I've already made my resolutions, a day ahead. I know there's a party line division on resolutions - you either do or you don't. I'm in the do group - I swear it's genes handed down from my mother, who also loves New Year's Day and resolutions - how can you resist a brand new year with a brand new start?

So here are my resolutions, (shared over Monopoly last night with Leslie and Jeremy waiting for the ball to drop) - only a few and they're not world-shaping.

#1 - get enough sleep on a consistent basis. I've read the leading cause of weight gain is lack of sleep. Apparently all of us are tired much of the time, and instead of sleeping more at night or grabbing a nap, we eat. I read that taking a 30 minute nap is very restoring, and I'll be less hungry. So no "lose 10 lbs" this year, just go to bed at a reasonable hour most of / more of the time. When the night is short on sleep time, curl up on the sofa for a few minutes during the day.

#2 - take every single thing out of the basement storage room, go through it and put it in four piles: throw away, give away, put away, and keep. Much of the throw away will be going to the industrial sized shredder at DH's workplace. Even though our 1980 tax return is in a box neatly labeled with 1981 and 1982 following right behind, we don't need them. Organized clutter is no less clutter than if they were here and there all over the place. Cabbage patch dolls, leggos, school papers, too many paint cans, more luggage than we need - I plan to go through all of it, paint the walls and floor of the basement and then do something big for a reward. If I get this job done, it should have a ripple effect throughout the house. (And yes, I'll be careful of my knees during this process - I learned the hard way!)

#3 - go through, sort, toss, then begin to scrapbook the thousands of photos we have. I'm praying many of them are duplicates with red eye and half of someone's face cut off, so they can go in the garbage. If I could give each kid a scrapbook of their growing up photos, and a box of their keepsakes at 2008's end, it would be such a huge accomplishment.

So that's it for me - no "read more books' or 'exercise" or 'think better thoughts", "gossip less', 'eat more healthy', yadayadayada. If I get all this done I should have time to read more, I won't need to exercise, the basement will be enough exercise for anyone, and having less clutter, more order, and feeling rested - that may be all it takes to set my world right.

Happy New Year's to everyone out there - hope you and yours have a wonderful 2008. Okay, I'm putting the cinnamon rolls in the oven, let the parade begin!