Time to gather the thoughts together....

If they aren't frozen! It's a cold beginning to the New Year, but this much I know is true: onward and upward! 2009 was a bit of a bear and so I am *hoping* for a bit more improvement in 2010! My FETAC Textiles course is looking good to go in January and even if the silly job goes, I will manage somehow. I am just hoping to stockpile craft supplies as that will be the extra expense that I will have a hard time fitting in.

I am not a resolution type of person, but I do make lists of things to do and goals to strive for all the time, so here goes:

1. Quit smoking (again, but for good this time).
2. Keep developing craft skills and product samples.
3. Get the upstairs painted. Lord knows it needs it!!
4. Get a bit more fit. Quitting smoking will help with that.
5. Find a bit more joy in my life.

The last one is a bit vague, but its also the hardest one on the list. And what gives you joy can change from moment to moment. Sometimes those impromptu things in life that just land on your doorstep can be the most fun. I have two friends having babies soon and that will give me some joy. Fionn's birthday is a bit of work, but that will give me joy. Friends give me joy and socializing throughout the cold winter will bring both Fionn and I some much-needed joy. I am ogling the West Cork Textile Networks workshop in March, but somehow I just don't think I will have the money to go. I have plenty of things to keep me busy, but I want stimulating, intellectually invigorating contact. When I lived near Harvard, there was such an eclectic and eccentric mix of people all around me that it was wonderful. It just isn't the same around here. I need a book club or a card playing night to get out of the house and head off to.....

I find Cork and Dublin more invigorating, but travel costs money. Cork does so much with textiles.....

Holidays end tomorrow and I head back to the job for at least two more weeks and see where we end up. Besides tidying my bombsite of a house and trying to stay warm, there has to be more to life????