December Will Be a Busy Month

It’s that time again. Here’s the monthly update on the progress I’m making on my resolutions for the year 2012. After midnight tonight, I’ll have just 31 days left to determine whether the final analysis will determine my success or my failure. My attempt was five simple resolutions. After all, just five small things should be easy to do, right? This month I’ve discovered the answer to that is “not necessarily.”

My simple goal for writing was to write something, anything, every day. I intended to accomplish that by writing and posting a blog every day. Thanks to my battle with labyrinthitis (a fancy word for vertigo), that did not happen. I missed, I think, a total of 11 days. Those were days when I did not write anything and I did not post a blog. Even though being too sick to write is a valid excuse, it doesn’t make me any happier about not meeting my goal. Another part of my writing goal was to work on my project at least two days a week. Given the first half of this paragraph, I think you can figure out that didn’t happen either. This month was definitely not a good one for the writing resolution.

My simple goal for reading was to read 75 books over the course of the year. I even figured out that I could accomplish this if I read 6.5 books each month. Again, sounds simple enough, right? It should be, except for the fact I was already behind when the month started. As of the beginning of the month, I needed to read 27 more books to reach my goal. That would require at least 13.5 books each of the remaining two months. Well, that didn’t happen. Reading was as out of the question as writing during those sick days. I only managed a mere three books during the month of November. I’m up to a grand total of 51 books for the year, leaving me 31 days to read 24 books. At that rate, I’d have to do almost a book a day, which is not impossible for me. However, considering that there are 15 days in December that I have to work and there are several days that will be filled with holiday activities, it’s highly unlikely that even I would be able to read 24 books this month. I’m going to be a fighter here, though, and not give up. I’m going to knock as many of that 24 out as I can.

The three books I did read were Dirty Blonde by Lisa Scottoline, The Closers by Michael Connelly, and They Cage the Animals at Night by Jennings Michael Burch. The first two are mysteries. The last is a nonfiction book that my AP students are reading right now. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve read that one so I reread it so when we have our seminar next week, I’ll be on the same page they are. I’ve already started another book so I’m on my way to knocking out 24 more.

My simple goal for weight loss was to lose 20 pounds. I’m still right where I was at the end of October. I’ve lost five pounds, leaving only 15 more to go. I hate to be a pessimist, but losing another 15 in the month of December will be rather difficult, especially after Nic and I start making the Christmas candies and cookies we make. In November, I started weighing in every day, and that worked well except for the days I was sick and then I wasn’t worried about weigh-ins. The best I can do now is to try to lose some more, though it may not be the full 15. Therefore, I will resolve to lose what I can before the Christmas baking season gets here. We will make our usual Christmas treats; after all, this is the only time of year we go all out for homemade treats. I’ll just try to be good when it comes to eating those treats so that I can at least break even and keep off whatever pounds I manage to lose between now and then.

My simple goal for cooking was to try a new recipe every week. This is the one goal where I managed to achieve success this month, though I didn’t do all the cooking. This month’s new recipes included some recipes from Pinterest: Apple Dump Cake (a version of apple crisp), Balsamic Chicken, Three Envelope Pot Roast (crock pot recipe), Peanut Butter Rice Krispies Treats (a fabulous almost-fudge-like treat loaded with Rice Krispies), Oreo Balls (Oreos and cream cheese rolled in chocolate), and Stroganoff with Meatballs (another crock pot recipe). There were also a couple non-Pinterest recipes: Jimmy’s Jambalaya (a creation Jimmy put together from looking at several recipes), and Beef and Rice with Campbell’s sauce (made with a packet of sauce from the store and my least favorite of the month).

My simple goal for staying on track with my resolutions was to provide a monthly update. I suppose one of the things I should be thankful for is that my illness has passed enough to allow me to keep this resolution. Of course, this was my easy resolution, and even if I were still feeling under the weather, I’d likely attempt to get something down just so I could meet this goal. As I reflect about the progress I’ve made so far, though, if I’m being realistic with myself, I’m forced to admit that reaching all of my goals in the next 31 days is most likely not going to happen. However, before I give in to that, I’m going to give it my best shot, and we’ll see where I am by the end of the year. And then, it’ll be time to set the new resolutions for 2013.

August Was Hit-and-Miss, but Mady Made Up For It

It’s the end of August, and time for the update, and I’m going to have to confess that August has not been the best month for keeping resolutions. At this point, it’s a toss-up which was worse, April or August. Hmmm…. must be something about those A-months.

1. Writing. Yes, I’ve still been writing every day. Yes, I’ve managed to post to the blog every day. No, I haven’t worked on the project twice a week; in fact, most weeks, it wasn’t even once a week. I’m really going to have to do better with that. I am also exploring some options to publish some other work on Amazon, through their self-publishing program. I’m working on reformatting some of my work into what seems to be a more acceptable font and size for publishing in book form. That takes some time, and that’s the time that should be delegated to my other project, according to my resolution. Granted, in January, I wasn’t aware Amazon had this program, but I still shouldn’t let that interfere with keeping my resolution. In addition, August has been a busy month, full of transitions, and that, too has played a role in my lackluster performance this month. Again, though, I should control that better than I’m currently doing. I really hope I can get something figured out so September is better.

2. Reading. This was definitely my worst month since April. I managed to read two books, well below the 6.25 per month I need to stay on pace, which also puts me down ten books for the year. I should be at 50. I’m only at 40, and my stubbornness of last weekend didn’t help anything because I could have easily finished that book I’d started, had I not been in bed barely able to hold my head up thanks to my untreated sinus infection. That same stubbornness, though, is also why I am not conceding defeat on this goal. I still have four months to reach my goal of 75 books for the year. I have to do 35 more. I’m not giving up yet. I’m nothing if not stubborn.

So what did I manage to get read this month? The first was Mr. Monk Is a Mess by Lee Goldberg. This book caught me up on all the Mr. Monk books that have been published. Mr. Monk is one of my truly favorite characters, and I love reading these books and picturing the actors from the television show Monk as the events of the stories unfold. Goldberg, who was a contributor to the television series, does an excellent job making the characters come to life in the books. The other book I read was on my Kindle, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Before the Prairie Books is a collection of Wilder’s writings that she published in magazines years before writing her series of life on the frontier. I loved the Little House books and television series as a child, and I thought I would enjoy these writings. The articles were interesting, but I must admit, I enjoyed the Little House books more.

3. Weight Loss. What can I say? I’m stuck. I know it’s my own fault, and I suppose given that I’m not working at it like I should, I should be happy to still be breaking even. At this point, I’ll take not gaining weight to be as much of a win as losing weight. Again, I’m hoping once I have adjusted and get things under control with my new schedule that September will be a better month for me in all aspects.

4. Recipes. Up until now, this was the resolution I was having the most success with. Most weeks, we tried not one but two new recipes. I guess that’s a good thing because August has been lackluster at best. In my defense, I could say that since all the other months had been such a success in regard to this resolution, I am allowed one that isn’t as successful, right? And I do have a good excuse. Most of our new recipes are tried on the weekends, and with the exception of last weekend when I was too sick to do anything, we spent our weekends in Lexington visiting our new granddaughter. Frankly, if it comes down to choosing between spending the day with Mady or trying a new recipe, Mady wins. I did manage, however, to get one new recipe in, Honey Garlic Pork Chops. I liked it, but Byron did not. I will make it again so Jimmy can try it because I’m pretty sure he will like them, too. I guess when compared to the lackadaisical success of the other resolutions, I should be happy that this one has only had one bad month.

5. Updates. At least there is one resolution I can be assured that I will meet, and that’s updating you. I’ll confess this one was one that I didn’t want to write, given the hit-and-miss success of the month of August. But one of the lessons my daddy taught me is that sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do, and so here it is. At this point, the best I can do is hope that the September update is a better one.

February Was a Good Month for Recipes

Can you believe that two full months of 2012 are already gone? I sure can’t, yet today is the last day of February; and if it weren’t for the wonderfulness of having a Leap Day this year, we’d already be into March. Time is passing faster and faster; I hope we all take the time to slow down and enjoy the time we have.

Since it’s the end of the month, it’s time for me to fulfill my fifth resolution for the year 2012, which was to keep you updated about the status of my resolutions. For some, I did better this month; for others, not so much. I’m going to have to find some kind of happy medium so that I can fully meet all my resolutions. Somehow, though, until school goes out, I’m not sure how to make that happen.

1. My three-part first resolution is about my writing: to write every day, to post a blog every day, to work on my project at least twice a week. Just as with January, I’ve had success for the first two parts. I’m still writing every day, and I’m still posting my blog every day. I feel fortunate this is the case. I enjoy writing, and I’m happy to do it every day; even on the days I don’t really feel like it or don’t really want to, I am happy to be able to write every day. As for the third part of the writing resolution, I’m still having a little trouble with that one. I’m not up to twice a week, yet, but at least for February, I did get to the project at least once a week; not always something big, but something is better than nothing. The little things let me feel like I’m making some progress on the project. March will be better.

2. My second resolution is about my reading, and I set a goal of reading 75 books during 2012. I had a great January and managed to read more than the average of 6.25 books, thus putting myself slightly ahead of the game. February wasn’t so great. I only read two books, which only puts me at nine for the year, when I should be at about thirteen. Obviously, I’m going to have to step it up if I’m going to hit 75. I’ve already started book number ten, so with 65.5 books left to read in 2012, I’m going to have to try to read at least 6.5 books for the remaining ten months of the year. Fortunately, school will be out in a couple months, and it looks like I’m actually going to have three months off, so I should have plenty of time to catch up.

3. My third resolution is about weight loss. I set a goal of losing twenty pounds during 2012, and in January, I lost only two. In February, I didn’t lose any, so my total weight loss so far for 2012 is still only two pounds. I’m definitely going to have to start working a little harder at it if I’m going to hit the goal of twenty. I’m hoping that a side effect of giving up the Diet Dew will be some additional weight loss, and while we’re trying new recipes, I may have to try to find some diet-friendly recipes to try.

4. My fourth resolution is about cooking and is one I made for my husband and myself: to try a new recipe every week, and we take turns choosing what to fix. We had some dandy ones in February. I’m really glad I made this a resolution; it has allowed us to try a lot of new recipes already, and we’ve already found some favorites that will continue to find their way into our menus. Some of the recipes this month came from our cooking magazines, some from Pinterest, and some from the backs of ingredients we use to cook with. First, I tried three new muffin recipes: Donut Muffins, French Toast Muffins, and Apple Crumb Muffins. Of these, the winner was the Apple Crumb Muffins. Next, for our Super Bowl party, I made salsa rolls and BLT rollers. The definite winner there was the BLT rollers. Those will definitely find their way onto other party menus. Over the course of the month, I tried three different potato recipes: Home Fries, Seasoned Potatoes, and Bacon Ranch Potatoes; the winning potato recipe was the Bacon Ranch Potatoes. I absolutely can’t wait to fix those again. We also tried three main dishes: Ozark Sloppy Joes, Footlong Chili Dogs with the Works, and Kraft Rosemary and Roasted Garlic Pork Chops. This one is a little more difficult, but I’m going to call the pork chops the winner of the main dishes. We’ve already been looking ahead to find recipes to fix in March. This is a resolution everyone should make; it’s pretty easy to keep, and it opens up your culinary world. As I said last time, if any of these recipes sound inviting, send me a message, and I’ll send you the recipe.

5. My fifth resolution is about keeping you updated, and as you can see, so far so good with that one. I’m two for two there. This may be the only resolution that’s easier than the recipe resolution.

When comparing the success of January with that of February, it’s about even; I read more books in January but fewer in February, yet I didn’t get as much done on the project in January but it picked up a little bit in February. I may have to wait for that three-month summer break this year to actually get things to even out, but I’m going to keep at it. And, though it wasn’t one of my five original resolutions, just in case anybody read my Lent blog, I can report that so far, I have been able to give up my Diet Dew. It’s not been easy, and whenever I open the fridge, I really want to grab a cold Diet Dew, but so far I’ve refrained, so I’m pretty happy about that as well.

Two months down, ten to go. Good luck to you on keeping your resolutions, and I’m going to keep working on mine.

Resolutions Require Resolve

At the beginning of the year, I made five seemingly simple resolutions. I only did five because I wanted a manageable number. I did seemingly simple ones because I wanted ones I could achieve. I didn’t want a long list of things I knew I wouldn’t be able to complete. No need to doom myself from the start. Now, one month into 2012 (can anybody else believe that it’s already the last day of January?), it’s time to take a look back at the list to see how I’ve managed.

1. My first resolution is about my writing and came in three parts. First, I would continue to write every day. Second, I would continue to post a blog every day. Third, I would work on my project at least twice a week. For this resolution, I’ll have to borrow a quote from Meat Loaf, “Two out of three ain’t bad.” I have been successful with the first two parts. I’ve been less successful with the third. I have done some work on the project, but it hasn’t been at least twice a week as I’d hoped. At this point, it would be easy to just throw out the third part, especially since I haven’t been successful with that one. One thing my daddy taught me, though, is that the easy way isn’t necessarily the best way. Therefore, I’m going to keep working to ensure that I maintain success with the first two parts, and I’m going to work harder so I can achieve success on the third. It’ll be good for me, and I’ll be a better person for it.

2. My second resolution is about reading. My goal is to read 75 books this year, and I determined that in order to be successful with this I would need to read at least 6.25 books per month. I’m proud to report that once again, I have been successful. I have already read 8 books this month. I read the five books in the Percy Jackson series in a matter of four days, thanks to a long weekend break from work. I reread the classic Pride and Prejudice, which is always a good read. I just hope I can keep it up. If you haven’t read any of these, I would recommend you do so.

3. My third resolution is about weight loss. My goal for the year is 20 pounds. I’ve even managed some success here, even though I haven’t been working as hard toward that end as I should have been. I managed two pounds this month, which obviously is not a lot, but it’s a start, and if I actually start to work at it, I’m sure I can do better.

4. My fourth resolution is about cooking. My husband and I love to cook, and we have lots of cookbooks and magazines. We spend a lot of time watching Food Network, so this resolution was designed to allow us to try new recipes. Again, this resolution has seen success. We decided we’d take turns choosing the new recipe of the week to try, and being the generous wife I am, I let Jimmy choose first. So far for the month of January, we have tried six new recipes: Lizzie’s Roasted Chicken with Salsa Verde, Orange Breakfast Muffins, Barbecued Meat Loaf, Chili Con Carne, Chicken Breasts with Bacon, and Chicken Piccata Pasta Toss. The good news is we’ve enjoyed every one of these new recipes. Without the challenge to try at least one new recipe each week, we may have gotten around to them, but most likely, we wouldn’t have. Therefore, this is one of the best resolutions anyone who likes to cook could make. I’m looking forward to the next month of new recipes, and if any of you want these recipes, send me a message. I’ll be glad to share with you.

5. My fifth and final resolution is about updating you, my readers. Since I’m posting this blog of updates, I can also count this one as a success. I like the idea of doing this because it keeps me honest, and it keeps me on track. I hate failing at something, and if I know I’m reporting to someone about what I’m doing, I’m going to work harder to make sure I don’t have to report a failure. Providing updates allows me to stay focused on my goals for the year.

Looking back over the month of January, I can say I have had more successes than failures, but I do still have room to improve. Right now, I need to find more time to work on my project so I meet my goal of at least twice a week every week. Right now, I’m up 1.75 books on my reading goal, but without vigilance that could easily go the other way. Right now, I’m down two pounds, and that was without really trying. If I want to meet my goal, I’m going to have to put some effort into it. Right now, the recipe challenge is going great. I don’t think we’ll have any trouble keeping up with this one.

I hope you’re having as much success with your resolutions as I’m having with mine. And for now, we can check one month off. We made it through the first month, so it should be easier to make it through the next eleven, right?

Doesn’t Everybody Keep a Reading Database?

Most of you know I love to read. My idea of a perfect afternoon is to be curled up with a book well into the night. If the book is good enough, I don’t want to stop reading, even when it’s time to eat.

I keep track of what I read each year. If you asked my children, they would probably say I do that because I have OCD. However, that’s not why I do it. I simply want to know for sure how many books I’ve read during the year. The way my memory plays tricks on me, if I didn’t write it down, I would never remember the exact total. I suppose I could put tally marks on the wall instead of keeping the detailed database that I have, but that seems too much like what someone waiting to get out of jail might do, and I certainly don’t consider my time with books as punishment.

So, I keep my detailed database of what I’ve read. I started the database in 1996, and that year I read only 18 books. Of course, in my defense, I did have four children between 2 and 9, so finding time to read could sometimes be difficult. As the kids got older, the list of books I’d read through the year got longer. As part of my goal, I try to read at least as many as the year before, but aim to add a few extra. The idea is the number should get bigger every year.

The most on my list is 62 books, back in 2008. Obviously, in 2009, 2010, and 2011, I didn’t hit the 62 mark, though in 2009, I came close at 61. I didn’t do as well in 2010, barely getting past 50. I could use all the transitions (Trav getting married, me getting engaged) we had going on in 2010 as an excuse, but I don’t like excuses, so I won’t. And this year? Well, I’m almost embarrassed by this year’s number. Actually, you can scratch the “almost”. I am embarrassed by this year’s lowly number of 34.

Of course, there are reasons for that, and those reasons are justifiable, good reasons. I had to plan my own wedding. I’m teaching new classes this year, and I’ve had to put in more time doing prep work. I’ve committed myself to writing something every day, and let’s face it, that takes some time. And even though those reasons are justifiable, good ones, I’m still embarrassed by that low number. It has been five years since I’ve had what I would call a “bad” year for reading. I do realize that there are still eleven days left in the month. My final count for 2011 will be more than 34, but it’s not going to make it to 61 or 62, so I have not met my goal. The realization that I have failed this year is setting in. When I consider the magazines I’ve read, the materials I’ve read related to work, and all the Facebook posts I’ve read, I have still done a lot of reading this year; however, I still expect myself to reach that high number of books read each year, and I am very disappointed when I don’t.

While I will keep reading so my total can grow for 2011, I’m going to set my goals for 2012. I’m telling myself that even though there will still be significant stuff to interfere with my reading time. Having a grandbaby, planning another son’s wedding, moving a son to college, and moving my daughter into an apartment for grad school are just the tip of the iceberg. I’m not going to let those things keep me from reading though.

And so, I’m going to set my goal. By the end of 2012, I will read 75 books. I might need a snow day or two to get it done, but that’s my goal. There will be times during the year when it is more difficult to read, which means I’ll just have to do more reading during the times that will be easier. While many of you might think this turns reading into a chore or a job, it does not. I have quite the competitive streak, even if my only competition is myself. I always want to do more and to do better, and since this is related to reading, which is something I love a lot, it’s not work. If nothing else, it gives me a valid excuse to take a break from everything else.

Since there’s not enough time left in the year to get anywhere near the mark I hit last year and certainly nowhere near the highest mark, I’m going to have to set a goal to finish up this year. I’d like to say to set a respectable goal, but unless I stop sleeping for the next 11 days so I can read nonstop, this year’s total will not be close to a respectable one. So, I’m just going to have to go with one I can live with. My goal, then, will be 40 books for 2011. The best thing I can say about that is it gets me out of the thirties.

And if I’m going to make that miserable goal, I should now go and finish reading the book I’m on so I can start the next one.