New Year's Resolutions for 2024

[MauEvig]

Happy New Year 2024!
Anyone got any New Year's Resolutions they'd like to share?
I'm going to try to eat healthier, and work on being an overall better person. I'm done worrying about what other people think about me.
I'm also going to try and focus on getting my projects done.
I'm not expecting much this year. Maybe it'll be challenging, maybe there will be some blessings to come. I'm hoping for the best while expecting the worst.
Last year was a terrible year. This was the first year I had to pay in income taxes, which hit me all the harder since I took a job that didn't pay as well for health reasons. I went 3 months without my car, I suffered a devastating loss when I had to face putting my cat to sleep, went another 3 weeks without my car due to hitting a rock.
I did have a great Christmas with my boyfriend though, and I made some great new co workers at the elementary school.
But the highlights are definitely outweighed by the sadness, disappointment and stress that last year brought.
I hope it's a better year and that's all I'm hoping for. But I am going to take that long awaited break after school's over.
What are you all planning to do?

[MauEvig]

Saw this on Facebook, figured y'all might appreciated it.

[Murfreesboro]

What an adorable image! Yes, indeed, we are not alone in our enthusiasm for Halloween.

I haven't made any hard and fast resolutions, though I am overrun with clutter and detritus of thirty years in this house. So I'd like to get serious about donating, organizing, and tossing.

I think you are most definitely overdue for a vacation, so I hope you enjoy your summer. I am planning to attend a family reunion up in KY in late June. It's where my father's mother was born. They have held the property since my 4th great grandfather received it as a land grant for serving in the Revolution. I have attended once before, in 2013, but I would like to go again, and my first cousins are attending, too, from all over the country.

My older son is moving from Columbus, OH, to Chicago this January, so of course I'm praying that this move turns out well for him. I imagine I'll also be visiting him up there once he's settled.

Do you have any New Year's traditions? In the South it's obligatory to eat blackeyed peas and collard greens. I'm making a vegetable chicken soup tonight and will serve the peas and collards on the side. Tomorrow, when my older son returns from visiting friends in Nashville, I'll make cornbread to go along with the leftovers. We are making biscuits (Pillsbury) tonight.

[Andybev01]

I never make resolutions, I know myself to well.

Coincidence? I just made a big pot of cream of chicken soup, loaded with vegetables!

It's a great way to clean out the crisper of holiday bits and pieces.

[MauEvig]

What an adorable image! Yes, indeed, we are not alone in our enthusiasm for Halloween.

I haven't made any hard and fast resolutions, though I am overrun with clutter and detritus of thirty years in this house. So I'd like to get serious about donating, organizing, and tossing.

I think you are most definitely overdue for a vacation, so I hope you enjoy your summer. I am planning to attend a family reunion up in KY in late June. It's where my father's mother was born. They have held the property since my 4th great grandfather received it as a land grant for serving in the Revolution. I have attended once before, in 2013, but I would like to go again, and my first cousins are attending, too, from all over the country.

My older son is moving from Columbus, OH, to Chicago this January, so of course I'm praying that this move turns out well for him. I imagine I'll also be visiting him up there once he's settled.

Do you have any New Year's traditions? In the South it's obligatory to eat blackeyed peas and collard greens. I'm making a vegetable chicken soup tonight and will serve the peas and collards on the side. Tomorrow, when my older son returns from visiting friends in Nashville, I'll make cornbread to go along with the leftovers. We are making biscuits (Pillsbury) tonight.

Thanks Murf! I plan to make the most out of my time off when that happens.
I don't have any food traditions necessarily on my end. A friend of mine always serves pork for New Years, or so she told me. The only "tradition" I can really think of (which also came from said friend) was that it's "good luck" to leave the tree up until New Year's Day. So I've started doing that. Whether it'll help the upcoming year or not, we shall see.
Hopefully the move to Chicago works out well for your son.
And I hope you have a fun family reunion. That's quite a family history you have there!

I never make resolutions, I know myself to well.

Coincidence? I just made a big pot of cream of chicken soup, loaded with vegetables!

It's a great way to clean out the crisper of holiday bits and pieces.

That soup sounds really good!
Eating up leftovers is always a good idea.
Don't blame you for not wanting to make resolutions. One never knows what the year will hold.

[Murfreesboro]

Blackeyed peas and collards are so entrenched for New Year's in the South that the grocery stores run out of them. Nobody really knows why we do that. As a child I was told it's because that's what the Confederate soldiers ate before they won a big battle. But I've also heard that blackeyed peas were pretty much all the Union soldiers left when they raided the farms, so it's all the people had to eat, and they felt lucky to have that. Somehow I think the latter story might be closer to the truth. Supposedly the Yankees thought the blackeyed peas were feed for animals, so they left them behind. I've had to force feed them to my husband all these years, because his parents were Midwestern and knew nothing about them, even though he was born in Tennessee. I, on the other hand, used to eat peas and greens and cornbread every Saturday for lunch.

Another quarrel we've had for decades is about cornbread. His mother put sugar in hers, but my family called sweet cornbread Yankee cornbread and wouldn't eat it. I've since read that the Irish won't put sugar in their soda bread, even though many American recipes include it. I've wondered if the prohibition against sugar in Southern cornbread came from the numerous Scotch Irish who settled this region.

Andy, clearing out leftovers is exactly what I was doing with that soup.

[MauEvig]

Wow, Murf. I have to say I enjoy that tidbit of history behind the black eyed peas. I also never knew "sweet" corn bread was more of a "Yankee" staple. I just figured cornbread was cornbread.



The Yankees leaving the black-eyed peas behind story does sound like it could have been a legitimate explanation, but is it possible both stories are true? Perhaps the Confederates ate the black-eyed peas in spite of the Yankee's raiding their farms, and instead of allowing that to be a blow to their morale, they gained a certain strength from it instead. A sort of, "do what you will with us, but we'll overcome it and rise above it" attitude. Perhaps it became symbolic of victory in an attempt to shut them down?

Just some food for thought...pun unintended.

If eating black eyed peas and collards brings good luck, perhaps I should start doing so. Of course, even if it didn't I'm sure to be a lot healthier for it.

On a more serious note:
My perspective on these subjects has changed in recent years to be honest. I find the history behind the civil war fascinating, but I also respect how tragic it was. Sometimes, I'm afraid we're but a spark near a gas tank away from another one. People don't want to have the hard discussions. They're scared. But...I'm reluctant to go too far into politics.

[Murfreesboro]

I know what you mean, Mau. But if another one comes, I don't think it will be sectional or regional this time. I think it is more likely to be rural (for want of a better term) vs major metropolitain areas.

And, having traveled our great country pretty extensively over the last 3 years, for the first time in years, I really, really hope it never comes to that. We are such an extraordinary nation. We have, literally, everything we need. We need to calm down and start listening to each other.

[MauEvig]

I know what you mean, Mau. But if another one comes, I don't think it will be sectional or regional this time. I think it is more likely to be rural (for want of a better term) vs major metropolitain areas.

And, having traveled our great country pretty extensively over the last 3 years, for the first time in years, I really, really hope it never comes to that. We are such an extraordinary nation. We have, literally, everything we need. We need to calm down and start listening to each other.

That's exactly what I've seen, Murf. There's definitely a divide between the rural and urban areas.
Bath County is decidedly conservative and very loud about it. But a trip to Roanoke and you find quite the opposite.
What worries me are the extremes one way or the other, leaving little room for middle ground or civil discussion.
I've never considered myself part of any particular political party and I'm decidedly neutral, and I respect people's opinions even if I disagree with them. But I've found as I got older it is nice to listen to different perspectives. There are some talking points that I'm very stubborn and adamant in my stance on and I know I won't change, so the best I can do is just say, "I see your side of the argument and I understand where you're coming from, but I am afraid we'll have to agree to disagree and hope we can be civil about it."
But there are other talking points that I've found I've changed considerably on. The pandemic actually made me think more like a conservative than I ever have in the past. I think the biggest issue I've had is that I highly value my freedom of speech, and unfortunately, I feel that very basic right has come under fire recently. Extremists it feels like tell you that you should vote no matter what, but they always seem to imply that we SHOULD absolutely vote for their party and leave no wiggle room at all to look at both sides objectively. The news media doesn't help, it's all one sided. And yet, even the news that opposes the typical news outlets just goes too extreme the other way. I feel like I can't win, and I often feel like an outcast because of it.
Unfortunately though some of these arguments are just...ridiculous.
I'm trying to be careful how much I elaborate on. I respect people's religious and political views and I realize what a sensitive subject it is, and how passionate some people are about it. But we need to have talks and be willing to listen to both sides and come to whatever you feel is the most logical conclusion that aligns with your personal morals and beliefs.
Whatever may come, I'll stand for freedom, choice and responsibility. Lower taxes and less government overreach are definitely things I support.

We are richer than people give our country credit for. Everyone has the same rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That's how it should be. I agree we all have what we need, and people need to calm down and stop getting so defensive. Definitely agree 100% with everything you said.

But if there's any civil war to be had, it seems to be on social media. I fear what could happen if people's voices are silenced...and what they may turn to to get their voices heard when pushed too far.

[Murfreesboro]

I agree with your concerns, Mau. I do think the pandemic brought certain fault lines into high relief. For my part, I was interested? anxious? I don't know the right word for it. But I saw what happens to a civil society when everybody is afraid, and it wasn't pretty. It makes conditions ripe for fascism, or some other form of totalitarian government. We have a deep history in this country of resisting that kind of thing, but we didn't resist it as well as we should have, in my opinion. And that worries me.

I also believe that the internet, social media, like all technology, is a double edged sword. It can be a wonderful way for people to have discussions, as we are doing right now. But it also makes it really easy for people to retreat into their echo chambers, of every sort. And that facilitates division. I guess what we all need to pursue is balance, which comes mostly from involvement with the communities in which we live and work.

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

As usual, I'm late to the party ... Happy New Year to everyone here.

I'm done worrying about what other people think about me.

When I was 16, someone that I truly respected gave me some advice that changed how I feel about what people think about me, he said...

You have to stop waiting for other people to believe in you, before you start believing in yourself.

Those words helped me become the person that I am today, and they gave me the confidence to push through the negativity of ignorant people. So I don't care what other people think about me, because there is always going to be some jerk that will tell you that you can't do something, usually because they are a jealous person that doesn't want to watch other people succeed.

Also, don't get me started on taxes, as someone that owns multiple properties and 3 businesses I have paid more than my UNFAIR share of taxes.

It really makes you understand why the mob does things the way they do, so what they make under the table stays in their pocket... damn, I'm in the wrong business.

As for the possibility of war, I hope it doesn't come to that, as I would like to think that people would want to work towards finding a peaceful solution before going to war. But if a war does happen, whether it's a civil war or another world war, I know that my wife and I are prepared to do what we have to for our family.

By the way, I don't make any resolutions because I'm happy the way I am.

[Murfreesboro]

Great to hear from you, HH! Happy New Year!

[Andybev01]

A wise man once said "kiss the fattest part of my a$$." - Peter Griffin

Happy new year, HH!!

[MauEvig]

Well to be fair, life is short as it is. I think it's just important to be happy.

Headless, how'd you get so lucky to obtain all those properties and businesses? I work as an aide and barely make diddly squat. I wonder if I went into the wrong field sometimes. Even a full teacher's salary isn't much compared to other venues. I enjoy education sure, and I like what I do.
But honestly I think my dream job would be artist and writer. I'm waiting on my editor to give me feedback on the book I plan to publish this year.
I wonder what it would take to write books and blogs for a living with some art on the side? Honestly, I'm considering doing one of those side gigs, but I'm so exhausted from work I barely have time to do anything after work and on weekends I feel like I'm recovering until Monday.
To be fair I like my job and I'm in a good place. It would be nice to have financial security, and right now a steady income will bring that. As much as it sounds appealing to have a job working at home and being my own boss, there's a lot of work that goes into it and no guarantees that I'll have income coming in. So I'll probably stick with education for a while and try to break into full time teaching as opposed to just being an aide. But writing and doing art on the side are goals of mine to build income that way. Should it become a successful venue, perhaps I'll do that full time.

Murf, I mostly use social media to stay in touch with friends and family. I found out really quick, especially during the pandemic, that if you say the wrong thing and next thing you know you get people buzzing around you like angry wasps trying to shut you down. -sigh- And you know, I don't hate anyone, and I always considered myself someone who respected differences and preferred everyone to be treated equally. It's sad. :/
I think it's interesting that the liberal left is afraid of fascism, while the conservative right is afraid of communism. People are afraid of losing their democracy, and yet I see so much hypocrisy especially coming from a certain side...but again I'm not going to go there.
In 2020 I voted for someone I never thought I'd vote for. My eyes have been opened to a lot of the hypocrisy that's been going around.
But personally, I'm just tired of the extremism. God forbid you're neutral and don't quite fit into the mold of one side or the other. I'm tired of the us versus them mentality and the "if you're not with us you're against us." Nope, I just don't entirely agree with one side or the other and prefer to have civil discussions over arguments.
Even one of my friends who claims to be neutral on issues, I can definitely tell they lean pretty close to one side. And honestly I'm tired of the insults.

That's the right idea, quoting Peter Griffin, Andy.

[Murfreesboro]

Mau, is the problem that you don't have a teaching certificate, or that the jobs aren't opening up?

One advantage of a full time teaching job is that you can cultivate some other work in the summer. My husband has never done that, but I think that was a mistake. I've known teachers who did.