How Will You Grow?

Every year, I make a resolution to not make a resolution, but I try to expand my horizons and do or learn new things. This year, it's going to be stained glass. I used to do stained glass when I was a kid, but haven't touched it in years so next Saturday, I start classes. The classes and tools were a Christmas gift from my son and brother. This morning, I'm cleaning the enclosed back porch, putting up a wood ceiling, painting the walls and building a craft workshop. When my hands are busy enough, it usually keeps them from taking food to my mouth. What new things will you be doing in 2007? Connie

Connie I have a stained glass small lamp shade that I bought the first week of my divorce. I've had it over 11 years now. my ex husband didn't want me to spend any money at all even though he made a good salary. i was from the old school of obey your husband that they are king. HA!!!!! took me 25 years to storm the castle and over through that ruler. back to the lamp shade... that was and is the most beautiful lampshade that i've ever had in my whole life. that week i bought it was a low grocery week. had grilled cheese and tomato soup all week! one of my cats knocked it off the nightstand about 4 years ago and the top came lose too lose to keep it on the lamp. I can not find anyone to repair it! there is no one around here at all. The place I bought it at went out of business. If you would like to practice on it I will send it to you. My at email address is chiwawa53 at adelphia.net NOW AS TO GROWING. I plan on growing finacially stable. not sucure that will never happen for me! but stable. meaning the bills to be paid in the same month that i receive them. notice i did not say on time. the same month will be a biggie for me to begin with. baby steps baby steps. after my emotional burn out and along with the break up of my engagement the quitting of all of my community service including, lions club, leo's advisor, fire dept, you name it i quit it this past year! i am now starting to get back to normal. I'm taking care of me. For the past few weeks i'm starting to think about what i want to do again. i know i want to be involved in my community but am not sure what i will go back to doing. i dont want to go backwards just forward. i'm not planning on going back to the lions or leo's but have kept my membership in those groups. the fire dept is one thing i'd like to get back into that i might start up again in the spring time. it feeds my community service need and i also learn things so its feeding my brain too. if i go back to that i need to know that i can handle the time it requires. its not just a community service project its a life service. so before i go back to that i need to be very sure i can handle it. maybe that will be one of my how to grow things? figuring that out. i also need to spend some thought time on figuring out were i'm going at the downward slide of my life. hopefully i'll have alot of time to do this cause i dont' plan on hanging up the towel anytime soon. i also want to travel. i want to fly to vegas and see the grand canyon and hoover dam. i want to drive to niagra falls and ride the maid of the mist. i want to go to disney for my 55th birthday in 2007 and get my senior discount! i want to go to alaska and see the polar bears! i want to get my passport just to have it incase i get the chance to go someplace warm and exotic!

Hopefully I will NOT be growing wider!!! One of the things on my "life list" I plan to check off is to travel to Europe. My DH & I have reservations to fly to Rome and cruise the Greek Islands in June. He travelled in Europe in college days, but I have never gotten to, so I am really excited. My sister in law gave me a gift certificate to amazon.com for Christmas. I used it to buy some books on digital photography. This is an interest I have had, but I really don't know what I'm doing--just know what I like when it accidentally turns out right! Stained glass sounds like fun Connie! My daughter worked with that for a while. I'm not sure that I have the patience, but I sure love looking at it! Great thread! Joy

How will I grow?? interesting... I am taking a new class that will move me over on the pay scale at work so that will help me grow financially! ALWAYS A PLUS! I am working on being a better parent so that I can enjoy my children. My son is ADHD and has some other issues which make him difficult to say the least at times and I have no examples of positive parenting, the only thing I know to do is yell and spank him which does NOT work at all so I am growing into a better parent so I can enjoy rearing these children! I also want to make myself a priority, I mean I take the kids to my doctor's appointments with me COME ON...their father is a capable human being and I have let him or worse made him feel like he can't do stuff as well as I can. NO MORE! He is a grown up and he loves his children and he can do "stuff" so that I can be a person for a few minutes a day not somebody's mom or somebody's teacher or worse both at the same time... remember I take my kids to school with me so I don't even get the commute on my own! I want to learn something new like knitting or something like that I love to make stuff. hmmm...wonder if there is someplace that offers a class like that around here. I wanted to do YOGA but they are only open during the week days...evidently if you work you can't do YOGA in this town!@@ whatever...LOL nic

Connie, in an earlier post I also stated that I hate the resolutions thing, but this year I want to try some new things and have asked my family to join me in identifying some new adventures that they will try this year. My list includes: 1. Learn to skull and skull on the Thames River 2. Take a pottery class 3. Travel to Europe (Italy, France, or Ireland) -- or visit Seattle and British Columbia 4. Pump up my fitness regimen and see 135 on the scale - a real dream of mine I'm toying with something else but feel too intimidated to articlulate it. Mostly, I want this next year to serve as the time when I finally learn how to relax into life and let go of this lifelong urgency I've felt to FIX things, people, never being able to accept life as it is, always needing to solve or save or flee...I just want to live and appreciate all the blessings in my life. And I want to be the best person that I can be. Love passionately without fear or reservation; give of myself freely with no objective other than living purposefully is a gift; I'd like my 2007 to be the year that I embrace the glass as being half full, not half empty...and I hope not to feel so tired so much of the time. Love you guys, Reenie