resolutions- part 2

Since it's January, and I'm in that "Reflect-on-2005, Look-forward-to-2006" kind of mood...

• Play with the dog more often, and feed her less.

Tom weighed Sedona yesterday, and she weighs 28 lbs!!! She is not supposed to weigh that much- she is only a Shetland Sheepdog, after all, and not an overly large one (in terms of height), at that. I think on top of what we feed her, she sneaks the cat food when we're not looking- no wonder the cats yowl at me so very loudly some days when I'm getting their dinner! Perhaps her love of treats, and her perfect use of the "please-give-me-a-treat" face have something to do with it, since I can't resist it all the time. Her insistent "give-me-the-ball" bark/yip has something to do with it, too, because it is very ear piercing, and sometimes I just take the ball away (after we've played a while) to make it stop. (I'm a bad dog-mom, I know.)

• Visit some of the places I've only read about.

We've moved halfway across the country, farther west than I've ever been, and I want to see more of it! Tom and I were talking yesterday about vacations, and he asked me which I'd rather visit first, Hawaii or Europe (since he's racking up the frequent flyer miles with his new job!). I'd love to see Europe, but it's kind of sad that in all my 36 years, I've only visited a fraction of these 50 states, so I chose Hawaii. But, there's lots of interesting places (at least they're interesting to me, maybe partly because I've never seen them?) even closer than that, well within our travel reach from Phoenix: Mexico, California (San Francisco, Monterey- I've never seen the ocean!); Seattle, WA; Las Vegas; Albequerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico; Tucson and Tombstone, AZ; any number of historic/natural sites in AZ, Colorado, Utah, Nevada. I think part of it is because we're so different when it comes to going places. Tom is very adventurous- he drove across the country from IL to AZ in his early 20s, camping along the way, visiting National Parks and historic sites as he went... I never would have thought of doing something like that, at that age, or ever! But, maybe as I've gotten older, I've become more adventurous- after all, I'm here in AZ, and a couple years ago I never would of thought of doing something like this, either!

• Read more often.

I used to read all the time, sometimes with 2 or 3 books going at once. One of my fondest memories from childhood involves the regular Saturday trip to the library, with the feeling of anticipation, smelling the mustiness of the books, poring over them to find just the right ones (finding ones I hadn't read yet- it was a very small library!), and walking out with a huge stack of books that I would relax with all afternoon in the living room recliner. (Thanks, Mom, for keeping track of them all! I know it wasn't me... I have developed a chronic library fine problem over the years, but I like to look at paying library fines as a charitable contribution- LOL!) I've gotten away from reading in the last couple years- maybe meeting Tom had something to do with it? (in a good way, I mean- we do things, spending time together, so reading isn't as much of a priority now), but I do miss the rush of anticipation that hits me when I open a book I know I'm going to love, a la Harry Potter, for example. Perhaps that's part of it, that I'm getting choosier about what books to spend my time on, and I don't go for the typical best-sellers. Our local library isn't all that big, either; it's a Maricopa County Library, since this was once an outlying area to the city (!), but the librarian told me I can get a card for any of the surrounding towns' libraries, even Phoenix. This will definitely go on my to-do list.

• to be continued, I'm sure...