Karen Foley
Lynn Raye Harris
Ellen Hartman
Diana Holquist
Samantha Hunter
Shirley Jump
Dee Tenorio
Jeannie Watt
Resolution Contest
On January 2nd, I posted a blog in which I asked if you were still keeping your New Year’s resolutions. I’m back now to ask the same question—How’s it going with those resolutions/goals? (Please don’t click the X at the top of the page before reading on, because there are PRIZES involved...)
I am running a Resolution Roll Call Contest this year, with prizes at the end of the year, and you don’t even have to stick with the same goals you started with. You are allowed to modify a goal, make a new goal, or even abandon a goal. You just need to keep us informed. Toward the end of each month I will post the Resolution Roll Call and all you have to do it do pop in and briefly update us on your yearly goals. And if you have any encouragement or helpful hints for others, please feel free to comment. My intention with the contest is to keep us thinking about what we hope to accomplish in 2009.
And what’s in it for you? If you post four times over the course of the year, your name will be entered into a drawing for a grand prize goodie basket to be given away on January 1, 2010. If you enter more than four times, I’ll put your name in the drawing twice. You must, of course, be a registered Cigars member, but that is the only stipulation. I know a year is a long time to wait, but I will be adding to the gift basket monthly, so it should be pretty impressive by the time 2010 rolls around.
So I’ll start off...my goals this year are:
1. Win the battle with the basement:
Progress: I’ve actually made progress! ( Probably because I took those “before” photos to post later this year.) I have several boxes ready for donation. The trick now is getting them to donation. That’s next month’s goal.
2. Continue an exercise program.
Progress: Again, not too bad—but I did sign up for the half marathon. I’ve lost 2 ½ pounds since Christmas, and I’m feeling all right with my progress. But will I continue? That’s the big question.
3. Write three books.
Progress: I’ve written three chapters of two different books, so I think I’m on my way.
So—how are you doing? Any new goals? Old goals? Modified goals? Abandoned goals? They’re all fair game.
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kinda
One of my goals was to TRY and curb my book buying. well that's not really working out. I was out of town last week and came home to 29 new books(I had to get A Cowboy's Redemption so Had to go to $25 for the free shipping LOL) and then another 20 ebooks (we won't count the 16 free ones, OK LOL)
My second goal was to only TRY and order once a month. Well that was blown last week when I placed another order(let's just hope it doesn't come in the next day otherwise I'll be adding another 14 to that total.)
Well at least I still have 11 months to TRY and get some willpower
Hi Christa-- I must confess
Hi Christa-- I must confess to being torn here, lol. On the one hand I understand the need to curb spending, but on the other I'm thrilled you bought A Cowboy's Redemption. Thank you! And we'll be rooting you on as you attempt to order once a month. I think that's a really good goal, but the way. It's not deprivation--just wise management. :)
Uh...
Well, there's been a smidgen of progress on the decluttering combined with some backsliding, so I think it's net zero at the moment. I was able to give a couple of bags of clothes away, but promptly got one and a couple stacks of books... The kitchen counter looks better, but most of the stuff is crammed in the pantry, which looks slightly worse. *sigh*
Christa, good for you on having a pretty reasonable plan for some good book buying management :)
Continue fighitng the good
Continue fighitng the good fight, Fedora. I have a problem wiht that give-away-refill-the-freed-up-space syndrome, too.
Resolutions
A couple of years back I made a resolution not to make resolutions anymore and that's working out real well for me - no more pressure! But my goals for this year are to be more productive in the writing department and with promotion of my first book and so far, I am right on track with both. I'm almost done with a new book I'm writing, I'm outlining the third book in a series (that started with the one I got published) as the second outline is complete, and I am deep into a promotional tour for my first book. And the month isn't even over!
Let's see what February brings!
Margay Leah Justice
http://margayleahjustice.com
Hi Margay
Tell us more about your writing and your first book. Enquiring minds want to know.
My Book
Thanks for asking, Jeannie! My book is called Nora's Soul and it is the story about a woman at a crossroads in her life who is suddenly visited by angels again. Trouble is, the angels are in opposition of each other - one is dark, one is light - and the ultimate prize is Nora's Soul. It's the first in a series called The Dante Chronicles.
Margay Leah Justice
http://margayleahjustice.com
Have to chime in
That sounds awesome!
Sam
As fun as Nora's Soul was to
As fun as Nora's Soul was to write, the next one, which is a little darker, is going to be a blast to flesh out, and I can't wait to get to the last one, which will be my most ambitious of the series, I think.
Margay Leah Justice
http://margayleahjustice.com
How cool. I went to your
How cool. I went to your website (very nice header--I just love it!) and from there to your publisher. The books at 2nd Wind sound awesome. I know what you mean about wanting to get to the next book. When I first started writing, I had trouble writing darker, more complex themes (and letting bad things happen to my characters) but now its so much easier.
Good luck with your writing!
Re: How cool, I went to your website
Well, I think it's cool that you checked out my website and Second Wind's! Thank you for that. There are some pretty fantastic books there - definitely some authors to keep your eye on. I used to feel the same way about not wanting to hurt my babies (fictional ones, that is)until I realized that if I wanted to create drama, someone had to suffer for it! But the good thing about hurting them is how I get to make it up to them!
Margay Leah Justice
http://margayleahjustice.com
Resolutions
Well, one of my resolutions was to eat healthier and exercise more. I have gotten back to walking on the treadmill in January but need to add more exercise in the coming months, which hopefully will be warmer. I still have to do better with eatingn healthier and another resolutions was to declutter which I did a bit of but must do some more.
Sounds good, Maureen. I
Sounds good, Maureen. I think eating healthier is one of the hardest habits to develop because so many of us have spent our lifetime not eating heatlthy.
Resolutions
My resolutions for the past couple of years have been attempts to make my life more environmentally friendly. Last year I stopped using plastic bags from the supermarket and started breaking down and recycling ALL boxes and paper. I already composted, so it's amazing how little garbage we have these days. I'm trying to up the ante on that because now I'm out of my multi-year collection of plastic bags and am having to get creative finding something to line the kitchen bin with. The post office has been helping out by leaving all our packages out in the snow (Thanks, dude! You couldn't ring the bell?) in a precious-and-oh-so-re-useful plastic bag.
My main eco resolution this year is to use more environmentally friendly cleaning products. For years I've used Simple Green and Bon Ami for all kitchen cleaning, but I'm guilty of using really harsh stuff from Home Depot for bathrooms. I'm going to use up what I have (doing great on that, LOL) and then start using better products. I tried vinegar and baking soda in the shower the other day and wasn't thrilled, but I'm sure I'll get there :) And I've bought the ingredients to make my own eco-friendly laundry detergent. Just using up the old one first....
Jen
http://www.jenlewis.com
Jen--I love it! I'm being
Jen--I love it! I'm being more eco-friendly, too. When we go to Whole Foods, we actually have to make two entrances--the first time we go in and get our cart and then look at each other and say, "We forgot the bags." Then one of us goes back to the car for the bags and enters the store the second time, lol.
We have no recycling where I live, so I watch all that white paper we use at school go into the trash. They've started two different recycling centers, but as soon as the grant money runs out, no more recycling. The nearest center is 175 miles away.
This year we're going to start composting again. It's hard in the desert because everything dries up so fast it mummifies rather than rots, lol. But I'm getting a composting barrel, which should hold the moisture more than the compost pile.
I do remember my aunt lining her trash can with paper grocery bags back in the day when there were no plastic liners. And one of the kid chores was to scrub the kitchen garbage cans after emptying them because there was a lot of wet residue.
Thanks for stopping by, Jen, and inspiring me to come up with more ways to be eco friendly.
seperate trash
My sister seperates her garbage into four bins (she is just outside Toronto) She has composite, recycling, organtic waste (guess you can call it, things like tissues, meat scraps, salad with salad dressing etc...), regular garbage. They they have so little garbage now that they only need to put on curb every second week. Most houses have that system. blue or grey bin=recycling, red bin= paper, green bin= organic waste, apartments haven't adopted the program, I have two piles recycling and garbage
Here in Canada a lot of the stores I have gone to don't have bags (you need to buy them for .05 cents) so you either bring your own, grab a box from there or buy bags
Hi Christa
I think buying bags will soon be the norm. Personally I like having my own bags. My daughter lives in San Francisco, where her recycling can for city pick up is much larger than the garbage can. I like that. It is amazing how little you actually have to send to the landfill once you are set up to recycle and compost.
My goals
1) Write 6 days a week - my night off is Thursday (so I can watch CSI and Burn Notice); but I've been writing 5 days a week, in the evening after work and weekend days. I figure if I do so many pages per week at 5 days I'll have my first draft complete in two months.
2) Firm up the bod - was on the good path of doing Crunch Pilates - these are pilate-based cardio work-outs - but got waylaid by asthma the past two weeks. Have been doing light yoga, but can't wait to get back into the other routine
3) and the most difficult - Avoid NEGATIVITY - either people or thoughts. I have a poster on my wall called 'How to Achieve Your Dreams - Remember your ABC's'. Avoid negativity is letter A. I work around a lot of negative people and even the environment can be negative. I do go that route myself sometimes and when I realize it, I have to talk my way out of it. I recently had an eye-opener when I realized how negative someone I considered a good friend is. I have had to distance myself from her and it's been hard, but for my sanity I have to.
Great post Jeannie!
And great reply, Marcie. I
And great reply, Marcie. I hear you on negativity. It's so easy to get caught up in complaining (raising my hand as one who is guilty); it's an easy way to connect to others in the same boat; and it can get to be a habit seeing only the bad in a situation. And once one gets in the habit of analyzing from the negative perspective, it's hard to appreciate the positive--or even see it for that matter.
Good luck on the writing and exercise. I'm glad you're on the mend from the asthma attack.
What a great resolution.
I love the "no negativity" resolution. I've been trying that because I notice my kids sometimes are negative, and then I realize, oh, no....what if they picked that up from me....
Great thread!
We noticed it in our kids,
We noticed it in our kids, too, Diana, and made an effort to change. It was an eye opener!
So far no I have not kept
So far no I have not kept any resolutions. I wanted to start exercising and loose some weight. This past week has about blown it. We had a bad winter storm and have been without power or heat for several day and we ate a lot of junk food during this time. You know like donuts and rolls and other snacks. Bad, bad, bad, but I plan to get back on track sometime when thing get straighten out around here.
Getting back on track is the
Getting back on track is the key. For years (oh, at least a decade or two) I thought I had to faithfully follow a stringent exercise program or quit all together. I didn't understand that I could fall off the wagon and then get back on, lol. Once I started a plan I could follow--walking--and figured out that if I stopped, I could start again rather than giving up I got into more of a lifelong exercise habit. The weather is killer though. Not much to do there than wait it out.
Good luck on the walking!
I am eating healthier and I
I am eating healthier and I have lost 3 pounds.
Way to go, Estella!
Way to go, Estella!
Goals
I usually don't make resolutions but I want to try to watch my fats and sweets to keep myself healthy and to get back to exercising. It has been hard since I have newly discovered back problems which causes pain in my leg. Trying to watch the diet now that the holidays are over and my "stuff" has settled down. (I hope - lol).
Hi Pat--I hope your back
Hi Pat--I hope your back problems are cured soon. Good luck with the diet and exercise! My motto is baby steps. I change one or two things at a time, because if I go whole hog, I always just quit, lol.
t o get moare sloeep eat
t o get moare sloeep
eat healhter
more furits less soft ddrinks
Hi Kim
Be sure and check in at the end of February and let us know how you're doing--especially with the more sleep. Lack of sleep is so hard on the body. Good luck!
Resolutions
I don't usually set up an official list of New Year's Resolutions. But I guess I have some goals and things I wanted to do this year.
I really wanted to change what I read so that I did not get distracted by other readers so much and also to stick to the genres I want to read, and to leave myself room to explore too. To some degree, I have done this but discovered the problem is just as much with me as getting distracted by other readers. The real problem seems to be that I enjoy too many different kinds of books. I think I probably just need to change how I look at it and change how I prioritize. In that vein, I have had both successes and failures.
I wanted to do a facelift on a couple of websites. That was just finished for the most part this weekend even though there remain a few tweaks to be done. A big relief!
The cold weather has put a crimp in the socialization training for our puppy. The bookshelves are once again hopeless and not enough work has been done organizing household clutter and moving boxes into the basement. I doubt I have lost any weight thanks to the antibiotics that had me eating a meal at midnight for 10 days earlier this month. So far my husband and I are spending less time on the computer and more time with each other. It wasn't really a resolution but more of a hope but our rescue special needs dog is starting to feel she is in a real home and we are seeing more animation and and unabashed joyfulness in her instead of constant fear. :-)
Merri
Merri--Congratulations on
Merri--Congratulations on getting a rescue dog! I hear you on the clutter. That's what I'm battling. I'm curious about the books--are you reading books you think you should read along with those you enjoy reading? Or are you an eclectice reader who simple enjoys all kinds of books and doesn't have enough time to get to them all?
loving books
Thanks. She is a wonderful dog.
My main problem is I just love books, all sorts of books and genres plus I love exploring new books/genres/authors. My review books have a certain element of "should" and "have to" but that is not a bad thing since I usually enjoy those. It just puts them on the top of my pile sometimes so I get frustrated when it takes me longer to get to the 5 other books that sit on my bedside table. I think the eclectic part is more the heart of the matter. Also, a tender romance can make me appreciate a dark suspense and vice versa even more than if I just read one thing straight. One makes me feel the beauty/wonder of the other. I have tried to say, ok, I will lighten my load and only read this or that --- but that is not the solution either. I just think I love all sorts of books because different genres do different things.
I could work better on time management. My husband and I are trying to make a reading room in this loft so we can have a special space to tune out all distractions. I am the kind of reader who needs big chunks of time to get into the heart of a book. I have a hard time reading when there are constant interruptions every 5 minutes and I can only read for short periods of time.
Merri
Speaking of dogs and resolutions...
I have sat on the floor once this month with the dogs... okay, that's not much, but I did it. Then I had to get all sneezy and my eyes itched, and I took a shower,and that was fine, but I think they enjoy getting down there with Mike much better. I would like it if they would just come sit with me on the floor and while I watch TV or something, and I would pet them, but they get all over eager and competitive, and it's easy to get bruises with 180lbs of dogs competing over you. I probably will do it some more, but thinking, you know, next time: Chihuahuas...
Sam
Sam--One of my best friends
Sam--One of my best friends has three Chihuahuas. I love holding them. They snuggle so nicely, but when my friends pulled up their bedroom carpet to replace it, there were pee stains on the subfloor next to every dresser leg. And...I love this...my husband was at cross country practice just prior to Parent Night at our school a couple years ago. He was sitting on the grass, waiting for the kids to finish running and a male Chihuahua peed on his arm. He had to do his Parent Night presentation with golden shower marks on his shirt, because he didn't have another to change into. I thought it was pretty funny, but he was not amused. His fellow coach gave him a photo of the dog at the end of the season with a caption that said, "Where's Coach Gary?"
Dogs
Our dog resolution for warmer weather is parks, people and peanut butter.
180 pounds!! Let me tell you, 46 lbs of dog jumping on you from sheer terror hurts for a week!! Who knows what scared her, an empty Amazon box, a piece of dust or the cat yawning... Fortunately that was a couple of months ago, Hildie has gotten past that stage for the most part by now :-)
Call me crazy but maybe she'll have a Greyhound friend some day.
Merri and Glenn
P.S. My computer logs me in as Paisley, and my husbands computer remembers my original registration as Merri :-)
Merri--Is your dog a
Merri--Is your dog a greyhound? Or are you thinking of rescuing a racing dog? My cat, that I adore, is a rescue cat. I can't believe anyone sent her to the pound, but they did. It took months until she would sit on our laps, but she does now. Sam rescued some sister kitties and I know it took her cats some time to acclimate, too.
dogs
Our rescue dog is a Boxer mix. The boxer part is coming out more and more as she gets older especially in her lower chin but she has a snout that looks more like a hound instead of all smushed in. She is a brindle. She actually looks a lot like a Rhodesian Ridgeback without the ridge but the hair where the ridge is on that breed is coarser than anywhere else so maybe. Her tail curves upward some when she isn't keeping it between her legs (more and more these days).
I just have had a fantasy about getting a greyhound rescue someday. We have our hands full right now with Hildie so maybe later. Hildie is extremely undersocialized and an extremely fearful dog so we have out work cut out for us with her right now. I dream of having big dogs. My grandmother raised Great Danes.
We adopted our cat from the same shelter 2 years before we got Hildie. Buddha had some issues but nothing like the dog.
Merri
Heathier Diet and Exercise
My resolution is to eat healthier and exercise more regularly. I gained a few pounds during the holiday and haven't been able to get them off. I haven't been exercising like I should.
Hi Jane
Glad you stopped by. Good luck with the exercise. :)
Hm...
Am I eligible if I admit that I didn't make any resolutions? Maybe that's my resolution? :P I never stick to them - so it was too depressing. I think I gave up/stopped before college...
Loosely though, I do have some goals for the year. Write/finish my GWR/thesis. Which I also need to do in order to graduate - which is also on my list. Followed by... getting a job and passing the bar. Those two aren't mutually exclusive, I hope - but... close enough.
Maybe those are big enough to pass as resolutions... otherwise... the plan had been to exercise more - and I guess I have been doing more of that. Chalk one up for success! ;)
Resolutions or goals
Well I haven't been to a used book store so far this year but I have bought more books than I read. I haven't exactly been little Mary Sunshine either. I haven't been blogging much as I am a worried grouch right now and don't want to pass bad vibes along. I really need to get more positive soon.
Ah Kaelee--We don't mind a
Ah Kaelee--We don't mind a few bad vibes. Hang out with us. I, too, have more books than I can read, but I keep trying. :)
Kaelee, I have not been
Kaelee, I have not been blogging very much this year. The mood just has not struck that often although I have been reading a lot and getting a lot of enjoyment out of my reading too.
The only thing that seems to help me when I get in worrying modes is keeping busy, too busy and distracted from those things that worry me. I give myself permission to worry for a set time because trying not to worry makes me worry even more, do what I can to alleviate worry in terms of action (sending out a resume when my boss would sell his business) etc. The distraction thing does seem to help. Our dog has this kind of free-floating anxiety but when we give her these toys that make her think (These cubes where she has to figure out how to get the toys out), it seems to take away the worries. Well, I am not always as successful in curbing worry but it helps some.
Merri
Aliquis
I'd say you have a full plate, goal-wise. Keep us updated. And congrats on exercising more.
I resolve to see things in a
I resolve to see things in a more positive way than in a negative way. I want to be upbeat even in times of stress, (yikes, did I say that). LOL.
You did say it, Buddy. :)
You did say it, Buddy. :) Good luck.