Dog tired

This is what Hannah and Holly do most days---only usually they are stretched out flat, sleeping after a night of patrolling and, lately, barking. (It's difficult to sneak up on them to take their pictures when they are sleeping. They always wake up.) The past several nights it seems as though they have barked all night and have been unusually close to our bedroom windows. Most nights I don't really hear them, or if I do, I'm able to go back to sleep. In a way, it is very comforting to hear them doing their job. I don't know if it's because I'm tired from the holidays or what, but I haven't been able to tune them out the last two nights. I'm more conscious of the barking when we have house guests, as we have lately, because I worry that it is bothersome to them (though almost without exception, everyone says they don't hear the dogs). I'm never able to nap during the day (I just can't fall asleep, unless I'm sick), but I sure wish I could have today. Maybe we all just need to get back into our "normal" routines around here.

I've been thinking today about whether to make any resolutions for the new year. In a way, it seems futile to think of making major changes in my life. Honestly, there aren't any drastic changes I would want to make. I just finished reading a book (and not a very good one) about a woman who gave up a different thing for one month for a year. Not a lot of it could be applied to my life. She gave up taxis one month, cursing for one month, coffee, television, shopping.......you get the picture. The thing that should apply to me was the discipline it took to do that. I need that. Order, organization, simplification-those are the goals to set for myself in 2009 and I want to be a more positive and thoughtful person. To accomplish any of those goals, discipline is needed, so maybe the only resolution I need to make is to be more disciplined. Are you making specific resolutions or setting goals for yourself? I'd love to hear what you're thinking.