the happiest of happies....

hurrah hooray!!! nothing quite like a new shiny year!

when i was younger (oh so younger than today) i did not care for a new year,

i could not see what all the fuss was about.

but as i have aged,

(like a cheese, although i hope i smell better than a mature cheese. perhaps then a wine, no i do not drink wine so how about aged like a thrift store forsaken soul. not the sort that have dings and several limbs and an ear missing, but the kind that are a little ragged around the edges, perhaps the odd flea bite but none the less they still retain a certain charm that is appealing to others. yes that is it!)

i have noted that there is something perfectly peachy about starting a new one.

'tis a nice way to start 'a fresh',

a clean slate,

a new page if you will.

i have no idea why i am so taken with this year

as opposed to any other new year that has come and gone

but i am, and i might add i have even felt a little giddy when looking towards it.

my giddiness led to making the coming year

(which is here now, but wasn't at the time)

a gift of sorts...

some thing to make the year know i was happy to see it.

on the 27th of Dec, the day before Our #1 flew back to old blighty,

i got 'a crafting' with papers, fabrics, thread, paint, glue, yarn and an old drawer...

the sort of crafting that results in pottling,

i think that might be my favorite kind of crafting,

for it takes my mind off matters of the heart,

things that might make me sad are pushed aside.

i find myself distracted by my 'crafty moment'

and i find a happy place

the result of my 'crafting whilst pottling' was a little diorama.

actually it is not little, it is quite big.

i found the drawer from an old desk my man was using to store seeds in outside.

he did inquire as to where i had found my drawer

but i pretended not to hear (a positive about age-ing)

however my big drawer, is full of little things.

things that i feel are befitting the new shiny year to come...

and what is more befitting a new year

then some new shiny resolutions!!!

i tippity typed mine on a piece of paper taken from my granny's exercise book.

i felt sure this would help in a higher success rate than the usual 3 days

before a resolution is broken.

i had so many i needed to add on...

resolutions

*smile often (makes one look younger)

* make a new friend (a furry or feathered friend counts)

* eat less chocolate (tres tricky, failure every year for over 40 years)

* stop counting wrinkles (getting bangs/fringe greatly helping obsessive counting)

* write a book (deadlines are looming)

*smile often (see above)

*do not nag (no one likes a nagger)

*if nagging completely necessary for safety of others, then a little is allowed (after all i live with teenagers, funny how dogs and cats don't need to be nagged, it is more the two legged members of my clan this applies to, chickens not included)

*eat fruit every day (new motto, an apple a day keeps Mr Lurgy away)

*learn a new craft (i have one in mind)

*turn 43 with grace (this i am bound to fail at)

*keep a plant alive (i am so excited about finding a little plant to love, perhaps this plant could count as my new friend! yes that is brilliant!)

*think high hopes when cooking (this is the most repeated resolution of my life since having a clan)

*be a good recycler (i.e. don't be lazy at 11pm when clearing away the kitchen crappity crap)

*carry a vintage cotton hankie every day (no more throw away tissues, unless Mr Lurgy is visiting and only then if it is really really necessary)

*most importantly, quite possibly thee important thing of all, feel a little crafty at least twice a day, which without doubt will lead to smiling often! (this is the one resolution i truly think i might have an advantage at not breaking)

resolutions cont'd (next page)

*stress less (i might have to take a class on this one)

*write more snail mail (so lovely to get a handwritten note)

*ponder every purchase, including thrift store ones (glup!)

*bake edible cakes (a small miracle required for this one, but one i think possible)

*wallpaper lounge wall despite protests from clan (protests needed to have been put in writing and postmarked by january 1st, i did make this quite clear... have received no letters in mail box addressing the situation so looks like the protesters weren't listen when i used my quiet voice)

*put plans in motion to move back across the pond (this may take years but it is good to plan ahead)

*oil Miss Ethel (sounds a little dodgy but we know what i mean)

*smile often but not the cheesy kind of smiling, but the genuine nice smiley smiling kind of smiling (i may need to take a class on this too)

so there we have it,

i had several more resolutions popping into my head since tippity typing this lot,

but now they have popped out again,

lost in the black hole in my bonce that most things fall through if i do not put pen to paper quickly.

when my little shiny new year box was complete

i popped it on the mantle piece...

along with the little china bunny who happened to find me on my thrifty trip with Our #1,

the first day after her return to the shed.

i have never ever found a little bunny of such splendor before...

to make him feel even more splendid i crocheted him a cape.

after me and my man had dropped Our #1 at the airport,

we returned somewhat with heavy hearts and sat upon the couch.

my man commented

"that is quite the thing you have going on there isn't it?"

directed at my new shiny year diorama.

"is it the year of the rabbit then?"

"i have no idea" i replied

"he found me and i thought him quite lovely".

after a little research my man announced

indeed 2011 is the year of the bunny rabbit

and more to the point the rabbit only comes around every 12 years.

upon knowing this bit of information,

i thought to myself how my thrifting trips are rare these days,

and how lovely to think,

the one time i go with my thrifting buddy back by my side,

just like the good old days,

a little bunny finds me

and in return i give him a little cape of crochet

and put him in my 'new shiny 2011 year' box.

i am without doubt thinking this is a sign,

a very lucky sign telling me, 2011 will be most shiny indeed.

and with that thought in mind,

may i just thank you kindly for the wonderful heart warming comments

you left for me over the holidays...

i cannot thank you enough for all the kindness you showed me in 2010,

and

i truly wish for you all

a happiest of happy,

shiniest of shiny,

new year!!

she is smiling despite noting the laundry looks like a mountain and not as she wished, a mole hill ~ Tif