"Ought Ten?" What will we call this year? BETTER, that's for DAMN SURE!

Happy New Year!!!!

Hope everyone had a safe, sound, happy celebration last night!

OUT with the OLD!  IN with the NEW!

Get a new broom, get a new mop.  Don't sweep or swish all the old dirty gray water around on your floor or in your mind!  Fill an imaginary helium balloon with all the crap that is inside of you and LET IT GO!

Want to do something new? Don't say, "Welllllllllllll, I just don't have time."  We all MAKE time for the things we want to do, whether it s something fun OR engaging in activities to that make us very UNproductive.

And hey, you better know that I'm the queen of the last one!

I picked the picture above because I've always loved the art of Jessie Wilcox Smith.  Her story is wonderful and I hope all my teacher and "bookie" fans will take a minute to visit the link.  You will be amazed.  Of course, readers who are just following along might be interested, too, but you book people will LOVE her story!  Oh, and guys who are reading...her illustrating improved after studying with Howard Pyle.  Need I say more?

When I was growing up  my dad's mom lived on 15th Avenue here in town.  She had a Jessie Wilcox Smith reproduction of a small child with red curly hair, dressed in footed pajama, looking like she was coming down the steps backwards.

That was the way I had to come down the steps at that house, as there was no carpet on the stairs.  Just slick wood.  Of course, the most fun way to come down those stairs was to sit at the top and propel yourself, bottom down, until you reached the landing.  Bumpity, bumpity bump!  She let me do it because it kept me out of her hair so she could get back to sewing new dresses for me!

Ok, sorry that was such a long story.  But the picture reminded me of it so much, I had to tell it.

So here's a  New Year's suggestion for you that doesn't involve any money, exertion of your physical body or giving up chocolate cake.  You just a little notebook and pencil or pen.

Start writing your stories.  Start writing your thoughts.  Start a journal.

Even if you only DATE the page with today's date and say, "Hello, 2010!  What are we going to do this year?"  It is a start.

Oh, and don't start whining, "There's no store open for me to get some nice journal", or "But I can't write" (DUHHHHH, if you're reading this you can write!)  Nobody's saying, "Be Hemingway".

Grab a piece of paper, date it, write a little something and then save it in your fancy new journal if you want to get one.

As I've lain in this bed looking back over the past six weeks or so, I've wished SO badly that I had been a journal keeper.  A journal of what went on that day, with family, friends, thoughts.  I probably would have even noted that I felt a little breathless, had a weird cough, wondered why I was so tired and uninterested in things I normally love to do, might have made a little note of it.

Not that pinpointing a specific date, earlier than December 10th would have made any difference.

Oh, WAIT!  Yes it would have!  I would have been home, struggling to deal with the Christmas hoopla instead of SPA DCH!

Ok,  as you can tell I'm feeling pretty good into the first three hours of 2010.  We can chalk that up to a couple of shots for nausea, one of which put me out for five hours yesterday after having some delicious quiet time with Katie and Mary-Keeley.  MK sat in the chair and did some crochet.  Katie stretched out on the bed with her head at my feet and we just talked some more words from a Mother's heart.

My mom visited, as did Dana Taylor, toting pictures of a beautiful white Christmas in Virginia, where she had been visiting her daughter, Margaret.

Then, Jonathan popped in for a quick NYE celebration bringing a bottle of wine called "Irony".  It was just about that time I realized I needed some Zofran, which didn't work.  The phenergan did.

He left, quiet as mouse, so we didn't get to share a little NYE toast to better things for this year.

HOWEVER, there might be a little mimosa on the menu this morning, courtesy of some friends.

Because alcohol IS sterile, you know!

Oh, and before I forget, the first person I saw in 2010 was my PCA, Debbie, a HUGE sweetheart that is so kind, talks so sweetly to us.  It was very nice!

Wow....from Jessie Wilcox Smith to this.....