A New Year

I have discovered that the ultimate way to wake up in the morning on the first day of the year is to the sound of hammering. It can't be just any hammering, but hammering on a house that is destined to be one's very own home. Noting that it is hammering that is being done on New Year's Day, which by most people's accounts is a holiday produces an added dose of joy. Every day that they work is one day closer to the day that I will be able to move in.

New Year's Day means resolutions, right? Considering the profound success of last year's resolution (I can't remember what it was.), I have decided upon not one, but three, this year.

#1 Lift weights on a regular basis. (This might have been last year's.) If the frequency is once a month, I'm all set.

#2 Try to avoid overeating such that I burst. Or even feel like it.

#3 Do not succumb to impulse purchases. Do not buy a Handspring Treo 600.


Actually, I thought of a couple of other good ones, but I've forgotten what they were already.

Last night I went to a New Year's Eve party. That was great! For the first time in forever, I didn't glumly sit around thinking about how everyone in my time zone was having fun except for me and my immediate family. Before I was even sure that my brother was having more fun than I was. This year, however, I enjoyed scrumptious food, such as baked Brie and homemade creme brulee while being entertained by three toddlers running around like wild and crazy monkeys. I also narrowly escaped being forced to sing karaoke one more time. This was the first time I'd actually ever seen a karaoke machine, so the risk was higher than ever before.

I went over to the house this afternoon. It is really looking fantastic. The braces are in place in the vaulted ceiling in the great room, so I finally have a good idea of how high the ceiling will be. I've always known it would be 16', but seeing really is believing. Now that the windows are framed I know that the view will, indeed, be spectacular. Well, maybe it won't be spectacular, but at least very awesome.