The Treasure of a Month Well Spent

This has been quite a busy month and quite fulfilling. I learned a lot, lived a lot and enjoyed it all. I can’t wait to get cracking with February.

Daily: Get back on track after the holiday with eating well and working out daily. 

January Update: No excuses for my backtracking except the weather. I just love to walk and with temperatures below zero it’s a little hard to get outside.

February Goal: When the temperature is above 20, no excuse not to walk. Plus, writing it down will take precedent.

Weekly: Learn something new in crafting each week – a stitch, a technique, even a term.

January Update: This has been great. I learned how to cable stitch, 2 applique lessons, learned how to make a Quillow and reintroduced myself to the crochet chain stitch. 

February Goal: I have so many new things to learn this month, including how to knot an infinity scarf and all the lessons for making a Jelly Roll quilt (that will be several lessons.)

Monthly: Read 3 books a month – one fiction, one nonfiction, and a classic. So far I picked out for January The Book Thief, Why Christianity Must Change or Die and The Frontiersmen.

January Update: Loved The Book Thief, still reading Why Christianity Must Change or Die (there is a lot to think about there) and just couldn’t muddle through The Frontiersmen.

February Goal: Keeping the fiction choice light with the final book of the Caster Chronicles, Beautiful Redemption, staying on the spiritual side with Dyer’s Wishes Fulfilled and taking a classic look at The Awakening.

Seasonally: Winter/Spring (Jan-Apr): Taking online courses in graphic design and social media to build my resume and reputation.

January Update: InDesign and Photoshop classes are going great. I’ve even designed a brochure for one of my volunteer clients putting my knowledge to real-world use. Ditto with the social media.

February Goal: Continue with these studies and I plan on finishing my basic InDesign lessons this month. 

Yearly: Bible Study.

January Update: I completed half of The Gospel According to Mark and have developed several new insights so far into this story of Jesus.

February Goal: Continue with Mark and move on to Matthew to get yet a different perspective of this much-told story. 

The Treasure of New Resolutions

I know a lot of people don’t like to talk about New Year’s Resolutions since after about 2 weeks the resolutions go by the waist-side and disappointment takes their place.

I love new beginnings, so resolutions are all right by me. I used to be the one who put everything in full gear for a couple weeks and then returned to old habits because I either:

A)   wanted to do too many things at once

B)   wanted to have changes happen too quickly OR

C)   wanted to change for the wrong reasons

I made the biggest change of this habit 2 years ago when I once and for all set the goal to lose weight and lost 40 pounds thanks to Weight Watchers and my own nerve to set realistic goals.

This year, I spent a couple weeks thinking about resolutions and goals, what I wanted to change and why, what would I need to accomplish these goals, what support should I recruit.

I broke my resolutions up into daily changes, weekly changes, monthly changes, seasonal changes and a yearly change.

Daily: Get back on track after the holiday with eating well and working out daily. Ten-Day Update: No problem – holiday weight is gone and I feel so much better.

Weekly: Learn something new in crafting each week – a stitch, a technique, even a term.

Ten-Day Update: The first week I learned how to do a cable stitch in knitting and this week I had my first applique lesson.

Monthly: Read 3 books a month – one fiction, one nonfiction, and a classic. So far I picked out for January The Book Thief, Why Christianity Must Change or Die and The Frontiersmen.

Ten-Day Update: I started all of them and see this being a done deal by the 31^st.

Seasonally: Now that I actually live in a climate that has seasons this is a real treat –

Winter/Spring (Jan-Apr): Taking online courses in graphic design and social media to build my resume and reputation.

Spring/Summer (May- Aug): Gardening and canning

Fall/Winter (Sept – Dec): Getting ready for the holiday; making things, preparing the house, setting everything into gear for Christmas.

Ten-Day Update: I’ve done my first 4 Photoshop Lessons, plus 2 lessons all about color and a lesson on the differences in traditional marketing versus social media marketing.

Yearly: Bible Study. I’m not reading the Bible per se like a book since that is not how it was put together. I am reading books and learning about why they were written, when and under what circumstances, what were the influences, what should I be learning from the piece, and how does it relate to 2014 and my life? January’s lesson – The Gospel According to Mark – the oldest Gospel.

Ten-Day Update: Have the background on when and under what circumstances Mark was written, plus a few of the other influences of the time. Next, reading the text and analyzing the story.

What have you put on your list this year and how is it going?