New Beginnings

If Candlemas day be sunny and bright, Winter again will show its might.
If Candlemas day be cloudy and grey, Winter soon will pass away.

We all know the 'rule' about Groundhog Day- If the groundhog sees his shadow, then we get 6 more weeks of winter but if not, then spring is soon to come.  I find that whole thing a tiny bit odd. I mean .. I know where the 'official' groundhog is, he didn't see his shadow .. but here, it's bright an sunny and bordering on warm, so here, a groundhog certainly would. So how does that account for different parts of the country, much less the world?

Groundhog Day (or Candlemas, or Imbolc) for me is instead about new beginnings. It seems to happen that around this time every year, something new begins for me. last year, I left a job that was causing me stress and not paying me enough to even make traveling worth it.  I wish that the job at the yarn shop had lasted longer after that, but Sheri wasn't happy running the place, and it was becoming an unfun place to work.

With that in mind, I have chosen to take this Imbolc as a time to begin actively working on the School of the Season's New Year's Wishes workbook. It's something I wanted to start last year, but school and work and everything got in the way. I'll be posting my exercises here, both as a way to share my explorations, and because I don't really like writing things longhand anymore.

101 in 1001 - Third Time's the Charm?

Start date: 12-21-2010
End Date: 9-17-2013

Self Improvement:
001. Complete Living in Season’s New Year’s Dreams course (Blogfodder)
002. Complete Living in Season’s seasonal workbooks (Blogfodder)
003. Lose another 25/50 pounds
004. Work out on WiiFit at least 3x a week for 2 months/for 6 months/for 1 year.
005.Take dance lessons with my husband
006. Keep my home ‘drop in’ ready for 3 months/6 months/1 year
007. Have laser eye surgery done
008. Pay off CapOne card
009. Pay off Citi card
010. Enjoy 10 Manicures/Pedicures (0/10)
011. Enjoy 3 professional massages. (0/3)
012. Complete Year and a Day in Magick book (Blogfodder)
013. Decide if I want to do a teaching program and get my license, or continue with Masters and teach college.
014. Finish teaching program/take Praxis ii/get license OR complete masters program of choice
015. Keep a Daily Happiness Journal and use it at least 3x a week (Blogfodder)
016. Donate 100k grains of rice on FreeRice.com

Food and Drink:
017. Cook at least five recipes from each cook book I currently own, & blog about them

(Caveat: just the ones currently in the house. Most of them are packed up.)

018. Take a cooking class
019. Learn how to make 10 different cocktails
020. Make cookie boxes for family/friend gifts for 2011/2012
021. Create a personal cookbook/recipe file of my favorites (Blogfodder)

Creative:
022. Complete a jigsaw puzzle with my husband
023. Participate fully in the 52 in 52 knitting challenge (Blogfodder)
024. Participate fully in the Year of Stash Socks challenge (Blogfodder)
025. Take a quilting class
026. Go on the Believe in Yourself retreat
027. Complete a Journal Journey (Blogfodder)
028. Put together a wedding/Our Life scrapbook
029. Create a photo wall in my office with framed pictures of friends and family
030. Finish the afghan kit I have in the stash (Blogfodder)
031. Finish the beaded bag kit I have in stash (Blogfodder)
032. Finish the beaded scarf kit I have in stash (Blogfodder)

Photography:
033. Take a photograph to represent each month (0/33) (Blogfodder)
034. Upload photos to BlipFoto at least 3x/week for 1 month/6 months/1 year
035. Complete Project 365 (0/365)
036. Submit a photo to a photography competition (Blogfodder)
037. Take part in the 4am project
038. Take ten pictures of things that make me happy (0/10) (Blogfodder)
039. Take ten pictures of things that make me sad (0/10) (Blogfodder)
040. Make a coffee table book out of our travel photography
041. Photograph a landscape from the same location, capturing all four seasons (Blogfodder)
042. Participate in at least one 26 Things list (Blogfodder)

Reading/Writing:
043. Leave 12 notes in 12 different books for strangers to find (Blogfodder)
044. Answer the “50 Questions That Will Free Your Mind”
045. Read 10 novels off the Modern Library’s Top 100 list (Blogfodder)
046. Read 10 novels off the 1001 Books You Must Read before You Die list (Blogfodder)
047. Blog about each of my 101 things as they are completed
048. Send two postcards a month through PostCrossing
049. Participate in and finish NaBloPoMo
050. Read 1 book every month and blog about it
051. Write 1 poem every week for 6 months/1 year/18 months/2 years
052. Reach 500 blog posts in my personal journal/photo journal/knitting journal
053. Submit my writing to a publication every 3 months
054. Read the books I own but have never finished

Movies/TV/Music:
055. See 10 movies on the AFI Top 100 list (Blogfodder)
056. See 25 movies on the IMDB top 250 list (Blogfodder)
057. Compile a playlist of my 100 favorite songs 
058. Compile a list of my 100 favorite movies 

Places to Visit/Things to See:
059. Travel somewhere by train 
060. Take a cruise longer than 3 days 
061. Watch the sun rise and set in the same day.

Things to Buy:
062. A traditional Anniversary gift for my husband on our 10th, 11th and 12th Anniversaries
063. An iPad

Other:
064. Drink beer (wine, mixed drink) at noon on Tuesday in a bar that faces a giant car wash
065. Leave 20 Operation Beautiful notes somewhere (Blogfodder)
066. Repaint our kitchen cabinets white
067. Repaint our bedroom
068. Paint bathrooms
069. Encourage someone to write their own 101 in 1001 list
070. Have my wedding rings resized
071. Frame and hang our diplomas when we get them in January/February
072. Decrease my stash by 1 tote/2 totes/3 totes
073. Have my holiday gift list finished by September 1st 2011/2012/2013
074. Have all purchasable gifts wrapped by December 1st 2011/2012
075. Frame the print we bought in Asheville last year, and my poster, and hang them somewhere
076. Clean out my closet every six months and donate old clothing to Goodwill/Tender Mercy

Resolutions

Well, a lot of mine work into my 101 in 1001 list, but I can post a few that I’d like to do -this- year and not by August 2013.

1. Continue losing weight and exercising
• I started this weight-loss journey at about 220lbs. At last check on WiiFit I was 194, which is up about 15 pounds from my lowest point. I've been off the wagon for almost 3 months, so it's time to get back on. I'd like to see 150lbs by the end of the year.
2. Get the kitchen cabinets repainted
• Hubby and I have been slowly trying to make the house more 'us'. We did a lot of improvements over the last year, repainting and stuff, and there's more to get done, but repainting the cabinets we know we can do without much fuss. 
3. Knit and Spin from stash (as much as possible)
• I have a sizeable (at least 7 large totes chock-full!) yarn stash and I want to use it up, because it's all yarn I love. My spinning stash is notably smaller, but it's still loved, and I want to use it too.
4. Get a handle on christmas gifts early
• Part of this is going to be knitting/crocheting/sewing quick-and-easy gifts throughout the year. Also, making a 'What I'm Giving' list early .. like, by springtime .. will help.
5. Continue decluttering the house
• We've done good at this too, but there's still work to do. We're slight packrats .. not on the same level as hoarders, but we still have too much stuff. Starting with clearing out more clothes, and going through the back attic, I want to donate/trash a few bags of stuff by Spring.
6. Date night with hubby at least twice a month
• We don't do enough together, and when we have gotten out here in the last little bit, it's been amazing fun. I'd like to take dance lessons when we can afford it, but until then, dinner out, or a movie, or -something- fun and just us twice a month will be good.
7. Find a job to help pay down debt
• I've been trying to find something, but the job market is, as it is almost everywhere, pretty awful. Sending out applications every day, and if I get no bites signing on with a staffing agency will get me to this goal much faster.
8. Find a graduate program and get accepted
• This is assuming I still want to teach college. That is the current thought, but I'm still deciding if I might not want to teach younger students. Either way, I need to get into the appropriate program, whether it be graduate school or a teacher education program, or at least get moving on getting into it.
9. Participate fully in 52 in 52 - 2011
•  52 projects completed in 52 weeks. Shouldn't be difficult, right? Except with my attention span, projects tend to languish. I have a Wrapigan sitting in a back that refuses to be finished, and a knitted owl toy that is only half done. I am going to try to use this challenge as a way to get some simple gifts made though.
10. Participate fully in Year of Stash Socks 2011 
• I have less hope for this, but I'm going to try at the very least. I have a lot of sock yarn, and love wearing hand-knitted socks. They're warm and toasty. So we'll see!
11. Write more often (poetry/short stories/essays/anything)
• I love writing. Creative writing. I haven't been able to do much at all lately, and I miss it. I've subscribed to several prompt blogs and such, so we'll see if I can do this a little more regularly this year.

I don't believe it!

I still can't believe my kitchen is clean. It's like walking into a whole new world. Bit I'm making a strong effort to keep it that way now. We still haven't gotten the living room -completely- straightened, and I've got to spray pest repellant everywhere .. hopefully I can do so today, since it's not raining.

I totally failed on NaNoWriMo. But honestly, trying to do it while I still have school is a silly thing. Work and school in the month of November are just too busy for me to be trying to spend hours a day writing something that's giving me neither a grade nor a paycheck.

You Rule.

I got my grade for my essay today. I have to admit, I don't think I did as much work on the essay as I could have. I sort of wrote it half-assed and without a whole lot of planning.

I got a 194/200. That's a 97. That's an A. On a paper I really didn't try at.

I think most of all, his comments made me feel good.

I really admire the “scholarship” of this essay. The work you did with the editorial commentary really clarifies and strengthens your position. Your ability to synthesize that information into textual analysis of the particular story shows an extremely high level of reading comprehension and analytic / critical thinking skill. Well done.

That was part of the comments in the middle of the paper. This following bit was his comments at the end.

Dear Tania,
Usually, when someone says “I saved the best for last,” it is often empty rhetoric; however, here’s a case for the verity of that statement. Your essay did arrive last, and it WAS worth the wait. Thank you, thank you!
This essay shows such a high level of both reading and writing (including structure, format, documentation, and editing) skill that it is just simply remarkable.
What is even more gratifying is the plainly wonderful scholarship that went into it. Thank you. I can’t remember a more pleasurable read in student essays. You rule. cm

Now, the informal way the professor talks to us is a little weird for me, but I think it's his way of trying to encourage us. But what got to me is how impressed he seemed to be with what I didn't consider my best work.