Twelve for Twelve - Check In 1

In an effort to keep myself honest and up to date with my goals for 2012, I am going to do a monthly check in for each goal.

1. Write every day.

– Fail. Utter and complete fail on this one. I am only writing for the blog right now. I need to up my word count for an actual story. Once again, my problem here is being in the house with distractions: chores, internet, crafts! I write better when I am in a public arena like Barnes and Nobles or Panara’s. On the bright side, I have a number of ideas that I am developing and researching as well as some characters that I don’t know what to do with.

2. Post to my blog at least once per week.

– Okay. So far I’ve been posting at least once a week. I’ve also started a Friday Photo. One thing that is helping me is the scheduled posts. I’ve been able to write two or three posts on one day (when my fingers fly over the keyboard) and schedule them to be posted later in the week.

3. Resume my daily exercise routine.

– EPIC FAIL!! I have not resumed daily walks AT ALL!! I feel miserable and every day as I rush around to get the girls off to school I push aside any thought of walking the dog around the neighborhood. My goal for February to walk the loop twice every day: once in the morning and once in the afternoon or early evening.

4. Better eating habits.

– I’m doing okay with this. My problem right now is snacking during the day. I eat when I get bored. While I was working, this was not a problem. When the girls or Scott are home, I don’t do it. But when I am by myself…I snack. The sad thing is since I don’t buy junk food or sweets very often, I snack on healthy things: fruits, cheese, and yogurt. The problem is every single calorie counts. Especially when I am not doing anything to get rid of them!

5. Lose at least 50 pounds.

– Amazingly, I am back to pre-Christmas weight but that isn’t saying a lot.

6. Organize my photographs chronologically.

– I haven’t even touched this one yet and I’m okay with that. Remember, I wasn’t planning on doing everything in a single month!

7. Scrapbook more.

– I have started a new scrapbook but I am using current photos for it. I really want to start assembling scrapbooks of the girls from when they were younger. This of course will wait until the photos are organized. I did get my Craftway organized so that allows better access and quick clean up! I am happy working on my “Waiting for the Apocalypse” scrapbook right now! Best of all, I got the chance to scrapbook with Sara!

8. Write actual letters to friends and family.

– Working on. I hand stamped some blank greeting cards I got from Micheal’s so now it is just a matter of sitting down and writing!

9. Reinstitute Family Game Night.

– Not yet reestablished.

10. Backyard homestead.

– Garden plans have been made. I am currently saving my pennies so that I can buy the supplies I need to build two 6x3 raised beds for vegetables and one 4x4 bed for herbs. The Florida planting season starts early and most plants that I am planning on need to get sown by the end of February. So I am under a few time constraints here. Recently I read The Backyard Homestead and the best piece of advice it gives regarding gardens is: plant what you will eat! It goes without saying that this makes a world of sense. Even though greens grow really well in the area, we wouldn’t eat them, so why bother planting them. I’m looking to plant at least 3 types of tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, and an assortment of summer squashes to name a few. I’d like to try my hand at potatoes and melons as well. Eventually, I’d like to plant corn and some type of grain…but that is in the future when I am a bit more comfortable with gardening. Scott wants me to plant barley and hops so he can always be with beer! The girls want a citrus orchard: oranges, lemons, limes. The chickens, as much I want them this year, will probably be put on hold until we are more settled.

11. Get my favorite recipes organized.

– I feel really good about my recipe organization. I am using the heck out of my Moleskin. I spent about a week going through my collection of recipes ripped out of magazines or printed from Allrecipes.com as well as my favorite recipes and added some to the journal. I am pleased at how nicely it is turning out. A cute thing with the Recipe Journal is that it has a spot to rate the recipe: 1 to 5 stars. If I am taking the time to include a recipe in this journal with its limited pages, you can bet that a requirement for each recipe is a 5 star rating! As far as the new recipe or food once per week…well I haven’t done as well with that one. I’m still “recovering” from the influx of family that came down for the holidays and the past two weeks, I’ve been very lazy with grocery shopping and dinners.

12. Travel.

– For Christmas Scott and I gave Ashleigh a bunch of road trip books to encourage her love of travel. We are currently in the planning stages for a short Spring Break road trip either around Florida or Georgia. If we stick with Florida, we are going to a few places that are listed in the book Weird Florida. If we decide on Georgia, we think we’ll go to Savannah and then swing through Atlanta to check out the aquarium. This summer we’ve already decided that A Great Lobster Tour of New England is in order!