Hey 2013 ...

I made the most horrendous batch of cookies yesterday. Iced sugar cookies which I didn't ice for a start.  I also didn't bother rolling out the dough and breaking out the cookie cutters. I just rolled it up in a log shortbread-style and cut the cookies off.  They're really uneven too. I should bin them and make something decent but the little ginger and the not-ginger have no idea and they're staring at me from the cookie jar, so accusing in their horrendousness (the cookies, not the little ginger and the not-ginger) that I feel quite motivated.  It was a moment.  Crap baking is not good. 

It feels like I've been running for years, unable to concentrate, in need of so much sleep and with so much to do, some days feel like it's just about me turning in a hundred circles.  Fast circles.  And yet not getting enough exercise either.  That batch of cookies is the point where good intentions must be pushed into practice.

2013 feels different.  I have way too many ideas and a total lack of focus, but if I can just get one or two of those ideas going then that'll be a start.  So, I've just taken the dog for a walk and came home with the two that I want to get off the ground. The first is my Global Baker project, barely started then shelved late last year.  I have a lot of respect for Dean Brettschneider and I love to bake, when I let myself have the time to love it, and I want to learn from him.  Global Baker terrifies me, but I really want to do it.  It's probably going to take some time, and that's part of the problem. I've lost the art of taking time.  I move too fast, and anything that can't be done fast doesn't get done.  New beginnings though, and a recipe for chocolate chip hot-cross buns should get me started.

Awesomely, in a nod to my total lack of focus, I can't remember what the other thing was. Seriously. Not joking.

Ah! There it goes!  Thank heaven.  I have two chairs sitting out in the garage that I want to restore.  We bought them when we first tried to buy on the Coast, and they have become part of the journey of ending up here.  They were pretty tired when we bought them and now they need some real love.  I just have to find somewhere to do the fabric side of things for me, and work out how best to strip back the wood and they'll be the perfect addition to our home.

I'll attempt to refocus enough to blog along the way to boot. 

There are other things, but I think I'll just do them quietly in the background and see how they go.  I might make a list so I remember what I'm working towards.  First thing is graduating, which is next week.  I've been eligible to graduate for ten years.  I was so focused on not having completed the degree that I started that I didn't focus on what I had achieved which is two Diplomas.  Life has changed since 18.  What I want has changed. How I think I'm going to do it has changed.  And I'm really proud of that first Diploma that gets signed off next week.

So hey there, 2013.  May you be awesome.