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.

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.

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?