Good evening!

Hope your first day of the new year was good. We had chilly weather here in the Old Dominion (never got much warmer than low 40s) but it was dry and sunny … so it was all good. After morning Mass, we came home, had a delightful (with just a few squabbles) family breakfast and then just relaxed the rest of the day (read that as: I took a two hour nap and prepped game-day food)….

… because we are a college football family!

Spent the evening eating fun foods and watching Oregon pulverize Florida State and right now the Buckeyes have caught up to the “rama bamas” with a half-time score of 20-21. ETA 01/02/15: seems Urban and his boys toppled first-ranked ‘bama to win 42-35! Am lovin’ me some Buckeyes!

But it’s 10:45pm and one of my resolutions is to post more on this blog …

So here is the first post of 2015, my resolutions for the year:

1. deactivate my Facebook presence and re-allocate the immense amount of time FB took (aka, “time sucker”) toward knitting, blogging, reading and generally doing the good. A secondary reason for leaving Facebook was the fact that, for me, FB often became a near (or even, actual) occasion of sin including the sins of envy and pride and anger at all the amazingly asinine folks in the larger world. Yeah, better I should remove myself from the potential.
So,
2. spiritually: my patron saint this year is St. Therese of Avila. I was originally going to pray to St. Dominic, but the first day of the Liturgical Year (1st Sunday of Advent), a visiting priest gave an awe-inspiring sermon about Teresa and Carmelite spirituality. A voice whispered in my soul … “I am your patron this year”. I have resolved to read my lovely saint’s autobiography (I’m half way thru the free Kindle version), as well as The Way of Perfection and Interior Castle (also on Kindle so I can read in bed WITHOUT reading glasses!). Once I’ve gotten thru these, I’ll turn to biographies and maybe reading some of her contemporaries, most obviously John of the Cross.
3. knitterly: the first knitting book I ever read (back when I was 8) was Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitting Without Tears which my parents gave me for Christmas. Ever since, I was hooked on knitting. I have read and own all her published books (including the books that have been revised/reprinted by her daughter Meg Swansen). So this year, I’ll be re-reading all her books. The focus will be on her Knitters Almanac (I still have the original my folks gave me when I was in high school … a long, long, long time ago!) … I will use this to create a knitted design each month based on HER month’s pattern. For instance, January is an Aran sweater — so I will either design a garment with traveling stitches … or a traditional Aran-based style … or a fun cap … or a completely seamless garment that will be “sliced”. All of these techniques are discussed in her first chapter!

The designer in me just swoons.

My goal is to post at least 2 patterns each month with one inspired by my EZ reading.

4. scholarly: I am starting masters’ level classes for an MLS. The first starts in January, is completely online, thru Valley City State University (part of the North Dakota university system). I’ve already got the textbook for this class on research for elementary and secondary school students … fits perfectly with my avocation of high school librarian! I will also take a class this summer, and possibly another in the fall … fun times.

5. leisure: one goal I have this year is to exercise more (doesn’t everyone) … so I’ll try and walk everyday, do morning exercises and do extra fitness stuff on the weekends … I will also try and get to bed earlier and drink/eat healthily. I have also decided that Agatha Christie is my writing mentor this year … so I’ll be re-reading all the Poirots, Marples, Tuppence/Tommy and misc books she wrote.

Her style of writing is so crisp and clean and beautiful.

which leads to my final resolution:
6. writing: post on the blog at least 3 times per week … developing an online journal of my journey through my 53rd year … living loving and learning in the heart of MY home (and everywhere else we may be). I also want to write the knitting novel I’ve had in the back of my head for decades … a book which just may get written this year!

So have you developed your resolutions, goals, wishes for 2015? Post in the comments (or link to your own blog/site posts) so we can help each other accomplish all these wonderful aspirations!

Blessings and prayers for a spectacular 2015 ….