Not too cool for cereal

Okay, so I must walk into this with you with a warning.  I'm blocked.  I don't have anything.  And right now, I'm sick.  But I'm also sick of looking at my blogger bookmark and clicking on others because I have nothing to put here.

I get the case of the know-nothings every year.  This year it's either really late, or it came early.  I'm not sure what to do to make it go away.  All my usual tricks haven't worked.  Listening to music, reading books, trying something new .... football ... nothing!

So I'm just going to type through it ... and hopefully what comes out isn't too much of crap that you forever disregard me and my writing.

I went to the store yesterday to get some orange juice to help power away my cold.  I'm almost half done with what I bought ... still have a queasy stomach, foggy head, no fever though.

There was an awesome sale on Life Cereal, so I also stocked up.  Five boxes!!! My mom never bought Life.  I had it once at my grandmas? or maybe some other relation.  But the moment I had it, I was hooked.  Kinda like Pepsi Twist, dark chocolate and Muscato wine.

I remember telling my mom about this awesome cereal and how amazing it was but for the life of me i couldn't remember the name ... although i knew it was relatively short.  So the next month we went up and down the cereal aisle every time we went grocery shopping.  Finally figured it out ... then saw the price.  And that was the end of my hopes of eating Life.

Now since I'm left to my own vices, I'm not so much of a cereal person.  I'm picky in the way I really don't like eating the same thing day after day.  And I often don't get up with enough time to get dressed, make coffee, get lunch together for the day, do my hair AND eat breakfast.  Sometimes I'm lucky if I get three out of the five done.

But every once and a while cereal sounds good.  And when given the choice it's either life, frosted shredded mini wheats, raisin bran or grape nuts.  Grape nuts is also quite pricey and hardly on sale.  But boy, when Life is on sale I buy it! With Vigor!  Even if I don't need it. (I know, that's also called "hording," but I will eventually eat it ... though I don't think that helped my case any).

So, Life was on sale.  And I bought it (five boxes)! With Vigor!  And I put it down in the basement and stepped back and lovely looked at my collection of Life Cereal.  Oooooh, ahhhhh.

This is why I don't type when I'm blocked.  It's like drunk typing, slightly less typos, same amount of pathetic.  Oh well, I've never been accused of being cool.

Desparately Seeking

Desparately seeking inspiration!!!   I don't know where my little kernal has gone ... but I can't write an interesting (at least to me) entry to save my life!  It all ends up blah, or how to or Zzzzzzz.

Oh inspiration ... where for out thou and how can I entice you to come back home?

On resolving to not have resolutions

We've launched into a new decade.  (Hooray! May it be a hellvua lot better than the last!) Of course with each new year comes the time honored tradition to mumble the words of old ayng zyne ... and resolve to be better than the year before.

I've always sucked at keeping my resolutions, along with every other person who's spending money on a gym membership they stop using in February (even though the calories from Super Bowl Sunday would really benefit a work out).  My resolutions were never unique, lose weight, be more outgoing, spend more time with friends, etc. etc.

Early in my 20's I realized I couldn't remember what I had resolved to do (or stop doing) by the time Saint Patrick's Day rolled around.  So, I stopped making resolutions.  Why delude myself into changing?

In 2008, I wanted to make a change.  Life is too short to settle, and I was sick of not feeling good about myself.  So, I had one thing I want to make progress in.  I thought long and hard about ways I could make it happen.  I made efforts each day.  And, I really, actually was able to change my habits and attitude.

Last year I did the same thing.  I resolved to not make a resolution, but instead, go green.  I did a fair amount of early research.  I added a couple of green blogs into my RSS feeds and found a range of changes I could make.  From the very easy, to the habit forming ... and though I could do more and I'm not at the level of Al Gore, I'm happy with the change I've made in my lifestyle.

Talking to a friend this year, the inevitable question came up.  My answer was I don't make resolutions, but I have a goal in mind.  And as soon as it left my mouth, I realized I was making a resolution.  Damn!!!

So, I guess I failed that resolution in 2003---to not make resolutions---but I've succeeded following through in the life-changes I've set my eye on.

And here's how I've done it:

1. Do your research.  What's involved in your change? What do you need to accomplish it?
2. Map it out.  What changes can you make right away?  What are actions that will take longer to accomplish?  How can you make it into a habit?
3. What does success look like?  Recognize when you're making progress, then go back to your map in #2 and work towards the next level of progress.

You're not going to succeed if you're not truly interested in making a change.  Maybe some people make resolutions purely to be a part of the tradition--and the tradition of not keeping them.  And that's okay too.