2012

 So far 2012 has been all action! And much of that action was way overdue.

The outgoing…

• Kitchen – cupboards cleaned out. Unwanted, unneeded, and out of date stuff all tossed! (Why do I buy polenta when I know no one else in the house likes it, therefore I am never likely to use it?)

Organised!

• Wardrobe – old and unwanted clothes cleared out and put in the mission bins. (Seriously, was I ever going to wear that 1980s coat ever again?)
• Desk area – everything filed, tidied and put away. (No more piles of papers on the floor.)
• Shed – rubbish cleared out, tidied and swept.
• Gardens – weeded, planted, and seedlings growing. (Cherry tomatoes ripening as we speak!)
• Baking – lots of baking done, mostly by my gorgeous daughter! Never-tried-before recipes attempted and conquered!

Cupcake

I had been itching to go through the cupboards and have a good clear out! I had some stuff that expired four years ago!

Including old televisions and a lot of weird ‘shit’ we took 300 kilograms to the dump!

The incoming…

Seriously big desk and chair!

• New desk – a good, big, solid desk that I can happily work at, with drawers so I can file things away and keep my work area tidy. I plan a year of amazing writing!
• Office chair – good leather one with support for my back and a head rest so I can sit, close my eyes and let the story come find me when it needs to! (Chiropractor care has made me very aware of my spine and posture and the kitchen chair I have been working from for years was just not doing me any favours).

What is the benefit of all this? I have a clear space, a simplicity, around me, in which to let my thoughts and ideas flow forth to fill this space. I plan of doing lots of writing this year. Last year I—like everyone else in my city—assumed that eventually the earthquakes and aftershocks would stop, and then I could get back to normal…but now we know that this is going to go on for decades. It is time to make this reality my normal, to work through it regardless, to be unaffected by it. (At least if a big one hits and I have to dive under my desk, my new desk is one I would dive under—whilst the old one was so rickety you would only dive under it if you wanted to die!)

Pinwheel scones ... so utterly delicious!

This is the first time in my life that I have ever had a really good desk, and a good chair. This is the first time I have said ‘I deserve this’, instead of thinking I should make do with whatever we had. I deserve this.

We often say ‘this is my year’ but we seldom hurl ourselves into that year, and into the work with such abandon that we make it our year. It really is time to dive in deep, to swim deep, to explore the depths of whatever I am capable of.

Macaroons ... done and dusted (and damn delicious!)

We do not know what we are capable of until we try, until we give it all we have to give. I want to give everything to all that I do! Everything!