Two Simple Resolutions, and a Book Recommend

Happy New Year!

There is something about a brand new year. I always feel this burst of energy to clear away clutter and start over. Deep cleaning my desk and my kitchen usually satisfies me.

This year, my obsession is worse than ever. When we walked back into our house last Saturday after being away for 10 days, 10 gloriously care-free days surrounded by the simple, spare decor of a mountain cabin, my first thought was.........."UGH!"

Everywhere I looked, I saw "stuff." Suddenly, all my collections, vignettes, tableaux, and displays of precious memoribilia just looked like too much stuff. And while I've never really gotten into the art of Feng Shui, I suddenly find myself craving clear spaces, smooth pathways, the Zen of empty.

I've been re-looking at all my "stuff" and am slowly making thoughtful piles to donate. Most of it is stuff I originally acquired from some other woman's pile of donations, in the form of finds that made me salivate in my favorite thrift stores.

My house was stuffed with other people's stuff.

My progress is slow, but already I do see improvement. I want to enjoy having less, needing less. I will get there if it takes me all year.

And.......this is hard to say........I am going to make an effort to stay out of thrift stores for awhile. I know, I know, I may suffer painful withdrawal. But my thinking at this point is that, if I don't see it, I won't decide I need it. All my "deals" and small purchases do add up, and it's time to tighten my purse strings. Past time, rather. We all knew our splurge in Sunriver was a last hurrah.

That's my first resolution. To live with less, to embrace having less, to seek having less.

My other one is simple, too. I've decided that, for the next seven days, everything that goes into my mouth will be healthy and good for me, and everything that comes out of my mouth will be respectful.

I can only take this resolution for seven days at a time, for reasons which should be obvious to any human being, women especially. The thought of not eating a single treat for a whole year is just too impossible to swallow.

And the temptation to use my vocabulary for a smart remark, a muttered barb, a quick defense, a sarcastic quip, or a "justified" rant is, frankly, too often there. I'm good with words. So's my daughter. It gets us both in trouble, and usually with each other.

I'll report back later on how my seven days went.

Now for a book recommend.

I just finished Origin by Diana Abu-Jaber and thought it was good. A mystery, nothing too gory or too explicit. She's a terrific writer. Breathtaking descriptions! Here's what the plot summary on the back of the book says: "Secretly, in her heart of hearts, Lena Dawson hides the strangest of beliefs about her childhood. A superb fingerprint analyst in a crime lab in snowy Syracuse, New York, she feels totally out of place. A mysterious series of crib deaths leads her to solve the most difficult puzzle of all -- the one of her own origins." This one kept me turning pages and waking up early to read another chapter.

Happy New Year again! May we all be blessed with what is good and right and true in 2009.