Hey Friends,

Let me start by reminding you I do not make new years resolutions.  I have in the past I alwalys get mad at myself when I break them, so no more resolving to do anything just because it's a new year. So these are not new years resolutions ... I repeat ... these are not new years resolutions :)

Now, I confess I've not thought as hard about this as I should have but none the less ... here we go .... here are my EIGHT things to do in OH-EIGHT :)

1. READ MORE BOOKS.    I am a tad magazine obsessed, I subscribe to at least four. Still, I often find it  to be January and still have a random issue from October yet to be read so I'm wondering how I'm going to make time for this considering I still must read my magazines.  But I'm going to do it, even if it's only 10 min each day of "book time".   Right now I'm reading "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert and I LOVE it so far.   Next will be "Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul" by John and Stasi Eldredge. I've heard very mixed reviews on this one, people love it or hate it,  so I'm anxious to see what my opinion of it will be.  Then last on my list so far is Cure for the Common Life by Max Lucado. I'm hoping he'll make it priority to read more books this year too and be finished in time for me to read it.  I'm thinking maybe I need to buy more audio books?  That way I can multi-task and accomplish two of my  "Eight things in Oh-Eight" at one time!

2. CATCH UP ON SCRAPBOOKING.  This would be the task I could perform while listening to books on cd.  I love scrapbooking but I started sort of later in life, the wanted to "back" scrapbook and got way got behind and really never caught up.  I want to capture the past 6 years and I have alot of pictures not on pages from those years so far. If I get caught up it will really be a miracle!

3.  GET MORE SLEEP.   Accomplishing this will greatly determine how much of anything else on this list I get done.  I have a habit of getting no sleep and then being so sleepy that I'm totally unproductive throughout the day once I leave work or so sleepy that I must nap and then the cycle of not going to bed on time starts again.  I've not figured out how I'm going to do this one yet.  But in 2008 I don't just want to start going to bed early, I need to for my health.  Ten days in not much luck yet ;)

4.  GET IN MY FIVE A DAY.   Fruits and Veggies is what I'm talking about here.  Since being diagnosed with Celiac I eat more anyway because fruits and veggies in themselves are naturally gluten free.  But many days I still find myself lacking. It's harder than it sounds!

5.  DO MORE.   I don't mean get more involved or try to pile more on my plate because  I have pretty much spread myself thin with work, non-profit boards, church events , time with friends, seeing family, etc. What I mean by "do more" pertains to the free time I do have.  Usually I get really pumped about having NOTHING to do.  I tend to watch a movie and cook dinner on those weekends when I finally have "nothing" that is a MUST do.  That is nice and I  will certainly keep having my lazy days of "nothing", but I want to start taking advantage of what East Tennessee has to offer on at least 1/2 of those days.  Go to more concerts, visit market square just for a couple hours, head to the mountains, go see a play .. the list is really endless!

6.  CARE LESS.  Sounds harsh doesn't it?  But I don't mean it that way.  The problem is that with age, I tend to care to much about certain things. I am no doubt more of a Type A personality kind of person.  I do weird things like never grab the FIRST item on a shelf when shopping, fold the towels only a certain way, randomly clean at midnight when I know I have to get up at 3am, spend an entire evening re-organizing my closet, etc.   I very much WANT to have things a "certain way" (that is my daddy in me), but most the time I lack the motivation and willpower to get actually do it.  It;s like I have the desire to have things "so-so", I just don't have the mindset to get it done or something?  So I end up a big ball of stress!!  So I'm going to try and CARE LESS if our closets are a little cluttered, the bathroom floor hasn't been mopped, our magazine rack is overflowing or the dishes aren't done.  See here is the difference in things I hope to do and having a RESOLUTION ... if I were making a RESOLUTION I would resolve to  get all these things I think about doing, done. But nope .. I'm going to try to just not care as much!

7. LOVE LAUNDRY.  Haha, that's right I want to try to love laundry. I mean I love clothes! Really all I want to do is start putting away my laundry as soon as I hear the buzzer. I don't mind doing laundry.  I really don't mind folding it either,  I can do that and watch my two or three shows I tune into.  It's the putting away that I can't stand.  I think it's because I still long for that closet that is the size of my house and I stress as I try to cram my way too many clothes in my closet that is really already plenty big enough!  Hey speaking of clothes I'm working on downsizing. I got rid of about 40 items last month and just but another 20 in a bag for charity last night!  I tend to hang onto clothing.

8. SIMPLICITY.   This is really the only thing I care about doing.  I just want 2008 to be a happy one for myself and everyone around me.  Sometimes it's the simple things that help make that a reality and I hope even more this year I take time to stop and take in those things.  I hope the same for you because as morbid as it sounds and as sad as it is to think about ... tomorrow isn't a guarantee! 

 I'm sure this list will change from month to month, maybe even week to week!!  Until then I think I"m going to head out home for the day and work on number ONE, maybe even number TWO and totally ignore number FIVE (hello pj's and my comfy couch ... hey give me a break ... it's raining) 

Thanks for reading my blog in 2007!! In 2008 I hope you tell a friend to log on, post more comments and send me suggestions of what you want me to blog about.

Be safe out there,
Stacy :)