Well the holidays are over, all the decorations are down and put away, I think I am finally over whatever cold plagued me for a few weeks and it i time to start getting on with things. With the new year, I want to try to commit myself to some new things. My attitude has been kind of crappy lately about a lot of things for various reasons, mainly because I haven’t felt good. Now that I seemed to passed a lot of that, I want to try to get myself together and get back to doing things that are good for me and the family overall. First on that list is making a commitment to be healthier. That means more exercise, number one. I practically get non and it’s really my own fault. Exercise is not easy for anyone to make a commitment to. No one really likes to do it, but it should be done to keep healthy. Do I have a hard time with? Of course I do, partly because of my physical limitations and partly because I hate doing it. So I am making a commitment to get more exercise, whether it is through the exercise bike, using the fitness programs we have for the Wii or the XBox, or just getting out and walking.

That’s another thing I need to do more of – get out of the house. I have complained about it before, but I don’t get out enough and it is my own fault. I spend a large portion of the day inside either working or doing stuff around the house and only see the outside when the dog needs to go out. So that is going to change too.

I also seem to have gotten away from some things that I have really enjoyed doing that I want to get back to. The first of these is reading. I haven’t spent enough time reading anything other than the newspaper for the last year, and I need to get back to reading some of the books I have. I have quite a stockpile of books built up over the last year and it is time to start making a better commitment to taking them on and getting back into the world of reading. There’s really no excuse why I have gotten away from it, and I love to do it, so it’s time to get back.

I also love to do my writing and I have gotten away from that as well. Spending so much time working as a writer has made me not want to do it at times. After doing it for hours a day, it is hard to get motivated enough to get back to doing it, even if it is something fun you want to write, like this blog. I want to have more time to do the writing I enjoy and get my creative self moving again. So I will be doing that as well, promising to spend more time writing and blogging.

There are two other things that I seem to have let slip over the last year that I need to get back to as well. One is doing more things with Sean. Between him in middle school now and work, we run in two different directions. Sometimes I feel like the only time we spend doing things with each other is me telling him to clean something up or do his homework. I want to spend more time doing something with him, even if it is just playing a video game for a few minutes. We actually have an idea that we are going to work on that let’s us both do something and write at the same time. More about that in a minute.

The other thing I kind of let slip away was something silly, but I enjoyed doing it and just stopped because I felt like I needed to stop. I used to choose a song of the day and post it on Facebook every day. It was something silly and random, but I had fun doing and some people seemed to like it. It often gave a talking point among some of my family and friends. After I got sick, I did pick it up again after my time in the hospital, but I kind of lost time and interest in it along the way and stopped doing it. Well, I am going to pick up doing it again and I’ll be posting it on here as well.

So here’s a better rundown on how things are going to be changing:

I will be taking better care of myself through better eating and exercise, and I will even consent to going to see some of the doctors I haven’t seen in a while because, well, I am pretty tired of doctors at this point in my life. However, I do realize it is to my benefit and that of my family if I make sure everything is working properly, so I will get back to it. And I am going to lose weight, dammit!

I am going to make a point to make sure I get outside and do something for at least 15 minutes each day. Even if it is just walking the dog around the backyard (although right now the backyard is a sheet of ice, hopefully the warm weather this week will help it go away), I am going to do that.

I am going to make more time for reading. I will dedicate 15 minutes in the morning and at least 15 minutes before bed to reading one of my books. I’ll keep you posted on what I am reading and let you know how the books are. I am starting with William Paul Young’s “Cross Roads,” one I got for Christmas. Those who know me know I greatly enjoyed his book “The Shack,” so we’ll see how this one goes.

I am going to make more time for fun writing as well. That means at least 15 minutes in the morning and the evening of writing on my blog. It may be something short or long, whatever I feel like doing that day, but it is going to be there. It will also incorporate two of my other goals, which includes posting the song of the day and doing something with Sean. Sean and I got for Christmas something called “The Storymatic,” which is a box of cards with words or phrases on it designed to give you an idea or theme of something to write about. Sean and I are going to draw cards and see what we get and then each write about it on our blogs. We agreed we can write about what is picked in any way that we want. That means it can be complete fiction, it can be a true story, it can be just our own interpretation of the idea, it can be a question posed to our readers, anything we want it to be. The idea is it will give us something to write about. And the story doesn’t have to be long or anything, just a couple of paragraphs. So we’re going to give it a shot. Sean drew two cards out of the box last night. One is a character trait and the other is the theme for the story:

A person who will do whatever it takes

Mother’s necklace

So we each need to come up with something around that idea. I’ll have my post on it later today. We’ll see when Sean does his.

Finally, for today’s Song of the Day, we have:

The Beatles – The Fool On The Hill

That’s where I am at right now. I am going to do my best to try to stick to everything and move forward. Thanks to everyone who has given me their support and keeps me going not just with this blog but with everything else going on in life. I appreciate everyone who comes along for the ride. I’ll still do random posts and questions now and then, but for now I think I need to get into a routine of everything first before I decide how I want to play. Keep checking in to see what is here each day and we’ll have some fun with it. I’ll be back later with my story about a person who will do whatever it takes and a mother’s necklace. Thanks again and see you later!