It’s that time again. By the end of today, a third of 2013 will be over. This makes for a really good time to do an update. As I look at the resolutions I set in January, I still have 2/3 of the year left to make adjustments to make sure I meet all the goals I originally set. And, frankly, that’s a good thing because there are a couple that I’m not doing so well with.

For my writing goal, I did want to keep writing every day. I didn’t make blogging a part of the goal because I thought I had gotten myself into the habit of doing it. What I’ve discovered is that without the goal of posting a blog every day, it’s a lot easier to make excuses for not doing so. If I have writer’s block, then I just don’t write anything rather than starting to write and seeing where it leads. If I’m too tired, then I just rationalize not writing anything for that day. If it’s a day that is just inconvenient for writing, then I just let it go and don’t even try to work it in. And I don’t like any of that. I want to keep in the writing-every-day pattern that I put myself in last year, so I’ve got to get back on track. I really need to stop having nearly a week between blogs.

The primary focus of my writing goal was to finish the project that I returned to so that I’d get writing again. It’s been almost two years since I picked it back up, and I still haven’t finished. It would be really easy to rationalize reasons why, but that doesn’t matter. I set the goal to finish the project by the end of the year. I have done some organizational things with the project, but I have not done the writing I need to do. As May begins, I must find something that works so I can complete the project by December 31.

For my reading goal, I set a goal of 75 books for the year. I did the same last year, but I fell short of that. I made it to 67, which was a personal best but was still disappointing. Last year, at the end of April, I had read only 11 books total, and none of those were in April. This year, I’m off to a much better start as I’ve read 21 books so far. Based on needing to read 6.25 books each month to meet the goal, I’m still about four books behind for the year, but it’s a lot easier to catch up when you’re only four books behind instead of 14 behind. I read six books this month. My AP classes are doing nonfiction book presentations, and I wanted to reread the books that were being used for their presentations. I kept reminding them that they were reading one book this month, and I was reading six. Those books were Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt, Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar, and All the President’s Men by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. I’m in progress on a book right now, and if I’m lucky, I’ll finish it tonight, to make eight for April. An additional part of my goal is to ensure the Bible is one of the 75 books I read this year. I found a daily reading schedule which I have been able to follow. So far, I’ve read the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Psalms, Proverbs, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, and Philippians, and I’m in progress on Deuteronomy, Ecclesiastes, and Acts.

For my weight-loss goal, I’m doing so much better than last year. My goal for last year was to lose 20 pounds over the course of the entire year. That didn’t happen. In fact, last year, this goal was my most miserable failure. I lost absolutely nothing. This year, I am determined to lose a minimum of five pounds each month. To date, I have lost 22, which puts me slightly ahead of where I should be and makes last year look even more pathetic, since I’ve managed to lose just over 20 in four months. I’m still not exercising like I should. Right now, I simply can’t make myself get up earlier to exercise. Fortunately, though, we only have 19 days of school left, and I really think that when school goes out, I will be able to exercise a lot more. Maybe I’ll get so into the routine that I’ll be able to stick with it in the fall when school starts back. I’ve even happier about having lost this weight because I ordered a dress to wear to Cody’s wedding, and it came in today. It fits! And it’s a size smaller than the dress I wore to Trav’s wedding.

For my food goal, we visited just one new restaurant in April. For our anniversary, we went to Giuseppe’s Italian Restaurant in Lexington. I love pasta, so Italian restaurants are among my favorites, and this one did not disappoint. The food was excellent, and I think we’d definitely go there again. We went for lunch, which is a good idea because the dinner plates cost over twice as much as the lunch plates. I suspect you would get more food, but the lunch-sized serving was good enough for us.

For my classic movie goal, I am officially behind. I chose 10 classic movies to watch, so I could skip two months and watch one in the remaining months. Since, four months are gone, and I’ve only watched one movie, that leaves me eight months to watch nine movies. Obviously, that goal can still be met, but my husband and I are going to have to work this movie watching into our schedule and make sure it gets done.

I’m doing well on a couple of goals, not-so-well on a couple, and pitifully on the final one. I can turn this around, though, and be successful for all five goals. Just on the basis of the weight-loss goal alone, it is obvious I can do what I set my mind to. I’m just going to have to step it up to make sure these goals happen, and I’m the only one who can do that.