A Time For Everything

Well, after conversations about Christmas plans and where we're going and on what day, it turns out our five-person nucleus will be spending Christmas Eve and Christmas morning here at home and not in the usual locations--Christmas Eve at my in-laws' home and Christmas morning at the firework store.

Since we're gonna be at home...well, we needed the tree up after all. So with the help of a couple elves this past Sunday, DD and her BFF, the tree was put up and lights affixed. Then I spent a couple of hours hanging the ornaments.




Growing up, we bought real trees and always waited until the 15th to buy one. I kinda miss the scent of pine. Maybe one of these years, I'll convince DH. I actually passed a tree lot this past Saturday.

What about you? Artificial tree or the real deal??

Oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the love of my life...

As you probably know, DH and I traveled to North Chicago, IL to see our boy for Thanksgiving. We picked up Tim and a division mate, Marcus, took them to a local super center and bought food then took them back to our hotel room for some down time. We just lounged around and talked and visited for the entire day. It was awesome to see Tim.

Of course, the end of the day came way too soon. I'm glad we hugged at the hotel before leaving as there seemed to be some sort of kerfuffle at the entrance gate, and even though we left early to get them back with plenty of time to spare, the boys ended up hopping out of the car and double timing it back to where they needed to be. We were lucky and really weren't that far from the gate, but there was a huge line of cars as we drove back to the hotel. I imagine many many of the recruits had to do the same.

 

So I was cleaning up and re-arranging the blog the other day and perused my list of goals. You know, we're seven and a half months into the year and only one item is 100% accomplished--getting Sonshine graduated. I could throw a second one in that category (working on the back yard), but since that's an ongoing project, I won't just yet.

As for the rest, let's see...

1) lose more weight, a goal of 120 lbs. -- I've made no progress what-so-ever. In fact, I gained a few pounds while in San Antonio, so I've got lose those first, then work on the rest. But I determined to get back on track this week and have hit the treadmill every morning as well performing my short bouts of calisthenics throughout the day.

2) pay off the credit card with proofing money -- well, proofing slowed way down, so I haven't been able to pay any extra on it. The plan had been to have it paid off by now, but...it's not.

3) created a bulb bed/plant flower bulbs on the side of my garage -- I worked on that a bit. I started by cleaning up all the brush that had accumulated from downed tree limbs. Then I pulled up most of the bushes that were there, but then things happened and I didn't get back to it. The chopped off tree is growing branches and leafing... grass is creeping (nicely) into the space... But there's more brush from more downed limbs and it needs a mowing. Not sure when I'm gonna get this thing put to bed... (pun intended)

4) work on the back yard -- see Wednesday's post


5) book shelves in the living room -- probably not happening this year

6) ramp up proof reading -- well, I just didn't. I could give you a number of reasons and they'd be all be valid, but at the end of the day, still excuses.

7) publish three more Romance Writers Guides -- um, nope. Couldn't come up with a topic that'd take me longer than 500 words to cover, so the project went on hold.

8) get Sonshine graduated -- done and dusted. Plus a bonus induction into the Navy. :)




9) read up on health and well being -- I've done a little. Remember the whole calcium thing? But not nearly as much as I'd planned. Maybe next year.

10) read 64 books, including 12 on plotting -- slightly behind, but have read three of twelve plotting books. None of them were really that helpful. No light bulb moments at any rate. So nine more plotting books and twenty-three other books. I do count anything I proof read. I mean, I'm reading it, right?? Does all my fan fiction count?? I read a ton of that...probably five epic (100K+ words) novels worth over the last seven months. Of course, Goodreads doesn't have a way for me to key that in...bummer.

What about you?? How are you doing on your goals for the year?

Last year started off okay and got better toward the middle. We even hired two new employees, though one quit a few short months later. The IT industry is tougher than it sounds. Though, it was for the best that he left as cash flow slowed and we might have had to let him go anyhow. A few other things came to pass in the latter half of the year that weighed us down. But we got through it as we always do.

Personally, I had a few things I wanted to accomplish and unfortunately I have no real reminders of what those were. Not even a blog post from this time last year, though I have a sticky note in my Outlook for the first quarter of last year all in regards to writing. Did I accomplish those goals? Sadly, no.

One thing I do remember is my goal to reach a certain weight. Did I make it? No, but I'm closer than ever. Unfortunately, I seek comfort in food so when we had some things happen, I lost momentum and the willpower to say no as often as I should have. I did finally get and stay below 140 lbs. though--barely--which had been a huge marker to get past. Looking at my spreadsheet, I see I didn't do very well at all this year. An overall loss of only 5.2 lbs. Bummer. Next year will be better. I promise.

Writing wise, I changed focus from writing to proofreading in order to earn some extra money to pay off a specific credit card. Things went well until the uphill slide toward the holidays and people re-purposed their dollars. That's okay. The CC isn't supposed to be paid in full until June 2014, so I still have time to make that happen. And I did make progress, I'm glad to say.

So goals for 2014... Let's see...

1) lose weight--get down to 120ish pounds (that's 16 lbs.)
2) pay off the credit card with proofing money
3) create bulb bed/plant bulbs on the side of the house
4) work on back yard
5) bookshelves in living room
6) ramp up proofreading
7) publish three more Romance Writer's Guides books
8) get my son graduated
9) read up on how to make the body work like it's supposed to and help my hubby lose weight and get healthy
10) to read 64 books in 2014, including 12 books on plotting (remember this post from the end of Nov?)

I think I'm gonna post these on the side bar so I can see them on a near daily basis and be reminded. I think that will also help keep me accountable. Plus updates will provide post fodder!

To a certain handful of my readers--thanks so much for your faithfulness. I appreciate you taking the time to read and comment. It really means a lot. And to the rest of you who read but don't comment, the number of you who are out there tickles me.

To you all:

Happy New Year to you and yours, and may 2014 be all that you want it to be.