Happy 2012!

Yes, I'm late.  Not the best way to start the new year.  But sometimes we don't have control over what happens or at least we can use some of those happenings we do have control over to procrastinate.

As June Carter Cash sang in the song Time's A Wastin', ♪ ♫ "A cake's no good if you don't mix the batter and bake it." ♫ ♪

While I'm not much for making New Year's Resolutions that are quickly broken, I do sometimes make goals for the year.  This year I didn't.  My goals haven't really changed, but I am looking at them in a different way.  I know what it takes to reach them.  The problem comes when it's time to take that action.  Sometimes there are things that come along to keep us from working on our goals.  That's what happened to me this past week.

Early on Friday morning, two guys arrived to put the new siding on my house.  Not long ago, we had a new roof put on, so I knew it wouldn't be a normal time while they were working.  What I didn't realize was how long it would take or how intrusive it would be.  I tried writing on Friday, because my goal had been to finish the proposals I was working on and send them to my agent.  But the pounding and hammering on the walls (especially thin ones with no insulation) was a whole lot louder than I'd expected.  Concentration--at least the kind needed for writing--was almost nil.  They were there until after dark.  The same thing happened on Saturday.  Very little writing and revising got done, and because it was New Year's Eve, we had plans to go to my oldest daughter's for the evening.  We were a tad late, but well before the magic hour of midnight.  With the thought in mind that the next day was not only a Sunday, but a holiday, as well, we planned to sleep in late, after staying up into the wee hours of the morning.

We were WRONG.  At 8:15 in the morning on Sunday, I was awakened by what sounded like a sledgehammer on the wall next to my bed.  They're baaaaack!  I was not a happy camper, but there was very little I could do about it.  I managed a few paragraphs.  Yesterday (Monday) the siding was finally in place, and the workers left in mid-afternoon.  Hooray!

The result of the past few days is a super looking house...and the fact that I'm four days behind.  I no longer have time to play and must make up for lost time.  Somehow.

Is being behind schedule only three days into the new year a bad omen?  I hope not!  I'm determined to make this the best year yet, no matter what comes along to try to mess up my plans.

For me, 2012 starts today!

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.

- Oprah Winfrey