I hereby resolve….

• To dress each morning in clothes that are not from the bottom of the rag barrel. In other words, stop the habit of wearing schlumpy stuff at home and only dressing up when I “go out”. I learned this from my mother, who would return home from wherever and put on a housecoat of sorts. Was this a vestigial remain of the time when women wore housedresses at home? Maybe, but that time ancient history, and I end up doing errands dressed like a bag lady.  Edited to add: I’ll be taking a photo of my outfit a day and posting it on Twitter.  It’s a way to keep me honest…
• 12/31/12. Fail, fail, fail. But you knew that, didn’t you. Because you haven’t seen a single photo of me in my outfit of the day. And it’s not just the photo journal that I failed at; it’s the whole “dressing each morning in clothes that are not from the bottom of the rag barrel.” Throughout the year, I gave away bags of clothing. And I bought items of apparel deemed appropriate for outside wear. Bbbuuuuuuttt–it sure is hard to make myself actually don the clothes. Just this morning as I was burrowing in my closet I turned to Dennis and said, “Boy, I wish I hadn’t thrown all that clothing out. It sure is hard to get dressed every day when you don’t want to wear nice clothes.” Then I went into the bedroom and pulled a newer old T-shirt (size XL, of course) from the Good Will bag and put it on. Under a cashmere sweater. So there.
• This will be the year that I conquer my hoarder urge. I am not merely vowing to toss stuff. I am actually promising to dig into the dynamic behind it, because that is the only way I’ll actually conquer it. Success! The move this fall enabled a massive peeling away of years of stuff that was stuck to me. What remains now are only the things I have deliberated and determined I want to keep. And still, it’s too much.
• To extend my social media footprint.  Doesn’t that sound impressive?  Basically, what it means is that I want to look at the social media sites I’m “on” and bcome more proactive in engaging with them.  I’m always an early adopter, but I’m also a lazy adopter, just kinda hanging out without much attention or intention.  I want to see what happens if I change my errant ways. So so ( get the color coding?). My Klout score has gone up; does that count? I still only use Twitter occasionally, when I have something pithy or priceless to share–and yes, when I’m announcing a new MidLifeBloggers post. I am on three relatively active Facebook groups. Well, they’re active for some and not for others. I check in with them regularly and say something when I have something to say, but I’m almost a silent presence compared to some FBers who seem to live a life at least partially on the site.
• To finally master the whole stats thing.  I have resisted this, saying ‘oh that just seems so high school.’   Really, though, it’s just a defensive posture, akin to “I’ll dislike you before you can dislike me. Success! I actually know what–and where–my stats are. Should anyone enquire, I can give page views and hits with the best of them. So there!
• To get into YouTube. Is there an opening for our midlife niche there? Fail. If there’s an opening–and I think there is–it will not be filled by me. See Part II, Resolutions 2013 for explanation.
• To pull off the best ever–and the first!–MidLifeBloggers Conference in 2012! Fail. Again, see Part II, Resolutions 2013.

Photo credit: pennysaved-pennyearned.com