Thursday, January 31, 2008

Happy New Year!

Wow it's been awhile. Sweating with Sven is long over and I didn't accomplish any of my goals. December hit me with a serious case of writer blahs. Nothing was moving creatively for me. On the family front things were and still are hoping along at a good clip. This is my first winter in an area that actually gets snow so we've been having lots of fun in the snow. I've been told this year has been a mild winter, that is one scary thought.

My son earned his Bobcat patch in Cub Scouts and we've been working hard at completing his Wolf Patch requirements. I'm very proud of him and all the work he has put into Cub Scouts so far.

Now that the new year has begun it's time for the dreaded resolutions. This year I've decided to take a different approach. Rather than make one resolution I spend the year trying to reach I'm going to make monthly goals. I had five goals for January. It was a real learning experience for me. The main thing I learned was I tend to over reach things. And my muse doesn't give one wit about what my goals are.

Jan Goal #1 Exercise. I kept it fairly simple reestablish the workout routine the holidays destroyed and lose 3-5 pounds. Reestablish the workout routine has been somewhat successful. I've got my gym routine down and I only missed a handful of days. The home routine needs some more work. I didn't lose the weight I wanted, but I didn't gain anything either. Not bad but not great either.

Jan Goal #2 Health. Get into the habit of taking a multi vitamin and drink more water. Goal accomplished. I also cut soda almost completely out of my diet.

Jan Goal #3 Writing. Write at least 3,000 words. Doesn't sound like much considering my goal before the blahs was 5,000 words a week. But I thought I would ease my muse back into the routine slowly. I consider this one a sucess. I've got pages of hand written backstory done on my current wip To Have and To Hold and just over 2,600 words of actual story written. I've also got a page and a half of research to finish. I have a solid one hour block for writing established. I'm hoping to get a second hour in probably in the morning next month.

Jan Goal #4 Embroidery projects. My goal was to finish page three of my HAED Dragon Knot Pattern and to complete half of page one of a new project HAED Temptation QS. This goal I failed miserably. I didn't account for the affects the extreme cold spells we've been having had on my hands. My joints have been killing me. I hate having carpal tunnel. I'm not quite to the half way point on page 3 of Dragon Knot, for some reason I thought I was further along than I was.

I did get a decent start on Temptation just not quite to the half way point. The schedule on this one is tighter than the Knot since it's a gift.


Jan Goal #5 is my standard, get a chore routine in place and actually follow it. I hate vaccuming. This one has been hit and miss. The house isn't trashed but it's not spotless either.

My goals for February are along the same lines.
Feb Goal #1: Exercise: Get the home routine down and lose 3lbs at least. At the very least a couple of inches.
Feb Goal #2: Health: Eat at regular intervals. It sounds funny but I sometimes forget to eat. It's hell on the metabolism.
Feb Goal #3: Writing: Write at least 10k. If I make my weekly goal twice over at Eharlequin's ES I'll have this one made.
Feb Goal #4: Embroidery: Temptation 1/2 page 1 done, Dragon Knot 1/2 page 3 done. Gotta keep this goal small until the weather warms up. My hands are already starting to get sore.
Feb Goal #5: Chores: Try again with the routine.
Feb Goal #6: Blog: Remember to blog more than once a month. At least once a week. I'll have to consider doing something like Thursday 13 or Wordless Wednesday to help get me in the right frame of mind.

Happy Thursday
Elena