Six Week Check-Up

It's like being Pregnant!

    Okay, bad joke, and yes, I realize one gets a check up more often than that when they're pregnant. As it turns out, time moves more quickly than I thought it would and it's time to see how horribly I'm doing at these resolutions I mostly forgot I made:

• Make this apartment feel like home: There is a noticeable difference, that's for sure. I still haven't found that perfect chair, and I haven't framed the art yet, but I keep fruit and vegetables lying around, which, as far as I'm concerned, is major progress.


• Love my job: Not so much. I did interview for a position I was in no way qualified for though, and I came near to convincing the man to hire me. I have a few other applications out and am doing everything short of holding my breath.


• Go someplace I've never been in the US: This is really more like a summer goal, so no progress yet. I'm thinking Charleston, SC...


• Write every day: I've missed about six days of writing, I would say, but at least four of them were totally justified. I'm mostly proud of the nights I was tired and cranky and on the brink of only get 4 hours of sleep before work, but I wrote anyway. I need to keep doing that. It's been keeping me sane.


• Blog once a week: I need to try harder. I was bad at February, but then again: it's February.


• Write more letters: Check and check. I agree with M1 that I've written more letters so far in 2009 than I did all of 2008. Unfortunately, too many of then have been letters of condolence.


• Be a better friend, especially by communicating more through telephone and email: For some I've gotten better, but for others I still need to try harder. I blame this mostly on my fatigue. After working long days, picking up the phone is the last thing I want to do, no matter how much I love the person on the other end. I need to keep reminding myself how important it is to overcome that.


• Be a better friend to the planet by being energy and waste conscious: Shockingly, I would give myself a B+ on this one. On "Laundry Sunday" my apartment looks pretty ridiculous, and I've been really good about turning things off and using my TJ's bag. I just need to keep it up.


• *Expletive, expletive* update my *expletive* iPod: Despite the expletives, this one remains undone. Maybe next weekend I'll give it a go.


• Read more books: Yes! I read two books last month (not a lot, I know, but last year I was only managing one a month), and I'm starting my third book of this month tomorrow, so I'm pretty proud of myself.


• Spend more time outside: Yes! Between Kristi being in D.C., going to Inauguration, celebrating the Lincoln Bicentennial, and being in New York this weekend, I've spent plenty of time outside seeing as how it's still winter. I couldn't be happier for it, either. I have a feeling I'd be in a much worse place psychologically if it wasn't for all of the outdoor activity.

    So how do you think I'm doing?

checking up on those new year resolution thingies

Skipping the sugar coat and diving right in:

(1) pilates workout: I started out good, even when classes started up. But then the third week of classes came, and so did the homework. Ouch. I got a brain workout though, does that count? (However, I did run two times in replacement of my skipped dvd days.)

(2) kick out fast food: Kyle and I did our Culver's usual once. Sweet!

(3) journal it up: Not so much. I've thought about it. Wrote it in my head. It just didn't make it to the paper.

(4) get out of my funky-funk: Getting there. Slow but steady.

(5) get my ass outside: We had a week of great weather, but unfortunately I worked 4 of those days. Boo! Kyle and I did go to the zoo though! A nice handful of hours spent out and about... Unfortunately the animals did not share our enthusiasm!


11 more months to go!

Goal Assessment, 1st Check

Well, I've been making a conscious effort to work on some of my goals, and others I haven't touched yet. I'm not worried about the latter because this is a year-long project. So here we go:

• eat more veggies: I'd give myself a C+ if we were grading. Although there are more than last year, there still isn't enough in my opinion. Maybe I can work more salad into the menu. Any ideas? Soups have been the biggest help so far, but that will fade as the weather warms.
• lose 5 lbs.: Done. Now keep it off, which may be harder than losing it to begin with.
• use green bags 90% of the time: Excellent so far, only forget once in six weeks (I usually go out twice a week).
• reduce food and paper waste: I have noticed that I'm using less paper towels and that the weeks where the menu is posted and visible, there's less food waste. Surprisingly, the leftover night is something the kids find highly entertaining. I think it's the number of choices they have (almost like a restaurant) and that I don't call it clean-out-the-fridge-night.
• write more letters: So proud that I've gotten out four letters in six weeks. I don't think I wrote more than a half dozen in all of '08.
• next novel, start to finish: Needs improvement. It's not going to write itself. One day of writing won't get the job done. Crank it up.
  
• paint something: pick something first, anything. Right?
• keep laundry room tidy: So far, so good. No disasters yet.
• check-in on goals: 1st one done!
  

Checking In

So, we all decided to establish some goals for 2009 and I decided to check in with how I'm doing.

I'm happy to say that I'm doing much better with expressing a wide array of emotions. Instead of just being silent when I'm upset, I've gotten very good at clearly stating how I feel and what the reasons are that I feel that way. For example: "I feel really angry when I hear you say that your time is too valuable to help with [X]." or "I feel disappointed that I took the time to tell you what was bothering me and you ignored me."

The weight loss bandwagon is a difficult thing. My insulin still isn't stable, so that continues to interfere, but I will say that eating healthier and getting semi-regular exercise has left me feeling good overall.

I'm working hard to live my life on my terms, though it seems like there's always someone or something else to take into consideration.

I have made a new friend who loves my quirks...and it's because this person has very similar quirks. This is someone I met last year, but I only recently discovered that we have a lot in common. It's like that C.S. Lewis quote, "Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one!'" It's really neat to be able to share how my day went and what's bugging me and laugh at the same stupid things. Yay for new friends!

De-cluttering is de-lightful! I did such a good job packing things and giving things away that I now have an empty dresser drawer. Granted, it probably won't be empty for long, but that's okay.

Self-esteem is still shaky. It shouldn't be, I know, and it's only shaky because I still let too much get to me and get me down. But it's getting better!

My break at work is over, but I can't wait to read about how my crazy sisters are doing with their goals!