New

Normally for New Years, I write a top ten list for the previous year. A collection of notable and lovely things in my notable and lovely life. This time, getting over depression, I just feel like looking forward. There were great things in 2012, but also some not great things, so I'm just being present, and anticipating great things to come.

This is the YEAR of positivity. Mike declared a day of positivity recently, and it was just great. So I'm expanding the boundaries and going for a whole year, and potentially a whole lifetime. Being positive doesn't seem to just come to me anymore, so it's a bit of discipline to get it going and keep it going. But it's worth it and it gets easier. What's the point of life if you're not feeling positive?

Ways to be positive:
1. Decide that you want to be positive, for real. It won't work otherwise. Want to be well.
2. Communicate with a different friend once a day, so you feel connected and loved.
3. Write down things you are thankful for.
4. Smile. Apparently, just the action of lifting the corners of our mouths releases happy dopamine.
5. Be intentional about doing a focused, pleasurable activity, 15 minutes every day. No phones, shows or photos allowed! Take a walk outside, do karate kata, read a magazine. Lock yourself in the bathroom and paint your nails (with proper ventilation). Focus. Focus.
6. Get enough sleep, if you can. My motto is, if there is something wrong with you, Try Sleeping First. My mottos are also Safety First and Don't Get Cocky.

Those are my initial ideas. I try and hit one or two a day. It seems to be working.

Also, this is the year of the lemon. I keep reading about how yummy just a little bit of juice or zest brings out flavor in your food - much like salt. It seems to be true, so I'm going to try and keep a lemon around at all times to zest and juice a bit through the week.

Television

"It's just a deer. Don't freak out, it's just a dead deer." This is what I kept telling myself over a recent weekend as I crawled under our deck moving coaxial cables, while trying not to step on the hoof or head of a deer carcass. Poor little thing crawled under there and died back in 2011. It's just skin, bones and hooves now, but still not something I wanted to disturb. This was after a trip under the house, which resembled a mouse and rat graveyard. Bleh!

We've rejoined at least the 20th century at my house. I haven't had regular TV reception since about the year 2000. My roomies and I just didn't make it a priority. I often wanted to watch the Olympics or some of the good TV shows. Netflix and Hulu made this easier in the recent past, but Mike and I still kinda wanted to have the option to watch TV now that we live out of town. There isn't any cable available out here, so it's either satellite or do it yourself.

So we got an antenna for Christmas. A great big ol' giant antenna. We took down the busted one of my Grandpa's and over the course of a day, assembled and installed the new one. Mike spent some time up on our 2nd story roof, and thankfully ended up back on the ground in one piece. We are good with things like this; Ikea furniture, house projects, etc. We calmly and methodically assemble like a team of pros. Troubleshooting, trying, retrying and adjusting. Go team!

I watched the TV from the ground and let Mike know how to adjust the direction. Now, there is reception. Nothing is on, of course, but we like the feeling of hope that sometime there might be something on for us. It's the American dream, and we're living it.