New Year’s Resolutions

I don’t usually bother to make New Year’s Resolutions.  Like most people, you start off the year with grand plans only to fail – usually within the same month.  This year, I’m hoping will be different. I have read that it’s best to get as specific as possible to make your chances of being successful greater.  I really have two primary goals in mind, and while I’ll be a little specific here, I don’t want to bore you with too many details.

Health and weight

Specifically, I like to lose 25-30 pounds this year.  I know I have a lot more to lose, but as difficult as it is for me to lose weight, this gives me the goal of 1/2 to 1 pound per week.  To help reach this goal, I plan to make the following changes:

• Limit soda intake to a maximum 12-oz per day.  I’ve tried cold-turkey in the past and it hasn’t worked, but hopefully this goal will help if I can’t eliminate soda completely.
• Exercise at least 10 min every day.  Even days that I “don’t feel like it” – once you get moving, often times you can go longer.
• Drink 6-8 cups of water a day.  I may do some of these as herbal tea – especially while trying to cut back on the soda.  I refuse to try and replace soda with artificial sweetener-laced beverages and I firmly believe they are no better (and may be worse).
• Check-in with SparkPeople every day.  This website is FREE to use and is chock full of useful tips, recipes, exercise mini-videos and motivation.

 

Organization / Simplification

I feel like I’ve reached a turning point in my life where suddenly it has become clear that more STUFF does not make me happier … in fact, all that clutter can make me miserable.

To help in that goal, I have been reading several blogs including Unclutterer and one I just discovered today - 365 Days of Decluttering

I like the idea of the 365 days.  You don’t have to jump in and tackle a large project – just do a little bit each day.  Less emotional stress trying to get rid of items.

I almost started this in December, but there was too many other things going on, so I decided I’d try to get my feet week in the new year – or maybe even on my day off tomorrow!  I’m borrowing my parent’s scanner so I can get rid of some paper clutter – but I’m sure I’ll find that a lot of those papers we’ve moved (sometimes TWICE!) can just be tossed.

Finances

I’m not sure if this is a goal or a necessity.  Having lived on one income for almost three years, we’re at a pretty low point financially.  In the next few months I’d like to find some places where we can cut some of our expenses … and for Dave to find a job.  If both happen, we should bounce back rather quickly.

One more?

And if I were to try and change one more thing in my life (all the above isn’t enough, right?) it would be to somehow decrease the amount of time I spend on the computer.  I’m going to have to find a way to decrease the number of emails sent to me along with websites/blogs that I follow.  I find I’m spending several hours a night online … and consequently not crafting as much as I like.  If anyone has any tips on this goal, I’d appreciate it.

Here’s hoping each and every one of you have a blessed 2010!

Good deed day

I feel like a did a good deed for today over lunch.

I had planned on going to Target to pick up a long list of items (sales + coupon matching), but one last look at the list before I left, I felt we didn’t “need” any of it, so I went to Walmart instead.  Picked up the one item I did need (was on clearance), and vowed that I'd try and be good as I walked through the yarn dept.  I remembered that I no longer have a size 7 steel hook (lost somewhere in the couch??), but apparently they no longer carry the steel - only the letters (B thru ??). I was almost ready to walk away…

There was an older woman standing there looking a little confused.  She asked if I knew anything about “this stuff”.  She crocheted a long time ago and wanted now to learn to knit.  “The book said” to pick up a size 10 needle.  She had accidentally picked up an 11, so I pointed her to the proper size.  Then she asked about yarn, because she didn’t know what type or size to buy of that.  I told her about the size symbol on the yarns and said anything with a 4-Medium would be best.  She was impressed with my knowledge and talked about how she didn’t have anyone to show her how … and she’s left-handed.  I mentioned KnittingHelp.com and how helpful their videos are in learning.

I may have skipped buying yarn or needles today, but I still walked out with a warm fuzzy feeling!

Christmas 2009

Despite the weatherman’s attempts to keep us stuck at home for Christmas, we managed to visit both sets of parents over the course of the four-day weekend.  I rained here in Wisconsin, all day Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and snowed just a little on the weekend. Much better than the blizzard watches and freezing rain predictions that were being made.  Our days were filled with too much food, more than enough presents, and not enough time for visiting with family, and it went by all too fast … about standard with other years.

With all the rain, almost all of our snow is gone – at least to the point that snowmobiling isn’t likely anytime soon.  We thought this winter would be ideal when we had a major storm move through on Dec 9th. When Charlie looked at the deck and then looked at us like “you expect me to go out in THAT?!”

2009’s Christmas crafting was pretty dismal.  I hardly made any gifts at all this year.  I’m not sure what happened – too many ideas? not enough time? too much computer surfing? 

In late November, I finished my second shawl - made for my aunt who has been battling cancer for the past year.  It was the first time I’ve used Michael’s new yarn – Loops & Threads Impeccable.  It’s nice and soft, and this shawl pattern accented the nice striping colors.

I have some doilies made that need to be finished (hiding ends) and blocked, so I don’t have pictures of those yet.  I also made some nylon (tulle) scrubbies again this year – they were a big hit from last year and I had requests for more.

Several weeks ago I hit a crafting lull where I didn’t feel like doing much crocheting.  Round about that time I came across another pattern that Smoothfox wanted tested. This is called “Fox's Flower Petals Doily”.  It’s made with worsted weight yarn, so it’s actually quite large. I used some of the ivory cotton yarn I saved when I tore apart a sweater I made earlier this year.  I also “stole” a bit of burgundy and black from what I’m supposed to be using for my sister’s bath mat.  I didn’t have an immediate use for it, but it looks pretty nice sitting on the back of the burgundy wing-back chair!