Why a Blog?

I read this article at Handmadeology the other day. I think it's a great idea: listing my accomplishments of 2012 and acknowledging my misses but not dwelling on them and looking ahead to 2013 with a plan to record my accomplishments as I go. So I did it. I used an Excel spreadsheet, titled the first tab '2012' and added 2 columns titled 'Did' and 'Didn't' (original, I know). As instructed in the article, I listed everything I could think of that I'd completed in 2012. Then I listed all of the things I'd intended to do or had started and not finished/quit/forgot I was doing it.

I'm pleased to say my Did list was much longer than my Didn't list. That said, there were some rather big, important things on the Didn't list that I probably should've been doing instead of some of the things which filled up the Did list. Oh well. I hid the Didn't column instead of throwing it away as suggested in the article (yes, I realize that when I do what the article says I'm following an instruction but when I choose to do it my way the article is simply making a suggestion.

Next I added a second page to the spreadsheet entitled - you guessed it - '2013' and added two columns titled 'Do It' and 'I Did It!'. I listed all of the projects I want to accomplish this year, big or small. That list came to 22 just off the top of my head. It includes some Christmas presents, sewing garments, the completion of a couple of things I didn't finish last year, creating more of some of the things I learned in 2012, and, and, and. Noticeably absent are some things listed on my 2012 Didn't column...not because I wouldn't like to do them but because I'm trying to be more realistic with myself about myself.

So, how do I share all these things, good and bad, successes and failures with my sister and my friends? That's the Why. This blog is primarily a place for me to keep my What I Want To Do list for 2013. I'd like to a photo journal of things I complete (so I'll probably have to figure Flickr out, too) and maybe even give some explanation of what I did along the way. I do love to share any good thing I find.

And I get to add the first entry to the I Did It! column: begin a Blog by January 8. Tha'ts also my birthday. I like that my birthday is at the beginning of the calendar year...I don't have to get half way thru the year and do the what-did-I-do-with-the-last-year thing again; I get all out of the way at once.

I don't know how much I'll utilize this blog or that it will only be used as a creative journal. If I'm going to journal I'd like to do it all in one place. This blog is not to display my extreme skill - at anything. It's not because I am a good or aspiring writer, and my vocabulary, spelling, and grammar are likely to be sub-par on a regular basis.

If you're reading along you may want to grab a cup of coffee & relax for a bit because I am pretty much always this chatty...just ask my sister.

Welcome and Happy New Year.
Crystal