Happy New Year!!!!  We welcomed the New Year with a bunch of snow yesterday & today. Although I hate the cold, new-fallen snow is just so beautiful. It brightens up the dreary world & makes all things look brighter.  I especially love how the snow looks on our pine trees in the backyard. One of the coolest things that happened yesterday, is that I got to use my new bird-watching binoculars (Christmas gift from Dwight) on a hawk in our front yard & a big, red fox out in the back by our creek. That reminds me – we decided to count how many hawks we saw on our trip back from the Chicago area for Christmas – we got to 25!!!!! I decided that I’m going to join the Audubon Society this year, seeing as I’m an Ornithologist and all. : ) I told Dwight that I’m all ready to get old & be Retired. So one of my New Year’s Resolutions will be to dive deeper into my hobby. (BTW – I gave up on guitar a long time ago, but I’m still  interested in nature photography, which I’m working on very slowly!!!)

Speaking of Resolutions, I do have 1  bad habit that I’m trying to give up: Celebrity Gossip. I believe gossip, in all it’s forms is bad & sinful, but it is so addictive & so EASY to partake in – in fact, there doesn’t even seem to be any stigma associated with it. Well, I was watching a show a few days ago & they were interviewing a Papparatzo (singular of Papparatzi.) Anyway…he was saying that when he is out taking picture of celebrities, women will yeall at him to “Get a Life” or “Get a Real Job!” yet they are the first ones to crack open ‘US Weekly’ in the beauty salon. DANG!!! That was convicting. I hate what the Papparatzi do, so I can’t support them anymore. I need to stay away from Celebrity Gossip (and all other gossip too!)

So….tonight, I almost blew it – already! I was standing in line at Kroger, waiting for my turn, when I looked over & saw an article in a magazine about Britney Spears & her sister. I reached over out of boredom & curiosity, but as soon as I touched the magazine, I withdrew my hand as if it had been burned. This is going to be harder than I thought! The hardest part will probaby be surfing the ‘net. I just can’t click on the Entertainment news unless it’s just about when ‘Lost’ will be returning. (Which will be Jan. 31st, if anyone wanted to know!!!)

So…..what are your Resolutions? Besides “eating healthier” or “losing weight”. Any unique ones???