Jan 1, 2014

Happy New Year!





I hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year last night. We had a quiet evening at home watching the disaster movie marathon on the Space Channel. Around 10 o'clock we heard the fireworks going off down at the beach for those intrepid souls who ventured out in the subzero temperatures for the First Night celebrations. The way the wind was whistling around the windows made us glade we stayed home.

2013 was kind of a mixed bag of good and bad, and I really couldn't say which way the scale would tip if you weighed them side by side.

So let's start my year in review by going over my goals for last year:

Finish what I start. Make a schedule and stick to it.
Write on a regular basis.
Organize my stuff.
Waste less time on games and mindless stuff.
Get physical.
Healthier eating.
Better sleeping habits.
Make time for crafts and reading.


Nine little goals. And how did I do?

Finish what I start was supposed to be my theme for the year. In fact, I actually listed a few of the projects I wanted to finish. I'll list them here, crossing off the ones I got done:

Rug hooking project from when I was a teenager Latest NaNo novel
Navy blue cardigan I'm knitting
Various sewing projects
Two quilt tops that need to be turned into quilts
My many and various stories
My other five NaNo novels
Magical Misfire

Ouch! I'm only seeing one item crossed off that list. Never touched any of the craft projects listed, and other than Magical Misfire, finished none of the writing I have listed.

Make a schedule and stick to it. While I did start out with a schedule I sort of worked with, I fell off this wagon pretty darn quick. Part of the problem is that I get distracted way too easi -- squirrel!

Write on a regular basis. While I didn't start out well with this one, I started getting better towards the end of the year. Having discovered that blog posts in particular go much easier when you write them ahead of time, I've become a big fan of writing on a regular basis. One of the things that changed is that I'm getting more writing done during the day instead of the night - mainly because I'm finding it harder to concentrate with the TV going in the background.

Organize my stuff. I started out very strong with this, but then petered out rather quickly once I ran out of closets to go through. Wait a minute, I have a list:
Craft closet
Art supply closet
Work room
Office
Clothes closet
Basement shelves
Mountain of junk beside freezer

Did better with this list, didn't I? And the hubby and I made a start on the basement shelves, we just didn't finish them.

Waste less time on games and mindless surfing. While I think over all I'm playing fewer games, I admit to binging on them every once in awhile. I started using a program to keep track of how much time I was spending on various projects, and during NaNo I hardly played any at all. But after NaNo the game time started creeping up again. That being said, the only surfing I've been doing is research related.

Get physical. Again, this was an up and down thing - mostly down.

Healthier eating. This one I did really well on, although to be honest I had help from a dietician the doctor sent me to, who helped get my blood sugar levels down. I've done a few experiments that turned out well - like the pita pizza - and a few that turned out not so well - the sugar free/gluten free banana oatmeal cookies and the wrap that didn't know when to stop. Some foods just don't work well together in a wrap. ;-)

Better sleeping habits. Yeah, no. I have instead learned to embrace my inner night owl.

Make time for reading and crafts. While I didn't keep track of the books I read this year, I did try and make more time for reading. And I made a lot more time for crafts, especially late in the year, when I decided to knit a pair of Fair Isle sweaters and crochet and afghan for Christmas presents.

So . . . out of my nine goals for last year I managed about four and a half. Which, I guess is pretty typical for me. Or maybe not. In 2012 I only manage two out of ten and 2011 I did five out of seven. It'll be interesting to see how many of this year's goals I reach.

And to find out what those goals are . . . come back on Friday. :-D

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