Then and Now

There are things I do too much of now that I used to not ever do; things like playing solitaire on the iPad or posting things on FB, or listening to my husband with one ear due to electronic distractions or texting someone instead of calling them or spending hours perusing Pinterest. Not all these things are bad, but I am feeling the need to make a few changes. Soon, oh, so soon, but not today, I am deleting solitaire and QuizUp and Trivia Crack from all devices. I am going to consciously pay attention to Mr. L even if he is discussing the price of gas or why that referee's signal was wrong. I will listen. There are those I will continue to text, it seems the only way to communicate with some people in my life, but I will try to actually talk to them from time to time as well. I will continue to look at FB. I love wishing people happy birthday, hearing about trips, seeing funny children and grumpy cats and your  favorite YouTube videos. I love your pictures. I have already begun blocking those who are politically or religiously strident and unkind. That kind of negativity can start a day off or wind a day down poorly.  Because I rationalize that I have not spent money on a magazine since I discovered Pinterest, I have made some stellar dishes from recipes found on that site, the boys and I have done countless crafts and projects, and I dearly love the creativity of people who post marvelous hints and ideas, I will not be giving up my Pinterest fascination, but I will try to limit new pins and wade through the bazillion I already have. In fact, this blog is the result of a Pin. It came in the form of a 31-day challenge to post a blog a day with prompts to spark a bit of creativity. We will see how dedicated I am.

There are things I used to do that I do not do as often now, like read books. I used to be a voracious reader, but I have allowed mindless electronic pursuits crowd out my joy of reading; well, that and my absolute inability to stay awake at night. I intend to read more this year. I used to take a photograph a day and keep them in a hard-copy journal with little tidbits of trivia about the picture and the day. I did that for 5 or 6 years, but recent starts and stops have sort of killed my enthusiasm. While I may not keep a daily journal, I do intend to take more photos of beautiful or odd things, and not just of my grandchildren, though I will not be slowing down on my picture taking of them. That
brings me too much pleasure. This year I bought myself an art journal of 44 pages of watercolor paper. I am going to try my hand at that. I enjoy watercolors more than other kinds of paint simply because I don't have to wear a hazmat suit while using them. With oils and acrylics, I make a huge mess. I do not excel at any of them, so I figure why not stick with the one I find most convenient. Well, and I do love watching what watercolors do.

So day one of 31 days of blogging prompts says make an introduction. The 5 of you who happen to read this blog know me already. This is my intro to the next 31 days of blogging-well, maybe I will make it 31 days, for self-discipline is another of those things I could use a bit more of.  Probably I was supposed to start this January 1, but too many rules will ruin the experience.

Day one-introduction - check.