2015 MMD Reading Challenge Wrap-Up

I'm sorry to say that I barely limped across the finish line in finishing my 2015 reading challenge with Modern Mrs. Darcy, and only if we count one book for 2 separate categories, and kind of twist another category to make a book fit. 

Committing to do better with her 2016 challenge (as well as participating in my friend Cami's challenge at Worthington Ave.!). 

1) A book you’ve been meaning to read: Gone With the Wind (Margaret Mitchell). I read this in high school, but have been meaning to re-read it for years. I reread it in 2015 and loved it. I’m not sure I actually remembered anything about it from my initial read-- it felt brand new. See my review HERE.

2) A book published this year: First Frost (Sarah Addison Allen) I generally don’t keep up with new releases (too overwhelmed by my current to-read list to keep an eye out for new ones!), but I loved Garden Spells and have been excitedly waiting for a sequel. I reviewed First Frost HERE.

3) A book in a genre you don’t typically read: The Devil in the White City (Erik Larson) I think it’s safe to say that historical non-fiction is entirely out of my typical reading zone. I read this for a book club and loved it. I reviewed it HERE.

 4) A book from your childhood: Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery) Anne was a huge part of my childhood, but mainly in movie form--I watched the movies dozens (if not hundreds!) of times as a kid (and asked for them for Christmas this year so my kids can grow up with Anne, too). Sadly, I had never read the book until this year, so I'm glad to check this one off my list. My review is HERE, and I'm looking forward to reading more in the series.

 5) A book your mom loves: My plan was to reread To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee) or The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett). I didn't get to either of them, so I can only check this category off if I count Anne of Green Gables again (which is definitely a favorite of my mom's).

6) A book that was originally written in a different language: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne) I struggled to find a book to fit this category, then it fell into my lap as a book club selection. Buuuut I did not care for it at all.

7) A book ‘everyone’ has read but you: The Gifts of Imperfection (Brene Brown) I saw this book reviewed and recommended over and over again on blogs and from friends, and I felt like I must be the last person to pick it up! I thought it was a great book with lots of amazing insight, although it left me feeling a little lost—like all my issues had been spread out on the table for me to analyze and fret over, but I wasn’t sure what to do to fix them. I think I need therapy. Full book review HERE.

 8) A book you chose because of the cover: Five Quarters of the Orange (Joanne Harris) jumped out at me from a used bookstore shelf, and I absolutely loved it.  I reviewed it HERE.

9) A book by a favorite author: Alias Grace (Margaret Atwood) I’ve loved Margaret Atwood since being bowled over by The Handmaid’s Tale in high school (and again more recently!), and have read quite a few of her novels (some with greater success than others). I had mixed feelings about Alias Grace—you can see my review HERE.

10) A book recommended by someone with great taste: Summers at Castle Auburn (Sharon Shinn) Two of my very well-read cousins gave this book great reviews on Goodreads, which made it a perfect fit for this category. With a little magic, a little romance, and a little castle intrigue, it was right up my alley. See my review HERE.

11) A book you should have read in high school: Here is my second 'cheater' category. I didn't specifically read a book to fit this category (unsurprising, since it was the category I was least excited about. But I can kind of check it off if we count Sense and Sensibility (Jane Austen), which seems like it could be a high school English class read, or Wonder (R.J. Palacio), which would probably be more of a middle grade reading assignment. Not sure I can totally check this category off the list, but I guess I came close.

12) A book that’s currently on the bestseller list: The Girl on the Train (Paula Hawkins) Reminiscent of Gone Girl (but with significantly less stick-with-you creep factor), this was fast and exciting and hard to put down. See my review HERE.

If you're interested in participating in Modern Mrs. Darcy's 2016 reading challenge, you can find all the details HERE. And for more fun categories, check out my friend Cami's 2016 reading challenge at Worthington Ave!

What worked in 2014

I’m not a New Year’s Resolution person. I realized some years ago that I couldn’t recall ever—not once—keeping any of the New Year’s Resolutions I dutifully set every year, and lost all enthusiasm for them.

But I liked Anne’s post at Modern Mrs. Darcy about looking back on what worked throughout the year. So I’m copying her and thinking back today—what worked for me (and my family) in 2014?

1. Audiobooks

As long as I’m copying Anne’s post theme, I’ll go ahead and steal one of her points, too—audiobooks were a major revelation for me this year. This year I struck gold by listening to the Harry Potter audiobooks, and they were a huge help in adding a little joy (not to mention entertainment) to lots of joyless tasks (like folding laundry and cleaning bathrooms). Now I’m finding myself categorizing books I’m interested in reading into sit-down-with-a-hard-copy books, and perfect-for-listening-to books.

2. Running

I’ve tried to run in the past, and have always given up in frustration before ever hitting a point where it became do-able or enjoyable. I’m not sure what changed this time around, but it may have just been pure desperation—I needed a workout that was quick and beginner-friendly and could fit around Jeff’s schedule so I wouldn’t have to cart the kids anywhere, and running was one of the few options that fit all those requirements. I’ve been running regularly since July, and have really come to enjoy it. It’s working for me in terms of the time commitment it requires (relatively low), scheduling (especially flexible since our recent purchase of a treadmill), and brainpower required (I love that I don’t have to think about it, and can listen to—you guessed it—audiobooks while I run).

3. Library day

Our library visits used to be sporadic since most of my reading is done on my Kindle now, but Forrest started to really show an interest in reading this year, an interest I am very eager to encourage. We set a once-weekly library day to go to storytime, check out about a dozen books for Forrest, and spend some time exploring the shelves. Forrest loves and looks forward to our library day each week, I love encouraging his excitement about books, and it gives us an easy, free, and fun outing for one of our weekly slower days when he doesn’t have preschool.

4. Menu planning

I love cooking, but only if I have a plan. If you ask me, there’s not much that makes dinnertime a more daunting prospect than realizing at about 4:45 that you have no idea what to make, and find yourself scrounging through the pantry to pull something together at the last minute. This item isn’t unique to 2014, but I continued my habit this year of sitting down on Sunday night to pull together a menu for the week. Knowing that I have a recipe chosen and ingredients ready to go makes dinner prep something I actually look forward to. I like trying new recipes, too, so I generally pin any recipes I happen to stumble across throughout the week, then choose a few of them to try for the upcoming week, as well as a few older favorites, and leave 1 or 2 nights open for leftovers or eating out.

5. The 10-minute cleaning rule

Earlier this year, when Darcy was still teeny and my house was in a particularly horrifying state of sleep-deprived postpartum neglect, I asked my mom if she would come over and help me get the mess figured out—I can’t function in a house that’s dirty and cluttered, and it was making me crazy, but it was also so daunting of a task that I had to bring in reinforcements. And it turns out, if you give the house one good, serious, deep clean, it doesn’t actually require a huge amount of work to stay relatively neat.

I adopted the idea (and rule) that if a tidying/cleaning task will take fewer than 10 minutes, it should be done right away instead of procrastinated. For example: folding a basket of clean laundry will take about 10 minutes, but picking clean items out of the laundry basket one at a time for the next week and a half will take far longer, so I might as well fold it all right away. Picking up an entire room’s worth of toys, although it looks like a huge task, only really takes about 5 minute, so just do it and have it finished instead of tiptoe-ing around Lego pieces and discarded stuffed animals all evening. If it takes less than 10 minutes to complete, it’s not worth putting off.

6. Division of labor

While we’re on the topic of tidying up, sharing household tasks simply does not work for me and Jeff. For us, what works best is to simply sit down and divvy up regular chores that need to be done. If one of us needs help, sure, the other will step in, but our house (and relationship) runs more smoothly if we both have a clear understanding of what job belongs to which person. He takes out the trash, does the yard work, handles house repairs, pays bills; I cook meals, do all the shopping, do laundry, make the bed. What has worked for us is dividing things up so we know exactly what each of us is expecting the other to do.

It leads to a lot less frustration—I don’t sit around on Saturday, wondering if he’ll ever bother to make the bed and feeling resentful when he doesn’t; it is now simply my job. And he doesn’t hang around, wondering if I’m ever going to carry those stinky bags of diapers to the outdoor garbage cans—I won’t do it, so this is now his job, plain and simple.

7. Less Pinterest, more books

At some point this year (probably after wasting an entire afternoon on Pinterest) I realized something: the time I’d just spent completely pointlessly, that left me feeling guilty and insufficient and jealous, could have been spent doing something I enjoy: reading a book. (Always with the genius revelations over here.) It’s so easy for me to get sucked into the dark abyss of the internet, and I almost always regret it. But I never regret spending an hour or two with a book, so why not pick up a book instead of checking facebook for the 14th time in a day? This probably shouldn’t have been such a life-changing realization, but I think it contributed to my being able to read as much as I did this year. I’d much rather have another book under my belt than log a few more hours getting jealous of organized pantries and other people’s wardrobes on Pinterest.

8. Jeggings

I know what a stupid thing this is to include in my list. I know. But hear me out: I love jeggings, okay? They’re comfortable, they’re stylish (heaven help me if the world ever moves on from skinnies), and they’re realistic for a mom of little kids. I want to look nice without spending a lot of money or time or effort, and jeggings fit the bill on all counts—inexpensive, easy to style, easy to wash and care for, easy to wear. This is my favorite brand (ebay is the only place I’ve consistently found them online; size up—I wear a large), and I love all those color options. I also have a few pairs of denim jeggings that I got for $13 a pair at Ross and adore. Jeggings make my life a little easier.

9. Hospital water bottle

Another stupid addition to the list, but I’m serious. You know those mega-sized water bottles they give you at the hospital when you have a baby? They’re thick and insulated and have a big handle and a fatty straw? I love them. I LOVE THEM. I tossed out the one I was given after Forrest’s birth, and regretted it for—I’m not exaggerating—years. I think my excitement over Darcy’s birth was split about 60% baby, 30% water bottle, and 10% luxurious hospital stay (don’t ever send me back home, please!). Having that giant hospital water bottle sitting out on the counter means I drink loads of water during the day, and I always feel better when I drink more water.

10. Paypal

I mentioned in the above point that I do all our shopping—groceries, household items, kids’ clothes, etc. But since I don’t exactly make a boatload of money, I often feel a little guilty buying things for myself that aren’t strictly necessary. I know I shouldn’t—the money Jeff makes is more ours as a family than it is his, we both agree on this point, and he has never said anything to make me feel bad about spending money on myself. But still, I often feel weird about it—I know he’ll check the credit card statement online (he checks it every day), and he’ll see that I spent money, and he won’t care—I know he won’t care!—but I guess I like the idea of occasionally splurging on something for myself, and having it guilt-free.

Most of the money I earn from etsy and blogging goes straight into my Paypal account, and I like being able to buy things for myself using my Paypal, knowing that I’m spending money I earned. It isn’t that I don’t want Jeff to know about things I buy—I excitedly tell him about my  Paypal purchases and he never fails to ask why I didn’t just put it on our credit card instead—it’s more that I find a certain satisfaction in knowing that I earned this money on my own, and I’m spending it on me. It’s a rather silly habit, but it’s working for me.

What worked for you in 2014?

July Goal Review + August Goals

Maybe one of my monthly goals one of these times should be wrapping up a month before the following month is half over?

To see my goal post for July, click HERE. I feel too lazy this afternoon(/month) to do my usual graphic grading myself on accomplishments/failures . . . so, bullet point style, my July goals were:

1) Sew a skirt. This is getting embarrassing, as it’s been a running goal for like 4 months. Just go ahead and guess if this one was completed. It might just be time to admit that I’m not terribly excited about sewing a skirt, and it’s prolly not gonna happen.

2) Exercise 4 times a week: Surprisingly enough, I did a good job here! Granted, my exercise was not particularly strenuous or impressive, but it felt like my maximum and boy does it get harder each day. Forrest and I go for morning walks/waddles most days, or head to the gym where he loves the little day care center and I do not as much love the ellipticals and treadmills. But still. Jeff remarked the other day that I don’t seem quite as bloated/swollen as I did around this time with Forrest, so maybe it’s helping?

3) Clean out craft room. Pssssht. Did not happen. In fact, I believe it got worse. (It definitely got worse.)

4) Cut spur-of-the-moment purchases: I actually feel pretty proud of myself on this one. I did a really good job at reducing those random purchases that you don’t really need  but they do look fun at the time. I can’t say I absolutely 100% never bought anything that wasn’t absolutely necessary, but I tried to think twice before just tossing some cheap little item into the cart, and asked myself if I needed it or just wanted the momentary thrill of buying something silly.

5) Start building baby wardrobe: Yes! A huge thank you to my friend Haley, who sent a great big box of baby girl clothes, which was a giant leap forward in the baby wardrobe department. And this past weekend was a clothing swap that our church puts on each year, and you’d better believe I waddled out of there with 5 shopping bags full of clothes for the little lady (and Forrest). I love hand-me-downs.

Since August is already half over, I’m taking it easy here. (And not making my usual goal graphic—far too lazy.)

August Goals

1) Clean out the craft room. For real. It’s terrible. And it needs to start turning itself into a baby room, pronto.

2) Sew + hang curtains for baby’s room. I’ve had all my nursery fabrics purchased and ready to go for a few weeks, and haven’t even taken them out of the bag yet to get started on anything.

3) Continue exercising (4 times/week).

I think that’ll be it for this month. Not too bad—this should be do-able! (<—that exact sentence seems to be the kiss of death on each of my goal posts than ensures I do 50% or less of my goals.)

What are you up to this month?

July 2013 Goals

My goals for the month . . . here goes nothing:

1. I failed to sew something in June, and am trying again for July. I plan to make either a maxi skirt, or a knee-length ‘yoga’ skirt. I think either would be great for summer weather!

2. Exercising 4 days a week sounds like kind of a lot to me . . . but when all I can handle without getting totally winded and spending the rest of the day napping is a leisurely stroll with Forrest, it doesn’t seem so daunting. And during the last few months/weeks of my pregnancy with Forrest, I really packed on the weight. Like, a lot of it. And yes, a good amount of it did turn out to just be water weight, but maybe exercising more will help keep my out-of-control swelling down this time? It really was outrageous. I was swollen in places I didn’t know could swell (love handles! did you know you can have a WATER MUFFIN TOP?). Fingers crossed that maybe a little more frequent exercising helps with that.

3. Jeff can’t believe I’m stressing already about the baby’s room. “It’ll take you like 3 days! She’s not due for 4 months!” But all I’m hearing is, “4 months! That’s it! You only have 4 months to do EVVVEEEERYTHIIIING!” And I know this second trimester feel-good get-er-done energy isn’t going to last forever, so I want as much baby prep as possible to be done well before the 3rd trimester exhaustion hits. This month, I want to clear out my craft room (a huge task in itself) and relocate it the basement, and get started on turning it into baby girl’s room (collecting/repainting furniture, decorating, etc.).

4. Not to toot my own horn here, but I’m really good at not spending lots of money. Avoiding a $50 jeans purchase? Easy. Not dropping $75 at Target on little doo-dads and cheap shoes? Simple. But I’m not so good at not spending a little money. It’s not as easy for me to talk myself out of, say, a $10 fast food lunch with Forrest every week, or a $12 shirt on clearance, or just an extra $15 worth of snacks and candy at the grocery store. I’m great at avoiding large-ish purchases, but I make plenty of little purchases instead, and they sure do add up. I want to cut down on those small spur-of-the-moment purchases this month.

5. Yet another item Jeff is stunned I’m already worried about. “She has no clothes!!!” “You have FOUR MONTHS, Rachel.” “But she has NO CLOTHES! She’ll be naked! ALL THE TIME!” And since I like to get as much as possible from garage sales/thrift stores/hand-me-downs/etc. instead of buying everything brand new at full price, I want to start early at building a wardrobe. This will include going through old boxes of Forrest’s clothes to see what can be re-used for a girl, and looking for bargains for new or secondhand items.

So this should hopefully be a busy and productive month! What’s on your plate for July?

June 2013 Goal Review

Happy July, folks! This year, instead of the traditional New Years’ Resolutions, I’m trying monthly goals on for size. Seems a little more do-able to me, not to mention that things that seemed important in January may not still be a priority 5 months later, and new ideas always crop up. You can visit my June goal post HERE.

So, how’d I do on this month’s goals? Pretty well, actually. Pick up that jaw from the floor.

I mostly did what I had hoped to do! This doesn’t happen much . . . I’m pretty pleased.

1. I didn’t get around to sewing anything, probably because I bounced around between a few project ideas and never just made a decision. Too many ideas are just as bad as too few. So I’m carrying that goal over to July with the more specific addendum of sewing at least 1 skirt (perfect for an ever-increasing stomach size + hot summer weather. Pants are just not working for me these days). I plan to sew either a maxi skirt (like this), or a knee-length ‘yoga’ skirt (like this), or maybe both. We shall see. While we’re on the topic, anyone have any favorite sources for affordable knit fabrics for this type of project?

2. I finally got a grip on my horribly messy house (and stopped using the ‘I’m pregnant’ excuse to avoid it because, to be perfectly honest with you, I feel like 95% normal at this point in the pregnancy [gotta love the 2nd trimester—past the ickiness of the 1st, but not into the whale-iness of the 3rd], and the ‘I’m pregnant’ excuse absolutely must be saved for more important things, like sending Jeff out at midnight for a milkshake). My house certainly isn’t spotless, but at least I’ve gotten back into the habit of cleaning up some clutter on occasion and doing laundry again.

3. I wanted to try a few new recipes to add more vegetables to my diet—my absolute favorite this month was this recipe for Caramelized Butternut Squash (although I just cooked it on the stovetop instead of roasting, which I’m sure would be delicious, but would have been ready like 40 minutes later than the rest of my meal). I hope you take me seriously when I tell you that I literally ate the entire squash myself. And I know what literally means. I don’t hold with any figurative usage of literally. I also really liked baked sweet potato fries this month (no particular recipe for this), and these Honey Mashed Carrots were surprisingly good as well. Can you tell I only really like orange vegetables?

4. More pictures? Done. My favorite:

*snort* Can’t forget these beautiful moments!

5. As for the basement and nursery makeovers . . . it appears the basement makeover might be taking a backseat for a while (unless anyone has, oh, $5,000 they’d like to send my way? Hmm? Bueller?), but I’ve got some good ideas brewing for the baby’s room. I’ll share them soon!

How did you do in June? Any accomplishments you’re especially proud of?

Catching Up + June Goals

Oh, hi there, old friend! Did you forget about this blog? It’s been a while. I almost forgot about it myself. I guess I have some catching up to do!

I’m not one for big flashy announcements (blogger fail spoiler alert: sorry, no cutesy projects, themed photo shoots, or announcement cupcakes here, but to be fair, I’ve never led anyone to expect such things from me--minimal effort is key), so I’ll just say it plain and simple: baby #2 is on her way!

Look at that, it’s an announcement BOGO today! We’re having a baby, and it’s a girl!

(She’s cute already!)

So there’s the reason for my recent absence. Maybe someday I’ll share the first trimester drama in all its unwanted detail, but for now, suffice it to say that I’m doing well, baby looks great, and I’m glad to have some energy back. I’m 19 weeks along, and she’s due in late October. We’re very excited, and even Forrest seems to be kind of into the idea. (Although, to be fair, he gets excited about almost everything, and I kind of doubt he really has any idea what we’re talking about when we tell him a baby sister is coming. But no matter—”Baby sistoh! Wow! Yay! I yuv baby sistoh! Baby sistoh kiss!” are the cutest things I’ve ever heard him say, period.)

That being said, I didn’t bother with my goal of setting goals for the past monthish . . . when my biggest goals were ‘don’t stay in bed all day’ and ‘consider exchanging pajamas for real clothes sometime this week’, they hardly seemed worth sharing. So here we go for June!

1. It’s been so long since I used my sewing machine for anything besides hemming pants. It’s time to dust her off, choose something fun to work on, and get sewing.

2. I don’t even want to explain to you how awful our house is right now. And I’m not trying to be cute and act like it’s a mess when really it just needs a few toys picked up. I literally cannot recall the last time I did laundry or cleaned my bathroom, and it’s downright embarrassing when someone knocks at the door and I’m forced to open it and expose them to what appears to be tornado destruction ruins inside. Now that I’m feeling mostly normal again, it’s time to get a grip and start cleaning up.

3. I’ve been trying to eat healthier these past few months, and a big part of that is putting on my big girl panties and eating some vegetables. I could eat fruit all day and night, but I’m not the world’s biggest veggie fan. So this month, I want to try a few new side dish recipes and add some more vegetables to my diet.

4. Almost all of my photos lately are cell phone pics, and while that’s fine and dandy, I think maybe someday I’ll regret not using my real camera more and having better quality photos to look back on. I’m going to get out the camera this month and capture some memories.

5. We’ve been “planning” (“air quote that one”) (“’”heavily”””) a basement makeover for months, and have never even gone so far as looking at paint colors or carpet or anything. We have such a great (potentially great) space down there, and it’s going completely to waste right now. We’d really like to have our big basement room converted to a multi-purpose craft/chiropractic/play room before this baby arrives. Speaking of which, my craft room needs to start making its journey to becoming a baby’s room instead. So this month, I’d like to take some steps forward on those two room makeovers, even if it’s just gathering ideas and putting a little money aside.

There we go! Hopefully these are do-able. What are your goals for June?

March Goal Recap

So, in an effort to be more productive and not get bogged down by yearly goals that heaven knows I’ll never accomplish, I’m trying out a monthly goal system this year. It has worked decently so far, and I’ve found it really motivating to have a smaller list of specific tasks rather than a huge yearly system. You can see my March ambition HERE, and now that we have entered a new month, it’s time to review my wild success. Ready?

This is going to be embarrassing . . . .

. . . .

. . . .

NOPE.

That’s a big ol’ fail for the entire month. What happened, you ask? Idunno. Forrest spent the first week of the month puking, I had some last-minute travel, then I wasn’t feeling so hot myself, then Jeff ended up having to cover two offices for a week instead of just his own office, plus the weather was nice enough that Forrest and I spent about every spare moment riding his trike outside and visiting the park (where, of course, I interacted nonstop with him because I am an all-star mom hahaha #goodone) . . . phew. I’m tired.

In my defense . . . March wasn’t a total flop. At the very least, I did brainstorm some jewelry storage ideas, and did one or two of the multiple small touch-ups I had hoped to do in Forrest’s room, and although 1 dessert per week was a long shot to start with, I definitely did cut down on my typical treat consumption. And sure, I only made my bed once (that’s right! one time!) all month, and the ‘inviting someone for dinner’ was partially fulfilled when I threw a birthday party for my brother (counts, right?), and my sewing machine is gathering dust . . . but I read some books this month! One goal out of eight: check!

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore: 3/5 stars. It was quick and pretty enjoyable, but in the end, a little too much for me to take.

The Round House: 3/5 stars. Definitely impressive in terms of the writing and construction and delivery, but not one I necessarily loved reading. I respected it, but I didn’t love it.

The One and Only Ivan: 4/5 stars. Adorable and so sweet. I’ll admit: I cried a tad at the ending. So lovable.

Something Missing: 3/5 stars. Quirky and different and endearing and fun. It’s sure not going to change your life or anything, but I read it all in one day while feeling under the weather and it was quick and fun and had a few cute laugh-out-loud moments.

Clockwork Angel: 4/5 stars. I’m a little behind the times on this series, but it’s new to me and I actually really liked the first book! I tend to stay away from YA, and fantasy, and YA fantasy, but I thought this book was really engaging and exciting and unique. I’m working on the second in the series now.

So March wasn’t a total bust, but I can’t say I got many important things done. Oh well, we all need some time off every now and then, right? Right.

March 2013 Goals

Since sharing my February goals seemed to keep me at least partially motivated, here we go for March!

I didn’t even come close to finishing my 1 big project from February, so I’m just going for multiple littler projects this time around. I desperately need to figure out some sort of jewelry storage solution (my current method is tossing everything on a shelf in my closet until they all transmogrify into an amorphous blob of tangled chains and lone earrings), and my family room walls have been very bare for a very long time, so it’s probably time I addressed that. Forrest’s room has had about a dozen tiny touch-up needs that I’ve ignored for, oh, 6 months, but would probably only take about 10 minutes each to complete. And it’s been such a while since I sewed . . . I don’t even have a particular project picked out, I just think I need to sew something this month.

So there we go! My goals for March. I’ll be back at the end of the month with a recap.

Do you have goals this month? Hit me.

February 2013 Goals

Want to know a secret? I don’t do New Year’s Resolutions. It’s seriously been years since I sat down and thought up goals for a new year and wrote them down and actually intended to keep them. I gave up on them when I realized a few years back that in my lifespan of 20-some years of making goals for each year, I had never once kept a single one of them. Nary a one. Kind of puts a damper on your goal-setting spirit to know that there’s not a chance in hell any of them will actually come to pass, don’t you think?

So I thought I’d try something else, inspired by some blog friends who do a monthly goal post. I really enjoy seeing what they plan to do each month, and then tuning in a few weeks later to see what they accomplished and how things turned out. Since I’ve proven to myself time and time again that yearly goals are sooooo beyond my capabilities, I’m just going to make and try to tackle goals on a monthly basis. And I skipped January, because really, making January goals? Totally overdone. So mainstream. Over it. (More like we all had the flu in January and my main goal was no puking on the carpet. Check and check, off to a rip-roaring start in ‘13!)

I think these are do-able. I guess we’ll find out come the end of the month. It’s going to be embarrassing when I have to admit to completing none of them, eh? And I suppose if I were really on top of things, I would have posted this on the first of the month and not, oh, the eighth, but it took me 6, count ‘em, 6 tries just now to spell ‘eighth’ correctly, so I’m clearly not firing on all cylinders.

I’ll recap at the end of the month to see how I did. Do you have any goals for February? Lay ‘em on me, maybe we can keep each other motivated.