Out with the old, in with the new

This was my first year of blogging. I have no clue how I would be graded if there were grades being given. That wasn't really my intention behind this little venture. I wanted to put something down in black and white (and pink) to hold me accountable to my goals.

One of my big goals this year was my Tea Hoarding Challenge. And I would just love to stick some photos up of my now depleted tea shelves so you can all see the progress I made. But since I have this new fancy-schmancy computer I have no clue how to do this. One day I will sit down here and learn all about it and do just that, but for now let us all imagine how depleted my tea shelves have become.

They seriously are way down from a year ago. And because I was such a good girl all year long with not buying teas and using up old stock, Santa brought me two tins of new teas. Awwwwww! I also have a bunch of old used tea tins to be covered in some pretty paper and re-labeled for when I break open those vacuum-packed space-aged mylar-looking teas that I STILL HAVE NOT OPENED. It has been more than a freaking year! I know these teas were in there at the end of 2008 because I bought them when that cute little teapot store went under, and I stayed true to my word and did not purchase any new teas for me in 2009.

So, my plan for tomorrow is to re-organize the tea shelves and then cover, label and repurpose the old tins and fill them with the currently sealed teas and use them up. Enough with the teas already.

Another area of my life I will be looking at this year is my bookshelves and my closet. Now, I go through my closet every few months and toss things into a big box. When that box if full it is off to Goodwill. But I am talking about being brutal. If I haven't worn something in a really long time, I don't care how cute it is, it needs to go be cute in someone else's closet. Gone!

Same thing with the cookbooks. I do go through my other books every time I go to my aunt's house or my mom's and take them books. I like sharing and I like weeding them out. But I haven't thought of doing that with my cookbooks. How many frigging cookbooks does one woman need? This might be tough. I do love me some cookbooks. But I guarantee there are some on my shelves that I have never made one. single. thing. out. of. Not one. I am sure that I can back up that statement. So, I will be going through these and seeing what needs to happen to them. Maybe they need to be gifted to someone with less (or no) cookbooks? Maybe I need to be taking them to Half Price Books for some credit?

I wonder if I can get rid of a whole shelf's worth of cookbooks?

Which brings me to my next thought. What else should I be organizing and getting rid of? What things are not bringing beauty and joy to my life? What things are causing me more work as in dusting, polishing, etc.? A smart ass person might say something about dogs, cats, kids, husbands, but no, those things definitely bring beauty, joy, and loads of happiness along with their messes.

I am paring down, people! Paring down!

I have been thinking about those wish boards that people make. You know, the ones where you put pictures of things you want, things you see yourself doing, achieving or accomplishing. I don't recall what they are called. But anyhoo, that is not the point. The point is I have a board that would be perfect for that and think I might get busy doing one of those this year. If and when I do, I will be sure to photograph it and tell you about it and then see at the end of the year how many of them really do come to fruition.

2009, I will miss you. It was overall a pretty good year here in my house. I am thankful for the blessings and hopeful for the future.

2010, Welcome! High hopes for the coming year. Let's start with getting some good health care bills out of congress. Affordable health care for all in 2010!