The Beginning of a New Year

The beginning of school always feels like a new year to me. The start of something really good. I haven't been in school for many moons now, and my little man doesn't start until next year, but I still get that giddy nervous feeling.

And an almost uncontrollable urge to by truck loads of new school supplies. Nothing brings me more happiness than a new box of pencils and a clean eraser. Ahhhhh... bliss.

So, I have decided that this is going to be the start of my new year. My resolutions will happen now, because in all honesty, I'm in a much better state of mind now than at the end of the calendar year.

For one, I haven't just spent a month eating. And I'm not over tired from all the socializing. And it isn't the dead of winter and dark all the time.

So really, a much better mind set.

So, I have two simple resolutions for the new year.

1. Start cooking properly again, with real food, and the oven.

With the heat of the summer, and the old house we live in, the heat from the oven would melt us to the floor, so I have been cooking a lot of pasta, stir fries, omelets, pita pizzas in the toaster oven, BBQs and salads. I am so sick of all of these foods. And it is funny because during the typical year, these are special treats that I pull out when I don't know what to cook, and I really really enjoy them. But the thought of turning my oven on in my full sun teensy weensy kitchen, and have the heat travel the length of the first floor, ugh, I start to sweat just thinking about it.

When did they stop building summer kitchens? Probably back when Laura Ingalls was running down hills... If I ever get to create my own dream house, I'm building a summer kitchen. Ah yes, future plans.

Anyway, so I bought all the food needed to start cooking today. I made a yummy roast beef in the oven, surrounded by carrots, potatoes and parsnips. And then I felt like it was fall. And then I opened the window. And then I melted. But it was a really good roast.

2. Get my butt off the couch. Or floor. Or off where ever it has landed.

I hate the heat. And I hate sweating. Put the two together and I'm probably the only person who actually gains weight in the summer and loses weight during the rest of the seasons. Nothing at all feels right about exercising in the summer. And I have lots of stuff to do inside with the air conditioning. A treadmill, a bike, ten thousand DVDs, but still. The sweating. The hotness. I hate it.

This is not to say that I don't sweat during the other months. I do, but I cool off so much quicker, and I can breathe. I can't inhale in this oppressive heat, indoors or out.

So those are my resolutions. Here's hoping they last longer than the week they normally last in January!

Marina