This year I’ll definately make more ‘YBY” greeting cards by hand. I think I’ve really gotten the hang of—pencil to pen finishing inking. I plan on asking my sister to assist me in next years “Christmas Tradition” project. The plan is to have her hand crochet 4 blankets (I’ll gladly pay for the yarn) to add to each package for next Christmas for 4 lucky homeless kids. Each package will contain a handmade pen and ink card, blanket, mittens, cardgames, my poem “Christmas Tradition”, a candy bar and $5. The candy and the money are a special part of the poem that you have to read in order to “get” thier meaning. I’ll do other things, but, I have to say these are at the top of my list!!!

I am going to try to be more patient with the less expereienced and less focussed. I tend to move fast and get things done without too much concern for the feeling of others who cant keep up. Surely there is a way to do both and I need to find it.

I am going to live as if this is my last year on earth, by trying to be humble and grateful. I am going to try to be quiet and still inside so I can hear the voices and sounds of remembered joys. I am going to spend more time outdoors, appreciating the smell of the earth, from the time it awakens in the spring until the storms of winter. am going to eat and drink less, but savor both more. I am going to watch more movies. I am going to try to ” teach” my cats to walk outside on leashes so they can enjoy eating the grass.

Stay healthy; make sure the numbers (cholesterol, BP, sugar) stay good. Be thankful for my family & friends. Pay down my debt.

I want to look my very best for my youngest son’s graduation from DARTMOUTH on June 14. Therefore, I need to lose about 30 pounds, and I need to focus on my overall health. Also, I hope to find the courage to decide to move from Brandon, Mississippi (which was suppose to be a ‘temporary’ getaway following my divorce 9 years ago) … OR, accept that Brandon is now home.

My first resolution is to rap NBC on the knuckles for booking Ann Coulter on the Today show on Jan. 6. Coulter is factually challenged and, in her opinions, a nasty piece of work. Just when you think she’s scraped bottom, she goes lower. [Read about her new book here: http://mediamatters.org/items/200901040002?f=h_top] And yet Today will have her on. As a humorist? (She’s not.) A conservative? (Oh please). A professional hater? (I wish Matt and Meredith would use that phrase, just once.) I’ve written the Today show —- Today@NBCUNI.com —- to say that, thanks to this disgusting booking, I won’t be watching the show for the next two or three months. And if I can find out who advertises during that segment, I’ll alert those advertisers as well. Feel free to send your thoughts to Today….