Resolutions – April 2012

Here’s how I did in April:

Every Month Goals:

stick to my new budget

I didn’t make my budget this month – by a long shot.  A way long shot.  It all started in the very first weekend, when I went to the river instead of staying home and cooking for the week.  Then I did the same thing the next weekend as well.  I’m seeing (or “re-seeing”) how much of this all goes hand in hand with each other.  I didn’t cook, so I bought my food out, so I spent too much money.  Not paying strict attention with the grocery money made it easier to not pay attention in other areas as well, and on and on.  Something to think about: it all takes planning and attention.

spend time with family or friends I rarely see

April is the first month that I didn’t do this – unless you count spending lot more time with my parents.  I wasn’t going to count them, but I do go long periods without seeing them at all.  If I stretch my definition of “rarely”, maybe…

go someplace different or go to an event (in other words, get out of the house!)

I spent two lovely weekends at my parent’s new house, very close to the Chesapeake Bay!  That was great.

At the end of April, I did the Garden Week tours in Fredericksburg, which I’ve never done before.  I was really excited about that, thinking that these were really going to be garden tours, as well as house tours.  I mean, proceeds benefited the local garden club.  I was prepared to take lots of pictures and write a post about it, but what it turned out to be was primarily house tours.  I would have written about that, but no pictures were allowed in the houses, understandably.  It was interesting and all, but not what I was expecting.  Let me tell you, though, there were people everywhere – they were eating it up.  I got to the first house at about noon, and they’d already shown it to 500  people (in 2 hours).  As a new experience, I’m glad I did it.  But I won’t go again.

do something randomly nice for someone

I can’t think of anything specific or standout that I did, but I wasn’t mean, so that’s something.  By the end of the month, my attitude was getting pretty grumpy, and I’m thinking that the yucky eating really was making me feel emotionally yucky.

Resume:

Being Thankful

I am falling further behind in my Thankful pages; it’s terrible!  I am still feeling mostly positive, but I really think the poor eating habits effected more than my budget.  I will make a better effort to get my Thankful pages back in shape.  I think that keeping those up truly is helpful to my mental attitude.  I can feel the thankfulness slipping away – it’s not on my mind daily like it used to be.

writing more substantial blog content

I can’t say that this is happening…or not happening.  I think I have an idea in my head that what constitutes “substantial blog content” is closer to the essays that I wrote when I first started blogging.  I have two weekly features on the blog now, and maybe I’m feeling that’s lazy or something.  But I like the Tuesday quotes and the blogger quotes, and I don’t want to give them up.  Moreover, I have already started working on  next year’s quotes feature.  So, what is it that I’m looking for in my blog, that I can’t seem to find?  I think that’s the real question.

the Queries

Once again, no new Query.  What’s holding me back is a huge interview that I did last summer that I need to transcribe.  I don’t want to exclude their answers, but I haven’t made time to work on getting them down on “paper”.   So, goal for May is to at least get one question transcribed.

To Do:

adopt healthier eating habits

Oh my goodness, ya’ll!  I am back at 0% in April.  I didn’t cook a thing, I got totally off of my healthy diet, and back on the fast foods and processed foods.  And my body feels it.  You are what you eat, let me tell you.  The worst part is feeling like I have to start over from scratch and get myself back off of the sweets and chips and whatnot.  The good thing is that, after eating healthier, nutritious foods, I am not enjoying all the crappy stuff like I used to.  It tastes too greasy and makes me feel sort of, I don’t know, toxic.  I can definitely tell the difference.

exercise

Um, did you see that stuff I wrote up there about not eating healthy foods this month?  Well, I didn’t exercise either.

de-clutter my house

I didn’t do a darn thing for this one in April.  If I am going to have a yard sale in June, which sounded like so much time when I first proposed it, then I’m going to have to buckle down in May and get all the junk boxed up.  Mentally, I’m feeling good about this one – ready to part with more and more items.  It’s just the physical aspect – going through so much stuff, sorting, boxing – that is a little overwhelming.

take a photography class

Still in the basic photography class, and practicing!

go to bed at the same time every night

I think this will never be right as long as I’m in my current job.  I did truck three weeks in April, which required me to be at the store anywhere between 3:30 and 4:30am.  There’s no way to get on a truly regular schedule with so many ups and downs.  That said, I am not regularly staying up until 2 or 3am anymore, so that’s progress.  That may be as much as I can hope for.

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Okay, time to tackle May!

♦