Resolutions – July 2012

Here’s how I did in July:

Every Month Goals:

stick to my new budget

I am not where I want to be on my budget – still.  Where I’d like to be is using cash only for groceries and “spending money”, strictly sticking to my written budget, and writing everything down.  But…I am not over budget per se.  My bills are still paid on time or early.  I have put away a monthly amount into savings, and I’m on my way to paying off my last credit card.  So, I am trying to focus on the positive!

spend time with family or friends I rarely see

While on vacation at the river, I got to see some family that I very rarely see.  I spent time with my aunt and uncle, my cousin and his wife, and my cousin’s sons!  I never get to see the kids, and I barely know them at all (which is sad!).

I’ve been feeling guilty, because all of the people I’ve counted toward this resolution in the past few months were not sought out specifically.  I’ve seen them at get-togethers, or because they called me.  I have felt guilty for including them on my list, because what I intended was to seek people out – to make plans and purposely spend time with them.  

What I’m realizing is that it shouldn’t really matter.  The thing is, I am at least seeing them.  My natural inclination is to avoid interaction – that’s what I am aiming to change.  So, no matter how the encounter comes about, at least I’m not avoiding it.  I’m not saying no, in some cases I’m going out of my way to make it happen, and I’m making sure to ask off for events.  At least this is a step in the right direction.

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

Once again, I didn’t go anywhere new, but I did spend my vacation away from home.  I went to my parent’s house at the river!  I did get to do some new and different things while I was there, though.  I went crabbing.  In fact, I went out on the boat every single day I was there!  I went out into the middle of the Chesapeake Bay and got up close to a lighthouse.  I went fishing, but didn’t catch a thing :(.  I even visited a different store, where I did the pharmacy payroll.  That isn’t a big deal, but it’s something I would have avoided in the past. 

Resume:

Being Thankful

I want to re-start daily Thankfuls, but I haven’t put that in motion yet.  I also need to type up the July Thankful page.  I intended to do that while on vacation, but I did other things instead! 

the Queries

I published two new Queries in July!  I’ve started interviewing again, but the real key here is going to be transcribing more conversations from my recorder.  I have a lot of material “in the can”, I just need to get it out of there and onto the page.

To Do:

adopt healthier eating habits

I haven’t made much headway in this one, but I will just have to keep trying.  I’ve got a motivational poster almost completed, and I’ve been thinking about my approach a lot.  I just haven’t done much to get back on track.  One thing I’ve been thinking about is how much harder it is to start over.  When I first got started, I had enthusiasm and a will to succeed.  Now I’m working with irritation and frustration.  I somehow expect myself to jump right back in where I left off, full force and almost 100% healthy eating.  But I forget that I didn’t start off that way, and it took me three months to get myself up to about 90%.  And that was with enthusiasm in my corner.

I just need to cut myself a mental break, and start over again slowly, like I did in the beginning.

exercise

Still no exercise yet, but I know I’m running out of year to get this one started.  The night I came back from vacation, though, I rearranged my living room so there is more floor space.  That’s so I will have a place to exercise.  So, now I’ve got to actually do the exercise!

de-clutter my house

The long planned and highly anticipated yard sale was unfortunately called due to rain.  That was a big bummer.  However, all that stuff is out of my house…and in my mother’s dining room.  The worst part is that you can’t tell much difference in my house.  The big area of improvement is my office, which now looks like an office.  As opposed to a storage room.  There are definitely more open spaces, particularly in my kitchen, so that’s good.  But I’m sad to realize just how much stuff I took out of this house that was in storage – in cabinets and closets, and sometimes in boxes in closets.  What a waste of money to have so many things that were never looked at, much less used.

The only good thing about the yard sale rain delay is that I forgot to take a few of the things that I wanted to sell.  And I’ve found even more yard sales items as I’ve been cleaning and rearranging after moving the yard sale boxes to my mom’s house.  So, this gives me some time to pull a few more things together to sell.  It’s been a lot of work, and I hope I make some money off of this stuff!

go to bed at the same time every night

Still on track here, for the most part.  I had a couple of late nights this last week, but those are pretty unusual anymore.

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Okay…I’m in the homestretch!

♦