New Year’s Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. ~Mark Twain

Well it isn’t quite New Year’s day but we had some family stuff going on that precluded writing.

I am relieved that 61 straight days of blogging is over. I’m glad I did it. I made more connections out of #Reverb10 after a bumpy start. I really enjoyed the people I’ve been reading and will add them to my blogroll this week sometime.

We are now officially on day 3 of no sugar, no white flour, no white pasta, no white rice. I can safely say I can live without the white pasta (we will sub in whole wheat pasta when necessary because we have a kid and she likes my pasta dishes). I’m going to try baking with soy flour and almond flour. The rice will be a problem. Because I love my sushi rice. I have an old rice cooker from when I lived in SF. It’s still plugging along more than 10 years later. I love Botan Rice.  Sigh. And baking. I love Cake like nobody’s business, but then see—that’s the problem, that and candy. So the only candy in the house is bought in small amounts for the Bean (and she is a tiny skinny little biscuit and doesn’t eat much anyway—preferring clementines and apples (we did well with her diet, just now our own) and we’re going to become very aware of what we are putting into our mouths. It’s a steep learning curve but J and I are in this together so we have a good chance for success. We even told the Bean so she can tease us if she sees us with candy. I hope I can hold on when work starts up tomorrow. Schools are hotbeds of snacky goodness.

I got to hang out with my good friend G the other night. It is so cool spending time with someone who thinks and feels and considers things from many angles. And who you have known since you were breaking curfew.

I didn’t get everything done that I wanted to this break. As Bean would say I always have “eyes bigger than my tummy” when I make my lists. But we got a good start. I’m utterly pissed at our home insurance—of course I am, their job is to say no—but really? If there wasn’t a problem BEFORE the ice storm and there is one AFTER—think the ice storm could have been part of the problem? Sheesh. Makes me consider how much of a shell game the whole thing is (and I worked in the industry for a few years in IT) and to just look for the cheapest of cheap coverages and take chances. Well, it’s a thought. Our cars still need servicing and we’re going to have to consider trading J’s in –it’s 11 years old now—we are not wrapped up in cars as status symbols, rather as transportation. We are about caught up on the laundry and housework that has piled up since I got injured and we made it through the holiday with belief in Santa intact and our first real Christmas tree (next year? A black one from treetopia, I swear those are just cooler and less messy). I was able to snag a digital camera AND a flip cam on eBay for Bean in excellent working order for under $70 (8 megapixel fuji and a Flip Mino—not bad at all). And Santa found Monster High Dolls which are rarer than rocking horse droppings.

Maybe today I can get the new website my dear friend Sara pulled together from the chaotic ashes of my previous site. I’m going to have to figure out what I can do with the photo section—I’ve got those pics up on Flickr now, which is a site I don’t mind paying for (like Pandora—I caved and bought their yearly subscription, but it’s on at work –when I write—probably even more than my personal music collection, because let’s face it, I’ve listened to the heck out of those). Also, I need to get the pantry stocked for this new kinda cooking—which will really involve cooking. Also all clothes have to be put away today, and that tree is going out and vacuuming must be done (see, eyes bigger than my tummy, which at this point is impressive).

Now I’m just blithering, so I’ll say to ya’ll…Happy New Year, I hope this one is a better one than last year for ALL of us, for all the U.S. really—heck for the world. 2010 was not a great year, though good things happened in it. I wish that everyone who wants a job or a new job gets one, everyone’s house value stops dropping, everyone stays or gets healthy, everyone who needs new love gets it, everyone who must close the door on old loves can and that all our kids are safe, healthy, very happy and successful.