New Year's Resolutions

This is not something I do every year. But I want to make some changes, and it just happens to be the beginning to the year, so...why not?!

1. Tell My Kids How Much I Love Them Every Day
2. Greet My Husband With a Smile and a Kiss Every Day
3. Cut Back on Lectures & Advice; Try to Replace them with Listening
4. Cultivate a Sense of Gratitude for All That I Have
5. Eliminate Negativity and Replace it with a Positive Attitude
6. Take Time to Meditating in the Mornings
7. Resume my 3x Weekly Running Schedule ~ Get into Shape!
8. Cook Healthy Dinners for my Family ~ without Complaining
9. Limit Alcohol Intake to Special Occasions
10. Limit TV to 5 Hours A Week (there's too much else I want to do!)

and finally...because I think it will help with some of my other goals...
11. Work to Find a Better Balance Between Self & Family

A Rose by any other name...

Clint brought me flowers just after the New Year. What a shock! This man (usually)hasn't got a romantic bone in his body!

I confess, I've been hinting for about a year that a romantic gesture of any kind on his part would be warmly recieved. I hate to be an insecure wreck, but after this many years of marriage, life can be so routine that sometimes I wonder whether there's any spark of romantic love left. I'm not turning up my nose at the love we do share, but sometimes a bit of passionate infatuation would not be amiss from time to time.

Of course, as Clint has pointed out to me, a man is not likely to offer a romantic gesture after it's been "suggested" to him. Ater all, that would spoil the spontenaity, and therefore the romance, of such a gesture, he argues. Note that in the previous 12 years, I never made any such suggestion, hinted or not, and netted a total of one bouquet. Not that I think flowers are the end-all of romantic gestures. I can think of lots of things that could be far more original and meaningful. It's just the idea that your special someone thinks of you with affection, even when you're not there, and does something about it (even if it's the classic flowers) that makes it special.

Gratifying as the flowers are, my cynical self notices that they arrive two weeks before the beginning of Clint's 6 month venture into an East Coast tournament circuit, which will involve him being away 2-3 weeks every month until June. Is it possible that he's hoping to garner a little good will?

Whether there is a bit of truth to this or not, the two of us have been getting along great. I think he's happy becuase he's heading off on a new venture; I'm in a good mood because he's in a good mood, and maybe too because I'm hopeful for a better few months to come than the last few have been.

I loved the flowers, whatever the reason. Hopefully I conveyed my appreciation adequately! Clint is gone now, in Florida fishing on Lake Okeechobee with the aligators. Maybe when he gets back I will surprise him with a romantic gesture of my own. Hmmmm...

The Snowman Cometh

While Lisa & Jackie created virtual snowmen Shelby, Rhiannon, and Clint toiled away at a life-sized model. I thought the similarity between virtual and actual was remarkable.

Home Sweet Home

I never realized how forested my home was until I moved here to the desert northwest. I eventually came to appreciate the beauty of this area, and I stopped missing the green of home.

But during those weeks back home during my dad's illness, I was confronted with the incredible beauty of my childhood home.

This backwoods road is where I used to wander as a child when I wanted to be alone. I used to meander off into the woods and play games of pretend for hours.

New Year's Day

A snowy dawn on New Year's morning.
It was so beautiful.

I love being in the mountains in the snow.
What a perfect way to start the New Year.

What I Did This Weekend

I had an unfortunate run-in with a windstorm and my garage door on Saturday night. This is the same door whose claim to fame is shattering Gillian's thumb two years ago. This time, my finger was the casualty. A sudden fierce gust of wind slammed the door on the last three fingers of my right hand. It ripped the nail of my middle finger out--intact---, lacerated the nail bed beneath, and folded the tip of my finger back to expose the bone, which was crushed at the tip. Nice, huh?!

Did I mention we were in the middle of fighting a would-be chimney fire when all this occured? So I waited, finger in ice water, for Clint to get the chimney problem under control, called my brothrr over to watch the kids...and make sure the fire stayed out, and headed to emergency, a place I vowed never to return to. I had to face the fact that my finger would need a repair job beyond that of self care.

Kadlec did a great job, and they were very nice (my only other ER experience was at KGH...they were not nice). They removed the part of the nail that was still attached, and then reinserted it to act as a protector for my nail bed until it starts to heal. They sewed up my fingertip, and I was good to go. The doctor says I will lose the nail, it will take about a year to grow a new one in fully, and he can't say if it will grow normally...it may not. I'm just glad I've got my whole finger.

Today at my followup I got to see it agin. It's a little Frankensteinish, but I can live with it. The follow up Doc saw no signs of infection (they had expressed concern over the possibility of infection to the bone), so I'm happy.

I wanted to come home and get back to life as normal. I've got too much to do to be laying around. But the pain pills made me so nauseous I spent half the day in bed, and then when I feeling returned to my finger, the throbbing kept me from wanting to move much at all! Now, 48 hours after the injury, I'm able to do a little typing without too much discomfort. Yeah!!! I'm back on my blog!!!