Falling over for a visit

So...yeah. Adventures in Being Me and Adventures in Being Married have run fast and furious throughout the year of Taking Action. It hasn't all been good, and it hasn't all been bad. But at least there's never a dull moment...?

Since, at the moment, I'm fatigued by the not-so-good, I'm going to take a few minutes and share the good with you. Never hurts to have the reminder, right?

- For a few months now, we have been fostering a clutch of three orange tabby kittens we discovered in our front yard. We were worried they'd be under a car at the wrong time...so we wrangled them into our back yard and have been feeding and caring for them since. At some point, we will probably have to adopt two of them out – but they're still young and we want to get them fixed first.

We have a boy and two girls, which we haven't officially named, but are instead calling "Boy," "Girl," and "Little," or Small, Medium, and Large. Should I ever again find my camera cable, you will get to squee at the cuteness.

- I have had the crochet bug this year and, holy crap, actually finished another project! It's the Wavy Blanky by Stephie, a San Antonio knitter, and I completely adored it. It now lives (or almost does) with Bryan's cousin and her five-month-old son, for whose use it is intended. Again, camera cable --> loveliness.

- We moved up the road about 10 minutes in July, and are now renting a house that is about 50 years newer than the previous one. It's a world of difference, and we're getting a bit spoiled...but hey, we deserve it, right? Best of all, we have already managed to have guests and gatherings, which I consider requisite for a house to be a home.

In other news...have I taken action? Well, yes. I never feel that I get quite as far on my goals as I like, but progress is progress. Somewhat unbeknownst to him, Bryan has joined in on Taking Action and is actually ahead of me.

I'm here at the moment because I have a weekend to myself with no specific plans. But I have my usual ton of ideas knocking around, and haven't given up on the idea of moving them forward.

There is always much more I want to do and not enough time/energy/resources to do it all at once. I definitely want to get back to this blogging thing, but as the BFF pointed out the other day, it's important to know your limitations, and I do. So I'm not overpromising to anyone, myself included – I'm just keeping things in my pocket until someone hands me that Round Tuit and I can really get going.

So how has your year been? Did you pick a theme, and has it guided you? How have you Taken Action?

Forward

If you've been following me for any length of time, it probably won't surprise you to discover (or to be reminded) that New Year's is my favorite holiday. This *does* seem to surprise some folk, though – usually those most enamored of Halloween, Thanksgiving, or the Big C.

Not to down any of the others, but since I was a kid, the New Year has had a huge appeal to me. While I'm very traditional in some ways, and the themes of my life (wordsmithing, kitchen magic, craftiness) tend to remain the same, I also like to always be moving forward, to discard what's no longer working and forge ahead into new, exciting things.

I'll admit that's a tendency that's refining itself over time. Old habits do, indeed, die hard, and baggage (both material and otherwise) is often hard to lighten or throw away. I've seen this and struggled with it over many years, and most certainly throughout 2009.

Still, despite losing momentum, I'm looking back at the year and realizing that, in fact, I did keep with my theme of Motivation. Sometimes (frequently, in fact) it was a baby step, sometimes several. A couple of times it was a great leap forward. And still others, it was a good hard shove (sometimes REALLY hard) from the Universe.

So how did it turn out? Let's see: I found my knit-mojo. I leapt back into the kitchen with gusto. I started dancing again. I'm getting my house in order, literally. I'm eating vastly better. I'm paying attention to and getting care for all my medical issues.

I'd definitely say all this belongs in the WIN column. And that surprises me a little, because there were several times I thought that Motivation was out of reach. But something I remember from reading others who have chosen a Word (or Theme) of the Year is that often, your Word will express itself in ways you didn't expect. That's turned out to be true, despite the fact that I originally refused to embrace it.

2010 gets a bit of a different approach. I've chosen a new theme (instead of a single word), and while I know some of the plans I already have, I'm fully prepared to accept that I won't see all that's coming, and that what I want or need might change. I also know that there will probably come a time when I regret being that open. :)

But, for better or worse, here it is. My Theme of the Year for 2010 is: Taking Action.

I can't wait to see how it takes shape. Want to join me? If you decide to choose a theme, I'd love to hear about it. In the meantime - Happy New Year, and may 2010 be your best year ever.