Update on New Year's Resolutions

Seeing as the mid-point of 2008 is quickly approaching, I thought I'd give an overview on my New Year's Resolutions. It's always a good thing to assess and evaluate one's progress, right? In case you don't remember, I decided that the year's theme would be to Do Stuff on Purpose. Specifically, I planned to seek out outdoor activities and to find new books, music and art. I was also going to write down the little stuff in my journal.

I completed my move to Colorado. If that's not doing something On Purpose, I don't know what is. Almost no one packs up all their stuff and moves 700 miles away without meaning to.

All 3 children have bikes and are getting quite good on them now. They are proudly boasting shins and knees full of scrapes and bruises to prove their hard work. I haven't bought my bike yet. I don't see much reason for it until the kids are riding faster than I jog. We get out and bike/jog on the path near our apartment whenever we can. We've also started hiking and flying kites.

I bought camping gear to add to our outdoor activities. We have used our tent and sleeping bags once, but that trip was cut short due to the unfortunate timing of a nasty stomach virus. Trust me, you don't want to know the rest.

Finding new music has been easy since moving here. My favorite radio station plays at least one song I've never heard every day. Sometimes they are good, sometimes they aren't. I've also been hounding Caleb and Jennifer; they have great taste in music and know wonderful artists that I want to know.

Finding new books has been a little more difficult, partly because I haven't had much time for reading. But the biggest reason that it has been hard is that I read an amazing book that made it hard to get into anything else for a while. It was one of those books that I was truly sad to finish. I started, stopped, started again and finally gave up on 3 books after that one because I just couldn't let it go. Fortunately, I am back on track now. (In case you want to read it, the amazing book is Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.)

I realized recently that all the books I love are books that I want my children to love, too. Obviously, they can't read most of them (nor would I want them to read a few of them for several more years!) for themselves. But then it occurred to me that they are finally mature enough to listen to longer books without pictures and I can make a project out of reading great series of books to them. We have started with The Chronicles of Narnia. We are half way through The Magician's Nephew and they are loving it.

The kids and I have discovered origami. There is a neat little section of our On Demand cable menu that posts videos of how to fold certain shapes. We invested in a beginner's kit and an extra envelope of special paper. It's pretty fun. The kids are getting really good at matching the edges of the paper and making sharp creases. That has to do something for their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination, right? In any case, it keeps them out of my hair for 15 minutes when I need it.

As for journaling and blogging ... well, the blog speaks for itself. My journal has been rather neglected lately since so much information goes here. I'll work on that. I've also made some steps in the right direction for scrapbooking. I asked for scrapbooking supplies for Christmas but I haven't done much with them yet. Last week I spent $16 on prints from Snapfish so I can begin filling those scrapbooks. I can't wait for them to get here.

So, there you have it. The year is half over and we are well on our way to living a more active and creative life. It's kind of fun to make New Year's resolutions and actually keep them.