January Wrap

I decided that this year I would do Crazy Aunt Purl's Total Do-Able 12 Month Plan. I like to make lists and mark things off and I felt like her strategy was practical. With January ended and February beginning I thought I would do a little check in.

First up, my "Looming Life Must Haves":
New tires
Oil change
Medication
501(c)3 application

These are all things that require budgeting money. Honestly, budgeting is not my strong suit. I know about how much I have to spend in a month and then I try and stock away a little of what's left over. With my long term unemployment while I finished grad school the theme was "Spend as Little as Humanly Possible." Interesting results but not how I want to live my life. I'm hoping that by thinking ahead this year as to how I have to spend money each month I will end up spending in a more conscious way. Back to The Plan...the tires were actually free because they were a birthday gift from last year. The oil change ended up being more expensive than I originally planned because I also needed to get an alignment but my medication was totally paid for my my insurance so it evened out in the wash. And the 501(c)3 application is sent!

Next up, "Happy Wants":

I guess we can mark this as "done" because I didn't actually have any "Happy Wants" this month! "Happy Wants" to me mean things that make me happy (and sane) but cost money. Instead of spending more money this month I figured saving would be a better idea. Onward!

And finally, "Personal Desires":
Knit daily
Knit a hat
Work out for 1 hr/day
Write letters to 5 kids in Romania

These are my personal wish list items. Things that will make me feel better about myself (and, for my purposes, don't cost a dime). I was able to work out for at least an hour just about every day and I knit a good deal more than I have in the past several months (though not *every* night). I managed to knit a hat as well! The letters to the kids in Romania never got finished though. Which actually makes me feel like a tiny failure because for some reason I equate not writing with not loving my kids. Which is totally not true. I have to remind myself that these are goals and not meant to make me feel like a terrible person. It's a new month so I can always improve.

Firefighters of New York calendar and my 12 month plan.

2011 Resolutions

Drum roll please! Here, in no particular order, are my 2011 New Year's Resolutions!

1. To do more good stuff. I want to grow the Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project into a full fledged, tax exempt entity. I want to do some more missions work. I want to knit more for charity. I want to continue to feel like I'm making a difference.

2. I want to make the things that are important to me my top priority instead of side projects. Read as: charity and business.

3. I want to do something risky. I have an idea of what this will be but I'm not quite ready to share it. I will when the time is right. For now I'm seeking out advice and trying to be smart about it. There is a fine line between taking a risk and being a damn fool.

4. Go clean with my cosmetics. I'm reading the book No More Dirty Looks and it talks a lot about the benefits of going clean with your health and beauty routine. Since I've switched to organic cleaners and do try to eat organic when I can I think this is a logical next step.

And...that's it! Just four things but four really quality things. This summer I will turn 28 and for some reason that has given me great pause. I'm not where I thought I would be at this point in my life (and have known that for some time) but for some reason 28 seems like too long to let that just continue to be. I want to at least say I tried something different, stuck my neck out, did something new. Maybe this year will be the year I find true love, land the perfect job, and make a million bucks. But if I don't then at least I want to say I tried.

Good-bye 2010!

It's that time of year again! The time when I review my New Year's resolutions and see which ones I actually stuck to. Tomorrow I'll highlight my new New Year's resolutions (which I must admit I'm pretty excited about).

Overall 2010 wasn't anything to really scream about. I was talking with an old friend last night about 2011 and I remarked, "You know, nothing really changed this year. I'm exactly where I was when we started 2010." And it's pretty true. I'm not richer (in fact I might be slightly poorer), I didn't find the love of my life (in fact I went through a pretty disappointing break up this summer), I didn't nab my dream job, I didn't really go anywhere exciting or do anything life changing. 2010 just kind of was. The biggest event was my brother's wedding which took up the better part of the year. Maybe 2010 is just a place holder for the awesomeness that will be 2011. I suppose we'll see.

On to the resolutions!

1. Have 3 things on my needles at a time: something for myself, something for a friend or family member, and something for charity. I think I kind of did this one. Currently I have 1.5 projects for charity on the needles (a pair of half finished fingerless mitts and a pair of mittens that lack one thumb to be finished) and a pair of socks for myself. I did just finish that huge sweater for my mom so I haven't started anything for friends or family at the moment. I know I didn't hold to this hard and fast all year but I still like the spirit of it. I'd say this was half success. Bonus points for being a good idea.

2. Dedicate 2 nights a week to working on my shop(s). Oi, this was when I had the Etsy and the regular online shop. What a nightmare. I quickly abandoned the Etsy shop after about 3 months when I realized it was all a lot of trouble that wasn't really worth it since I had another perfectly nice shop already in place. Lesson here? KISS (keep it simple stupid). As for working 2 nights a week on the shop(s)...that didn't last. During the spring I was working on my brother's wedding, during the summer I was dating, during the fall I started grad school, during the winter was more grad school. I really do want to start carving out more time for the shop though. New Year's resolution take 2? Possibly? This one was a bust for 2010 though :(

3. Vend at 3 fiber festivals/fairs. Almost a success with this one. Stitches South fell through (another big fiasco in and of itself...just a note, if you decide not to do a show and someone else is supposed to be sharing a booth space with you it would be nice to let them know more than a month before hand, you know, common courtesy and such) but I did vend at the Middle Tennessee Fiber Festival and SAFF. One was blazing hot and the other freezing cold but it was a great experience and even though I proclaimed myself to be a dyer and not a Dyer I'm more excited about attacking the shows in 2011 and really growing the business. It helped that my friend Steph went along with me and is able to look at the festivals through a fresh set of eyes.

4. Do more local missions work. I'd say this was accomplished. Especially in the last 6 months. Sometimes it was uncomfortable but I stepped out and I've found some things I'd really like to be involved in. Plus it just makes you feel good.

5. To buy organic cleaners. Another accomplishment. I switched to almost 100% organic cleaners (as well as dishwashing and laundry detergent) and I've really enjoyed it. I think they work as well as non-organic and they don't smell like death in a bottle or melt my skin when I touch them. The best all purpose cleaner I found was the Green Works by Clorox all purpose cleaner. There are less than 10 ingredients in it and it smells pretty decent. It also cleaned the nasty ring around my tub with just a little elbow grease. A feat in and of itself. The other brand I use with great regularity is Seventh Generation which is the "bargain" brand of organic cleaners. I will say that the Seventh Generation all purpose wipes smell funky and leave my hands smelling funky after using them. Not skin melting and eye watering, just...odd. There are some things I haven't completely given up (like my toilet cleaner and Windex mirror wipes) but I'm working on it.

6. Find a workout plan that works for me and stick to it. I know I said that I'd given up on my eating habits and I wanted to work out more but the reverse actually happened. In February or March I was seeing my doctor for the 2nd or 3rd bout of strep throat in just 2 months time and I found this great little pamphlet on 1500 calorie "dieting". I looked through it and the amazing thing was, it was do-able. I wasn't going to have to scour the black market or whole foods looking for a year round jaboticaba dealer just to make a salad. This diet recommended great portion sizes that left me full but not stuffed and dishes that incorporated common fruits and veggies I could find year round at Publix. It was great! I lost 15 pounds in 6 months! Disclaimer: I also switched some medicine that I was taking that I was pretty sure was making me pack on the pounds. I still credit at least 10 pounds to this diet though. I wish I could tell you a magical website to go to and get this plan but there's not one. However, it's distributed by Merck so maybe you could check their website. And the diet is basically 80% fruits and veggies with whole grains and a little meat. Oh, and I never did start exercising regularly.

So there it is, my 2010 New Year's resolution wrap up. Tomorrow I'll list my resolutions for 2011. I'm ready for a new year!