2012 goals check in

In short, I'm a big failure.

-The big one, exercise twice a week, was more often once a week in reality. Once late April hit, it was more than a month of zero exercise. Well, there was certainly a ton of walking in Europe, but no gym for weeks. I was working every day and took several work trips in addition the vacation trip. Since mid-June I've been better, but still averaging once a week.

-I wanted to bike 100 miles. It wouldn't be tough, either--ten trips of about ten miles each. Easy peasy. But again, the busy and then the pregnant. And now the ridiculous heat, sheesh. So that one's gone for the year. I'll look forward to re-discovering biking in Portland next spring and see if we can get some baby seats for some family rides (I am really excited about that, actually). 

-I wanted to fully fund a Roth IRA contribution. After the new year, having a real salary, I did several large and small contributions but to both tax years. I think combining the two I was pretty close to $5,000, which Mister M says still counts.

-I wanted to drink more water (at least 16 oz a day). I did pretty well, and have been trying to drink more than that. It was a little easier at work, with the water cooler. And now that I'm once again obsessed with lemon water (I like a tablespoon of lemon juice to ten ounces of water), plain water is so boring but I keep running out of lemons.

(PS, do you ever catch yourself realizing what you're complaining about? "Ugh, all this clean water that I get for free from inside my own kitchen is so BORING." "Dude, I'm eating so many lemons that I can't buy them fast enough with all this money I have, from these many grocer establishments in my immediate area!" "It sucks that the clean water I turn on in my shower is so cold at first! I have to let it run unused down the drain so long for it to be warm and comfortable for my precious skin!" First world problems, oh my!)

-I made a reading goal of eighty books and four classics. I'll shatter the first one; I'm already at 65 for the year. And! I've read three classics too so far. First was Peter Pan, for one of my book clubs. It was...kind of weird, but still had the same charm as the Disney cartoon and Hook. Then I found a book that included Call of the Wild and White Fang and devoured those in a few days. I loved them! I'm not sure why, but I really enjoyed reading about the exploits of the wolves/dogs and the wild white north. I was, and still am, kind of bummed that the books are over. I watched the White Fang movie (with the baby-faced Ethan Hawke), and I keep meaning to start re-watching Due South because of the husky.

-Donate blood--nope. My OB took about five vials of it for the first round of testing though, does that count?

-I wanted to visit my grandma once more. Mister M and I went out there just after we got married, two summers ago. She's now 95, and since we (read: I) were already planning to move, it wouldn't be as easy to hop over to Illinois. I just went last week and it was good timing, because a couple months ago she had a bad fall and her health/mental acuity has been deteriorating. So I'm really glad that I made it out there to see her and some other family that I don't see much.

-I wanted to snack smarter and eat at least one piece of fruit a day. That one has only been so-so. I got tired of apples months ago, but have been eating bananas, lots of blueberries and strawberries, and of course, all that fresh lemon juice-yum yum. However...currently there are two packages of cookies in the kitchen. (This is a major anomaly though!!)  And I was thinking about making nacho tots for dinner...

-Organization! I have made a few small strides in that lately (recent bathroom closet clean-out), and I weeded out some clothes and books a couple times this year, but now it's ramped up with the packing process. That's a definite upside to getting ready to move--perfect opportunity to get rid of excess stuff and make sure you keep what's actually important. For example, I gave away the two and a half years' worth of National Geographic and Smithsonian that I'd been saving. Remember that I agonized over getting rid of the first couple years' worth and wanting them to be used for the right reason. Now, obviously, I realize that it is utterly ridiculous to move a big stack of heavy magazines that honestly I never look at after I read them, interesting though they are. So in a way I'm even organizing and decluttering my mind! :)

(Oh, and I've linked to it on Facebook a couple times, but just in case, if you are motivated or want to be about cleaning/decluttering, you should read Unf*ck your Habitat. Big inspiration! Unclutterer is another good one, with a more mature/less cursing kind of feel.)

Well, I guess that overall I haven't failed too badly at most of these things. I really am counting on this pregnant thing to be a valid excuse for some of it, and now losing my job for some others.