It's a New Dawn, It's a New Day, It's a New Life, and I'm Feeling Good

Happy New Year Everyone!

It's kind of funny, isn't it, how January first brings with it the promise of better things, better times, a new broom sweeping clean, etc, etc? That's a lot of pressure for one day, especially one that was proceeded by a night of heavy drinking. But I'll go with that flow because it seems appropriate that we should have a 'fresh start' day and why not 1/1/11?

For those of you just joining the Amused and Abused blogosphere, I will recap why we are here and what is going on. Feel free to peruse previous posts, some are actually quite entertaining (while others are merely folderol.) I began blogging earnestly in 2008 when I quit my 'day job' to pursue a more creative life. You can see from the amount of posts in 2008 and 2009 that I was posting nearly every other day on average. Then in 2010, it averaged more like monthly (with the reality being that I haven't posted since August). Augh, what a horrible thing for a "writer"!

My dream when I quit my job was that I would write hundreds, neigh, thousands of scripts, novels, sketches, poems, essays, etc. It is truly amazing how quickly one can get writer's block when one is confronted with the task of actually writing down the thousands of ideas running through her head. Gulp. Oh sure, I wrote a few things, but nothing like the quantity I wanted to write. I have a million excuses, er, reasons, why it didn't happen and sure, there were some legitimate interruptions (most noteably, the Graminator - my then 87 year old Grandmother who I help take care of - fell and broke her pelvis, meaning need for hospitalization and a major increase in care on my part.) But I still feel a bit of shame at that waste of precious time.

2009 came so quickly and brought some new challenges. I helped plan my brother's wedding and as part, baked a few things for the shower and wedding. This led to the 'a ha' moment where my mother said, "You could sell this stuff" and Glitter City Sweets was born. I found a commercial kitchen, baked up samples, set up a website and figured I would wait and see if it caught on. Boy, did it, and in directions I never anticipated. I soon was sending handmade marshmallows, yes marshmallows, and cookies and candies around the country. It was obviously meant to be. Oh, and I also spent my summer working on a fabulously funny film called "You People". It was my first feature film acting role, and it was a blast. I got to be with great people having a wonderful time and we ended up with an awesome film.

2010 came even more quickly it seems and the first half of the year whizzed by in a flurry of promoting GCS, marketing, networking, developing new recipes, etc. Then mid year, the wheels came off the track a little bit. I lost my dog of 15 years, which to a non-dog person may not seem like a great tragedy but affected me deeply. Then the Graminator, who is 89 at this point, suffered a cerebral hematoma. While the hospital stay was mercifully brief, the lasting repercussions were not. Due to her advancing Alzheimer's and weakening physical state, she was placed on home hospice. This means that she has 6-12 months to live. Because her conditions are not of the nature that anyone can predict an exact date, we get to live with the grim reaper constantly reminding us that we will lose her, probably sooner than later. More and more of my time is spent caring for her physical needs. Watching her slowly slipping away is exhausting and saddening. I already begin to miss her. But she still smiles at me and laughs at me and tells me she loves me, so the pain I feel is bittersweetly mixed with joy and admiration for a wonderful woman who has lived an amazing life. But life must still go on, and after a bit of a slow summer GCS took off for a record fall and holiday season. Blessed be the powers that brought this on, because quite frankly I needed the money to keep living this creative life. And amidst all of this, the family picked up a new hobby, handcrafting. (I use this generic term because we dabble in jewelry design, fiber arts, upcycling, etc.) This "hobby" led to the creation of a second small business, Glitzy Kitsch. It's still in it's infancy but one thing leads to another and it has germinated the seed of yet a third business in my mother's mind and I will move Heaven and Earth to help make her dreams come true. Oh, and that little movie I did? It has won handfuls of awards, played at film festivals big and small, and is now available for purchase on DVD and will soon be available on Amazon Video on Demand. It's a great film and now you will have no excuse for not checking it out.

So here we are in 2011, which is not only when we reflect on the past but look forward to the future. So what are my plans? Well, first up is the Graminator's 90th birthday this month. We are going to celebrate this milestone because of the achievement and because we know it may be her last. Secondly, I will write more. My writing life has taken a back seat to the other, more 'tangible' activities going on. But that's my fault and it is time to correct it. The world will never get to bask in the brilliance that is my writing if I don't get it out of my head, onto paper and out into the world. This includes blogging, so look for my posts, I am aiming for bi-weekly. I will post more to social media, since that seems to be the way of the future, the way to connect with other humans without having any actual human contact. I am working on building GCS up more, with a couple of irons in the fire that could take us to another level. The Glitzy Kitschers are crafting away and working towards their dreams and goals. And hopefully a little more filmmaking fun. Sounds like a lot, right? Well there are 365 new days to fill this year, so why not make them work for me?

Oh yeah, add the typical blah, blah, exercise more, eat right, yadda yadda. Most of that stuff flies out the window by January 11th anyway. So what are your REAL goals this year? What have you been waiting to do and what are you waiting for? Sure, 2011 is brand new, but it can take whatever you want to dish out. So what's it going to be Loyal Readers? Are you going to make this a fresh start? Is it a new dawn, a new day, a new life? Are you feeling good?