Start as You Mean to Go On

THEY say that what you spend your New Year's Eve doing, you'll do throughout the year. Or maybe it's what you spend your New Year's Day doing, you'll do throughout the year. THEY say a lot of things, and I've heard THEM say both. So what are YOU doing?

Our office closed a few hours early today, so I came home and took a little nap--stolen afternoon naps are the yummiest, aren't they?

Hubby cooked a simple but tasty dinner for us--grilled chicken breasts, green beans, and potatoes--and we've been spending a quiet New Year's Eve at home. We watched part of an older movie together and then I headed to the Sweat Shop and left him in the livingroom watching sports of some sort--hockey, maybe. I just took a cherry pie out of the oven, and we'll share some once it cools a little.

I also spent a little time this evening blog hopping, visiting many of my internet friends to wish everyone a happy New Year! If I missed you or didn't comment, please know I hope this year brings you all the best!

In my visits, I found that some of my bloggy friends were disappointed in 2009--some for personal reasons but more often than not because of the crazy happenings in the world. I wonder though--when HAVEN'T there been crazy happenings in the world? I'm not sure there will come a time when people, groups, and/or nations aren't creating havoc of some kind. And although we may suffer through their actions, we can't control them. Yes, the economy has been terrible and many of us were affected in 2009. I hope it gets better; and I believe it is starting to turn around. Yes, there are crazies out there. And bad people--politicians, celebrities, leaders of all kinds. But I think there are many good people and many good things to be happy and grateful about. Quite often, we just don't hear about them. We need to pay more attention and recognize the good for what it is.

In my own little world, 2009 brought unemployment to Hubby, and we had to scramble a little to regain our economic hold. We did, we learned a few lessons, and I think we're actually better off in some ways. 2009 also brought the beginning of my quilt teaching "career," as well as a start to my little pattern design business. A friend told me she's really noticed a change in me this year, and she thought it might be due to increased self-assurance and a happiness I've derived from teaching. I suspect it has something to do with my bloggy friends and my local quilting pals as well! Maybe one of the biggest steps I took in 2009 was to quit smoking just about six months ago. And Soccer Son asked his Lovely Wife-to-be-Someday to marry him--and she said yes! So all in all, 2009 hasn't been too bad.

And tonight, on New Year's Eve, I'm settled in with a few of my favorite things.

So, if it's true--that you should spend New Year's Eve/New Year's Day doing what you would like to be doing all year long--then I'm pretty well set. Drinking hot chocolate, reading your blogs, eating cherry pie, working on my basket blocks, spending a little time with Hubby, napping, and--yet to come--reading. Good stuff!

Happy New Year to you and your family! I'm wishing you the best in the year to come!