It's May: Happy Arbitrary New Year!!

I have a tendency to just make stuff up as I go along.  Stuff like...um...calendars and holidays and words.  Recipes.  Family rules. Paint colors.  Really, it's kind of an illness with me.

I guess you knew that.

So it should surprise no one that I'm ready to wish you a Happy New Year.  Today.  On Tuesday, May 17th, 2011. (Yes, I'm post-dating this entry.  Because right now?  It's a rainy Monday morning and mostly, I just want to go back to bed. I love a good spring rain.  I mostly like Mondays. But Rainy Mondays should be illegal.) (It's supposed to rain tomorrow, Tuesday, too but by then we will have momentum on our side.)

Pretend, for a minute, that this is last week, when the weather was spectacular and the garden beckoning. When I spent as much time as possible outside, noticing the dogwood and azaleas in bloom.  Or the week before, when we celebrated Cinco de Mayo (except we celebrated it on the seventh because that's just how we roll around here) by breaking in our new fire pit, built by moi in a fit of Spring Giddiness.

(I will now use parenthetical photos to illustrate, just in case you needed further proof of my digression prowess.  (Seriously, I am a master.  They ought to add this sport to the Olympics.)

Fire pit in use. How much do I love this thing??

Roasting marshmallows--a totally awesome added bonus!! (My friend Shirley brought sombreros, because she understands the need for appropriate and whimsical headware when celebrating the Siete de Mayo.) 

Opening Mother's Day presents outside, surrounded by gorgeous flowers in bloom (especially the one in the softball uniform.)

)

See, it occurred to me this last week, as Spring is bursting forth all around me, that THIS is really the time when I want to make my New Year's Resolutions.  In January, when most New Year's Resolutions are made, I'm so tired from the hectic holidays that all of my resolutions have to do with relaxing and getting more sleep and notfreakingmakingmyselfsocrazyNEXTyear, whatwasIthinking. But during THIS time, when you can almost measure the new growth of the plants on a daily basis, when hibernation is over and the need to go out into the sun is a compulsion, when it's impossible to practice restraint while buying flats of impatiens --THIS is when I feel renewed and energetic and resolved.

So, first, I decided that I would resolve to give up refined sugar. Since we got back from Texas, I haven't been feeling very well and I think it's because of the reintroduction of processed, refined foods back into my diet after a pretty significant hiatus.  (My husband is always talking about "respecting your ride."  I never really got this until I found yoga, which inspires me to live healthier in order to get better at it.  I think that's why I lost weight --I started eating more mindfully and listening to what my body wanted.  Oddly enough, it never wanted dense, high-fat sugary stuff. (I know what you're thinking.  Just keep it to yourself.  I've lost 25 pounds! However deluded I may be, you can't argue with the results.)

Anyway, I gave up sugar for about half a day before I had to make my daughter Ana's birthday cake.  (Yes, she turned 13 in MARCH.  It's my calendar and I reserve the right to celebrate things whenever the heck I want.)

Got refined sugar?

The great thing about just arbitrarily declaring New Year's in May is that if you fall off the wagon, you can just start again on some OTHER completely arbitrary day.  (Y'all, this is brilliant.)  So, on this Arbitrary New Year's Eve, I am resolving to give up refined sugar. (Again.  Shhh!)

My other resolution is to begin my next book and to write something on it every day.  One of the things I took away from Stephen King's book On Writing is that you have to stay in touch with your current Work In Progress every single day or it will die on you.  (I know this to be true with knitting.) So I started my book on Tuesday, May 10th but so far, I've only written 341 words.  TODAY, on this Arbitrary New Year's Eve, I just cut my fingernails in preparation for much typing. (I am a terrible typist anyway, but with long nails, I am an EXCRUCIATING typist.  Sorry to everyone who received e-mails from me over the past month.) The working title for the book is Inhaling Wonder: The Story of One Woman's Journey Through Chronic Pain. (Thank you all so much for all of your encouragement. I may never be able to express how much it meant to me.)

I have a few other sub-resolutions concerning my yoga practice and my household money management practices, but those are the big two.  I invite you to join me, because simply writing down your resolutions seems to have magical properties.  I'll even throw in a giveaway, Barb-style.

Tell me what your resolutions are in the comments of this post and you will be entered to win the donation of a vegetable garden in your name. (Contest closes one week from today, or a week from tomorrow, depending on when you celebrate the Arbitrary New Year.)

Happy Arbitrary New Year, either today or tomorrow!  Have fun!