Grandma's good intentions for 2012

I'm not really one to make resolutions but I do have many good intentions—a kinder, gentler word with less guilt attached for not following through. A cop out before getting started? Maybe. Not likely, though, when it comes to the grandma-related intentions I have for the coming new year because I fully intend to:

• Be more active—with my grandchildren, for my grandchildren.

• Print and display more of the thousands of photos I'm likely to take in the coming year (plus some of those from past years that sit in digital limbo).

• Seek out opportunities, activities, experiences to encourage compassion, gratitude, grace in my grandchildren.

• Regularly mail homemade goodies to my grandchildren so they get to know the wonders and love that comes from Gramma’s oven despite the hundreds of miles between my home and theirs.

• Stop expecting immediate feedback, thanks, and notification of receipt for those gifts and goodies I send.

• Stifle—possibly even eradicate—envy of my grandsons' other grandmas.

• Dedicate more time to outdoor pursuits with my grandsons to balance out the amount of time we spend on indoor activities such as reading, watching movies, playing games, cooking, and making crafts.

• Stop lamenting the miles that separate us and make the most of the high-saturation moments we do have together.

• Actively pursue activities, hobbies, opportunities that have absolutely nothing to do with being a grandma—which makes for a better, more interesting grandma.

Today's question:

What are some of your good intentions for the new year?

Shop early for gifts—plus 10 more things I didn't do in 2011

Last December I swore I'd shop early for Christmas 2011, that I'd accumulate holiday gifts throughout the year so as to not have to rush around like a madwoman come December.

I didn't do that.

The metamorphosis into madwoman shall soon commence.

That's not the only thing I swore I'd do in 2011 that remains yet undone. Here are but a few:

• Order prints of the hundreds (thousands, maybe) of digital photos I'm behind on printing. "Behind" meaning the need goes back 8 years or so.

• Put a new Grandma's Briefs header into place, with an updated photo of granny panties on the line.

• Lose 20 pounds.

• Start riding my bike again (which would help with those 20 pounds).

• Paint the laundry room.

• Take up the hem on several of my favorite dresses to a more fashionable length. Yes, there's still time, but they're summer dresses...and will now sit on my sewing table until spring...at least.

• Learn Photoshop.

• Figure out how to be an active participant in Twitter parties without feeling like my head might explode. Or like a wallflower no one notices is in the room.

• Transfer a huge chunk of our CD collection to an iPod. (No way we'll manage to get all our music digitized...unless we set up a separate server for it. And no, Kate, we won't be following your lead.)

• Get caught up on reading my continually growing stack of magazines. Or just throw them all into the recycle bin and start fresh.

There are many more tasks, projects, and chores left undone, unfortunately. With the remainder of 2011 pretty much dedicated to holiday fun and frivolity, I don't see any of the above getting done at all before the clock strikes midnight on December 31.

Que sera, sera. There's always next year.

photo: stock.xchng

Today's question:

What did you intend to accomplish in 2011 but have now added to your to-do list for 2012?

9 things I will NOT do in 2011

While lots of folks are making lists of all the things they plan to do in the new year, I'm taking the other tack and offering up 9 things I will not do in 2011:

1. I will not give up coffee. You can't make me, you can't make me, you can't make me.

2. I will not join a gym. At least not until I'm in better shape.

3. I will not become an alcoholic, a position covered quite well by plenty of people around me. As Mattie Ross said in the original True Grit, "I won't put a thief in my mouth to steal my brain." (That doesn't mean, of course, that I won't let a thief borrow my brain now and then; lending it out on occasion can be quite enjoyable when in the right company.)

4. In the same vein, I will not be an enabler for those around me who allowed their brains to be stolen. And I will not be an enabler of the enablers who are enabling those with missing brains to death. Literally.

5. I will not get too serious on this blog. Or too revealing. Or too personal. Most of the time.

6. I will not snigger or snort at whatever name Megan and Preston choose for my second grandson. Unless it's BillyBobJoeDon. Or Ashton. Or SkippyJon Jones (thanks, Mrs. Mayhem).

7. I will not get frustrated while trying to improve my photo-editing skills. And photo-taking skills. Okay ... I will not lie, either, so disregard what I just said about photos.

8. I will not give up -- on my books, my blog, my bank account. Or my dreams of the lives my girls should be leading. Or my dream of winning PCH ... or the lotto.

9. I will not make resolutions. At least not those that I'm darn-shooting sure from the get-go that I won't come within spitting distance of accomplishing.

Photo: Petr Kratochvil

Today's question:

What will you NOT do in 2011?