Resolutions 2017

Following the success of last year, I'm becoming more convinced of the power of making resolutions. Somehow because I've written them down, and declared to the world what I intend to (at least) try and achieve, I feel more committed to actually doing something.
Another thing which helped last year was going back to the original post, checking my intentions, and seeing how far I'd succeeded, or not. Also if there was something I hadn't started before, say, March, I didn't abandon all hope but tried again.


Anyway, on to this year ...

I can't claim they ALL shrank
in the wash!

First up this year has got to be get fitter and thinner. After last December's Frank Turner gig my legs ached for days due to all the jigging about. Walking round Shipley Park recently, I felt decidedly unfit, puffing and panting up the hills, and even on the flat couldn't keep pace with the teen. So I need to do something positive about it. Also, as a financial incentive, I have a wardrobe full of too tight clothes waiting to be worn once I shift some pounds, so although my main aim is to be fitter, thinner will be an added bonus. This is a resolution I've already started on - at first I said I'd join in with a couple of zumba sessions a week with my teen, but despite how exhausting I found the first 5 minute one, I'm now doing some every day. I haven't lost weight yet but do feel lighter on my feet. So far, so good ...

Re-discovering myself - Over the past few years I've let a lot of things drift. I used to spend a lot of time gardening, knitting, making clothes, pottering (not very seriously) at painting and textile arts, or trying other crafts from lace-making to tie-dying, but somehow I've let all of them slip. This year I intend to get my old habits back. So ...
                 

- Gardening and growing - I've always been a keen gardener, growing both flowers and vegetables at home, but since we've had an allotment I think I've come to see it as more of a chore than a pleasure. This year I want to make more effort with the garden - grow some new flowers from seed, make the veg patch productive again, and, as a side effect, spend more time outside.

                     - Knitting and sewing - again, hobbies that I want to take up again. I have lots of wool stashed away in cupboards and drawers, so ought to be able to find some to knit up! Before Christmas I went out and bought some cord material ready to make a new winter skirt in a style I liked - so it's actually time I got on with it.

                     - I also want to find time to explore more 'arty' things. Early last year I spotted Sarah Salway's A Year of Artists Dates - in which she was taking an hour out each week to do something art related - and this is more or less what I want to do. I'm not quite sure how or when though.

Moving in a different direction - just before Christmas I started an on-line language course, well, two actually - Welsh and Swedish. This was about the time that Swedish thriller Modus was on TV, and I was so impressed with being able to recognise some of words that my aspirations have grown. I've now added Danish to my list, with the hope of being able to partly follow both sides of conversations when The Bridge returns.

I intend keeping up last year's resolutions - de-cluttering the spare room went so well that I want to tackle the whole house, but more importantly I want to carry on exploring new things and building a social life of my own - yes, that probably means more nights out at gigs!

In between all this, I'd like some down-time for me. There's no set timetable to my days, and so late breakfasts run into long lunches and straight into early evenings. I seem to always be doing something, but at the end of the day it's hard to see what it was. I want to be organised, get household chores done, spend time on more creative projects, and then have time to sit and think or relax in the sun (when it arrives).