Resolutions....

What Resolutions?

So, 2006 has arrived, and January is doing its level best to rush to the end without as much as a by-you-leave! It is also the time of year for self-congratulation and self-flagellation; depending on how last year's big goals and dreams went. For many of us it is usually a time for reflection upon our lives and then the day after the New Year hangover wears off a feeling of new beginnings overtakes us.
On the recrimination front, here are a few of the usual suspects:

• I should’ve exercised more…


• I should’ve given up…


• I should’ve taken the chance to…

Just add your own endings.

If you are of the fortunate, some say, sensible, breed of human who manages to avoid the self-recrimination and self-assessment of New Years, feel free to skip to the quotes and humour below.

As for the rest of you, join me in my misery…
I have a few old chestnuts that pop up each year on my “I should’ve…” list and I’m willing, kind of, to bare my failings.

Lynn’s Top 5 “I should have…” List.

1. I should have exercised more.


2. I should have written to friends more than once a year!


3. I should have made a better effort to have a balance between work and relaxation.


4. I should have made more effort to be patient.


5. I should have walked the dogs more.

If you’re feeling in a good mood, I’d love to hear your “I should have…” list too.

And what, I hear you asking, are your 2006 resolutions?
Not telling!

Well, okay. Maybe I will spill a few beans.
Every year I choose 4 or 5 areas of my life that need to be tidied up (ie – they have “I should haves” from last year) or areas that just need to keep ticking over. In each of these areas I decide on the 3 or 4 most important things I could achieve throughout the year. This gets typed up and made pretty on a word processor, is printed out and then bluetacked to my wall. At the end of the year I take a look to see how well I did. Don’t ask about 2005!

So, this year I have two “should haves” already under control. Sort of.
My perennial favourite – exercise – is now under the guidance and control of a personal trainer. Boy, is that a love/hate relationship.
And for those who have suffered through countless conversations about all of the wonderful ideas for renovating our house, you will be pleased to know that we have FINALLY begun the process. An architect, Ron Sang, has been engaged to do the preliminary measure-up and concept plans. That should start this month. (I can hear my bank manager crying now. Or is that laughing and rubbing their hands together? Hmm.)

If you have a spare moment, I would love to hear what your “Should have” and 2006 Resolutions lists are. Feel free to add it to the comments section.

~~~~
Quotes for an upbeat 2006.

“If you can dream it, you can do it.”
- Walt Disney

“Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.”
- Jeremy Kitson

Dum spiro spero. {While I breathe, I hope.}
- Clan Lindsay motto (this is better than my clan’s – Aut Pax Aut Bellum)

~~~~
For Cat Lovers – the Cat-English Dictionary.

Miaow – Feed me.
Meeow – Pet me.
Mrooww – I love you.
Mmrow – I feel like making noise.
Mioo-oo-oo – I am in love and must meet my betrothed beneath the hedge. Don’t wait up.
Rrrow-mawww – Please the time has come to tidy the cat box.
Rrow-miawww – I have remedied the cat box untidiness by shovelling the contents as far out of the box as was practical.

To be continued…

~~~~
Howard had felt guilty all day long. No matter how much he tried to forget about it, he couldn't. The guilt and sense of betrayal was overwhelming.

But every once in a while he'd hear that small inner voice trying to reassure him, "Howard. Don't worry about it. You aren't the first doctor to sleep with one of your patients and you won't be the last."

But invariably the other voice would bring him back to reality, "Howard. You're a veterinarian."