The first month of 2013 comes to a close today. It’s already been a busy year, and if the weather for the month of January is any indication, this year is going to be a doozy when it comes to weather. Temperatures in the 70s one day, then plummeting to the 20s with snow the next day. Just this week, we’ve had 70 degrees and sunshine, rain, severe thunderstorm warnings, and now 30 degrees and snow. You can’t help but wonder what the rest of the year will hold.

Despite the weird weather patterns, however, I have been able to make some progress on those New Year’s resolutions that I set just 31 short days ago. I’ll update you on the progress I’ve made, partly to satisfy your curiosity and partly because it’s a way to help me stay focused and on track.

My first resolution related to my writing. Yes, I intend to write every day, but mainly because that has now become a habit for me, and I intend to post a blog every day, which is also habit. I did miss posting a blog a couple days in January, but sometimes things just come up, and there doesn’t end up being enough time left in the day to get it done. My real resolution for writing is to finish the mysterious project. I have made a little progress on that, not nearly what I should have by this point, but I can say that I have worked on it a bit, which is better than having to say that I haven’t worked on it at all. As I rededicated myself to another resolution about mid-month, I find that I do need to rededicate myself to this resolution, and I need to take steps to ensure that despite my busy schedule, and despite my other resolutions, this one gets some of my time, so that by the end of the year, a short 11 months from now, I will have the project completed. This one is a lofty resolution, indeed, but if I focus, I can do it.

My second resolution related to my reading. Because I failed to hit the 75-book mark in 2012, I’m trying to do so in 2013. In order to stay on pace to reach 75 books by the end of the year, I need to read at least 6.25 books a month. As of the writing of this blog (around 1:00 P.M. thanks to a snow day), I have read five books: Many Waters and An Acceptable Time by Madeleine L’Engle, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Macbeth by William Shakespeare, and The Education of Hyman Kaplan by Leonard Q. Ross. The first two by L’Engle finished up the five-book set in her time travel series. I reread The Hunger Games because my English 200 class has been assigned the trilogy, and I needed to reread it so I could write test questions and discussion board topics and so I could remember enough to be able to answer any questions the students might have. I read Macbeth with my English IV classes. Finally, I read the Ross book because my “other” son, Jeremy, suggested it and let me borrow it. It’s a very funny read about an immigrant in the 1930s who is attempting to learn the very confusing English language.

I’m aware that five books is less than 6.25 books. However, I have read one-fourth of Catching Fire, the second book of The Hunger Games trilogy, again because the English 200 students are reading it, and I need to write test questions and discussion board topics. And according to my Kindle, I am 60% finished with Dracula. My hope is that by the end of the day today, I will have finished Dracula. If I can do so, then I will be at exactly 6.25 books, which is right on target. I believe this is doable, and I will come back to the blog later today and leave a comment letting you know whether it happens. On January 2, I posted a blog “Read the Bible in a Year,” and though I didn’t mention it in my January 1 resolution blog, this is part of my reading resolution. By the end of the year, I want one of those 75 books to be the Bible. I included in that blog, a daily reading plan to make that happen. I have followed that plan and have read every day in January. Thus far, that means I have completed the books of Genesis and Matthew. I’m a third of the way through Psalms, half way through Romans, and a few chapters into Exodus. This plan is so simple and easy to follow, as long as I stick with it, reading the Bible in a year won’t be a problem.

My third resolution related to weight loss. Last year, this one was a major fail. I ended the year at the same weight I began the year, though I had wanted to lose 20 pounds. I knew it was something I needed to work on, but I just simply failed to do that part. I started 2013 with a slightly different goal, lose five pounds per month, for a total of 60 by the end of the year. By January 21, when I weighed in, I discovered I was still on the 2012 track. I knew if this was going to happen, I had to be the one to make it happen. At this point, I did a blog about my weight-loss goal, “Diet Food for Thought.” During my grocery shopping that day, I bought more fruits and vegetables, and I set my mind to achieving this goal. Ten days after that blog, I’m very pleased to be able to say that I have lost a total of 6.4 pounds, which means that for January, I have met my goal of at least five pounds for the month.

So, what have I done these last ten days? Exactly what I should have been doing the first 21 days, and then perhaps I would have actually lost more during the month. I started exercising on the morning of January 22. Using Denise Austin’s Daily Dozen DVD, I got up a half hour earlier so that I could do the 12-minute exercise for that day. This video is great. It has seven days’ of exercises, each lasting just 12 minutes. Each minute, there is a different move. There are exercises for cardio, for toning, and for yoga. It’s a great variety so you don’t get bored. It’s fast and easy so you can work it in. I did these exercises on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of that week. On Friday, we had a snow day, so I did the Daily Dozen routine, and I added the one-mile walk from the Walk Away the Pounds DVD with Leslie Sansone. It takes just 18 minutes to do the one-mile walk. I did the same routine on Saturday. I did skip exercising on Sunday and Monday, went back to it for Tuesday, but skipped it again yesterday. Today, with another snow day, I did the Daily Dozen routine but not the walk. The point is I am exercising. I can’t do all the moves, and I sometimes go a little slower than they do, but hey, I’m terribly out of shape. I’m at least trying to work myself up to the level that they do on the DVD. As I get better at it, I’ll add more to the routine. In addition to exercising, though, I am using the Lose It! app on my Kindle, and keeping track of what I eat and how much I exercise. This keeps me on track. I stay within my daily budget for calories. It also forces me to make healthier eating choices. Finally, I weigh every day. It’s great motivation to see even a half-pound drop in the weight, and it’s helpful for staying on track as well. I also wrote down my measurements as they were on January 21, but according to the Denise Austin plan, I won’t do measurements again until February 11, which is three weeks from the original date. Right now, having met my goal for January, I’m feeling very good about moving into February.

My fourth resolution related to movies. There is a list of classic movies I have not yet seen, and I identified ten classics that I would like to watch at some point during the year. In January, I haven’t watched any of them. Jimmy did bring The Shawshank Redemption for us to watch one night, but there was something on television that we’d forgotten was going to be on, so we ended up watching that instead. I’m thinking, though, that with the snowy forecast ahead for the weekend, Saturday night would make for a great movie night.

My final resolution related to food. I’m still trying new recipes and finding keepers. At some point I’ll share with you some of the recipes I’ve tried this year. However, this year’s goal was to try at least one new restaurant every month. This was successful. We tried Mi Pequena Hacienda in Lexington, Texas Longhorn Steakhouse in Lexington, and the Big Blue Smokehouse right here in Jackson. I would return to all of these restaurants. We called in the order to the Mexican restaurant, and though there were a couple mistakes (it was a huge order), the food was really good. We dined in at the other two, and the food and service were both good. I’m already thinking about what restaurant we might want to try in February.

All in all, I’ll have to call January a successful month in regard to my resolutions. Yes, there are some things I need to improve upon, such as spending more time on the project and watching a classic movie, but I’m confident I will finish Dracula by tonight, which will have me on track for the reading goal, and I’m also confident with the success I’ve had in just the last ten days of January, I will remain motivated to continue my weight-loss plan through February. I’ve no doubt the restaurant goal will be met; we love to eat out when we travel. Keeping a resolution is a matter of making up your mind about what is important to you. We can all do it. I’m looking forward to following through with my resolutions during the remainder of the year.