July Was Hit-and-Miss

July has been a month of hit and misses for the New Year’s resolutions, but then, if I’m honest, the first six months were also hit and miss. Of course, there has been a lot going on, and with today being the first day back at work for me, it’s about to get even crazier, and as always, that does affect how well I do on the goals. Here’s my update for July.

First, the writing goal was a fail. While I got back on track in June and met the weekly goal I had set, July was a setback. Between days I had to physically go to work or the days I spent working on school-related stuff at home and days I had things to do for weddings and even some days when I didn’t do much of anything, I accomplished absolutely nothing on the project. The blog was also sporadic, and even though I intended to post more often than I had been, that didn’t really happen either. Now that I’m back at work, I’m not sure how this resolution is ultimately going to pan out. I’m probably being unrealistic to think the project will actually be completed by the end of the year. I can still try to do more on the blog, though, and I can still try to get a lot more finished on the project. It may not be finished, but maybe I can get close to finished.

Second, my reading goal is progressing, but I’m a little behind again. I’ve made it to 41 books and I should be at 43.75. Given what I’ve read in the Bible as part of my reading goal, I can probably say I’m at 41.5, which has me 2.25 books behind schedule. I’m not too worried about that because I’m confident I can reach my reading goal. This month, I added the books of 1 Samuel and Isaiah to books completed from the Bible. I reread Matthew. And I’m reading 2 Samuel and Jeremiah and rereading Romans. For other books, I’ve read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens , which are books on the AP summer reading list. The other book I read this month was The Heist, written by Janet Evanovich (from the Stephanie Plum series) and Lee Goldberg (from the Monk series). I certainly hope they collaborate again.

Third, my weight-loss goal has made progress, though not as much as I’d like. I had hoped to have lost 35 pounds by the end of July, but I have only lost 31.8 pounds, which is 3.4 pounds less than I ended June. Granted, that is close to the goal, and I do feel so much better. I think getting back to a regular schedule, with the return of school, will help me a lot as well. I did manage to get into the routine of exercising through the summer, so I’m hoping to continue that throughout the school year. Brief exercise both in the morning before I go to work and in the afternoon or evening when I get home should help me keep losing weight. Eating on a more regular schedule should also help. I will also continue to track what I eat to make sure I’m not going overboard on calories. I just have to keep motivated. Getting to buy new pants that were two sizes smaller than I bought at the beginning of last school year goes a long way towards staying motivated. I can do this, and I can still be down 60 pounds by the end of the year.

Fourth, we did try a new restaurant in July. It is called Roosters and it’s on Nicholasville Road in Lexington. They have a wide variety of food options, and we all enjoyed it. I had some BBQ boneless wings and bacon cheese fries. I was happy. We also had their fried pickles as an appetizer, and that was also good. Several of the kids had different pizzas, and they were happy with those. Mady had mac and cheese bites, and she ate every bite of mac and cheese, which is good for a one-year-old. I think it’s safe to say that Roosters is an establishment we won’t mind revisiting.

Finally, there was absolutely no progress on the movie resolution. There are still seven movies to watch and five months in which to watch them. I still feel confident that won’t be a problem.

There are a lot of reasons for the hit-and-miss progress on these resolutions, but I’m still feeling confident that I can achieve more success than failure by the end of the year. Of course, I still have a lot of other things to accomplish by year’s end as well, including much for work and reorganizing my house with only one child left at home. I’m going to be optimistic, though, and work toward making these resolutions as successful as I can.

Chaotic February Wreaked Havoc on Goals

Two months of 2013 are gone. I know I say it a lot, but it’s really just unbelievable how quickly time passes. It seems like the older we get, the more time moves into hyper-drive. February was one of the craziest months I’ve had in quite some time. Jimmy and I both had health issues to deal with. I had the KCTE/LA conference. I went to watch my niece play basketball. In short, there was a lot of travel and long nights that made February a bit on the lackluster side for keeping my 2013 resolutions. A mere three snow days didn’t help the situation either.

My writing resolution probably suffered the most during the month of February. Compared to what I’d gotten in the habit of doing last year, I fell behind in February. First, as I already mentioned, I had many long nights in February, and by the time I would get home, if I had to choose between writing a blog or going to bed, the bed always won. I missed more blogs this February than I have for any other month, and I didn’t like that, but I came to a realization in the process. As important as getting something written every day is to me, there are times when it ‘s necessary to skip the writing. I will do my best to write every day and post the blog every day, but there are times it just won’t happen. The bigger deal, though, is the project. At this rate, I will fail miserably. I am going to have to step it up if I am going to finish this project by the end of the year. Therefore, I think that I need to set a goal of having a set amount finished each week. That will not only allow me to make some progress on the project but will also allow me to track the progress I make. Since this is Friday, next week will be a good time to start this new method.

My reading resolution is going much better than it was at this time last year. To reach my goal of 75 books, I need to read at least 6.25 books each month. By the end of February 2012, I had already fallen miserably behind. This year, I have finished 10 books, which would put me only 2.5 books behind. However, while in the past I wouldn’t normally have more than one book started at a time, right now I have two books started, one actual book I can hold in my hands and one on the Kindle, and I’m about halfway through one and a third of the way through the other. Given that, I’m not actually behind by 2.5 books. I feel much better about staying on track this year, and I feel confident that I can catch up on this quickly. The books I read in February include Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, Chocolate Kisses by Judith Arnold, I Wish I Knew That: U.S. Presidents by Christopher Davis, and The Duck Commander Family by Willie and Korie Robertson. In addition, part of my goal is to make one of those 75 books that I read be the Bible. I have followed a reading plan I found online, and thus far, I have completed the books of Genesis, Exodus, Matthew, Romans, and Mark, and the books of Leviticus, Psalms (over halfway through), and 1 Corinthians are in progress.

My weight-loss goal has been much more successful this year than last, in part due to the fact that I made up my mind to actually do something to try to make it happen. My goal is to lose five pounds per month. I was very pleased to weigh in this morning and discover that I have lost 11 pounds since the first of January. Given the amount of times I had to eat out in February, I decided that was impressive. With the many long days in February, I also failed to exercise like I should have, and I must get back into the habit of exercising. I didn’t eat as much fruit as I would have liked to in February, mainly because I refused to pay $5 a pound for grapes at my local grocery store. While in Lexington this week, though, I bought some more fruit and vegetables, so I’m really hoping to stay on track. I failed miserably at this goal last year, and I am looking forward to success this year.

My classic movie resolution is on track. I had identified ten classic movies I wanted to watch this year, and we began with The Shawshank Redemption, which I thoroughly enjoyed. After that, I read Stephen King’s novella that the movie is based upon; it’s in one of the books I have started. I feel good that I can cross one off the list, and I have 10 more months to watch nine more movies.

My new restaurant resolution was also successful. Jimmy and I ate at Sutton’s on Richmond Road in Lexington. It was OK, but I prefer Johnny Carino’s. I also ate breakfast and lunch at the restaurant inside the Marriott in Covington. Both meals were very good, and considering what they cost, they should have been.

Given how chaotic and hectic February turned out to be and that February is the shortest month of the year, I’ll have to say that overall February was more success than failure. I have a plan to make sure my writing goal stays on track, and I’m pretty sure I can easily catch up on the reading goal. The weight-loss goal requires a lot of work and dedication, but I am finding it easier to eat healthier; I just need to get the exercise part back on track. I really don’t think the movie and restaurant goals will be hard to keep. There are a couple of things I need to do in order to be back on track by the end of March, and I’m prepared to do them. I just hope March is a little less chaotic so it will be a little easier to do.

A New Year Brings New Resolutions

Happy New Year! 2013 has arrived, and with the arrival of the New Year comes the arrival of new resolutions. I’ve spent a lot of time over the past month thinking about what I want to accomplish in 2013. Coming to terms with the resolutions of 2012, what was successful and what was not, was a month-long task, but it was one that allowed me to determine what I wanted to put on my list of resolutions for 2013. Again, I think the list should be a rather short one. The more things we include, the more difficult it is to achieve them.

It would be easy to include my two most successful resolutions from last year as resolutions for this year. The two successful resolutions were trying a new recipe every week and updating readers every month about the success, or lack thereof, of keeping my resolutions. It would be easy to tweak the recipe resolution to trying two new recipes per week, but I think that now that we are in the habit of trying at least one new recipe per week, we will continue to do so just because we like trying new dishes. Since the goal was such a success (85 new recipes in 2012), I don’t think simply increasing the number of recipes would make for a great resolution for 2013. Therefore, this will not be on the resolutions list for this year; what is now a habit cannot be a resolution. There’s not a lot I could do to tweak the updating goal. However, just because it’s not a resolution does not mean you will not be updated. As with the recipes resolution from last year, this one has become a habit, and as a result, at the end of the month, you will get the update on my success or failure for the month. It’s just not a resolution in and of itself this year.

That said, there were three resolutions where I did not achieve the blaring success that I had with the aforementioned ones. Those resolutions related to my writing, my reading, and my weight loss. As such, those three will be tweaked and new resolutions will be set. Because I like having five resolutions, I will also add two new resolutions for 2013.

Resolution # 1 – Writing. I will continue to write something every day, and I will continue to post to the blog every day. These things have become habit for me, and habits cannot be resolutions, so while I will continue to do them, they are not the resolution for 2013. Last year, I said I wanted to work on my project at least two days per week. As we know, that did not work out. Here’s the thing. This project has now been in the works for a year and a half, and that’s just since I revived it. It had been sitting there for a while before its revival. I guess the good news is that I have been working on it over that year and a half, while the bad news is that I haven’t been working on it nearly enough. Therefore, my resolution for writing is to finish the project. When I update you about the success or failure of my writing resolution each month, I’m not going to focus on whether I wrote every day or whether I missed a blog. The real goal here is to finish the project by the end of 2013. And when it is finished, I will reveal what it is.

Resolution # 2 – Reading. I set a goal to read 75 books in 2012. Although I did manage to break my personal record for number of books read in a year, I did not meet my goal of 75 books. Because this resolution failed in 2012, I’m going to give it another shot in 2013. Once again, I’m going to set a goal to read at least 75 books during the year 2013. Again, if I can just manage to read 6.25 books per month, I should be able to reach this goal. I managed to make a late run and came closer to 75 than I thought I would for 2012. Therefore, I will simply pace myself and will meet my goal of 75 books in 2013.

Resolution # 3 – Weight Loss. This resolution was the biggest failure for me in 2012. I managed by the end of the year to weigh a whopping one pound less than I did at the beginning of the year. I know I can do this, and I’m going to work a lot harder at it. My goal for 2012 had been to lose 20 pounds over the course of the year. I’m going to put more pressure on myself this year. My goal is to lose at least five pounds every month. If I can do that, I will lose 60 pounds by the end of the year. That still won’t put me at my goal weight, but it would be a heck of a start. I’m going to use two apps on my Kindle Fire (the WWPP – Weight Watchers Points Plus – Calculator and Lose It!) to help me track what I eat so that I can make sure I’m staying within the appropriate boundaries to lose the weight I want to lose.

Resolution # 4 – Classic Movies. Every year in December, I show the movie It’s a Wonderful Life to my classes. It’s a classic, and many of the students have never seen it. This made me think about other movies that are classics, ones that I have not seen. As a result, I have compiled a list of classic movies that I will watch by the end of the year. It is possible that I may watch other classic movies that are not on this list, but after reviewing several online lists of classic movies, these are the ones I have decided I should watch. They are: The Shawshank Redemption, Casablanca, Schindler’s List, Citizen Kane, A Streetcar Named Desire, Sunset Boulevard, Rebel without a Cause, Roman Holiday, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and White Christmas.

Resolution # 5 – Food. Since trying a new recipe every week is now a habit for my family, my food-related resolution for 2013 will deal with restaurants. With three of our four children living in Lexington, we make frequent trips there. We have our favorite restaurants, and we usually make it a point to visit one of those whenever we happen to be in Lexington. For 2013, we are going to diversify. We are usually in Lexington at least twice a month, and at various times throughout the year we are in places other than Pikeville and Jackson. At least once per month, we are going to go to a new restaurant. By the end of the year, we will have visited 12 new restaurants and may even add a new favorite to the list. If we’re feeling really frisky and adventurous, we might even order something that we would never ordinarily consider ordering, though I’m not going to make that part of the resolution.

There you have it. My five resolutions for the year 2013. Five is a manageable number. Three of the five are more difficult and will require a significant amount of work on my part. The other two are fairly easy and shouldn’t be difficult at all to achieve. Remember, though, that we do need to feel good about ourselves, which means we have to have some success along the way. Hopefully the ease of the last two resolutions will help keep me inspired and motivated to achieve the more difficult first three. Either way, I’ll keep you posted.

Falling Behind on Some Resolutions

Hard to believe, but it’s time for the monthly update to figure out how I’ve been doing with the five resolutions I set back on January 1. Let’s just say that some are going pretty good, and others need a lot of work during the last three months of 2012.

1. Writing. This one is pretty much on pace, as far as writing every day goes. I do manage to write something every day. As far as posting on the blog every day, I missed that one. If you read yesterday’s blog, you know I didn’t get to post on Friday, because I refused to pay $10 to the Galt House to be able to use their Internet service in my hotel room. I weighed the options between posting and paying. Since I’d already had some days in April when I didn’t get to post while on senior trip, that made the decision a lot easier. Had it been that this would have been the first one I’d missed for the year, I might have actually paid the $10 to avoid that, but as it was, I decided keeping my $10 was the wiser move. In relation to the project I’ve been working on, I have been working on it this month, but again, not the twice per week that I’d like. At this point, I feel good that I spent some time this month working on it. I’m going to have to improve, though. I’m finally settling into a routine for the school year, so hopefully, keeping up with the resolutions will be easier.

2. Reading. I’m way off on this one. I’ve read 42 books for the year. Since I’m posting this in the middle of the day, there’s a slight chance it might be 43 by the end of the day and official end of the month, but I’m not holding my breath on that one. What this means as far as my resolution goes is that I have to do at least 33 more in October, November, and December. If I break it down, that’s 11 each month. That’s still doable. I just have to do it. The two books I managed to get read this month were Save Me by Lisa Scottoline and Mercy by Jodi Picoult. Save Me was a heart-wrenching story of a young mother who was accused of abandoning another child in order to save her own, while Mercy was supposed to be the story of a man who killed his dying wife upon her request, but ended up, at least to me, being more the story of his cousin trying to figure out his own marriage. Of the two, I preferred Save Me. Had Mercy actually focused more on the story of Jamie and the implications of his mercy-killing rather than his cousin’s affair and consequences, it would have been a much better book. This is actually the first Picoult book that I’ve not enjoyed all that much.

3. Weight Loss. Well, I’ve lost 3 pounds since the beginning of the year. I’ve fluctuated between 3 and 10, and at the moment, it’s at 3. I have three months to hit that goal of 20. With Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, that won’t be the easiest thing, but obviously if I stick to the Weight Watchers plan, then hitting the mark of 20 over the next three months is completely doable. My daughter has lost 50 pounds in just over a year and a half. I wish I could stay as motivated as she is.

4. Recipes. We got back on track with trying new recipes. This month, we managed to do six new recipes. They were Pasta with Tomatoes, Basil, and Garlic, Baked Chicken Fajitas, Chicken Piccata, Honey Sauced Chicken, Loaded BBQ Baked Potato Soup for the Crock Pot, and Farfalle with Chicken and Roasted Garlic Sauce. With the exception of the Potato Soup, all the others were a success. The Chicken Piccata was a tad too lemony, but not so much to be inedible or untasty. We just decided that we would just cut back on the lemon next time. The Potato Soup was a massive fail. It spent 7 hours in the crock pot on low, and the potatoes did not get cooked through despite being cut into small cubes. It spent another hour on the stove, and the potatoes were better, but still not all of them were cooked through. We have relegated this recipe to the “Never Again” file. For now, I’ll just stick to our usual recipe for Tater Soup.

5. Update. As usual, this is the one I don’t have any trouble keeping. With three months remaining in 2012, as I write the update for September, I’m starting to look ahead to next year. I’m thinking about what I’ve managed to do well in 2012 with regard to keeping these five seemingly simple resolutions, wondering what I might need to change about them next year. I’m already considering some minor changes, as well as some other things that I’d like to add to the agenda for 2013. I’ve no idea how this is actually going to turn out. I’ve done relatively well with the writing one, but I know I need to put more time into the project. I have much to do with the reading one so that it turns out to be successful, but it’s not totally out of reach yet, so I’m not going to give up yet. If I behave and follow the Weight Watchers point system, losing another 17 pounds is also doable. With the holidays coming up, it will be no problem at all to keep finding new recipes to try. I’ll spend the next three months evaluating this year’s resolutions and considering where to go next year.

Where Am I at the End of July?

Can you believe seven months of 2012 have passed? It’s been an eventful year, especially with the birth of my granddaughter this month. I’m still working on keeping those resolutions I made back in January. So, how have I been doing?

1. Writing. Per my resolution, I have been writing every day, and I have posted a blog every day, though those from last week were short and brief; after all, I was a little preoccupied with my Mady. Some days I get more on paper than others, but that’s par for the course. I haven’t been as diligent with the project as I should have been. If I end up having a failure on the writing end of my goal, it’s going to be the progress I’ve made on the project. I’m not a quitter, though, so I’ll keep trying.

2. Reading. I’ve managed 11 books in July, which is a good thing since I had quite a bit of catching up to do. That brings my total for the year to 38. In order to reach 75 books, I need to average 6.25 books per month, which means I should be sitting at 43.75 for the year. I’m behind by 5. I’m hoping, however, that I can catch up in August. That will be a little more difficult with school starting, but for the most part, I’m going to be home by myself in the evenings, so that should open up some reading time. The good news about the whole situation is that if I can manage 6.25 each of the remaining months, I really only need to read one extra book per month to still hit 75 for the year. That is completely doable.

So what did I read this month? I started the month with Janet Evanovich’s Wicked Business, a series based on a character named Diesel. If you enjoy her Stephanie Plum books, you will enjoy the Diesel books. I then read Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, which was one of the AP summer reading assignments. I always enjoy this book, which I reread every summer it’s assigned. In January, I read all of Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series, so this month I read the first two books in the Heroes of Olympus series, The Lost Hero and The Son of Neptune. I’m looking forward to the third book’s release in October. I also read The Princess Bride by William Goldman. My kids love the movie so I’ve seen it several times, and when I ran across the book, I decided to give it a read. I read Angels Flight by Michael Connelly, a good mystery. I celebrated Christmas in July by reading Mary Higgins Clark’s Silent Night. Moliere’s Tartuffe also made the list for July as I needed to decide whether to include it on a reading list. I read Rainwater by Sandra Brown; it wasn’t a typical Sandra Brown-style book, but I do suggest it to those who like stories set during the Depression. Lisa Gardner’s The Other Daughter was a good mystery book, and I’m pleased to say I had it figured out by the end. I finished the month with Lee Goldberg’s Mr. Monk on Patrol. I love the TV show Monk, and the book series is great. If you love the TV show, you’ll love the books.

3. Weight Loss. I’m not even sure where I stand on this one. I haven’t done a weigh-in for several weeks. I was beginning to get a little frustrated with it again, and so I haven’t been watching my food intake quite like I should. Next week, school starts and I’m back at work and on a regular schedule, so I’m going to try to get it together. Wish me luck.

4. Cooking. We’re still trying new recipes. Jimmy created a couple of new dishes for us this month, sausage subs and a pasta salad. As with most things he creates, these were quite good. I made several freezer jams this month. I had done strawberry before, so that wasn’t new, but the peach jam, the blackberry jam, and the strawberry-blueberry jam were new. I’m pleased to say they were all successful. One new recipe that was very successful was Paula Deen’s Crab Cakes with Dill Sauce. The final two recipes were also very good, Southwestern Chicken from Pinterest and Spicy Stuffed Peppers with Andouille from Taste of Home magazine. We’ve managed to try so many new recipes this year, and for the most part, we’ve enjoyed all of them. This is definitely something we’ll keep doing.

5. Updates. This is the easy resolution to keep, just write one blog a month to tell you what I’m doing. I like this resolution for several reasons. One, it gives me something for sure to write about one day each month so I don’t have to struggle to think of a topic. Two, it’s easy to keep. Three, it helps keep me honest and on track.

Seven months down, five to go. For those I’m having trouble with, there’s still time to get on track and be successful. For those I’m not having trouble with, I’ve just got to keep doing what I’m doing.

Progress Made on Resolutions in May

When I sat down to write, my first thought was, “So, what do I want to write about today?” I started tossing a couple of ideas around, and then it suddenly hit me that today is May 31. I’d known it was coming all week and had been thinking about my progress on my resolutions throughout the week so I could do today’s blog, but when the day gets here, I almost forget it’s the day. I wonder if that’s because I don’t want to admit that five months of 2012 are gone. Regardless of that, though, it is indeed the end of May, so here goes the update.

1. My writing resolution is back on track. I have managed to write every day and post a blog every day. The first couple of weeks, I did not get my hoped-for two days per week on the project, but since then, I have actually managed to work at least two days per week on it, and I’m able to say that I’ve made some good progress, enough that I can actually feel good about what I have managed to accomplish. With my April update, I had mentioned that I might try to do a blog series throughout May about lessons my daddy and life have taught me, and I was fairly successful with that as well. This is one of those things, I’ve just got to keep at it in order to accomplish. I don’t see the continued writing every day being a problem, so I’m going to try to focus on getting a lot more done on the project over the next couple of months while I’m off work.

2. My reading goal is getting back on track. Whereas in April I didn’t even manage to finish a book, I can say that I managed to read 11 in May. That puts my yearly total up to 22. To be completely on track to reach my yearly goal of 75, I should have 31.25 books read by now. The good news is that I’m only down by 9.25 books at the moment. If I can read 11 in each of June and July, then by the end of July, I will be where I need to be; however, in August school starts back, and my time becomes much more limited. Therefore, I’m going to try to actually get about a month ahead if I can before August gets here. We’ll see how that goes.

3. My weight loss goal is at a standstill. The bad news is that I haven’t lost any more. The good news is I haven’t gained any back. Overall, this is just laziness on my part, not keeping accurate count of my daily points. When I follow the points program, I lose. My weeks begin on Monday, so when Monday rolls around, I’m just going to have to make up my mind that I’m going to stick to it. I only drink diet pop, but I know I’ve been drinking too many of them per day, so I’m going to try to get back to counting my points, and limiting myself to only having pop with my supper. Hopefully that will help.

4. My recipe goal is going fabulously. I’m having more success with it than with any of the others, which could have something to do with the lackadaisical success of goal three, but  even with trying new recipes, if I counted the points, it wouldn’t affect goal three. As of the writing of the blog, we have tried eight new recipes for May, and I intend to do two more for supper tonight. Several of these recipes were found on Pinterest: Easy Pork Chop and Onion Bake, Bananas Foster French Toast, Balsamic and Onion Pot Roast, Slow Cooker Cajun Seasoned Chicken, and Strawberry Shortcake. All of these were good. The pork chops, the Cajun chicken, and strawberry shortcake were definite favorites that will be made again. The French toast was good but not exactly what I’d hoped it would be, so I probably won’t use that recipe again; I’ll keep looking for one I really like. I served the Cajun chicken with my fried rice, and it was excellent. For one of our other new recipes, we used the Kraft Fresh Takes Chili Lime Seasoning Packet and made pork. This was OK, but we didn’t like it as much as the rosemary one we’d tried previously. This one was pretty heavy on the lime. The final two recipes we tried this month were Chicken Ranchero Tacos from Food Network Magazine and Southwestern Chicken Soup from a Cooking Light magazine. Both of these were good, though I preferred the tacos. The soup had a gumbo feel to it, except with Mexican rather than Cajun flavors. The two recipes I plan to try tonight are Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken from Pinterest and Twice Baked Potatoes from The Next Food Network Star.

5. My update resolution is still faring well, especially since I managed to remember that today is the last day of the month. I’m happy with the progress I’ve made on the writing, reading, and cooking resolutions. I’m going to have to get it into gear for the weight loss resolution. The thing is to stay focused and realize that a misstep is just that and doesn’t mean failure looms ahead. With that said, it’s time for me to post and get back to work.

Marching on with My Resolutions

Another month has come and gone, so it’s time for my monthly update blog to let you know how well I’m doing with keeping my 2012 New Year’s resolutions.

You may remember I made five simple resolutions, because simple resolutions are much easier to keep. So, let’s see how I’m doing.

1. My writing resolution is working out about the same. I am managing to write something every day, and I am managing to post a blog every day. Sometimes I feel like it’s decent stuff, and other times I’m not as happy with it, but I think that goes with the territory of being a writer. Not everything will be a masterpiece. The third part of my writing resolution is still the part that needs the most work. I am making slow progress on my project, but it’s not getting the two days per week that I’d like it to. There’s only one month of school left, and I’m really hoping that during the three months I have off this summer that I can make up for what I’ve failed to do so far with the project.

2. My reading goal is progressing slowly. I’m up to having 12.5 books that I’ve read so far. That’s quite a bit under the 6.25 per month I’d hoped to do to stay on pace to hit 75 for the year. It puts me about a month behind. I’m not really worried, though, because with those three full months off this summer, I don’t anticipate having any trouble making up the difference, and even going ahead, of the monthly goal. I still believe 75 for the year is doable.

3. My weight loss goal has taken a step backward. As you may remember I gave up Diet Dew for Lent, and over the course of the last month, I’ve been drinking some Cherry 7-Up. I can’t find that in diet, so while Cherry 7-Up is a great-tasting drink, it was a bad choice. I managed to gain back what I’d lost so far, but that only strengthens my resolve. I’ve given up the Cherry 7-Up, and I’ve started tracking my foods using my Weight Watchers tools. The last time Nic and I signed up for Weight Watchers online, I bought both of us a set of the “tools” that were available – a tracker that calculates points values and tracks our daily usage and a set of books that include points values for a variety of foods and that includes point values for restaurant food items. I started using these tools again this week, and despite being in Pigeon Forge for my anniversary and eating out at some great restaurants, I think the week will turn out OK. If not, I only have an anniversary once a year, so I won’t worry about it too much, and I’ll be better with my tracking next week. Either way, I’m sure that once I start tracking regularly, then I’ll be fine, and I’ll see the weight start to drop off.

4. My recipe challenge is probably my favorite resolution, and one of the best ideas I’ve had in a while, though I do have to be careful to make sure it doesn’t interfere with my weight loss resolution. March was another good month for cooking in the Raines house. This month, we tried a variety of recipes. We tried two grilled cheese recipes, and both were successes: Grilled Apple, Bacon, and Cheddar Grilled Cheese with Roasted Red Onion Mayo and Tyler’s Mozzarella Grilled Cheese Sandwiches. Jimmy created a turkey club sandwich that was also very good. We tried a couple of casserole-style dishes: Chicken and Dumpling Casserole and Green Onion Chicken with Linguine. Again, both of these were a success. I did one side dish recipe, Baked Herb and Parmesan Potatoes, and these potatoes were delicious. Finally, I did two different crock pot recipes: Dr. Pepper Roast and Cajun Pot Roast. The Dr. Pepper Roast was OK, but I preferred the Cajun Pot Roast which was exceptional. Once again, we’ve managed to average more than one new recipe, and regardless of what happens with the other resolutions, I see this as one that will stay with us, even after 2012 is over. And as always I’ll be happy to share my recipes with you.

5. My final resolution of keeping you updated is once again achieved. I really like this resolution as well because it gives me a chance to stop and periodically take stock of how I’m doing. In addition, knowing I have to report it to someone helps to keep me on track. I look forward to the April update, and I hope to see further improvement in those areas where I’m lacking.

Resolutions for the New Year

After a quiet New Year’s Eve at home, 2012 has arrived. The last day of the year is usually reserved for reflection upon the year that has passed all too quickly. The first day of the year is usually reserved for resolving to do the things to make the new year better than the last.

Resolutions are often hard to keep, mainly because people try to be overachievers when setting their resolutions. In order for new year’s resolutions to be successful, they must be something that can reasonably be achieved. If you set your goals for the new year as ones that you know right now are impossible, you’re setting yourself up for failure, and there’s no need to do that. So before you set your resolutions, be sure to assess whether they are reasonable and feasible. If so, move forward. If not, rethink and revise to create resolutions you can achieve. It’s also a good idea to limit the number of resolutions you make. If the list is too long, you’ll hit some and miss others. If you want resolutions that you can reasonably achieve, don’t set yourself up for failure by having a list that’s too long to manage.

With that said, here are my resolutions for 2012.

1. I will continue writing something every day. I will keep posting to the blog daily. I feel very fortunate that I’ve been able to do this thus far, and I do realize that there might be a day when circumstances beyond my control force me to miss a post, but my goal is to continue posting daily. I’m going to expand the writing something every day part of the resolution, though. I’ll have my daily blog, but I also need to put some more work into that unfinished project I mentioned when I started the blog. Therefore, I will write something every day, I will post to the blog every day, and at least two days per week, I will work on that unfinished project. See how I’m trying to be reasonable? I know with everything else I have to do, it would be futile to say I’ll do the blog and the project every day. It’s much more reasonable to think I can do the blog every day and the project at least twice per week. And the “at least” means I can do it more often when the opportunity presents itself.

2. I will read 75 books this year. I realize that’s a lofty goal, especially since I only managed a measly 40 for 2011. However, on my high year, I did 62, so I think this goal is feasible. That’s only 6.25 books per month. I read seven books in December, four of them in the week after Christmas. Of course, I was motivated to reach 40 before the year’s end. Since I’ve set my goal, I’m planning to be motivated to keep it. Some months I’m sure reading 6.25 books will be quite easy, and others it will be more difficult. I feel confidant that I can do this. A few snow days through January and February would be helpful, though.

3. I will lose 20 pounds this year. It seems that whenever resolutions come around, weight loss inevitably is there. I’m no different. I know I need to lose quite a few more than 20 pounds, but again, let’s be reasonable. I like to eat, and my husband is a great cook. However, I’ve no doubt I can lose at least 20 pounds. The real challenge will be keeping that 20 pounds off. And, who knows, after the first 20 pounds are gone, maybe more will follow.

4. I will try at least one new recipe per week. My husband and I love to cook. We have lots of cooking magazines and cookbooks. We’ve tried several new recipes in 2011. However, there are still a lot of awfully good recipe out there that we haven’t gotten around to yet. If I commit to making one new recipe per week, then perhaps we’ll finally stop talking about trying some of them and start making them. One new recipe per week seems feasible, and by the end of the year, we’ll have tried 52 new recipes. This may prove to be my favorite resolution of the year. Now, if only I could convince my finicky children to try one new food per week, all would be right in the culinary world.

5. I will update my faithful readers on the status of my various resolutions at least once per month. Often resolutions and goals are easier to achieve with a support system. Actually listing them makes them more real. Reporting on the status to someone keeps you honest. If nothing else, by updating you once a month on the status of my resolutions, perhaps I can give you some book titles you might enjoy or some recipes you might want to try.

And this is where I’m drawing the line on my new year’s resolutions. All of them are manageable and feasible, and the list is short enough that I shouldn’t forget anything that’s on there. With that, I’ll wish you luck on your developing and keeping your own new year’s resolutions. And I definitely wish each and every one of you a Happy New Year!