Happy New Year!

After we got back from our trip I decided to give myself a break from blogging, with the intention of starting up again in the new year. So, here it is the new year, and here I am, at the keyboard. I almost didn't get a post out today (it's almost 8pm as I write) because my laptop has been hijacked by Jerry. His laptop won't play Star Craft, but mine will. So, until we figure out the problem his PC is having connecting to the internet (a problem which nearly caused me to chuck the stupid thing out the window today), he'll be using mine. A lot.

So anyway, this is just a brief post to let you know I'm still alive and that I haven't let the blog go completely. I'm going to change my focus a bit, though--not that I've had much of a focus for the last couple years. Still, I'm making some changes and I'll be documenting them on this blog. They aren't mind blowing changes, but put together I expect them to do a lot to help me take full advantage of the freedom I have in my life since I adopted the principles of unschooling as a lifestyle.

I won't spoil the fun by telling you everything now (mainly because Warren and I are supposed to be watching a movie together!) but I'll give you a sneak peek of some of the changes that are going down.

1. I've hired a professional organizer to help me get my house in order. (Yippee!) I know it sounds crazy because I'm perfectly capable of organizing my own house. In fact, I'm really good at organizing. But have I done it? Nope. We've lived in this house for ten years and I've said I'm going to get the place in order at least 25 times, but I never finish. I get too overwhelmed. I want to get to a point where I can stand in my living room and say to myself, "It's done." And I'll know where to find everything we own and if it's something we don't need or use it won't be in our house at all. I've worked with the organizer for six hours so far (and done many more hours of work on my own) and I can already see tremendous progress. Before/after pictures will be coming your way very soon!
2. I'm working on forming some new habits. The smallest and most likely to have a positive effect on my life is to not put off anything that takes less than 60 seconds to complete. I've been doing it (mostly) for a couple weeks. You would not believe the amount of times in a day I start to put off tasks that literally take 5 seconds to complete! But, I've been pretty good at following through on my goal. We'll see if I can keep it up.

Anyway, those are just a couple things that are changing. Obviously one big change that's beyond my control is the fact that our beautiful dog, Patsy, is no longer with us. And I guess we'll be getting another dog soon because Jerry says he's too sad without one. So, before too long (maybe even tomorrow) we'll have a new family member that will be peeing and pooping and chewing and generally wreaking havoc on our lives. I know he or she will also bring love and cuddles and kisses and may even fill some of the empty space we've been left with, but I guess I'm not quite ready to think about that yet. I don't want any old (or young) dog. I want Patsy. I know--I'm being melodramatic. Sorry. I'll stop.


Anyway, as far as the rest of the family goes, Jerry is doing his usual thing: WoW, XBox, Star Craft, building Gundam models, reading manga, watching movies and anime, and talking to friends online. Warren is still working on Pirates 4, and expects the next four months to be really busy with lots of six and seven day weeks at work and verrrrry loooong hours. He did get the week between Christmas and New Year's off, though, and we've been savoring every minute of our time together knowing we won't be seeing much of one another once Monday comes around.

So, that's about it for now. More on the exciting new adventure that will be 2011 tomorrow!