Sunday, January 12, 2014

Press Forward and Carry On

On the morning of January 1, 2014, I was the first one in the household up and about.  I sat down in the quiet of the living room with my journal and wrote a bit about my hopes and dreams, what I want to accomplish, to do, and to be in the year 2014.   Here are the things I want for the coming year:

                Temple – Attend more often, weekly if possible
                Quilting – Finish the quilts I have started
                Promptness -- Get to work and church meetings early and on time
                Order – Sort, organize, and dispose of our stuff and clutter
                Save and Prepare -- Money and food storage
                Service and Love -- Work, church, community, parents, and family
                Scriptures and Prayers – Keep on keeping on
                Family – Support them in being successful and healthy and happy
                Finish the draft of my book

I then set up a plan of when I would try to work on each of these areas each day or each week.  And then I remembered that I have signed up to take an evening class this semester.  I’m not sure how well my plan will work.   I know it’s a lot to do.  But these are things that I want to do this year.  So, I will set my mantra for the year to be Press Forward and Carry On.  Setbacks may come along, but I will try to regroup, and make some progress in these areas. 

And, just because I like to, I went back to my New Year’s post from last year to see how well I did at reaching my goals in 2013.  I had set some goals to be more balanced and creative in my life, and here’s what I found:             

·          Painting or Drawing . . . try a portrait.

This did not happen.  I may have thought about it again once or twice.  I really don’t think this one is on the list for 2014. 

·          Reading . . . . read 52 books during the year.

According to Goodreads, I only finished 48 books this past year.  I may have read a few others that didn’t get posted on Goodreads, but they weren’t worth mentioning.  I started quite a few others and never finished them.  At any rate, it was a much smaller number than the 74 books I read in 2012.  I have decided to keep my goal at 52 books in 2014.  I know I will read something, no matter what.

·         Quilting . . . . finish two quilts.

I didn’t work on either of them.  But I did start two more.  J  Think I can finish all four this year?  Oh, and I assisted DD4 in creating a quilt to take to college.  We did finish that one!

·         Writing . . . complete the draft of my book. 

Still haven’t finished it, but I did add 21,219 words to the manuscript during November’s  NaNoWriMo.  At different times throughout the year I did a bit more revising/editing/combining of the multitudes of drafts I have put together over the past four or five years, but it is still a project that needs time and attention.  It is still a goal.

Blogging is also still a goal, especially keeping a daily gratitude blog on Random Thoughts and Tender Mercies.  I did pretty well all through the year, until December when I totally lost my umph.  For sure.  But, I am determined to get back into the habit.  I know it is good for me.  I did participate in Blogging from A to Z back in April on Creation and Compassion, and was quite successful there.  I even pushed myself to sew some new quilt blocks in the process.  I don’t think I’ll have time for that this year.  If I do, they will be simple gratitude blogs. 

·          Lose some weight . . .  somewhere between 10 to 25 pounds.

Last year was the first time in my life that I ever have set a weight loss goal.  It is completely against my nature, and I probably would not have met it had it not been for the fact that I was without a car from May through December.  I have been walking almost every day, trying to eat reasonably, and I did lose at least 10 pounds.  I think it was actually closer to 15, but I can’t be sure since I lost the planner that I was using at the first of the year and can’t find a record of my weight at the beginning of 2013.  What can I say?  I know that I lost weight, I definitely do not want to gain the weight back, and I will try to lose another 5 or 10 during the coming year.

So, Marcy, it’s all there in black and white for the world to see and read.  Press Forward and Carry  On!


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