Tuesday, June 14, 2011

May Resolution Evaluation & Goals for June

Sooo.. I am back home and getting back to business!  I am a week or so late with my evaluation of May - so I will present it here...   it's long - so you are totally forgiven if you stop reading now :-)

As I move forward into June, I am struck by the fact that we will soon reach the halfway point of 2011I have to say that I look forward to recounting my accomplishments.  With your help, I have made a lot of headway on my goals this year.  I will spend some time this month reviewing my 2011 goals.  My thoughts and dreams have changed a bit as this year has progressed and new goals need to be formulated to reflect that!


HEALTH/FITNESS

1.      Weight, weight, weight!  Maintain loss and lose a little more.  Tighten and tone…. Develop a daily regimen to stay fit for life!  Learn to eat like a thin healthy person.

   A) EAT
     I have relaxed about food this month (and have the extra pounds to show for it :-(  That said, I FEEL better and need to let this sort itself out.  I truly do not want to log all my food.. or fix special meals for myself.  I'd rather work on 'eating clean' and portion control  and manage my eating within the food preparation for my family.  My biggest problem is NOT what I eat for meals - but what I GRAZE upon....  still on the journey

   B) MOVE:
       Dance recital is over and I decided to take a couple of months off.  My foot has been bothering me a little and I think I need to get back to simply walking and see where that leads.  Aerobic / strength dvds are another exercise I enjoy so getting those in a few days per week will be another good idea.  The foot thing is a neuroma - scar tissue - that can be treated with cortisone (which does not work on me) or surgery.  I know in my heart that surgery is the final analysis but I want to see how I do with 'just plain walking' before I go down that road.  The last time I had foot surgery, I avoided it longer than most people would - and that was a mistake.  I am not going to let fear of surgery immobilize me again!

     I HAVE made the decision NOT to do the Cleveland Breast Cancer 3Day Walk in July.  Raising the money for the pledges and the travel - and putting the time into training has just been more than I can deal with this year. 

My naturopathic doctor prescribed an herbal remedy for my depression that seems to be working... I am glad to see my attitude/energy improve!

              LIFE BETTERMENT
 

              2..   Financial betterment - reduce debt, reduce consumer spending, increase savings, increase giving, property improvement 

   Still working on learning about using coupons - I am not sure yet if we are actually saving money.... Definitely more product is coming into the house!  The goal is to buy 6-8 weeks of a product at a time - when you find the sale & have the coupons.... so far we are doing pretty well... buying items at the best price.... but I'm not convinced yet that we are actually saving money in the long run.  I'll play this out for another month or so and see.  I do NOT want a huge stockpile of stuff.... 


We are working on a specific room by room list for home improvement.  In the next 5 years, we will be making retirement decisions about selling or remaining in our home... so it's a good time to go room by room and do maintenance and re-decorate.


So far, our tithe is actually higher this year than last year which isn't the right balance.  I need to look at those numbers and pull them back into line.  My pledge to US this year was to SAVE as much as I GIVE and that has not been the case.


              3. Life simplification: Organize, unclutter, streamline, purge!  

Life simplification..... hmm.... that is always a tough one to pin down.  

*With the dance recital over, a little stress and excitement is finished.... my evenings are my own now... (though I will miss the classes)  I wish, wish, WISH they had something I could help with in the afternoons when I can drive myself.   It's always hard to make a commitment when you are committing someone else's time!

*I have kept current with shredding documents but did not make headway into the file cabinets. So that is still waiting for me!  I will double up in June.  My May goal was to dispose of 4 folders out of the file cabinet... I'll double that for June so that the project will keep moving...

*I started a new Pantry Purge blog... I still like the concept but didn't do a good job of choosing weird items this time around :-) [to make an interesting blog entry]  It HAS helped me to be more pro-active about menu planning and a little more frugal in using the food in the house.


A HUGE May accomplishment was the emptying of the extra cottage on our property.  It still will need a lot of work to be livable BUT the flotsam and jetsam all those renters left behind is GONE.


            PERSONAL PROJECTS


4.  Cards  
  Still on track with the birthday cards... not so good with sympathy or other cards.... but working on it :-)

5. Read a minimum of one book per week
    My favorite resolution :-)  I am going to move 8. Spiritual reading over here since I seem to combine the two.  I usually have a spiritual book or two on my reading list!

May reading was:

The King in the Window by Adam Gropnik
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Women Food and God by Geneen Roth
Rakkety Tam by Brian Jacques
The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
168 Hours You Have More Time Than You Think by Laura Vanderkam

Still doing lots of reading :-)  I will have a pretty interesting line-up of books by the end of the year... fairly eclectic taste :-)

6. Crochet for charity & gifts

I have completed over 75 dishcloths so far in the dishcloth challenge ..... 365 for the year so I am nowhere near caught up!  I think the challenge is somewhere in the 140s now.

        I way surpassed my monthly goal for lovies for Operation Christmas Child.... I pledged 40 - but actually made 70.... that's okay though because for my annual goal of 5 lovies per week.... I should have 105.. and I am at 104!  Oh well..... 21 lovies and I should be all caught up for mid-year by the end of June!

  When I get tired of making them, I stop.... only joy and happiness will be around the work I do!

     Several other longer term projects are in the works... including some random gifts I promised at the beginning of the year... I will post as I finish but they will take a while...


            7.  Quilt projects and mending

            Funny - as much as I WANT to quilt, I am still not doing it.  I did bring the ONE strip on vacation with me and am determined to get it stitched - or at least STARTED this week.  I really enjoyed the lap quilt project while I took the class and kept current with it... I NEED to finish that project!

  
9.   Photo project

           I am still scanning away!
I am 3/4 through the original container.. and have started looking at the messed up one.  I am sure that many of the photos are destroyed but I am hoping THIS month to be able to get into it and see what I can salvage.  I worked on a few photos in May but they are mostly ruined :-(

June Focus:

1.  Back to basics.... WALK as exercise!
2.  Continue to spend some time outdoors each day.
3.  Finances - a) determine what tithe & savings should be & pull them back into line
                    b) determine what coupon savings have been
                    c) continue menu planning 
4.  Continue daily shredding and purge 8 folders from the file cabinet.
5.  Quilt one strip on the quilt I am making AND mend 2 quilts (MAY)
6.  Make 20 crocheted lovies  (21!)
7.  Continue with photo scanning project
8.  Start room by room decluttering / redecorating.  Formulate a master plan. (MAY)



         

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