Here's to 2017!

[Lizzie]

Hello Everyone,

I would like to raise a toast to you all and wish you a lovely and happy New Year. 

It only feels like it was yesterday since I was wishing you a happy 2016, this year in particular has flown by! Thank you for making my 2016, it has been wonderful to meet and get to know you all. 

It is popular at this time of year to look back on the past year and create a list of new years resolutions or goals for the upcoming year. I usually say something non-committal, which usually involve me eating less chocolate (which tends to fail by the second week of Jan). However, a close friend of mine each year sets herself a challenge, her 2016 challenge was to find and cook 52 new food recipes - and she did just that and learnt some fantastic meals in the process. I also got to try some which makes the experience really fun and delicious at the same time! This has inspired me to set myself an actual goal, one I can keep track of. I am a huge fan of being outdoors, walking or kayaking, you name it, but it isn't often that I give myself enough time to enjoy this - therefore, my 2017 goal is to set aside 1 day a month for being outdoors (12 in a year)...it sounds do-able! 

Do you make yourself a list of new years resolutions or have you got any friends which have challenged themself like mine above, or particular things you are proud of from 2016? If so, feel free to share them here, we would love to hear them. 

I hope you all have a lovely new year, surrounded with family and friends, and hope 2017 brings you much happiness in life and here in the Community Center. 🙂

Enjoy!

Lizzie

@Helen, @Kitty & Creek, @David, @Sandra, @Andrea, @Han & Jiw, @Robin, @Annette And Curtis, @Babs, @Linda, @Ange, @Alice & Jeff, @Andrew, @Victoria, @Lawrene, @Zandra, @Cynthia & Chris, @Eloise, @Diane, @Bob, @Donna, @Marit Anne, @Ephraim, @Karen & Brian, @Gerry And Rashid, @Momi, @Karen, @Sharon, @Dede, @Dave & Deb, @Karen, @Lyndsey, @Clare, @Mary Ann, @Michele&Louw, @Bridget And Mark, @Robert, @City Limits Ranch, @James, @Just Traveling, @Julia, @Kim & Jen, @Christian, @Nancy, @Deborah, @Blagoje, @Jeet, @Zacharias, @Steve, @David & Fiona, @Raffaele & Astrid, @Mariann4, @Jim-and-Marcia0

[Robin4]

2016 was taxing! We had a daughter, her partner and two grandchildren living with us from Feb to Dec! This only a small house and the challenge of all getting to the end of the year without cutting each others throats was immense. But we did it, they have now moved out, we are all still friends and I can now do things we all take for granted! I can walk through the house without shutting every door behind me! I can leave a carving knife on the kitchen bench and not have to worry about whose little fingers will find it first!

The possums are still giving me hell, I just can’t get rid of them….I am even struggling to keep them away from my food.

2016 was great though! I have outlived my father by 7 years and I am still in good health. We have had a great year of hosting although it was sad for everyone when we had to put our Italian student on a plane to return to her home….But she will be back, we have named the cottage after her…..Auri's House.

Airbnb have been wonderful for me. I have had the smoothest year with not a hint of a problem.

And to cap the year off we have bought another (soon to be) listing!

My new year’s resolutions:

A/. I want to lose 10Kgs (22lbs) this year and the only way I am going to be able to do that involves things I really don’t want to do. I have to get back on my pushbike again, and I have to cut out some of the red wine I savour each night. At the moment it’s in the balance……. the hard work or the enjoyment!

B/. I want to learn to be more patient! As disease is taking over my wife’s life I am treating her more as a patient and less as a partner. It is hard to watch that ‘wall’ that Multiple Sclerosis builds around the one you love grow! So I want to learn to dig deeper into that well of understanding so I can continue to support her as she deteriorates!

C/. I want to jump out of a perfectly good aeroplane again! I did it with my youngest daughter 15 years ago and loved every millisecond of it, and one of my resolutions is to sit in that open door again with my legs dangling into nowhere and experience that exhilaration once again!

D/. I want to bake the perfect Pavlova! My mother was an absolute master at the art when she was alive, but try as I might I can’t get it just right. There is always either too much filling and not enough crust, or ‘minimal’ filling and a crust like bathroom floor tiling!!

E/. Corny, but I just want to be the best I can be. I want to look back on 2017 and be able to say….’Well, I didn’t ‘bugger up’ too much this year!!

And on a final note, I think our animal friends probably have a better perspective on how to make a happy new year.

Cheers to everyone and…..Happy New Year.

Rob.

[Mariann4]

Thank you @Robin4 and @Lizzie for sharing. 🙂

Robin, you have such beautiful posts in these foras. This last one was of course nothing less!

As for commitments in the new year... I have one: I will have NO commitments for the year.  This is the same as I have had for over twenty years. I don't believe in the new years resolutions. But that does not mean I have none during the year. I have the same one as Robin has: to try and be the best me. It gives me pain and regret sometimes, because being me is insisting on having the right to be naive. To trust people and their intentions. But mostly it gives me good days with smiling people around me.

I wish that there could have been a better way of translating posts in different languages. I am an active participant in Norwegian foras. As I try to be here. But writing in English takes up a lot of time for me because I have to think much more about spelling etc. And check for translations. This is why my post is short this time. I don't have the patience to write in other than Norwegian today... But I will continue to contribute and to inhale the posts from the others. And then the English writers can reply with their quick answers to those in need. So maybe one resolution can be to keep praticing my English in writing. I apologize in advance! 😄

And Lizzie: keep your resolution about the outdoors! For us Norwegians it is a way of living. A lot of our new inhabitants don't understand why they see som many people walking by their kitchen window on Sundays. It is because every Sunday Norwegians are out for a walk. Or else the day is incomplete 😄 So do it! Enjoy it! There is nothing better than to enjoy outside living. It's healthy, both physically and mentally. It's nice. It's social. The list goes on...!

Mariann 🙂

[Susan404]

Hi Lizzie,

I am Susan and from bonnie Scotland, last year was our first year and it was amazing, we had the most wondeful guests and my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  We are currently decorating the next room so we will have 2 on the go this year.  Robbie Loved your post, shame about the possums, but perticularly loved the bit about the student and saying goodbye, Marrianne you can go to google type what you want to say in your own language and translate to English.  I loved sharing my home and introducing my guests to the Scottish way of life, putting shortbread and Irn Bru in the room for wee treat and my husband enjoyed sharing a wee whiskey now and again with the guests.

We showed our guests loads of places in Scotland they would not have known as there is so many beautiful places in and around Fife.

Wish we had done it years ago, anyway wishing you all the best for 2017

Susan

[Mariann4]

Thank you for sharing, @Susan404 🙂

I just wanted to point out that I do use G*ogle translate. 🙂 But mainly to translate single words. I like to learn as I write and the translator will not help me much in that department. Sometimes it makes complete nonsense, just gibberish as Robin says. I have had requests in obvious G*ogle translate writing. I could not accept. I need to be able to understand my guests, and they need to understand me. A lot gets lost in translation. A lot of nuances. And the misunderstandings can be fatal. I want both my guests and I to be safe in my shared home 🙂

Happy hosting! I love it 🙂

Mariann 🙂

[Lizzie]

Lovely to meet you @Susan404 and it is wonderful to hear you had such a great 2016, I am sure 2017 will be even better. It is exciting your a renovating the next room, several other hosts have mentioned they have been doing a little spuce-up of their listings, which is a nice way to go into a new year. 

I love shortbread, my nanna use to make it for me all the time, the perfect accompaniment to a nice cup of tea! I am sure your guest feel right at home with these little extra touches. I am sure Scotland looks beautiful at the moment, even if it is a tad cold. 🙂

I wish you a happy 2017 and I look forward to speaking with you more.

Lizzie