I'm back and with some resolutions. I hope that doesn't scare too many of you — it's got me rather unnerved. The resolution part that is.

It's a good way to start the year, looking at things you need to improve. At least, it's good if you are realistic about it.

I resolve to be less like my mother in a certain area. (Can you say unrealistic?)

Mom is a great woman but there is one thing I wish I hadn't picked up — losing necessary pieces of paper that result in hours long searches for them only to end in failure.

I resolve to do that less. Now that's realistic. I know that I will do it, I just need to be aware, as counselors say, of when it's happening so that I can change the behavior. (That's a good one, as if.)

This bad habit cost me some more plumerias. I got a call from a woman who wanted to do something with her plumerias before the freeze. So what did I do? I wrote it down, put it down and it disappeared into the ether that is the place where my papers go.

Somewhere out there is a pile, by this time about as tall as Mount Everest, of pieces of paper that I have laid down, which then promptly disappeared, never to be seen in this world again!

Putting the paper in a specific, special place hasn't worked so far. Maybe I need a basket to put them in rather than some of the other clutter on my desk. That might be the key to making a successful change in this area.

I would need one at home as well because this paper-losing phenomena doesn't solely happen at the workplace. I have managed to lose prescriptions, checks, cash and any other thing that I might lay down in the house. It has to be on that Everest-sized mound somewhere in another dimension.

Of course, high on the resolution list, is clean out the closet, clean out the garage, clean, clean, clean, exercise, eat right and stop smoking for good. (I'm not sure if these fall in the realistic or unrealistic category.) Although I have been exercising (somewhat), I haven't been able to put chocolate where it doesn't belong, which is somewhere other than my gullet. Clean, I hope, will come when I am actually at home for a time longer than it takes to say hi to the cats, give them their treats and prepare for bed. Sleep cleaning would be a nice, once-a-week disorder to have so that when you are awake, you can have fun rather than clean.

Now, I admit, those resolutions occur each year and I have made some headway (about three inches) on them. It's time to add some more resolutions to the mix so that in a couple of years or so I will have made some headway on them as well.

Number wherever I am at in the resolution list: Be happier. It's a choice to be happy or sad or mad. We've all made mistakes or done things that we regret doing. No one out there is perfect, which is why there is a little thing called grace, mercy and forgiveness. The key is to not to hold on to them for the rest of your life and to not repeat them (as much as is humanly possible.)

Regrets make you sad and unhappy. It's OK to think about what might have been but it's not OK to let it control the rest of your life.

Number after the previous one: Get better control of my temper and the buttons that push it.

I really dislike those buttons. I know they are there and I know what pushes them but, sometimes, it gets the better of me. Again, it's a control issue: who's in control of my life — me or the person pushing my buttons. Control freak that I am, I prefer me to be in charge of me. Again, it's that awareness word. Being aware of what's happening and doing what I need to stop it from happening yet again.

My main button that gets pushed? Anger. That's why I am resolving to keep better control over my temper.

I admit doing the "Christmas Songbook and Cookbook" brought this resolution to mind. As I was looking for songs to put in, I ran into one in my hymnal that put it all into perspective for me. I'll share the lyrics of "Angry Words" with you:

"Angry words, oh let them never, from the tongue unbridled slip. May the heart's best impulse ever, check them ere they soil the lips.

"Angry words are lightly spoken, bitterest thoughts are rashly stirred. Brightest links of life are broken by a single angry word.

"Love is much too pure and holy, friendship is too sacred for a moment's reckless folly thus to desolate and mar.

Chorus: "Love one another, thus sayeth the savior, children obey the father's blest command. Love one another. Thus sayeth the savior. Children obey the blest command."

(Not quite the heathen people think I am.)

That last one, if I can do it, will make my life better with fewer regrets and the lives of those around me.

Now that's a resolution to really work on for this year and the rest of my life.

Managing editor DD Turner can be reached via e-mail at dturner@coxmnm.com; or by phone at 903-927-5961.