New Year, New You or, What the Hell Is Wrong With Me the Way I Am?

Good grief, if I hear that one more time I may have to strangle someone. You can be a new you without the new year. My nephew had posted something along the lines that you can say new you all you want, but it's still the old you underneath. That doesn't mean people can't change. I am certainly not the same person I was 10 years ago, or even 5 years ago. I still have some of the same traits, but I look at the world and react differently than I used to. You can teach an old dog new tricks. I guess one thing that will never change is that if you tell me no, I'll do it anyway and kick ass at it. And the other thing that doesn't change: my love of bullet points. Here's a few now.

• I don't make resolutions. I love to hear them, I just don't make them. I don't like to exercise, but I like to dance and do yoga. If I made a resoltion to go to the gym, I would find every excuse in the book to not go. Sticking to a budget is hard for me. I like to spend money. It doesn't help that we have things that we need to spend money on. We need a new dishwasher, washing machine, front stairs, a fence, and supplies for a square foot garden. My goal is to be a better wife, mother, friend, daughter, sister, aunt, woman, person than I was yesterday. Sometimes it works. Sometimes, maybe not.
• There is a new hydroponics store in our area. Hubby spends a LOT of time there, picking the owner's brain. Some things do really well in our tower. We can grow lettuce all day long. Our tomatoes and peppers had a lack luster showing. Cucumbers and squash out the wazoo. But not our current crop of squash that gets about as big around as a 50 cent piece, then withers on the vine. It can be a little frustrating. The guy at the store said something very wise. If it blooms, grow it together. If it doesn't bloom, grow it together. Well, duh. That only makes the most sense ever. And when we look back at what worked well when planted together and what didn't, he's right. Right now, broccoli is kicking ass! We didn't realize that brussel sprouts took so long, or we would have planted those a lot earlier than we did. The cold snap seems to have energized the plants, too. We've even managed to get a couple of strawberries off the plants we got for Christmas. Trial and error.
• And sense there are things that we can't grow in the tower, like onions and carrots and potatoes, we're planting a square foot garden. Hubby's been pulling out the shrubs at the end of the house to clear out some room. It has also cleared out a bunch of bugs. I despise bugs. We are hoping to plant tomatoes and cucumbers and zucchini as well. I wonder if bok choy likes the spring? We already have a deep container for planting potatoes. They have to be mounded with dirt. Then pile more on top. Then a little more. The more you cover, the more potatoes you get. When it's time to empty the tower and clean it, we'll move it around the corner to join the garden. One day we would like to have a second one. Hubby's working on a prototype because he is weird that way. He wants to use the buckets that our beans and rice came in. Guess we need to get to eating that stuff.
• We order brown rice, black beans, and lentils in bulk. Sounds funny, doesn't it? I order spices in bulk, so why not? I also order popcorn in bulk. Love me some popcorn. It's a company called BreadBecker's. When we get our taxes back, hubby wants a grain mill. Then we can grind grain as we need to use it instead of buying the stuff from the store that has lost most of it's nutritional value. Which means I'll be buying grain in bulk as well. Someone needs to teach me how to use the cool opener thingy that you have to have to seal the bucket with. And I need the cookbook. So much freshly ground grain, so little time. Just call me Laura Ingalls. 
• Doing our research about health and nutrtion and how they tie together, hubby has come to a crossroads. Hubby will no longer eat pork. Good thing he found this out after Christmas since we had ham. He may have been a very hungry man. Pigs will eat anything, including their own babies. I knew that, and I'm pretty sure I told him that. Maybe he didn't believe me, I don't know. And, of course, I had just bought a pack of pork chops. We don't eat much pork anyway, but there was a sale. It was the first time in probably 4 or 5 months, except the ham, that I bought pork anyway. So last night we ate the last of it. Poor hubby. The look on his face during dinner. I buy turkey bacon, so that won't be much of a change. I want to try beef bacon. Maybe if I have a little extra money at co-op, I'll see if they have some. I like beef sausage, but not turkey. I really like venison sausage, but I haven't been able to get that for years. Changes, they are a-coming.
• We ordered a kitchen composter. Yippee!! I have wanted one for awhile. We found one at the hydroponics store (told you hubby's been spending some time there). We still have a compost pile outside, but hubby moved it. It was on top of the hill, since that's where we had the garden for awhile. Hubby moved it so it will be closer to the new garden. The yard compost will go in that. The kitchen scraps will go in the inside composter. Please pray for the worms that I will be able to keep them alive and composting.  
• I almost burned the house down overnight. Never get a snack at night and forget the oven is on. Hubby and I had the munchies. He dragged out the beef summer sausage (yes, the food. Mind out of the gutter.) and I threw some garlic bread in the oven to warm up. And after we stuffed ourselves with meat, cheese, and crackers, we forgot about the bread. Until this morning when I was wondering what that burning smell was. I knew it couldn't be the heater. I jumped out of bed, which is never good with my back, and ran to the kitchen, kicking myself the whole way. That was really good garlic bread, darnit! Not so much this morning. This morning it was charcoal. Well, crap. 
• I have got to stop saying "crap". It's getting some of my younger friends in trouble with their parents. And my kids are starting to say it. I'm trying to use stuff or junk. Good days with the bad days is how I take that one. Come on, good days...

That's all I've got for now. Just the same ol' me. Or the new me. Or, me like I am, an ever evolving creature of habit. Yeah, that's something to figure out, isn't it? Good luck with that. May all of your years, not just the new one, be fruitful and prosperous and joy filled. Peace.