Resolutions Revisited

I decided to look back on my old resolutions from the past year to see how I did… and, well… not so good.

• On maintaining the loss of weight and being more healthy… failed miserably.
• On saving money… failed miserably, but buying a house will do that.
• On reading one book per month… Can you guess?… failed miserably.

So this past year I found the 15 pounds I had lost last year, bought a house so saving anything sorta went out the window, and my reading time also went out the window with all the house projects on our to-do list. But, getting our house was probably the biggest highlight of the year… and let’s not forget that we also got our beloved pooch.

So I really wanted to think about this year’s resolutions… and they shall be:

• Get healthier than I was this past year, which includes diet, exercise, eating at home more, knocking some bad habits.
• Continue work on the house and try to get the inside done so that we can do some major stuff outside next year (add front porch, put in back patio, make stone walkways, landscape, etc.). For now we continue to fix the things inside and paint. David, God bless him, still has energy to work and finished painting his office a week ago. I have to get my fixer-upper groove back on.
• Continue reading as much as I can with the goal of 12 books for the year (one per month).
• Pay down debts (student loans, credit cards, etc.)

I took a look at my reading list from this past year and made some progress (although very little):
1. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (all five novels) by Douglas Adams
2. P.S., I Love You by Cecelia Ahern
3. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert – reading NOW
4. His Dark Materials Omnibus (The Golden Compass, and two others in series) by Philip Pullman
5. Wicked & Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire
6. Angels & Demons by Dan Brown (author of DaVinci Code – another great one)
7. Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
8. Hannibal by Thomas Harris (Both are supposed to be great!)

I finished the Hitchhiker series, which is really 5 books, so I have to count that as good progress. I also read P.S., I Love You which was fantastic. I also read one that was not on my reading list because it was given to me by a friend called Watermark, which is not something I would have picked because it is a lesbian romance, but not too bad (I’m very open-minded).  So I guess I can conclude that I read 7 books which is better than previous years. I started and I am halfway through Eat, Pray, Love which is FANTASTIC! So very soon I can cross that one off the list. I have also picked up/received the following that I can add to the ever-growing list:

9. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow (I got this one for Christmas from my Aunt)
10. Are You Ready!: To Take Charge, Lose Weight, Get in Shape, and Change Your Life Forever by Bob Harper
11. A Lion Among Men (the third of the Wicked Series) by Gregory Maguire
12. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
13. One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell

And this list doesn’t even include my classics collection that I wish to read… Jane Austin, Chaucer, and others. But for now, it is a good start. Here’s to a happy new year!