Things to Do in 2008: Live!

After a crisis it's easy to take a different look at things and say we should have done this or we're going to do that. Time passes, life gets busy and those resolutions get lost. Here's several things to put on the "to do" list to make sure you and your loved ones are around next year.

1. Make an appointment for a mammogram or prostate exam. Yes it's uncomfortable. So is cancer. Early detection of cancer can mean treatment. In 2007 singer Dan Fogelberg passed away from advanced prostate cancer - on his website he urges all men to get checked regularly. Lives are lost every day to these two diseases - families are torn apart and friends are gone forever. Breast cancer can strike men as well as women. Get checked. Get treatment if needed.

2. Take time once a month to do something special. Go to a museum, or a movie or concert. Put money aside on a weekly basis even if it's $5-10 for this purpose. This is recharge time.

3. Create a retreat within your home. This can be a chair to read in with a small table to put a cup of tea or cocoa. It might be a better chair for the computer or an area set aside in the back yard. Used salvaged, discounted items, freecycle...you might have to be creative but it can be done! We found enough landscape timbers to make the raised bed we wanted - for hauling them off before they were burned. Two large rosemary bushes to plant within the soon-to-be-herb bed from another source for free. Scour the papers, make a trading/barter club or network, scout bulletin boards in public places.

4. Take pictures. Preserve those moments that pass all too quickly of family, pets, places. Get a digital camera to keep in your purse or the car so you always have it with you not only for those unexpected shots but in case of an accident you can document where vehicles were before they were moved - which may help your insurance. But take pictures...a decent digital camera and an inexpensive disk can be purchased for under $200 and allows a couple hundred photos - you can pick which you want to print at places like Walgreens that have a photo center.