January blues have set in and winter is storming away. Snow welcomed February with an overnight accumulation of a foot and a half in our little town. So, my reflections on the New Year have gotten off to a slow start.

Throughout my adult years, I’ve learned to cope in many ways. Life has changed and is so busy at our household. We tend to bulldoze through, even scaring my son with my driving to get to basketball practice, slipping and sliding through stop signs, shouting a few…well, whatevers… all the way on the dark and frozen streets. And as always, I run home, make dinner and have to go back again to pick him up after an hour. All in all, crazy days and late hours.

I usually don’t make resolutions in January. Instead, I start telling myself in September of the previous year to do better each month. So, I ignore the crazy blast of resolution-makers on January 2^nd (since I have started my routine in early September). I’ve set my goals at home and the gym and keep doing what I’m doing. I’ve aged another year, but I’m keeping up with the crowd.

My house is in order. Over the holidays, we remodeled the master bathroom, (a tiny little affair but now it’s bright and cheerful!) with so many trips to Home Depot that my son now knows where to find anything, anywhere!

I went into the spring cleaning mode, early, so I could give myself permission to get back to writing. Cleaning the house is a necessary evil for me. It’s exhausting, but it releases me to get back to creating.

The family has all gone back to school and work, and although it was a joy to be with them, now there is a peaceful rhythm back into my daily routine. I don’t have a 24-7 entertainment and work schedule.

Tax season is also looming so I’ve prepared all the necessary paperwork and sent it off; a great relief to be done with it!

And, the political arena is in full force with elections this year. I try to be open-minded with people and not get mad at them – a lot of crazy, scared people out there, so it’s hard not to get sucked into the drama. When the time comes to vote, I’ll vote. Everyone should do the same. ‘Nuf said.

Finally, a note on winter reading:

• Read or re-read A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson, and see the film. Robert Redford did a pretty good job playing Bryson. You really had to read the book to understand the movie, though, but it was fun and inspiring. Bryson’s books are a delight and take you to places you may never go to.
• Read the Frontline series by Marko Kloos – Terms of Enlistment, Lines of Departure, and Angles of Attack. Good science fiction – a great action-packed escape. You can also order his new one which will be out soon – Chains of Command. (No, he didn’t pay me to review his books, but they are so cool I had to mention them.)
• Marcus Sakey completed his Brilliance trilogy – Written in Fire is a great page turner. He finished with a both a positive outlook and a scary take on what could come if he wrote another. And, he had a few noteworthy quotes for our times – check this out: “When people are scared, it’s easy for them to decide anything different is evil. To forget that everyone is basically the same, that we all love our families and want regular lives….[People] make others scared on purpose, because they know if they do, everyone will start acting stupid. I love his writing style and the personality of Cooper! Thank you for a great story!

So instead of making resolutions that you may or may not keep, every year, no matter how old you are, make a list of all the fun things you want to do during the year and start the list on your birthday! One of my son’s teachers turns 50 this year so she has a 50 fun things list for this year. How cool is that? I’m not sure I can come up with 60 fun things but I’m certainly going to try.