Trying new things

The new year has brought some changes to our family because our van has hit the end of it's useful lifespan. It's got some sort of leak that is coming up through the floorboard and the oil techs at wally world noticed it had a leak prior to it's service last month. We've switched back to using just the car but it has limited how far we can travel because of issues that it has. The family is trying to adjust but I can sense that folks aren't happy with it. The kids haven't been able to go to the homeschool park days for a while and it does bring me down a bit. I know that Kel really misses being able to talk to other grownups and pass ideas back and forth. It sucks, but at least we can get to the limited places, just can't swing that big payment again anytime soon. We'll sacrifice in the areas we can and see what happens later this year.
Other things we are trying new are some different recipes and a test of the culinary talent. Last night we tried some black bean burgers and they turned out wonderful. Tonight I made my first set of cinnamon rolls from scratch with a scratch cream cheese icing. We also tried an Alex idea for dinner tonight, macaroni and cheese in a broccoli forest. It's different but it was pretty good and always great to see the little ones eating their greens without too much fuss.
Short work week this week with the MLK birthday holiday off and I get a free day for carrying the pager last week. Bonus! :-) Last month I didn't get my pager day because I had to travel and attend a class. Not sure what to do with the time yet, just good to have.

Happy New Year, bring on 2007!

Hello again and happy 2007 to you! Last year was quite eventful for our family with many things coming to fruition that make folks feel like we've accomplished things in life. We became official home owners!
2007 is going to be tough to top that. I am not really someone who makes resolutions for the beginning of the calendar year, but I always stop and think about how we can make things better going forward. I would like to be more of a handy man in 2007, maybe the tools and woodworking will help me find a new hobby that will bring back my creative side. I used to love working on the computers all the time, but now that work involves so much of what I was trying to learn, it's hard to continue that way. Today I saw the premiere episode of "Living with Ed" on HGTV and it made me want to be better to the environment. Ed is a Hollywood star that has been living green as much as possible since 1970. Recycling, composting, using solar electricity in his house, driving an electric car/SUV... it makes me wonder how much one with a small budget could do better. We recycle as much as possible, making a trip to the recycle center at least once every two weeks or sooner. We have switched every light possible in the house over to compact florescent bulbs. We now only use 13w of power for lights that used to go up to 100w per bulb. Sure, it takes a little time for the light to get bright at first, but over time it's a significant amount of energy we save. I want to start a garden in the spring where we can grow some small fruits and veggies. Finding the right spot to start it so we have enough room for the kids to play will be the trick.
I want to work to be a better father and husband in this new year. Working from home has it's benefits, but sometimes it's a bane because I get stuck on long calls at all times of day. That frustration sometimes boils over into bad moods with yelling that I do way too much of. I need to get that fuse longer again. It used to be that it would take me a long time for stuff to get to me, now it's almost nothing. I worry a lot about stuff that I can't control and that is something that I need to be better at too. I will worry myself to sickness, losing sleep over small stuff that I know that I can get resolved over time.
The last thing I need to do is get back in tune with nature. I love living in the country, being where things are small again instead of so large in the city. I need to take advantage of this as it is where my comfort used to come from, long before the Clarkson days, living all summer in the outdoors at summer camp. If I can get back in tune, the kids will accept it too.