Happy New Year!

Yes, I blew off blogging last night. Sorry about that. I was not out partying. Nope. We stayed in. But it was immensely satisfying, because since yesterday I’ve been clearing the decks for the new year.  I got all sorts of useful things accomplished, like I–

• sewed the hole in my down coat (again–it re-ripped)
• reorganized two bureaus full of clothes, including throwing away and/or donating some clothes that really should have found a new home years ago
• sorted through a ginormous pile of papers and kid artwork and miscellaneous brochures that seem like they might involve some Capital District Fun
• read a foot-and-a-half stack of New York Times that had been sitting in a corner, judging me, &
• got my car washed!

Yay, me! So I feel great. Actually, I feel physically poor. You know that I love to give blood, but apparently I’ve been giving until it hurts, because since my last donation I’ve been feeling a teensy bit like I’m going to pass out at any moment. Sure enough, my hemoglobin is low. So I’m taking iron and not going for a run today, even though it was balmy. In fact, I considered it, and then decided that the most prudent course would be to write Cute W’s name and phone number on a piece of paper to put in my pocket in case I collapsed in a heap of sweatily-unconscious, and as I was hunting for a pen I realized that this was a Monumentally Stupid Idea. So I went ice skating with the family at Union instead, which felt reassuringly well-populated in case of a medical emergency.

I’ve been reading all sorts of blogs with retrospectives of their favorite posts, but I don’t have the patience to do that. And people are sharing their resolutions. Me, I’m not so good with resolutions, because I just have way too many to narrow it down. Umm, be a better and more patient mother; be a more thoughtful person who remembers to send people birthday cards; eat much better and work out regularly, resulting in a loss of at least 25 pounds; learn to write better and do more writing every day; make money and at the same time manage to make my house much cleaner and more hygienic; floss every day and stop grinding my teeth by achieving Inner Serenity. I mean, seriously, how can I choose?

So instead, several places are starting up new classes in January. Here are a few:

• The Albany Art Room has new classes for adults and kids.
• Maya from CandyLand is starting a new session of kids programming at her center in Schenectady as well as a Hockey Tots program in Clifton Park.
• Joe Yoga in Cohoes is beginning new classes for children and toddlers as well as adults.
• The Music Studio has new classes beginning for ages 2 and up, Music Box Arts & Heldeberg Music have new Music Together classes starting, Carondelet has Kindermusik and other music classes beginning, Miss Peggy’s Music and Romper Rhythms have new classes beginning.
• New ice skating sessions are beginning at Union College, with Albany Figure Skating Club, in Clifton Park, and at the Schenectady County rink.
• Afrims has new Soccer Tots classes starting.
• Hola-La has new Spanish classes, and the Language Learning Institute has classes in French (including a Mommy & Me) and Russian for children.
• The Town of Niskayuna has new classes starting.