Happy New Year!

I'll admit it. I love New Year's. It's my favorite holiday. I don't even do anything for the holiday, I just love having that clean slate (As Anne Shirley would say, "Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it").

So my resolution for 2011 is to be more "in the moment."

I'm trying to avoid multitasking (I deplore multitasking) and to really think about what I'm doing, be more cognizant of my actions, ask myself what are my motivations for doing something before I do it.

This is actually something that I started about six months ago, but I'm still a work in progress.

It started with going to Frances' play. I just decided that I didn't want to worry about taking pictures or filming it. I'm so distracted by the tools in my hands that I end up not even enjoying the play. And let's be honest, it's not like I'm going to watch the video of it later -- but just in case I did want to, I made Nigel film it (and no, I haven't watched the video).

Then when my kids were taking various classes (Alice Grace in gymnastics and Jeffrey in parkour), I decided to purposely not take anything with me. Instead of reading or knitting, I watched them participate. They loved that I was there cheering them on and seeing every move they made.

Now before I buy something or eat something, I ask myself, "Do I really need this? Am I just bored? Is it worth it?"

So if you see me doing something and I don't stop right away to say hi, I'm not being rude, I'm just waiting until I finish so I can give you my full, undivided attention. So that's my goal for 2011.

Happy New Year!

Like most of you, one of my new year's resolutions has been to eat healthier.

Cut out sugar? No way. Say no to fast food? Yeah, like that's going to happen.

I'm not going to cut anything out. Instead, I've decided to ADD good food into my existing diet and make better choices.

For instance:

Salad at McDonald's -- grilled instead of crispy chicken.

Meatloaf -- I added two cups of chopped cabbage to one pound of ground beef (when it cooks down, you can't see it or taste it).

Creamy Chicken & Rice -- plain yogurt instead of sour cream and brown rice instead of white rice.

Snacks at work -- nuts instead of M&Ms.

French toast -- whole grain bread instead of white.

So far, ADDING good food is a lot more fun than TAKING away the bad food. Hopefully, I'll retrain my tastebuds so that I'll crave the good foods. Yeah, I don't think so, either. But I'm still willing to try.

The Parable of the Diet

"Shed" -- painted by Nigel

I went from a skinny child to a chubby middle schooler to a fat high schooler to an obese* college student. How could this be? I was eating and exercising the same as my much thinner friends. What was going on?

Then I decided to do an experiment. I was going to study my skinny friends and REALLY see if they were doing anything differently. OK. Thin people do NOT eat at all! We may dish up the same portions, but while I'm eating everything on my plate and licking it clean, they're throwing all of their food away. Even though we may be walking up the same flight of stairs, they're hopping and bounding while I'm crawling.

I decided to act like a thin person. I ate only half of what I wanted and wasted all kinds of energy bouncing around. In about six months I lost 45 pounds and by continuing to pay strict attention to what I do and what I eat, I've been able to keep it off through 17 years of marriage and three children.

Financially, I'm going to do the same experiment. I'm convinced that I'm as frugal as the next person, yet I can't seem to save any money. Am I scrimping as much as I think? Or am I blissfully unaware of my spending and consuming habits?

So 2008 is going to be my year of spending consciously. Just like in my diet where I stop and ask myself "Am I really hungry or am I just bored?" before I eat something, I'm going to stop and ask myself "Do I really need this or am I just bored?" before I buy something.

Let's see if I can find success in this area of my life just by being aware of what I'm doing.

*Please note that Nigel met and fell in love with me when I was at my heaviest. So another reason why he's the coolest guy on the planet.

New Year's Memory #3

Go back a few years, it's New Year's day and Nigel and I invite Geo and her husband out to lunch at a local Indian restaurant.

Everything is going well and then Nigel chokes, coughs, and hurls all over the table. He drinks some water and hurls again! What the heck? Nigel and Geo's husband go into the bathroom and they soon return. Everything's OK. Nigel takes another drink of water and spews water all over!

Please note that all through this little episode, Geo is horrified, her husband is helpful, Nigel is confused and I'm going back to the buffet for seconds (it's an ALL YOU CAN EAT buffet! I have to get my money's worth!).

The poor waiter has no idea what's happening. We're trying to hide the barf with napkins, less he think the delicious food is making Nigel sick.

We go home and Nigel feels OK, but he still can't keep anything down. Even his own saliva gets spit up immediately after he swallows.

Finally, he can't stand it any more and we decide to go to the emergency room. We don't have a car, so we call my nephew, Fred, to drive us to the hospital (yet again, Fred saves the day). Fred has just gotten back from the slopes, so he takes us over in full ski gear.

Of course, in the emergency room, everyone thinks that it's FRED that needs help (since he's in the ski clothes), and not the crazy man spitting into a cup.

They finally look at Nigel and realize that a piece of chicken is caught in his throat. It isn't blocking the entrance to his lungs, so he can breathe just fine, but it is blocking the entrance to his stomach, so he can't swallow anything. The doctor has to sedate him, stick a claw down his throat and pull it out.

The doctor is NOT pleased about being called in on New Year's Day (if you don't want to work holidays, you should be a teacher, NOT a doctor) and keeps commenting about how the piece of chicken didn't have a single bite mark in it. Nigel swallowed it whole.

Nigel, on the other hand, is coming out of the anesthesia and drunkenly telling everyone he sees, "It was the best Indian food I've ever eaten! It was so good. It was the best I've ever eaten!"

Hey Geo, want to go out to lunch again? (ha, ha, ha)

New Year's Memory #2

Our friends throw a big New Year's Eve party every year. It's a lot of food, fun and friends. It's especially awesome because you can bring your kids (don't have to find a sitter -- yay!).

One year we decided to leave a little bit before midnight because it was starting to snow. We were about a quarter of the way home when the snow really started coming down. The snow was so heavy that it broke our windshield wipers! There they were, spinning around crazily like a baton twirler in the Miss America pageant.

Since it was New Year's Eve, no place was open for us to call for help (this was before my infamous "flat tire" incident that prompted our finally getting a cell phone). At one point we parked underneath a car wash car port to wait out the storm.

We ended up driving home at about 10 miles per hour with the windows down so that Nigel and I could stick our heads out to see the road ahead. Our poor kids were freezing to death.

Yes, we did make it home in one piece (though the windshield wipers did not). Needless to say, I think we'll stay in this New Year's Eve.

New Year's Memory #1

My fondest New Year's memory was when Nigel and I were first married. Our neighbors (also a newlywed couple) invited us over.

We sat around watching "Viva Las Vegas" while spraying whipped cream into our mouths (our fabulous hosts had supplied us each with a can). Later, our friend's little brother came over and read to us out of "Sein-Language" in his best Jerry Seinfeld voice.

Very low key, very casual, but oh so much fun. Just talking, laughing, and enjoying each other's company. The best way to ring in the new year.