Josh here. I’ve been commissioned to write up my New Year’s Resolutions, so here goes! Disclaimer: I am terrible at celebrating holidays & special events in general. I’m not sure why, I don’t dislike celebrating, so it may just be laziness. Also I have a “bad attitude” in general, according to some people I am married to, and that may be a contributing factor. So it is a good thing that Maggie is twice as celebratory as your standard human person. She covers my slack, and forces me (in a good way) to celebrate. With that in mind, you should know that I think New Year’s resolutions are kinda stupid. But again, that may just be the bad attitude. Nevertheless, I am going to Resolve, for the sake of participating in society, as every good citizen should. Plus it’s something to do. Yay!

I don’t usually partake of Resolutions because I think they are the kiss of death for any serious undertaking. I don’t think we as society actually take our New Year’s Resolutions seriously. They are more like a fun thing to try in January, and once we realize how difficult they are to maintain (which is why we aren’t doing them already), we let them go with some guilty feelings. But we don’t worry too much about it, because nobody actually keeps their Resolutions, right?!

And yet, the things we pick for our Resolutions are usually important! Right fatty? And these are the things we ought to be doing for realz u guys! So maybe I should re-title this list as Things I Ought to Be Doing Regardless of the Calendar Date Which I’ve Been Meaning to Do and Just Haven’t Yet for One Reason or Another. And I will be specific in my goals, because it helps. I read that somewhere.

1. Get Organized. Specifically: start every day by WRITING DOWN the things I need to do, that day. This seems pretty easy, but also really helpful. I am the kind of person who cannot keep tasks (or anything else) in mind, so if I don’t write it down, then I forget it. Even if we talked about it like five minutes ago. I’m sorry, but I’m fairly sure I’ve got the early onset Alzheimers. Just ask Maggie. I’m like Dory from Finding Nemo, which I watch several times a week now that Eleanor owns it. “Name-o? Name-o?”
2. Okay FINE I’ll exercise. It’s been about 2.5 years since I regularly exercised. I was pretty into it for a while there, but I’m an “all or nothing” kinda person, and when we got close to Eleanor’s birth, time became much more limited (and even more so after she was born). Instead of working out less, I just stopped! Woops. Right before I quit, I was getting into running and really enjoying it, and even went to the length of buying good shoes, but then I busted my feet up (plantar fasciitis), which made me really sad. I couldn’t run more than a few minutes after that without feeling like muscles were tearing in my feet. I was still riding the bike and lifting weights, but not being able to run made me a lot less motivated, which is in part why I haven’t gone back. But enough is enough, and I’ve decided to return to exercise. My primary goal is more energy, so I will ride that stupid stationary bicycle and work the cardio. Specifically, I will be using the apartment complex gym (re: FREE!) once or twice during the week in the evenings after Eleanor is in bed, and then on the weekends.
3. Grow the Business. As some of you may know, I am a freelance web designer, and I operate under the business name of Redroot Design. This in addition to my day job. I’ve been doing front-end coding for a number of years now, but am expanding to the full enchilada, including graphic design and layout. That means art + technical. The new website is up, so enjoy to look. I’m growing the portfolio right now, so if you’ve got a project, visit the site and drop me a note. I won’t be more specific, because it would literally bore the pants off you, like your pants would actually fall off while you were reading from sheer boredom (that happens), but suffice to say it’s where I spend most of my free time. And I love it.
4. Drink less soda. Ha, just kidding.
5. Get more sleep. Ha, kidding again! No, seriously, we are going to try to get to sleep by 10 p.m. on weekdays. This would be nice, but I think this is one of those true New Year’s Resolutions, in that there is no way we’re going to maintain. Maybe next year?

And there you have it! All of the Things I Ought to Be Doing Regardless of the Calendar Date Which I’ve Been Meaning to Do and Just Haven’t Yet for One Reason or Another. Don’t check up on me, I’m going to be too busy to talk about them.