{"id":5150,"date":"2010-01-01T16:41:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-01T16:41:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2017-04-04T14:58:34","modified_gmt":"2017-04-04T14:58:34","slug":"","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.annbarlow.com\/?p=5150","title":{"rendered":"Happy New Year&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Happy New Year&#8230;<\/b><\/p>\n<p>and a belated Merry Christmas to y&#8217;all!  I&#8217;ve been sort of off the grid, traveling and such, so that is the reason that I&#8217;ve been gone here.<\/p>\n<p>Well, we&#8217;re here at the beginning of a new year.  I like that word, beginning.  When I think about beginnings, I get a picture like <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/auto_images\/hires\/img23291262380738.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/auto_images\/lowres\/img23291262380738.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>this in my head.  I&#8217;m going to try and remember this image as 2010 rolls along and try to picture hope and prosperity and happiness and belonging over the next dune.  Because, in reality, I don&#8217;t know what is out there.  Of course, none of us ever knows what is coming, but this next year for our family feels more uncertain than usual. <\/p>\n<p>And that is saying something.<\/p>\n<p>Jon will get his Ph.D. in May.  What then?  Will we stay in this house, in St. Louis?  Yes, no, maybe?  Employment changes, yes, no, maybe?  Moving&#8230;..yes, no?  Changes in the boys&#8217; schools\/educational plans&#8230;yes, no?  Denial&#8230;.yes, no?  <\/p>\n<p>You see my difficulties here.<\/p>\n<p>Luckily, there is always something to distract me.  Like, resolutions, for instance.  I&#8217;m sort of pathetic when it comes to resolutions since mine are always the same, but I&#8217;ll share them anyway.<\/p>\n<p><b>1.  Stand up straight. <\/b> By this I don&#8217;t just mean unhunch the old shoulders but have ballet posture, once again.  Maybe I&#8217;ll pretend that Madame Gossett, my old ballet teacher, is around.  That should do the trick on the posture thing.<\/p>\n<p><b>2.  Stomp my foot less.<\/b>  Also, related to this, swear less.  Maybe I should take up a high-impact sport, as I suspect this will be difficult.<\/p>\n<p><b>3.  Keep learning. <\/b> Cook new stuff.  Write new stuff.  <\/p>\n<p><b>4.  Read more.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>5.  Make the busters help out more. <\/b> I can just hear the moaning now.<\/p>\n<p><b>6.  Throw more stuff away. <\/b> Determine the elements that make up the pile of unknowns in my basement.<\/p>\n<p><b>7.  Finish stuff. <\/b> Quilt, etc. <\/p>\n<p><b>8.  Smile more.  \ud83d\ude42 <\/b><\/p>\n<p>How about that for some mundane goals?  <\/p>\n<p>Alright, I&#8217;m going to rescue this boring post by telling y&#8217;all my menu to celebrate New Year&#8217;s.<\/p>\n<p><i><b>Gin and Tonics,  Chips with Homemade Pico de Gallo <\/p>\n<p>Spicy Shredded Pork<br \/>\nSaucy Hopping John served over Cheese Grits<br \/>\nSauteed Savoy Cabbage (or slaw, I can&#8217;t decide)<\/p>\n<p>Upside-Down Apple Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>Now tell me what y&#8217;all are cooking, eating, resolving and such.  Thanks, always, for stopping by!<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Happy New Year&#8230; and a belated Merry Christmas to y&#8217;all! I&#8217;ve been sort of off the grid, traveling and such, so that is the reason that I&#8217;ve been gone here. Well, we&#8217;re here at the beginning of a new year. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.annbarlow.com\/?p=5150\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annbarlow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5150"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annbarlow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annbarlow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annbarlow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.annbarlow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5150\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annbarlow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annbarlow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annbarlow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}