All over the Internet, bloggers are listing their New Year's Resolutions. I love it. My favorite lists so far are Karen at Chookooloonks' "9 for 9", The Princess at Flood Lizard Kingdom's "So, 2009, what shall we get up to?", and Crunchy Turtle Rachel's series of goals/resolutions posts. And so, now, I add my list.

Things I Want to Accomplish in 2009

1. Read one book per week. I've already been over this one. Reading is really important to me, and I need to make time for it.


2. See one movie per week. Pretty much the same deal as the books, though much easier to accomplish.


3. Take at least one overseas trip. I have no idea if this is going to be doable this year or not, but Mark and I have talked about celebrating his graduation with a trip. We'll see.


4. Improve my eating habits. This is something I focused on for a while last year, then stopped. I need to re-commit. I don't have to be perfect, but I do need to be better.


5. Exercise regularly. See above re: eating better. I know I feel better when I exercise. I have to make myself do it.


6. Pay of my credit cards. I am about 2/3 of the way there. I should be able to do it by about halfway through 2009. At my current rate, I have 6 more months to go, and I should be able to speed that up some with freelance income and/or tax rebate.


7. Save at least $100/month. I know $100/month isn't enough, and I fully plan to increase this substantially as soon as the CCs are paid off. Until then, though, I want to keep up the saving habit with $100 monthly contributions to my savings account.


8. Learn a new craft. I'm not sure what it will be, but I want to learn a new craft this year. I felt like I got a long way with bath stuff last year, and I want to do something new this year. Crocheting, or embroidery, or felting...not sure.


9. Journal and blog regularly. I'm really glad to have gotten back into journaling and hope to be able to keep it up in 2009. Blogging I am pretty much in the habit of, and I don't think continuing to blog regularly (if not daily) should be too much of a problem.


10. Sell our house and move. Obviously this is a big goal, and it's something we're going to have to do this year. It's going to take quite a bit of work. I hope to take these challenges on with the best possible attitude.


11. Practice cooking. The phobia I have developed of cooking is ridiculous. I need to get over it. I'm shooting for cooking 1 dinner/week to start.


12. Make my home more livable. Mark and I had a long conversation this weekend about how gross our house has gotten and what we need to do to make it more livable. Mostly, this has to do with the battle against dog hair, but it also has to do with both of us (me especially) given a little more time to chores. So I am trying to figure out a routine to deal a bit better with my household responsibilities, and we're going to make some furniture purchases (cabinets with doors to protect stuff from the hair, for example) to make it easier.


13. Build my freelance resume. I currently have some opportunities to do freelance side work on grants and similar stuff for private companies. This is exactly the type of work I need to build a resume in the hopes of doing this stuff for myself at some not too far-off point. I have to focus on that.

Like Rachel, I plan to post period updates on how I am progressing towards these goals. I feel pretty positive about my chances of checking a bunch of them off!

That is probably plenty for now...

I have cooked twice in three days!

On Saturday, I made a dish recommended by an e-friend. It was some roasted chicken breasts over a sort of sweet-and-sour blend of pineapple, garlic, colored bell peppers, honey, etc., with rice. It was pretty good. Not great, but edible.

Tonight, I used some of the leftover chicken, along with some homemade pizza crust dough I made yesterday, and made a pizza with some pesto, artichoke hearts, roasted peppers, and cheese. It was really, really tasty.

Looks good too, huh?

Once again, I'm following Rachel's lead, and instituting a weekly post detailing any progress I've made towards my goals for 2009. What would I do without her to copy-cat?

#1 Read one book per week.
I finished Mary Roach's Bonk this morning. I'm still working on Crescent, though.

#2 See one movie per week.
I saw both Doubt and Frost/Nixon last weekend, and fully plan to spend some quality time with my Netflix this weekend.

#4 Improve my eating habits.
I'm instituting a practice of drinking a glass of water for every cup of coffee I drink at work. Baby steps.

#6 Pay of my credit cards.
I paid $700 towards my credit cards this month. Unfortunately, that didn't do much more than undo the damage I did last month, but at least I'm back on track now.

#7 Save at least $100/month.
Done!

#9 Journal and blog regularly.
I actually haven't been blogging much this week, but I have been journaling. I feel kind of stuck with the blog, like I don't have much to say. I'll work more on that next week.

#11 Practice cooking.
I did really well with this one this week. I made dinner three times! Chicken with rice, pizza, and pasta. Go me!

Not a bad starting week, all things considered...

Remember the other day when I was going on about how great it is that everyone's blogs are full of resolutions and goals this time of year and we're all bright and shiny-eyed and committed to bettering ourselves in 2009?

Well, I'm kind of over it.

I'm all about betterment of the self. I probably write more about my own efforts at self-betterment here than about anything else. I'm goal-oriented. But I'm 100% sick of my goings on about it right now, and of all of yours as well. Not because I don't think we should all be committed to being better people, but because I'm starting to freak out about our collective need for perfection.

So today, I'm going to tell you a few of things that are wrong with me that I'm not trying to fix. This is the stuff I'm not working on, the stuff that you are just going to have to accept about me as is if you want to be friends. If you want to do the same, either in the comments or on your own blog, I encourage it. I think we could all use a little time out to embrace our flaws.

1. I have zero hand-eye coordination. Seriously. It's pathological. I had to take a special class in elementary school for what was then referred to as "physical retardation" or something like that. Basically, it was three half-hours a week of trying to get me to learn to throw and catch. I hated it. My coordination hasn't improved much since then, either. I can drive adequately, but that's about the end of what I've learned. I am bad at all sports. I bump and bruise myself daily. I can't even play Tetris.

2. I don't floss. Ever. And I'm not going to start.

3. I can't sew. I've tried, I've failed, I'm done.

4. I only finish what I start about a quarter of the time. My follow through is severely lacking. I am a much better plan-maker than plan-doer.

5. I am not above picking fights to entertain myself when I'm bored.

6. If I don't like you, I probably won't bother to hide it or even be civil to you if I don't have a pressing reason to be.

7. I have a strong tendency to think things are not worth doing simply because I'm not able to do them.

8. If you grew up wealthy, I'm likely to take an unfair automatic dislike to you.

9. I bite my nails, and my cuticles.

10. I'm incredibly lazy and will sleep 12 hour stretches if allowed.

11. I drink, often to excess, and I'm a lousy drunk.

12. I quite regularly don't answer my cell phone just because I don't feel like it.

OK. I feel better now! You?

In direct rebuttal to my last post, here's my progress report for this week on my 2009 goals.

#1: Read one book per week.
I finished listening to Unaccustomed Earth yesterday and started another audio book, Escape. I'm still not finished with Crescent, though. It just isn't compelling to me. I'm nearly finished with it, though, so I'll finish it. Eventually.

#2: See one movie per week.
I've seen several movies in the past week: Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle (haha!), Rocky (ug), and Tipping the Velvet (good).

#8: Learn a new craft.
I've started gathering stuff and making Jars of Whimsies. I don't know if that counts as a craft, but it's sure fun.

#11: Practice cooking.
I'm continuing to cook. I made that great curry the other day, and I've been trying to look for more recipes to try.

#12: Make my home more livable.
I'm working hard on this. I've made a home management binder, and I'm spending this weekend tackling my horror show office.

#13: Build my freelance resume.
Exciting news on this front this week. I'm going to be changing jobs in a few weeks to go back to technical writing on a contract basis. This is actually freelance work, but will build that resume.

So all in all, another good week!

Forgot to do this yesterday. This week hasn't been quite as ambitious as previous ones, but there has been a lot going on.

Progress I have made:

#1: Read one book per week.
I may just need to change this to "listen to one book per week." I finished Escape and started Augusten Burroughs' Wolf at the Table (which I hate so far). Both are audio books. And I'm STILL not done with Crescent.

#12: Make my home more livable.
This is where the real progress came this week. I spent a whole bunch of time cleaning out and reorganizing our office, and it's now usable! And then we reorganized our living room a bit and bought a new cabinet for our audiovisual equipment, which is great, because it looks better now and it's behind glass, so it collects less dust. There is still, of course, an endless amount to do, but we're definitely making progress.

This week, I've done well:

#1: Read one book per week.
I gave up on listening to "Wolf at my Table" less than halfway through. It's nothing like Burroughs' other books and I just couldn't handle it. It's miserable. I started another audio book, "Sacred Time," which I'm enjoying. More importantly, though, I finally finished "Crescent" and have moved on to a Bella Abzug biography.

#2: See one movie per week.
I've actually seen 2.5 movies in the past week. I watched "The Other Boleyn Girl" on Wednesday night and "Kinsey" last night, and then the first half of "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" tonight. Gotta love Netflix online.

#8: Learn a new craft.
Not exactly new, but I made myself some cool bulletin boards last night. I'll try to remember to take a picture and post about them this weekend.

#11: Practice cooking.
I made meatloaf and baked potatoes on Wednesday. Not great, but serviceable.

]#13: Build my freelance resume.
This is more something I am doing than something I did this week, but next week I am going to Oregon, where I will attend some business meetings with freelance clients. In preparation, I am putting together a professional writing portfolio, which is something I should have done a long time ago.

Good week!

I'm late, but I'm keeping up!

#1: Read one book per week.
I finished listening to "Sacred Time," which I enjoyed. I am still barely into the Bella Abzug book and have also started Toni Morrison's newest, "A Mercy." I'm still doing a lot better listening than I am actually reading. Hopefully it's just a phase.

#2: See one movie per week.
I finished "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore," but haven't seen anything since then. I really want to watch all the major Oscar nominees, but I'd better get to it if I'm going to get that done.

#6: Pay off my credit cards.
I actually ended up spending more than I paid last month, which sucked, but I've already paid $1,200 this month (got my tax refund!). So I'm still working on it.

#7: Save $100/month.
Done.

#13: Build my freelance resume.
This is where I've made the biggest progress this week--I met with three new grant-writing clients in Oregon, as well as taking on an unpaid assingment editing a school charter application. It's all good stuff,

Once again, not great, but not too bad either.

I'm not all that proud of myself this week...

#1: Read one book per week.
I'm about halfway through listening to Azar Nafisi's "Things I've Been Silent About," which is just OK. I haven't even picked up either the Abzug book or the Morrison book all week. Life has been in the way, folks.

#2: See one movie per week.
Continued the Oscar project with "The French Connection" this week, which I liked, but didn't love. I think "Patton" is next, but I'm on-hold now and trying desperately to find time to see this year's nominees before next weekend.

#6: Pay off my credit cards.
I haven't made any extra payments yet, and am in fact still behind from last month, but I am down to one balance holding card, and it's at 0% for six months, so I ought to be able to keep from paying any interest (beyond the balance transfer fees I already had to pay), so at least I did something. I am thinking I will be able to toss a few extra dollars that way at the end of the month, too, as I'll be getting two paychecks.

Yep. Not a ton of progress. But I was really focused elsewhere this week. Next week will be better.

OK, another one-day late progress report.

#1: Read one book per week.
I finished the Nafizi book, and it never really worked for me. I have since moved on to Howard Blum's American Lightening, which I'm not loving either, but is OK. Again, I haven't actually read a book (rather than listening to it) for weeks.

#2: See one movie per week.
I saw The Wrestler last weekend. Wow. Fantastic. Really, really fantastic.

#4: Improve my eating habits.
I've rejoined WW and am paying attention again. I hate it. That's all I'm going to say right now.

#9: Journal and blog regularly.
Obviously I haven't done well with this. Gotta make this a priority for next week.

Did better this week!

#1: Read one book per week.
I finished the Blum audiobook and have moved on to Jennifer Traig's new one, about her hypocondria (I think?). I am excited about it, because I really enjoyed her first book. I also gave up on the newest Toni Morrison. It's excrutiating to read.

#2: See one movie per week.
Watched Patton. Wow, that was long. Also Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo. Sometimes you just need junk food, and Harold & Kumar are freaking hysterical.

#4: Improve my eating habits.
I've done pretty well with my eating this week. Not perfect, but a big increase in veggies and fiber, and I'm down a few pounds.

#5: Exercise regularly.
Been to the gym twice this week. Starting w/ 3 30-minute cardio sessions/week and moving up from there. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

#6: Pay off my credit cards.
I've made over $1,000 in extra CC payments this month. Which has really only gotten me back to where I was before I started losing ground at Christmas time, but at least I'm on the right track again now. I'm playing to pay off at least $1,500/month now.

#9: Journal and blog regularly.
The journal has fallen completely by the wayside, but I've gotten back into the blogging groove this week, and as well as taken steps to insure I start prioritizing blogging a bit more (see the ads post),

Good week!

Another good week, I'd say!

#1: Read one book per week.
Again, all audio. I finished Jennifer Traig's Well Enough Alone and have moved on to Four Rooms, Upstairs. For next week, my goal is to add an actual paper book.

#2: See one movie per week.
Saw The Man Who Cried (horrible) on DVD and Slumdog Millionaire (eh) in theater.

#4: Improve my eating habits.
Probably didn't do quite as well as last week, but still working on this one and focusing on increased vegetables and making healthier choices every day.

#5: Exercise regularly.
About the same as last week--been to the gym twice for 30 minutes of cardio each time and will go again tonight. Next week I plan to increase to 35 or 40 mintues each visit.

#6: Pay off my credit cards.
I am down to one credit card, and the balance is down to about $4,300. I will have this goal completed before summer!

#7: Save at least $100/month.
Done.

#9: Journal and blog regularly.
The journal is now completely abandoned, but I am back to blogging regularly and am enjoying it again!

#13: Build my freelance resume.
I completed a large volunteer grant editing project this week. It is work I am particularly proud to have been a part of and it's great resume fodder.

I've gotta say, y'all, I am pretty proud of how this is all going.

#1: Read one book per week.
I finished last week's audio book, Four Rooms, Upstairs and have moved on to Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist Wife .More impressively, I've finally started an actual paperback book, The Last Days of Dogtown.

#2: See one movie per week.
Mark and I watched In the Heat of the Night this week for the Oscar project. Really good film and Sidney Portier is fantastic. You should see it if you haven't.

#4: Improve my eating habits.
Still trucking on the WW and healthy eating. Still not perfect, but really doing better all the time.

#5: Exercise regularly.
Fell down on this one this week--I've only been to the gym once. In my defense, I haven't been feeling well. Unless I feel worse, though, I've got to go this weekend.

#6: Pay off my credit cards.
Last week's balance was $4,300, this week's is $3,500. Gotta love that.

#9: Journal and blog regularly.
I'm back to blogging nearly every week day and I'm really enjoying it again. I also decided to go to BlogHer this year, which I'm super excited about already.

It hasn't been a very good week...

#1: Read one book per week.
Audio: I finished Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist Wife yesterday and started Kim Edwards' short story book, The Secrets of the Fire King today. I've also re-started my membership at paperbackswap.com to try to keep myself in audiobooks.
Paper: Still reading The Last Days of Dogtown. It's not bad at all, but not terribly compelling either.

#2: See one movie per week.
I didn't watch a whole move this week. I watched the first half of Day Watch, but hated it so much I went to bed instead of finishing it.

#4: Improve my eating habits.
I've been sick to my stomach pretty much all week, so I've only been eating what I think will stay down at any given moment. Lots of saltines. And oddly, this seems to have caused weight gain, rather than loss.

#5: Exercise regularly.
Total fail. Haven't done a bit of exercise all week.

#6: Pay off my credit cards.
Set to make another several hundred dollar payment today!

A bit better this week...

#1: Read one book per week.
I finished The Last Days of Dogtown. It was neither bad nor particularly good. I'm still listening to The Secrets of the Fire King. Some of the stories are very good, some less so.

#4: Improve my eating habits.
I've haven't been perfect here this week, but definitely better than last week.

#5: Exercise regularly.
I've been to the gym twice this week and gone on three dog walks of 40-60 minutes with the very quick-paced Pepper, so I feel pretty good about this category.

#6: Pay off my credit cards.
I am watching that balance dwindle and very much enjoying the feeling!

#13: Build my freelance resume.
Looks like I have a bunch of new work headed my way in the next week or so. I am feeling pressed for time and definitely need to work on organization and time management to get everything done, but it's still a good thing.

Have you all heard of treasure mapping? You can read about it here, but bascially, it means making a collage of your wants/goals for the next year. It's much like the vision boards Karen and Alex did for New Year's, but done on the Aries New Moon instead of at the New Year.

And yeah, it's a little bit woo. Or even a lot. But I did it anyway, last night. And here is my map:

It was a worthwhile exercise just to do it, I think. We'll see how it holds up, but I'm glad I tried.

It just occurred to me that I haven't done last week's goals update. Totally slipped my mind. Now that I look at my lack of progress, I think maybe I forgot on purpose. Oh well, next week will be better.

#1: Read one book per week.
Still listening to The Secrets of the Fire King, but it's almost done. Started reading The Unquiet Mind and am about 2/3 through it.

#2: Watch one movie per week.
I watched Oliver! for the Oscar project last weekend and hated it. Then M. and I saw The Watchmen in the theater and loved it.

#4: Improve my eating habits.
Dismal failure here this past week, but I'm back to tracking points now.

#5: Exercise regularly.
See above.

#6: Pay off my credit cards.
This past week has seen the balance go up, rather than down. However, that trend will reverse this week, so I should have better news to report on Friday.

This is way late, but I want to keep up the habit, so I'm slipping it in here. Last week's progress:

#1: Read one book per week.
No progress here--didn't finish either book.

#2: Watch one movie per week.
Saw A Man For All Seasons for the Oscar project. Liked it quite a bit.

#6: Pay off my credit cards.
Made a big payment, and making another one this week. Currently, I plan for the entire CC debt to be gone by the end of the month. BIG SCORE!

#8: Learn a new craft.
Since I am pretty much too busy to think, last week seemed like an excellent time for this. I've taken up cross-stitch, with the hope to move on to embroidery after a bit. I've only done one little flower thing so far, but I like it a lot and plan to do more. Once I have something worth showing, I'll post a picture.

#13: Build my freelance resume.
This is going very, very well. I have several freelance grant applications in the works and am feeling really good about it.

Not a bad week, huh?

This is a funny post to be writing in light of my last series of posts, but I can't not share this with you all.

Look down at my sidebar. Scroll down, I'll wait. See that debt reduction bar that's been there for months? See how it says 0 now?

Yep. I'm out! I made my last payment this morning and my credit card debt is now 0.

For those who haven't been playing along for months, I started my debt reduction campaign in January 2008, with nearly $12,000 in debt. That debt had been accumulating since July of 2005 when Chance died and I put my half of his $6,000 vet bill on my credit card. From there it grew.

Since January 08, my progress has been up and down. Some months I did great, other months my debt actually grew. But I've been able to hit it hard with my new job and freelance work this past month or so, and today I finally finished paying it off.

I can't tell you how I thrilled I am, both not to have it over my head anymore and to have finally achieved a financial goal I'd set for myself.

I'm still not a financial rock star by any means. I have a student loan, a car loan, and a mortgage. I have no retirement and next to no savings. But now, with this hurdle out of the way, I can begin to tackle those ones.

Truly, this is a great feeling.

I missed last week, so I'm catching up for two weeks worth:

#1: Read one book per week.
I finished both The Secrets of the Fire King and An Unquiet Mind. I started the audio book Wicked (which is lame so far) and the book Under the Banner of Heaven (which I can hardly put down).

#2: Watch one movie per week.
I saw two movies: Dragonball Evolution (good God, don't bother) and My Fair Lady (incredibly offensive).

#6: Pay off my credit cards.
DONE!!!

#7: Save at least $100/month.
Done, and this goal is under revision.

#13: Build my freelance resume.
This is turning into one of the most productive goals I have this year. I'm buried in freelance work, much of it very very exciting.

Y'all, I'm doing well. But there is definitely room for improvement. My diet and exercise are...not. And I am not blogging as often as I'd like to be. Nor am I working on my house or cooking. I am hoping I can focus a bit more on these things in the future weeks.

Another two-week update. I can't seem to get it together to remember to do these posts every Friday. To keep myself honest, I am going to check in here on all 13 goals:

#1: Read one book per week.
I gave up on Wicked and am about to start another audio book, but I can't remember which one. I'm still reading Under the Banner of Heaven. Slowly. Haven't had much time.

#2: Watch one movie per week.
Watched two movies on DVD--Vera Drake and Oliver Stone's W.. W. was about what I expected--interesting and funny, and good acting by Josh Brolin, but ultimately full of pretty cheap shots. Vera Drake was start-to-finish excellent.

#3: Take at least one overseas trip
Sadly, if this happens in 2009 it is going to have to be towards the end of the year, as we have a packed schedule through September. This may have to roll forward and become a 2010 goal.

#4: Improve my eating habits.
This is where I need to be putting my focus now, but I haven't been, and it is to my detriment. It would definitely be easier if my stress level weren't so high right now.

#5: Exercise regularly.
I am averaging one gym trip a week right now, which is better than 0, but isn't sufficient. This is the other thing I really need to be working on.

#6: Pay off my credit cards.
Check.

#7: Save at least $100/month.
This goal has been amended to $1,000/month. Hasn't happened yet for May, but it will as soon as my next freelance check comes in (should be early next week).

#8: Learn a new craft.
I haven't picked the cross stitch back up in weeks, just due to being busy, but I did order some beautiful silk thread from Ebay that has me wanting to. I'm planning to take stuff with me over vacation (leaving next Thursday!) and hopefully do some of it then.

#9: Journal and blog regularly.
Ug. Journaling is a total fail. I don't even know where the journal is. Blogging I am trying to keep up with, but I'm not getting more than 1-2 decent posts a week right now, which is not enough to feel like I'm meeting this goal. I'm having a lot of blogger's block, where I can't think of anything worth writing about. Who wants to read yet another post about how busy I am or what makeup I like, you know?

#10: Sell our house and move.
This is becoming a reality. Right now, M. and I are trying to decide if we need to apply for a small home equity loan to do the work we need to do on the house before listing it. It's something we've sort of put off deciding until after his defense and our trip, but we should have a decision made and be starting to put a plan into work by the end of this month, with a target move date of late August.

#11: Practice cooking.
Total fail. Haven't even though about it. This one is kind of back-burnered for the summer, I think, since Mark is home during the day and therefore can cook and I am still working overtime.

#12: Make my home more livable.
This has fallen by the wayside for the last few weeks with both Mark and I being so busy, but will come crashing back to priority status as of tonight, since his parents are coming into town tomorrow. Nothing like impending (not)in-laws to make you clean up!

#13: Build my freelance resume.
Nothing less than resounding success here. I am doing freelance grant writing, at a professional level, and have as much work as I can handle right now. I am going to have to make some decisions in the near-mid future about what direction I want to go with this and how dedicated to it I can really be, but right now I am focused on getting much needed experience, and it's happening.

Not a bad show, I don't think.

Did you noticed how I just stopped reporting on my goal progress over two months ago? I didn't mean to--I'm not hiding anything--I just kind of forget.

So back to that.

Here's how I am doing now, in Week 30 of 2009:

1. Read one book per week.
As per my GoodReads list, I've read 21 books so far this year, including the 2 I am currently working on and the 3 I didn't finish. Not so great. Need to read more books.

2. See one movie per week.
All Consuming tells me I've seen 43 movies so far in 2009--way more than 1 per week. So I'm good here.

3. Take at least one overseas trip.
This hasn't happened yet and no plans are in the works. In all likelihood, this is going to become a 2010 goal.

4. Improve my eating habits.
Major failure here lately. Truly terrifyingly bad.

5. Exercise regularly.
Again, failure. I have big plans for after we move, but I'm totally stalled at present.

6. Pay off my credit cards.
Still done. No new balance. Going strong with the responsible credit card use and proud of how well I am doing.

7. Save at least $100/month.
I amended this goal to $1,000/month in May, and that hasn't happened. However, the reason it hasn't is because we've been able to pay cash for the work we've needed to do pre-sale on our house, rather than use credit, so I think it's OK. I am still saving at least $100/month, though, and now that the house repair stuff is mostly done, I should be able to increase that from August on.

8. Learn a new craft.
No progress on this front. All the crafting supplies I've acquired are in storage. Given that and the present time constraints, this one is on hold.

9. Journal and blog regularly.
I'm going to give myself half credit here. I've been doing great with the blogging, but I just picked up my journal again last night after having abandoned it in January.

10. Sell our house and move.
This is in progress. We had an offer on the house, and we have several more possibilities, so I don't think it should be too much longer. We've also secured a rental in Virginia and started our other preparations for moving. This is right where it should be.

11. Practice cooking.
I've done a whole lot of nothing here.

12. Make my home more livable.
Amazing what putting your house in show-ready condition will do for this goal. Our place is lovely now. Livable, not so much, given that we have to keep it sparkly clean all the time and half of our stuff is in storage. However, knowing what it feels like to live in a less cluttered, more vacuumed space has me commited to better general housekeeping once we aren't under the strain of showing anymore.

13. Build my freelance resume.
Things on this front continue to go well. I am working on a smallish project right now and there are more in the pipeline. I need to actually put a new resume together, though. I should make that a goal for next week. Or maybe two weeks from now, actually. By Week 32, I should have a new and updated freelance resume.

So, all in all, progress remains pretty steady. I'm happy with the financial and home situations, and with the professional stuff I've done. I'm less happy with the way I've treated my health (eating and exercise) and with the time I haven't made for reading and journaling. So I need to try to maintain the progress in the first areas while concentrating on the second areas. Not an easy thing to do, but I'm definitely going to try. Making concrete goals and having a public place to note my progress has been infinitely helpful. I definitely recommend it.

Getting back on track with weekly updates.

1. Read one book per week.
I finished the audiobook Look Me In The Eye this week and am on to Leaving the Saints. Still reading Edgar Sawtelle, though I hope to finish it this weekend. It's not bad, it's just not compelling me to read it quickly.

2. See one movie per week.
I continue to exceed my goals here. I've seen four movies in the past week: Gran Torino (OK); Chocolate (awesome); Shaolin Soccer (nowhere near as good as Kung Fu Hustle); and Death Race (truly terrible).

4. Improve my eating habits & 5. Exercise regularly.
Put my big ass on the scale and saw just how out of control my failure on these two goals has gotten. It's bad. I'm not going to talk about how bad right now, but bad. And honestly, I don't feel capable of focusing on it until after the move, so I'm just letting it go right now. Once we're in Virginia, though, these two goals are going to be front and center.

9. Journal and blog regularly.
I've blogged every day this past week and journaled every day but one. Good progress.

10. Sell our house and move.
We are, thank God, under contract. The option period ends at midnight tonight and we close on August 31. So we are where we need to be. Moving plans in the works--sounds like we're going to do it ourselvse with a Penske truck and a prayer, sometime around the 23rd. Three days to drive 1,500 miles (since we have all the animals, we have to stop a lot). Not exactly looking forward to that part, but it has to be done.

11. Practice cooking.
Hey, I made enchiladas and lasagna!

13. Build my freelance resume.
I was supposed to get to work on actually updating my resume with the stuff I've been doing, but I haven't gotten to it. I'm going to put it off, because things are very busy right now, but should be calmed way way down in September. So I will do that then.

All in all, not bad. I'm glad to be reading and journaling more--making time for those things was something I said that I needed to work on last week. For this coming week, I want to maintain that progress and keep moving towards being moved. Packing is up next, so there won't likely be a ton of time for anything else.

Skipped last week, but I'm still on track:

1. Read one book per week.
Finished one audiobook, Leaving the Saints, and moved on to another, Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamist Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs by Elissa Wall with Liza Pulitzer. I also have three or four more books downloaded for the cross-country drive, so that ought to help this category. But I still haven't finished Edgar Sawtelle. Let's just say I'm not going to finish Edgar Sawtelle and move on, shall we?

2. See one movie per week.
Added one here in the past two weeks: Public Enemies. It was just OK.

4. Improve my eating habits.
I've actually been working on this. Mostly, I am focusing on drinking more water and replacing my bacon biscuit breakfasts with fruit, yogurt, and granola. Baby steps.

5. Exercise regularly.
I think packing and hauling boxes fills this requirement right now.

9. Journal and blog regularly.
I've been falling down on this one for sure. Haven't picked my journal up at all and am only blogging sporadically and not well. This will change after we get to Virignia. Right now there just really aren't enough hours in the day.

10. Sell our house and move.
This is the bulk of it now. We get our moving truck tomorrow and leave for Virginia on Sunday. It's really happening.

All in all, I think I'm doing as well as could possibly be expected under the circumstances. Once we get there and get settled, I definitely need to re-focus on some of these goals. For now, it's all about keeping on.

A few years back, one of my New Year's goals/resolutions was to publish a piece of writing. Not long into the new year, I was able to do that, with the help of the incredibly lovely Karen Walrond. At that time, Karen had just started up an online magazine, Indigo Leaf, with the goal of providing a forum for previously unknown writing talent. I wrote a piece about Mary Prankster as music to grow up to, if I remember correctly, and Karen accepted it for publication.

In the grand scheme of literature, or of reviews, or even of online magazines, my little piece in Indigo Leaf wasn't even a ripple. The magazine didn't last too long (I'm not sure what happened with it, you'd have to ask Karen), what I wrote was serviceable, but not a masterpiece. But the importance, to me, of meeting that goal is hard to overstate. It was the first time in a long time I'd thought of myself as a writer. And I kept writing--I wrote for another online magazine, As We Are (also know defunct). I started blogging more seriously. I even started (and then stopped, and then started...) a journal.

Today, as I struggle through the beginnings of my National Novel Writing Month novel--my first real attempt at fiction in a long, long time--I'm drinking tea out of the Indigo Leaf mug Karen sent me as a thank you for the piece I contributed. That mug is a reminder, every day, that I set a goal and accomplished it. It doesn't matter at all that the article on Mary Prankster didn't catapult me into a career as a high-powered music reviewer. What matters is that I did it. This mug proves that. And it's going to go on proving that every day until the end of this month, at which time I will have a 50,000 word novel. It may not be a publishable novel, it may not even be a good novel, but it will be something I set my mind to doing and did. And if I do someday write a great novel, or even a publishable one, it will because I wrote this novel first. And that, in turn, will be because I wrote that piece for Indigo Leaf, and because I have this mug staring me in the face, reminding me that I can do this.

First, the big news: I DID IT! During the month of November, I wrote a novel. It's not great. It's not even good. But I wrote it, start to finish. I won. And I have to say, it feels great.

Between that and the fast-approaching end of 2009, I was reminded of my goals. You know, the ones I was updating every week until I completely lost the plot? I thought it would be nice for me to check back up on those, since we're now 11/12 of the way through the year.

So:

#1: Read one book per week.
Fail, sadly. I've read 28 books this year, and only completed 23 of them. I might get 2-3 more in before the end of the year, but there's no way I'm hitting 52.

#2: Watch one movie per week.
Check! I've watched 71 movies so far this year.

#3: Take at least one overseas trip.
Fail. However, we are beginning to talk seriously about a trip to Ireland this spring, so I'll just roll this one forward to 2010.

#4: Improve my eating habits.
I have been up and down on this one, but I'm pretty happy with where I'm at right now. I've cut way back on coffee (I'm drinking a lot of tea), I'm not drinking soda, and I'm trying to be more portion conscious. It's imperfect, but it's definitely a start.

#5: Exercise regularly.
Again, up and down. However, I've been making a regular practice of taking a long walk with Ata nearly every day since I've been working at home, so I'm going to put this one in the win column. It's not enough, I'm sure, but it's way more than I was doing last year at this time.

#6: Pay off my credit cards.
Done. In fact, as of right now, since we sold the house and paid off the car, the only debt I have is my student loan. I feel pretty fantastic about that.

#7: Save at least $100/month.
Done and exceeded. I have more in savings right now than I ever have previously. It's not as much as it should be, but it's growing steadily.

#8: Learn a new craft.
I didn't so much learn a new one as re-dedicate myself to an old one, but I'll talk about that in a minute. When I made this goal, I thought I meant knitting or embroidery. Those are still things I would like to learn, but my artistic side led me in a different direction in 2009, and I'm fine with that.

#9: Journal and blog regularly.
Sadly, fail. I did blog very regularly during some periods, but these last couple of months have found me seriously slacking. However, I have been writing regularlyl--as in every day--and that is what this goal was really about. So, I think that gets me credit for #9 and #10.

#10: Sell our house and move.
Done, successfully and with relatively little pain.

#11: Practice cooking.
This turns out to have been a win. I've been cooking dinner at least once a week since we got settled in here. That may not sound like much, but given how little I have cooked over the course of my relationship with Mark, it is. Turns out the key was getting a Crock Pot.

#12: Make my home more livable.
This goal came with us when we moved, and we're slowly working on it. This house doesn't come with the natural perks our last one did, but we're making it our own, with art, a little bit of new furniture, etc. It's also being kept much cleaner than our old house was, thanks in part to my working from home. I think I've met this goal.

#13: Build my freelance resume.
Things have continued to go well in this area. I've done a good bit of grant work, continued to build tenure as a technical writer, and I think I'm more marketable as a freelance writer all the time. I never actually made a new resume, as there hasn't been a need, but I keep telling myself I will. Maybe in January?

So, by my count, that's 8/13 successes; 2/13 partial successes; and 3/13 failures. I'm pretty damn happy with those numbers, and I am definitely going to make myself a list of similar goals for 2010 (with a couple of reappearances from here) and try to hold myself to them as well as I did this year.

As I mentioned before, I'm starting to think about my goals for 2010. Part of that is thinking about the person I want to be, the traits I want to cultivate in myself. I have a pretty good handle on the parts of myself I like and want to see more of--my generosity, my curiosity, my love of animals. I recognize the person I am when I like myself, and I'm proud of that person.

The harder question, for me, is what don't I like about myself? What characteristics do I want to erase, or at least minimize?

The first thing that comes to mind is that I lack self-control. I have a hard time denying myself things, or forcing myself to do things that I don't want to do. I don't have a ton of respect for self-control for its own sake, but I do recognize that there are times in ones life where self-control is a very valuable characteristic, and it's one I'd be smart to cultivate.

The next thing that occurs to me is that I'm not patient. Again, I'm not 100% sure patience is quite the virtue it's cracked up to be, but I do know that people who are honestly patient seem to be happier. I also know that my life in the next few years is going to require patience beyond what I have--I don't like it here, I'm anxious to move on, and it's going to be several years before that happens. Hence, cultivate patience.

The third thing is one I have been working on for years, but it continues to plague me. I have a short temper, and am occasionally thrown into a rage that, while not violent, is curse-filled and nasty. It's an immature and ridiculous thing for a 30 year old woman to throw tantrums, and while I don't do it as much as I used to, I still do it. I'm a work in progress there.

Finally, I hate how often I don't stick with things. It is one thing to try something, realize it doesn't work for you, and move on. I'm fine with that. But I try something, realize it does work but it's difficult or inconvenient, and make an excuse to let it drop. I really dislike that about myself. I have a drawer full of journals with three entries each in them, bins of craft supplies for hobbies I learned and then discarded, and so on. I don't want to be a person who quits on things just because they aren't convenient.

So, as I continue brainstorming my goals for 2010, I'm going to keep in mind not just the good things about myself, which I want to strengthen, but also these things, the sad-but-true things, that I want to downplay. If you've got any ideas on how to do that, please do comment.

I posted a lot about my goals in 2009, and I felt, at year's end, that doing so helped me to stay on track, keep motivated, and constantly re-evaluate my progress. So, I'm going to do the same thing in 2010. I won't even attempt the weekly goal check-ins I did at the beginning of last year, because that's overkill, but I will try to check in on my goals monthly.

Several of my goals are going to be repeats or slight variations from last year, so I'm going to start with those:

1. Take at least one overseas trip.
This didn't happen this year, but I feel quite sure it will in 2010. However, I'm keeping it on the list to remind myself to make it a priority.

2. Read 30 books.
I read only 29 books in 2009, and completed only 24 of them. Reading one per week, as was last year's goal, is probably not going to happen, so we're going for a slight improvement instead.

3. Get to a healthy size.
Last year, two of my goals were to improve my eating habits and exercise regularly. I sorta half-completed both of them, making progress, but not enough progress. I need to continue with that in 2010. I'm not 100% sure what a "healthy size" for me right now is, in terms of pounds or clothing size, but I know it's smaller than I am right now. So, this goal is non-specific. Making non-specific goals is, generally, not a good idea, but I'm allowing an exception for this one.

4. Save $500/month.
My savings goal last year was $100/month. This year, with no more credit card debt, I am increasing it substantially. I want to have an additional $6,000, if not more, saved by the end of 2010. I've already set up the automatic withdrawal, so this one is already in progress.

OK, now on to new goals...

5. Give 5%.
As I've mentioned before, I want to start giving to charity in a more substantial and well-planned way this year. I've decided to commit myself to giving 5% of my income, as a start. I know I could and should do more, but I also know I have been doing less, and given my other financial goals and obligations, 5% seems like the best number for right now. My hope is to increase it next year, or maybe even partway through 2010, depending on how it goes.

6. Start retirement savings.
I'm 30 years old. I should have retirement savings. I know this to be true, and yet I haven't done anything about it. In 2010, I need to fix this.

7. Join something.
This is sort of an odd one, I guess, but necessary. I need to get involved in something this year. A book club. Some sort of volunteer effort. Something. It would be too easy for me to never leave my house this year, and that's not good for me.

8. Write a novel.
Participating in National Novel Writing Month was one of the best things I did in 2009, and I fully plan to do it again in 2010. Next time, though, I am going to make an effort to plan ahead and write a novel that doesn't suck quite so much.

9. Create something.
I haven't been doing much, if any, art within the last year. I need to step away from the computer and get my hands dirty once in a while. This year, I want to create something.

10. Remember birthdays and send cards.
This has been on my list before, but fell off last year, and I was the worse for it. It is important to me to remember birthdays and send cards. I'm going to set up a reminder system right away to make sure this remains a priority this year.

10 seems a nice round number, so I think I'll stop there. I vow now, in the last hours of 2009, to work towards these 10 goals in the upcoming year. Near the beginning of each month, I plan to update my progress towards these goals and my plans to continue with them in the upcoming month. Anybody who'd like to participate with me, either here or on your own blog, is more than welcome.

Happy 2010!

Wow. We're a month into 2010 already. Time to check in on my goals!

1. Take at least one overseas trip.
No progress yet on this one.

2. Read 30 books.
I've read (or listened to) 3 books so far this year, with three more in-progress. 30 per year is 2.5 per month, so I think I'm in good shape here.

3. Get to a healthy size.
I am working very hard on this goal right now and I'm making steady progress. I am down only a few pounds, but I feel stronger and better every day, and I am making very good choices as far as what I eat, not just restricting calories by eating less of the same crap. I think I'm doing very well with this goal so far.

4. Save $500/month.
I've set up a direct withdrawal from my checking account to my savings and made my first $500 monthly deposit about a week ago.

5. Give 5%.
This one has required a lot of thought. Once I arrived at the amount I felt most comfortable giving (as a percentage of income), I decided to set myself up as a monthly giver to several organizations of which I am particularly supportive (I intend to post about those specific organizations at some point, so I won't go into them here). Those monthly donations add up to about 3.5% of my take-home income. The other 1.5% is reserved for one time donations to things as they come up. Obviously, this month, the big thing was relief for Haiti. Next month, I'll probably give the 1.5% to the V-Day organization. My goal is to even out at about 5% of my take-home for the year, and I think I'm on the right track. My hope is that once I get used to giving 5%, I can increase the percentage to a true tithe.

6. Start retirement savings.
This is done! I opened a traditional IRA, funded if fully for 2009, and plan to fund it fully for this year as well.

7. Join something.
No progress on this goal. I'm still not even quite sure what I was thinking when I made it a goal. It is pretty far outside my comfort zone. Probably I'll put it off for a few months, unless something that seems perfect appears.

8. Write a novel.
Again, not one I'm working on right now.

9. Create something.
I'm doing a bit of this, in fits and starts. I've made a few bath products in the past couple of weeks, for the first time since we moved here. I'm working on some printed tea towels for a swap. Baby steps.

10. Remember birthdays and send cards.
I sent out a passel of birthday cards in January! I didn't realize how many people I know were born at the beginning of the year. With my Google calendar all set up to remind me a week before anybody's birthday, I hope I have this goal well underway. One thing is that I need to find somewhere better than Target to buy cute and funny cards--if I am going to go to the trouble of sending them, I want them to be cool. Really, I should be combining this goal with #9 and making my own cards, but I don't think I'm quite there yet.

All in all, I'm very happy with my January progress. Here's to a good start!

I can't believe another month has gone by without my hardly noticing. Seriously, February has just been a snowy blur. And I'm afraid I haven't made much progress at all on my 2010 goals, but today is the first, so I'm going to do my check-in.

1. Take at least one overseas trip.
Still stalled here. Mark and I have talked about it a bit, but spring is practically upon us, and we haven't made any plans at all. Definitely need to focus here in March.

2. Read 30 books.
I've read four and have three in progress. To get to 30, I need to get through 2.5 I month, so I'm still doing OK here, but need to get going a little bit more quickly. It would probably help if I stopped watching so much TV.

3. Get to a healthy size.
I'm about where I was last month on this. Or even a bit behind that, since the weather has kept me inside for a lot of February. Re-focusing here in March, too.

4. Save $500/month.
Still good here.

5. Give 5%.
Good here, too.

6. Start retirement savings.
Check!

7. Join something.
No progress yet. Not gonna worry about this one quite yet, though, since I'm busy with work stuff right now.

8. Write a novel.
See above--this one is on-hold until a bit later in the year.

9. Create something.
Still fits and starts. I'm working on printing some kitchen towels for a swap (and, as of tomorrow, they're late!). So I guess I'm doing OK here.

10. Remember birthdays and send cards.
I totally fell down on this one this month. I suck. And this coming week is my grandma's birthday, too. Gotta get back on this.

As I thought, February hasn't been a good month for goals. Hopefully I'll have something more positive to report next month.

OK. I have got to get a better grip on time. Much like February, March just completely eluded me. Where have I been?

So it's time for goal check-in. And I know before I even begin that it wasn't a good month.

1. Take at least one overseas trip.
This is not in the cards for the spring anymore. Mark's job is too busy, and my freelance work is taking a lot of time as well. We're now hoping for a summer or (more probably) fall trip.

2. Read 30 books.
I'm in the exact same place here that I was last month--four read, three in progress. I haven't read a page in the last month. That's really embarrassing.

3. Get to a healthy size.
I'm back to walking Ata for an hour or so every day, which is great, but that's as far as I've gotten with this. I did just order a Wii, so I'm hopeful I will use that to get some exercise in. And I need to re-commit to a better diet.

4. Save $500/month.
Doing this, and I even managed an extra $500 this month from a freelance check.

5. Give 5%.
I think I might be a little bit under for this month, but I'm close, and I'll make it up.

6. Start retirement savings.
Done and I even have a plan for put my next freelance check in the account to help fund it for 2010.

7. Join something.
Haven't done a thing here.

8. Write a novel.
It's not a novel, but I am writing some fiction right now, which I'll count as progress here. I'm at the point where I can at least pretend I am working towards something.

9. Create something.
I completely failed on the tea towel swap. Ug. Negative progress here.

10. Remember birthdays and send cards.
Still not doing well here--I even failed to send my brother a card this month. I did buy a few new cards the other day though, so I'm recommitting for April. Mark's mom's birthday is a week, so I'll start there.

Now that I'm through the list, it's not quite so bad as I thought. Not great, but not as terrible as I expected. Gotta do better next month.

Do any of you do treasure maps? It's a bit woo, I'll admit, and I definitely have issues with a lot of the Secret-esque "power of positive visualization" crap behind it. That said, I believe in setting goals (obviously) and I like the idea of visual representations of what you want for your life. So, last year, I made a treasure map.

Last year's map:

I'm not sure how much it "worked." Some of what that map shows came to fruition, some didn't, some is still in progress. I'm amused to see a woman working out with a Wii on the map--I had forgotten that I included that, and I've been using my new Wii every day since I got it. There's also a clipping showing a woman working from home, which I've been doing since September. Other things--learning to knit, selling my bath products--haven't happened and likely won't (they don't reappear on this year's map). Looking at it, I feel an overall sense of progress and growth, which has to be at least part of the point. So, this year, I did it again.

This year's map:

I'm not going to go through every picture or word included, but some things that the clippings I chose for my map make clear are that I want another dog (possibly a German Shepherd), I want to read and write, I want to work on my physical health and strength, and I have fears I want to conquer. These are all worth while things to focus on. I plan to hang the map in my office/walk-in closet, where I will see it every day.

For a couple of months, I've been reading along as Karen Walrdond works on her Life List. As someone who is already really into goals and the importance of writing them down, I've always wanted to make one myself, but never actually done it. So, yesterday, I started.

I'm not finished. This list should have at least 100 things on it. But this is a start, and I'll amend it as I think of more.

Do it. You'll feel better.

1. Skydive.
2. See a Klimt painting in Austria.
3. Sit for a portrait.
4. Run a dog rescue.
5. Be someone's mother.
6. Write a novel I'd want to publish.
7. Visit Freida Kahlo's house in Mexico City.
8. Ride in a hot air balloon.
9. Do a major art installation project.
10. See the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum in all four seasons.
11. Throw a wine-tasting party.
12. Go to a barn-raising.
13. Learn a new sport.
14. Attend an artistic or spiritual retreat.
15. Be a godparent.
16. Speak at my alma mater.
17. Visit the Elephant Sanctuary.
18. Get a Ph.D.
19. Volunteer for disaster relief.
20. Have a rose garden.
21. See the Northern Lights.
22. Sail on a sailboat.
23. Teach someone to read.
24. Eat 100 local foods in the regions to which they are local.
25. Tuck my hair into my waistband.
26. Go on a trip with my mother.
27. Organize a major charity event.
28. Work with a dog visiting elderly hospital/hospice patients.
29. Throw a surprise party.
30. Have a dress custom made.
31. Got to a dog show.
32. Attend the birth of a child.
33. Visit the sites of 5 revolutions.
34. Have a cocktail named after me.
35. Ride a motorcycle.
36. Stay overnight at the Chelsea Hotel.
37. Visit Rogue brewery.
38. Observe the Supreme Court.
39. Be in a movie.
40. See the sun rise in Spain.
41. Drive an American muscle car.
42. Go zip lining in Costa Rica.
43. Have a beignet in the French Quarter.
44. Take Mark to Crater Lake.
45. Attend an EPL football game.
46. Write a collection of short stories based on the old women I've known/heard stories about.
47. Stomp grapes.
48. Take a road trip alone.
49. Attend the Sundance Film Festival.
50. Host a big family holiday celebration.
51. Write a song.
52. Have a non-canine or feline pet.
53. Publish an article in a national circulation magazine.
54. Plant a tree and watch it grow.
55. Embroider or cross-stitch a sampler.
56. Collect over 100 bottles of wine.
57. See an animal being born.
58. Visit Jim Morrison's grave in Paris.
59. Do 108 sun salutations for Globa Mala.
60. Take a trip by train.
61. Learn to make doughnuts as amazing as my mom's.
62. Go to thrift stores in/around every major U.S. city.

Dude. I totally forgot to do my goals check-in on the first day of May. Got distracted by the Happy Housewife project. Oh well, better late than never.

Here's where I'm at:

1. Take at least one overseas trip.
Still stalled. Summer is now out and we're hoping for fall.

2. Read 30 books.
I am at 11 read and 3 in progress. This is a big improvement over where I was last month, mostly due to audio books and vintage housekeeping books. I'll take it.

3. Get to a healthy size.
The big news here isn't size so much as fitness. My size remains more or less the same, but I am consistently walking and doing the Wii circuit thing 5 days/week. My diet continues to suck, but at least I am moving in the right direction.

4. Save $500/month.
Still on top of this one.

5. Give 5%.
Good here, too.

6. Start retirement savings.
Haven't put anything in for 2010 yet, but I have time and some big freelance checks on the horizon.

7. Join something.
Still nope.

8. Write a novel.
Still writing non-novel fiction, and am happy doing it, at this point. I'm also happy to be doing this big blog project, so no complaints here.

9. Create something.
Still not inspired on this one.

10. Remember birthdays and send cards.
Doing better, but not well. I seem to have a real problem getting things in the mail. I need to figure out some sort of system or way to deal with that.

Though this list doesn't necessarily illustrate it, I've had a good and productive month. I'm writing and reading, which is important to me. Work and freelance work are going well. We've done some gardening (mostly Mark) that improves our living space considerably. Things are all good here.

Remember how I had those goals for 2010? And the last time I checked in on them was in May?

Yeah. I got distracted.

So, since today is the first of the month, I'm getting back on track. Goal check-in time.

1. Take at least one overseas trip.
There are actual plans in the works! Looks like we're going to London in mid-October!

2. Read 30 books.
I'm on my way! I currently have 16 read and more in progress--the 12 Books, 12 Months club should help with this!

3. Get to a healthy size.
I did so well with this one until I started working so much. In the past few months, I've really fallen off and the weight has started to creep back up. Gotta focus here.

4. Save $500/month.
Mixed progress here. I've been saving $500/month, but I've had to raid the savings a couple of times when I've stretched myself too thin, and I am going down to 30 hrs/week at my day job, so this goal may not be possible for the rest of the year. Of course, if the freelance work continues to move at the quick pace it's been going, it will be. We shall see where I end up at the end of the year. My current balance is only $2,000 more than my January 1 balance was, so I'm not exactly on-track.

5. Give 5%.
Still on-track overall here.

6. Start retirement savings.
Still haven't made a 2010 addition to the account yet. I keep watching it go down and wondering why I should bother. But I will, before the end of the year.

7. Join something.
Still no. I've looked around a bit, but nothing has seemed worth the time and energy investment yet.

8. Write a novel.
Not sure at this point that I'm still committed to this goal. There are just too many other things I'd rather write.

9. Create something.
I ought to know better than to make goals this vague...

10. Remember birthdays and send cards.
Massive fail here. I've been negligent about even my immediate family's special days in the past few months. I have GOT to get my shit together on this one.

Not exactly an uplifting report. Guess that's what I happens when I fail to monitor my progress. Hopefully I'll be more positive next month.