Happy New Year....Happy Resolutions?

I'm not normally one for New Years' Resolutions. I find that when I resolve to do something at the new year, I will invariably work on it for a couple of months and then it fizzles away and I don't remember anything about it until, say, October...and then I work on it like a fiend until the end of the year. That's hardly what I call a proper New Years' Resolution (NYR). I've tried so many different things for NYRs over the years that I've often wondered if I jinx myself by making them in the first place. I've made the following NYRs over the years (before I stopped about 5 years ago):
1. Loose weight properly (diet & exercise) --> this one did work for awhile...but it was such a pain in the butt to constantly be dieting and having to watch every little morsel that went into my mouth. Seriously, I like to be able to go to Taco Bell once in awhile and not feel totally guilty about it.
2. Eat better --> I don't know what I was thinking when I made this resolution. I know how to eat properly...and it's not that I eat horribly. I like fruits and veggies and all the good things I'm supposed to eat. But, I found it increasingly difficult to eat properly when I wasn't sure when I was going to be able to buy groceries again...made buying fresh items more difficult.
3. Clean one room per month --> Yeah, this did not go well, ever. I was trying to force myself to go through my mother's and my stuff after she died...I wasn't ready for that. I avoided it like the plague. I would open up a drawer, take everything out, sort it into stuff that was mine that I was keeping, stuff that was mom's, and stuff that was mine that could be thrown away. I never seemed to get rid of any of my mom's stuff.
4. Spend more time with my friends --> I did quite well with this one until the sh*t hit the fan...and then I spent a lot of the next couple of years by myself. Guess I learned who my friends really were.
5. Answer e-mails --> This went over like a lead balloon. Oh, wait, Mythbusters proved that a lead balloon will float...you know what I mean. I don't know why it's so difficult for me to reply to e-mails. It's not like it's difficult for me to type a quick, "Hi, how's it going, here's what's going on" e-mail, is it?
6. Clip coupons --> It was wrought with good intent...but I never seemed to get around to buying the items that I clipped the coupons for. Oh well.
7. Have a garage sale --> I just find garage sales to be a huge pain in the butt and, as much as I needed to have one, I just never got around to it. The stuff eventually made it's way to The Society of St. Vincent de Paul and to the Buy & Sell shop...

In other words, I have made NYRs over the years and have failed miserably. I tried making some of the same NYRs from year to year, with the same dismal results.

So, this begs the question: why am I going to make NYRs again? I'm not. Well, not exactly...I'm going to make a list of things I'd like to accomplish this year.....and not beat myself up if I don't accomplish them. Does that make sense?

Anyway, onward to my List of Things I'd Like to Accomplish in 2011
1. Stashbusting --> I have a lot of yarn. No, really, it's kind of sickening how much yarn I have. So, I'm hoping to avoid buying yarn (things like the Madison Knitters' Guild Knit-In in March and Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival in September don't count) and making things using yarn already in my stash. This shouldn't prove to be too difficult. I will make the exception on yarn buying if I need more to complete a project...but that's the exception.
2. Clean the house --> This sounds like a normal task for most people but, at my house, it means going through every single thing in every single room and throwing things out, selling things, having St. Vinny's come and take things off my hands, and having the Buy & Sell shops come and take things off my hands. I have a lot of stuff. Unfortunately, this task is going to be made more difficult by the presence of Little Man. But, we're going to try it...
3. Get organized --> I am terrible at getting organized. I have good intentions and I try things out...I have yet to find something that works for both Husband and I. Someday...but we're going to keep trying!
4. Spend quality time with my Little Man --> I spend a lot of time with him now but he's so young that we're just feeding, changing, and crying. As he gets older, I hope to spend time with him outside playing, inside playing, etc.
5. Spend time knitting every day --> ...even if it's only one row.
6. Organize my yarn stash --> I also want to put it on Ravelry.
7. Organize my needles --> I also want to put it on Ravelry.

I think that's plenty to get through in a year. Granted, some of it would not take more than a day to complete...if I were to have all the time in the world and didn't have to worry about anyone else. But, that's not likely to happen. So, thing by thing, day at a time.

On that note, I hope you all have a wonderful and safe New Years' and I hope to see you all again. Oh, and if I'm feeling sassy...and if I gather enough followers...I may have a little yarn giveaway (that counts as stashbusting, right?) :)

Weekend trip to Chicago :)

So, I mentioned in this post that I had won a contest. I finally picked my pattern. I chose Queen Alice socks (that's the link to the Ravelry page)...I haven't started them as I have a few other projects on needles. Someday, I'll make those socks :)

In other random events, we spent the weekend in Chicago. We went to see some of my husband's family. It was Little Man's first trip out of state, first trip to Chicago, first trip to Ikea, and first trip to see this branch of the family. It was a good trip. We had dinner on Saturday at Joe's Crab Shack (Little Man slept through the whole thing)...followed by a trip to Ikea. We found a few things we're thinking about getting and we picked up some curtains for Little Man's room (so I can get rid of the old lady ones my grandma had in there). Husband also went to Super Dawg on Saturday night...he likes hot dogs and I'm not about to object.

We had some entertaining things happen while at the hotel. I was going to give Little Man a bath in the tub with me (it was just easier to get in with him - don't judge me!). I had to have my husband hand him to me. So, there's my husband holding Little Man (who was butt naked) and I was getting into the tub...when all of a sudden we hear this "pfffftttttt" sound. I turn around, my husband is just standing there with a look of shock and horror on his face, Little Man is grinning his toothless grin at daddy, and there's brown-green poop all over the tile floor. So, I cleaned that up while my husband put him back in the diaper (in case he wasn't done - he was). We had our bath where, at the very end, he urped (it's like burping but it's the spit-up part). That sucked. So, I had to clean part of him again. Then, I gave him to my husband in a towel and told him to go put the diaper on him. Well...I'm getting out of the tub and I hear "Little Man!" from my husband in the other room. I go out there and, apparently, Little Man decided to pee all over the duvet cover before daddy could get the diaper on. All I could do was laugh. First the poop on the tile and now the pee on the duvet...

Anyway, on Sunday (yesterday), we got up and got moving around 11am. We took a trip to Michigan Avenue for some reason...we were going to see about getting me a new coat (didn't happen). It was busier than hell and we had a time frame. So, we went on to Glen Ellyn to see the family...with a stop at String Theory Yarn Co. in downtown Glen Ellyn. I was only in there for 15 minutes but I managed to do $130 worth of damage. Oh well. Perhaps after Christmas I'll post pictures of what I got my hands on...but not right now since I may have found someone something for Christmas. Just sayin'.

We had dinner with the family and got home last night around 8:45pm. We also purchased an IPass for my car because trying to move the one back and forth is a pain in the ass. We bought it on the way down but I forgot to mention it. It's so much nicer to have that...and it was nice that the interstate wasn't under horrible construction again. I hated going down there when the construction was going on. No one knew how to handle the extra-narrow lanes.

So, weekend in Chicago. And I have either 13 or 15 followers...woo-hoo! My site lists 13 but when I go to do editing and looking at the blogs I follow, it says I have 15. Hmmmmm...

I think if I get up to 20 public followers, I may have a contest to rid myself of some yarn :) Or not. I don't know. I'll have to think about that...

Woo-hoo!

I won a contest over at We Do Not Have a Knitting Problem. I never win anything so this is grand :) Now........to decide what I want.

Anyway, still nothing new to show off (Little Man, knitting, or otherwise). I'll get there, I promise...but I need to load pictures to my laptop and then to Photobucket or Flickr (I don't have a Flickr account, though...I should make one). Okay, wait, I just made a Flickr account. This should make photo-sharing a bit easier. I mean, I have Photobucket but I've never been a huge fan of it. People seem to like Flickr much more and I've heard good things about it. So...putting photos on Flickr which means I should be able to present photos of Little Man...

Speaking of Little Man, we had our 1-month appointment yesterday. He is 9 lbs., 10 oz. and just a shade under 22" long. He was probably 21.5" at birth but they couldn't get an accurate measurement because he was so scrunched up...so, he's still 22". Oh, and his head is 14" around. He is perfectly normal. He something like the 75th percentile for length, 50th percentile for weight, and 25th percentile for head circumference. Everything is normal. We go again in a month for his 2-month appointment (which will include the first round of shots). He's having a(nother) nap right now. He'll probably wake up within the next half-hour or so as he's been fidgiting a little here and there. Or maybe not since he was up all night.

Anyway, photos of Little Man...

From December 6th, 2010

 From November 29th, 2010

And from December 9th, 2010

















Yes, he tends to have his hands in his face...when he sleeps, when he eats, you name it. But, he's cute so it doesn't matter too much :)

Maybe I'll have photos of my knitting at some point...but that may not happen if Little Man doesn't let me knit!

Busy busy busy...

I don't really have any photographs to show you (yet)...of knitting or of Arthur.

I've been extremely busy with Arthur to the point that I haven't been knitting. Every time I go to knit, he wakes up and starts screaming. So, not much has been done in the way of knitting. I've also been meaning to clean...again, haven't been able to for the same reason.

As it stands, I have a lot of things I'd like to do...and not enough time to actually do them. Oh well. Everything will get done at some point, right?

Hmmm, a shower calls before Little Man wakes up...and then to the post office and other such "downtown" places.