Tie One On

In the last few weeks you've undoubtedly read or heard a lot about resolutions that various people have made for the new year, whether they are celebrities, fellow church-goers, school- or office mates or your neighbors next door.

I'm not one of those people.

Like many others who have taken the same path, I choose not to make resolutions (not that there's anything wrong with them) because, especially as I've gotten older, I've found that resolutions tend to come with a measure of expectation that I might not be able to live up to, and I feel like a failure often enough that I don't need that additional pressure.

Having said that, there are several practical steps I've already taken to bring about some positive results that I feel have been lacking in my life. I'll give you an example: After Sawyer was born I realized that if I didn't take charge of my health (read: diet), nobody else would, and I began an exercise regimen that stood me in good stead for a couple of years.

If there has been a drawback to moving back to Texas, it is this: I lost my exercise room. In Ohio, we had a basement where we kept a little 12-inch TV and I could step and lift and kick and lunge to my heart's content without being a bother to anyone. As it stands now, my preferred exercise room (that is, the room that contains the VCR so that I may work out to my favorite video which is so old, you can't even get it on DVD) is the "family room." For those of you who have visited our home, you know that the family room is situated upstairs and is--much to my chagrin--located directly over our bedroom. That means that while Randy is trying to sleep at 6:00 a.m., I am stepping and lifting and kicking and lunging right over his head. Nice.

The obstacle has been mostly mental, however, as Randy assures me that he will get over the noise if that's what it takes for me to be healthy. So while my exercise habits grew somewhat sporadic over the past year, I made a commitment to myself (note: NOT a resolution!) to get back to a regular routine and that's that. The year is 18 days old and I've worked out at least 15 of those days (I never work out on Sunday). What do they say--it takes 21 days to form a habit? I'm almost there!

Believe it or not, though, that is NOT what this post is about. (Perhaps I should make a resolution to try to stay on topic!) I was actually writing to talk about something that has changed my life, and it came about due to one of those "practical steps" I started taking a couple of weeks ago. The other practical step I decided to take was to start limiting the amount of time I spend on the computer. Perhaps you've noticed my decrease in blog entries? It all comes down to prioritizing time and the bottom line is this: Before I finally drew the line, it seemed that no matter what I would cut out, I would find something else to add and I was putting my computer time before other, more worthwhile endeavors. So you might need to get used to fewer updates from me.

(Full disclosure: After church this morning we had a Youth parents' meeting until 2:00, at which time LTC practice for Tyler, Darcy and Peyton started--it runs until 5:00. Since Randy had a meeting at 3:00, I was the lucky one who got to bring Sawyer home for the afternoon, and I'm letting him play on the Wii for a while since its use is pretty well banned during the school week. Voila--computer time for Mom!)

But that's STILL not my point. My point is this: Since I have cut down on my computer usage, I have eliminated almost all extraneous bookmarks or links that I might once have had in place. Only occasionally, indeed very rarely, will I now check up on certain sites that were once "must-reads" for me. But last night, as I waited for Randy to come home after picking up Tyler from Winterfest, I decided to use that scant 15 minutes to read blogs. And as I said way back at the beginning of this entry, I read something in that 15 minutes that has changed my life FOREVER!! Are you ready for this??

I learned that there are at least FOUR ways to tie a scarf, and I didn't know a single one of them!!!

Is that mind-blowing or what??! Here I thought you just centered your scarf around your neck and tossed one end jauntily over the opposite shoulder--how wrong could I have been?? I was flabbergasted that I could be so utterly fashion UN-conscious, and I made a vow to myself that I would not rest until I had committed those scarf solutions to memory. No kidding, the directions for all four methods are sitting right next to me where I feverishly scribbled them down as I watched the video tutorial for the second time this afternoon.

Do you know how embarrassing it feels to admit that for all those years in frigid Grove City, Ohio I walked around feeling perky and sassy in my winter scarves, only to realize now that I was wearing them ALL WRONG??! It's almost too much to bear! That is why I take comfort in the words of Jesus as I think they are oh-so-applicable here:

". . . Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:32)

I now know four different ways to tie a scarf . . . free indeed! :-)