Names

One of the things I love about the web is all the information you can dig up if you know where to look. Back when my kids were in school I'd occasionally get mail that should have gone to the other mother in town with my first and last name. Or be told at the video store that I had an overdue cartoon (her child was years younger than mine). Then someone at scouts mentioned a man with my name (his first name spelling was different) and a postal worker mentioned that a colleagues mother had my name. I live in a pretty small town and had to wonder how many others there were out there. Today I stumbled onto a web sight that could tell me!

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 17 people with my name in the U.S.A. http://howmanyofme.com">How many have your name?

Spring ?

Others might consider crocus and green grass the sure signs of sprin, but not me this year. We have so much snow piled up that it will be forever before we see either. My indicators this year are mud and cat hair. The weight limit signs have gone up around town on all the dirt roads and we had mud in the driveway this weekend -- ah spring!

Then there's the cat hair. Lily has made it a morning ritual to appear on our bed in the early morning to be patted. She is not a cuddly in your lap kind of cat and this has become a pleasant way to great the day as well as the cat. This morning she was standing on my pillow and I was looking up at her as I stroked her thick mostly white body. A cloud of cat loose hair haloed the cat with each stroke -- off with the winter coat for the warmer days of spring.

New diary syndrome?

When I was a kid, most every year I'd get a brand new diary for Christmas. Usually one with a pastel cover that closed with a gold lock and came with a teeny, tiny key to open it . I'd start out looking at those blank pages with excitement and write madly for a few weeks. Then I'd be writing less and less often until eventually didn't even know where the diary was. I feel a little like that about this blog although I never got to the writing madly part and at least I didn't forget where it was...

Truth be told, I'm intimidated by the computer part of all this. As the days go by there are many topics that I think about exploring and then the thought of getting them written and posted into the blog sends them right back into my subconscious -- basic computer fear. I need to get over it! That said I am going to commit to two posts a week. Goal set.

Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone

2008 is the year that I'm stepping out of my comfort zone as a blog reader and commenter to establish a blog of my own. I've never been much of a writer and have never aspired to be. Personal letters and an occasional journal entry have been the extent of my literary undertakings, but I am fascinated by blogs. Additionally I am computer challenged so this is really a new adventure.

I'm a curious sort and love to meet new people and learn new things. Last year one of my new thing was learning to knit socks. I've knit since high school and produced hats, scarves, mittens and sweaters on straight, circular and double pointed needles, but had never attempted socks. They just seemed confusing and to hard to tackle. Then a nurse practitioner I work with on Fridays decided we should learn to knit socks -- that meant she wanted to and I was going to help her... We've fallen into a habit of eating quickly and knitting for the rest of our hour lunch break every Friday. Together we've figured out so pretty strange pattern instructions so socks were the next challenge. It turned out that she hated the process and will probably never make another pair. I loved it and am totally hooked. Go figure...

Pushing my own boundaries and stepping out my comfort zone has been the one New Years resolution I have been good at keeping. Let the blog journey begin.