wait until tomorrow when everyone stops being fat and smoking.”

Brilliant.

So, here’s one res: Go back to using cloth dipes for the Terror. “Coh-thee dipas” he calls them. And they are cozy. I stopped for “convenience” about three months ago. Don’t know what I was thinking. Sure I have to change him now once an hour, do an extra load of laundry every day, and be on alert for a naked child running around because if he depants himself he can pull those suckers off faster than a greased pig, but seriously now. I get to stay home with him and by golly, I gotta do the right thing, here.

Here’s a second res: 365 | Photo of the Day. So far, so good, there. And I was pretty much taking pictures every day anyway, just to practice but mostly because I love it. But now I have a theme each week and that’s going to help me have a better eye and dig deeper into some creative current in my soul. Yippee skippity.

Another? Resurrect the Family Night. It’s been pushed around a bit lately with new schedules and this and that, but that little gem is becoming priority TOP. The Goldfish loves it, and I love his little face that lights up like the sun when we look at the arsenal of games together to determine which one will win the prized position of “tonight’s the night.”

So that’s it for January. Eating the elephant one bite at a time. And if you’re doing NYRs this year, tell somebody. It makes you more accountable. ;)

And by the way, I want to share my Hot Chocolate recipe with you. It’s my fave and the boys’ as well. Um, well, it’s their fave unless I use too much cayenne pepper…

  • 1/3 c organic cocoa powder
  • 1/2 c organic free trade cane sugar
  • 1/2 c hot water Dash of cayenne pepper (brings out the chocolate flavor, but don’t use too much!)
  • Dash of nutmeg (aromatically awesome)
  • Whole organic milk (Please don’t use anything less than whole milk. If you drink milk, this is the best milk. Forget the “blue” stuff! They’ve taken out all of the milkfat aka stuff with vitamins & nutritional value and left you with lots of artificial additives in a “low calorie” bev. Don’t buy it.)

Put all but milk in a pot and cook it over med-high heat until the sugar dissolves and it’s bubbly. Let “bubble” for about two minutes, stirring constantly so it doesn’t burn. SLOWLY add your milk so that it doesn’t curdle, then you can pour in the rest. I use about 3 c of milk and taste it, then add milk to my desired chocolately taste.

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