Well, here it is, a brand new year! We toasted in the new decade on our own last night, cozied up on the couch with a wheel of brie, a french baguette, imported cherry preserves, and something that, as the good books says, Sparkles In The Glass.
Followed by the second half of T. Cruise’s Valkyrie we’d been putting off and a crossword puzzle because I’m addicted… I think we allowed our sick, congested little bodies to collapse around 2:30.
YET, WE ARISE.
Carl is busy playing the NHL game he got for Christmas, I have a stick of butter softening on the counter for oatmeal raisin cookies, and in the mean time, I’m flopped across the l. room floor trying to firm up some new year’s resolutions.
Inspired by Carlie’s example, I looked back at what I’d listed last year as resolutions to see what my progress had been. Unfortunately, I only gave an abridged list, and I seem to have lost the longer one, so I’m not 100%, but here’s the short list of my goals for 2009:
- read The Ragamuffin Gospel [check! I very much enjoyed]
- find a dentist in Plymouth and get my mouth checked out [ok, I didn't find a permanent dentist, but I DID get my mouth checked out by my brother, who is a dentist, and he fixed a filling that had broken and said everything looked good otherwise, so I'm considering that accomplished]
- read a couple of books on housekeeping [check!]
- limit my soda intake [not a chance! On the other hand, I actually did start limiting about two weeks ago, and so far it's going well, so maybe this will be the year]
- catch up with scrapbooking [well, no, I didn't catch up, but I have become much more organized, and I'm actually working on it, so I'm happy]
- create and keep a monthly budget [a strict budget isn't worth it for us... but more about this on my 2010 goals. As far as spending/budgeting is concerned, howev, it was a good year]
- get involved in a small group at my new church [check! love it!]
Such was 2009! Here’s what I’ve got so far for 2010:
- Read through the Bible together (Carl bought a nice one with the daily readings already set up—an OT, NT, and Psalm for each day—and I’m pretty hopeful. We actually kept up with our newlywed readings one we had for 2009. Well, we have about 10 days worth left, but close enough to be considered success, right?)
- Spend more time praying as a couple
- Finish writing the next novel
- Send out at least another 25 queries/contacts re: publication for my other projects
- Attend a writer’s conference
- Set up a savings account for a house
- Increase loan payments by cutting down on unnecessary spending
- Exercise 3x per week
- Read at least 25 books
Am still tinkering with a few others, more personal growth and identifying problem areas in some of my outside relationships. Not completely sure how to “fix” some things. Not sure how much is some secret combination of awareness, time, and unwarranted grace I seem to have little control over. Hard to legislate sometimes… especially things that involve other people. Still, one can resolve to be healthy, to set good boundaries (whatever that means), to clean up one’s hyper-sensitive mental process.
Ah, yes. Things to think about.
For now, howev, the butter’s finally soft and my new scrapbooking supplies are calling me with honey tongues. Must dash.
