Hello all. I wanted to give another update on my "Nothing New" resolution. We've completed week three and have found that it is getting easier all the time. Here are a couple highlights...

Cake Baking:
Jan 15th was my stepson's birthday, and he requested a pirate party (we talked about this last time with the few decorations etc that we bought "legally"). Somehow in my new family, I have become the cake baker. I quite enjoy it and am always looking to outdo myself from the previous year. Fittingly, this year I decided to make a pirate cake for Jonathan. I picked up all the necessary decorative candies, etc and set out to make the best darn pirate anyone had seen. I forgot one thing.... I only have one round cakepan! I don't know why or how I ended up buying just one so long ago, but I did. Not so smart on the part of the cake baker. I could have borrowed one from a neighbor, but I decided that I had time, I love to multitask, and so I'd just make do with my one pan. It took twice as long to bake, but splitting the batter worked just fine. It also prevented me from rushing into cutting and frosting when it wasn't ready yet. I also was able to relax a bit and do my other work in between cakes.

Dog Toys:
We have a puppy and an old dog. The old dog (Bronco) loves his stuffed animals. He carries them everywhere, even on walks sometimes. Salchi (the puppy) on the other hand loves to tear stuffed animals apart. I spent quite a bit of time last week patching and repatching Bronco's toys. My efforts were futile though, as they finally were so disfigured that my stitches didn't help and I threw them out. Throwing them away made me feel bad, as did knowing that poor Bronco (who would cry and sigh watching his pet hippo and pumpkin being stitched on the table) couldn't have any new toys. But, out of sight, out of mind, he seems to be getting along ok without them.

Decisions:
Joe and I both have ancient laptops. Mine was purchased before Grad School, which means it is at least 5 years old. We have decided that we need new ones. We debated over whether to get one for the both of us to share, or two. We settled on two as he is in school and I am teaching. Our final decision was that we would purchase one sooner for him, and later for me. Its a tough call, but we felt that it was something that was depleted (in a way), we would recycle it, and having new ones would help us progress in our lives. The iphone however, can wait.

Thoughts:
One interesting aspect of this "resolution" has been how much it has made me slow down and think about things. Everything I do now has consequence. Everything has a choice. It was so easy to sail through life not thinking. You may ask if this makes my life more stressful (i.e., the one cake pan). Really, it hasn't. It makes me plan a bit more (which is great), slow down, and really think about what is important and what impacts my choices have. I also haven't made any impulse buys of items that I don't need. Finally, it has led to many other forth coming positive behaviors (buying with less packaging, bringing my carrots for lunch in a paper towel I can use as a napkin rather than a plastic bag, etc). I'm excited to tackle those one at a time as my life can handle it.

How are your resolutions going? Are they leading to positive behavior change?