siiiiiiiiick

That's right, sick for Christmas. Slowly getting better finally, but I did take not one, but two naps on Christmas Day. My two sisters were also sick, so I wasn't the only one that passed out after lunch. Luckily my parents were understanding and let us sleep before we did presents.

A lot of stuff has happened since my last post. I was super busy for the weeks leading up to Christmas. Pretty sure that's what made me sick. I'm also blaming my lack of posting on that. One goal was completed - I went to a Leafs game! They lost (of course) but it was still a lot of fun. I also got a new job and quit my old one, so I will be modifying my bonus goal. Once I figure out what the new bonus structure is I will set a new goal. Hopefully I will be able to come up with something comparable. I'm being hired at a higher level, so that also completes my "get promoted" goal!

To continue with my goal check-up:

Exercise:
42. Run a 5k - done!
43. Run a 10k - to do next summer when races start again.
44. Participate in CN tower climb - depending how work goes, I'm going to try to do the April 2011 climb
45. Complete 100 push up program - I keep starting and stopping this. Hopefully next time I start I will keep with it!
46. Complete 200 sit-ups program - done!
47. Swim laps at pool 5 times - partway done. The only pool I I'm familiar with is tiny, and laps are barely 5 strokes. I need to find a bigger pool!
48. Go to the gym 143 times - I'm seriously sucking at this one, and need to step it up! I think I need to designate a gym night, and stick to it.
49. Finish yoga card and buy a new one - done!

Overall, I'm looking at 29 completed goals, and I'm just over halfway done the project. I do wish the number was higher, but I have to keep in mind that I do have a number of ongoing goals as well. I've also booked an appointment to donate blood next week once I'm not sick, so that will be one more goal down.

Goal Month!

As the title suggests, I've decided that November is goal month. At least that's the way it's turned out so far. To this date, I've completed 3 goals this month, and I'm going to knock another one down on Wednesday when I go to the Raptors game. I've also been making more progress on my goals, largely because of changes I've made since I started reviewing my progress. I had a few good days on free rice, I donated for quite a few days in a row. Then I fell off that wagon. Since I knew I had to adjust the total in the original post, I donated some more today to increase it. If nothing else, at least every time I blog I go and donate some rice!

Tomorrow night I plan to go to the gym. Dinner is already planned, and half started since I cooked enough meat today to last for two meals. I think that planning ahead is key to getting me to the gym. Otherwise I waste too much time puttering around trying to think about what to eat, and avoiding getting started on cooking. And since I'm way behind on going to the gym, I need to start going at least once during the week and again on the weekend. If I don't get started on that soon, I don't think I'll be able to recover.

OK, time to review another section of goals!

Craftiness
33. Use old granny squares in a project - nothing yet on this one. I have to dig them out, they're all in a box somewhere. I might just make them into an afghan for my couch, since it gets pretty cold in the winter when you're just sitting.
34. Knit 101 squares - I'm at 20 so far, so not bad but not great. I didn't really knit a lot in the summer, the heat does not make me feel like knitting. Knitting is more of a winter activity, so I'll try to get more done this winter.
35. Take a crafting course - I haven't done this yet, but I keep looking at courses. It seems like all the courses I want to take have already started or are full when I look them up. I'll have to keep trying.
36. Sew a sundress - this one I'm not going to bother with until next spring, when it will be warm enough for me to actually wear it once it's sewn. I have the fabric all picked out though!
37. Finish 5 old craft projects - I"m working on one currently, and I've planned out which other projects will get finished. The key will be to keep making progress so that they all get done.
38. Organize craft patterns - not yet. I'm going to try to do this sometime soon. So far I've started accumulating them in a drawer, when I come across one I put it there. TH hard part is that I will have to organize them both physically and electronically, because I have a number of patterns saved on my computer as well.
39. Fix sewing machine and learn how to use properly - done! Fixed it in time for Halloween, and learned how to use the specialty stitches
40. Mend 5 articles of clothing - done! Although it never ends. I discovered a dropped hem on one of my favourite pairs of work pants today. Sigh.
41. Organize sewing stash (put together a sewing basket and organize fabrics) - partly done. I've got all my sewing stuff segregated into their own boxes instead of mixed in with my yarn etc. Now I need to get and stock a sewing basket, and sort through all the fabric I have. Which will be a tough job, since I inherited a lot of it. Figuring out what all the fabrics are and organizing them appropriately will take some time and some learning.

I am a goal machine

Well hello there. I completed three goals this week, what did you do?

1) I sat down with a bunch of mending one night and watched TV and sewed until they were all fixed. (Goal #40: Mend 5 articles of clothing)
2) A couple of friends and I went to see Aida (Goal #78: Attend an opera at the Four Seasons Centre). We discovered that since we are under 30, we can buy tickets for $27 in certain seating areas, well worth it.
3) Finished off my 33rd movie last night (Goal #93: watch 33 new movies)

I'm so inspired I might even do push ups.

I've also been working on getting some other goals further along. I made a list of craft projects that I need to finish (Goal #37: Finish 5 old craft projects) and started working on one. I'm quilting a panel that has tigers on it, to make into a lap blanket. I've decided to outline the tigers in dark orange, and everything else in dark green. The back is a medium green, and so far the combination is showing up nicely as a design. I was originally planning on getting a patterned backing, but I couldn't find one I liked so now I'm trying out the multi-thread idea. I'm liking it. Haven't decided about the tiger stripes yet, whether I will stitch along some of them or just keep to feature outlines. I'll decide when I'm a bit further along. I'd forgotten how long it takes to hand-quilt. While watching the movie last night I completed an area that's about 4"x6", basically a photograph. This project will keep me busy for awhile! I'm going to try to do a little bit each day to keep on top of it. I need to find my bigger hoop, I only have a small one and I have to keep moving it all the time.

A few days ago I walked into the library looking for a novel to read (non-goal related, just a fun book), and there on the shelf staring at me was a biography of Oprah. Needless to say, I grabbed it. You don't get much more iconic than Oprah, at least for our generation. That'll put me at 2 biographies of iconic people. When I'm done this one I'll start thinking about the other ones and try to figure out which ones I'm going to read. I've decided on my next classic already. I think that if I start to plan out what I'm going to do/read for the goals, then it's easier to keep going on them. I don't get stalled when I'm done one. I did discover that I can only read so many classics in a row before I need to read something else. The writing style can be difficult to get through, and some of them are quite wordy for very little plot development.

Goal check-up: Personal Growth
22. Complete 10 technology-free days: I've done 2, so I need to get on this one and do more. It's hard, because I can only do them on weekends, and if I have plans with someone then I usually want to have my phone available. I will try to do at least 1 in November, to start catching up.
23. Attempt to learn standard: No progress. First I need to find someone who drives standard, and is willing to let me rough up their car a bit while learning
24. Read 3 Spanish books: No progress yet, although I almost signed up for a Spanish class this term. I had already signed up for ballet though, and the only class that had space left was at the same time. I am going to look into it again for next term, and that will probably put me in a Spanish mood.
25. Read 10 classics: I have read 3, and as soon as I'm done getting the dirt on Oprah I'm going to read a 4th. That puts me at almost halfway, so I'm happy with this goal so far.
26. Read 10 banned books: I'm at 5 so far, so halfway. Go me!
27. Delete old e-mails: I have started. I'm working on keeping my inboxes cleaner and using folders and deleting e-mails when I no longer need them. The hard part will be sitting down and going through the old folders. I have done a few, it's just time consuming.
28. Read 5 biographies: I'm on 2 of 5, so I'm getting there.
29. Cook 33 new recipes: I've done 20 so far, and I'm planning on making potstickers today for a potluck, so that will be 21. Well over halfway :)
30. Draw 33 items: I've been bad at this one. It's like I'm afraid to start. I bought a sketch pad, but I am too indecisive on what to draw that I haven't done anything. I don't want to wreck it! I need to just get over it though, and start. And then keep going.
31. Read 5 Shakespeare plays - none so far, but I've started a list of which ones I want to read. After I read the Count of Monte Cristo I'm going to request one of them from the library.
32. Do 5 no-snooze weeks - 2/5 done, and I meant to do another one this week. That didn't happen, so that will be postoned to next week. Hopefully. That snooze button is too inviting.

I am a tool

I 'fixed' my sewing machine today. Apparently the whole problem was that the combination of settings I had it on made it not work. I am super happy that this means that my machine is now usable and without major effort or having to pay someone to fix it. But I am also grumpy that I did not take the time to figure this out earlier. I guess that's what happens when you misplace the manual, then are too lazy to find it and go through it. Until today, when I discovered just how easy it was to fix my problem. At least that's one goal down. Since I also finally took the time to go through my rediscovered manual, I learned a lot about using my machine.

On another note - I can sew sailboats! SAILBOATS! I have an Elna and because I inherited it, it came with a bunch of embroidery discs. One of which is sailboats. Another is ducks. I am now trying to come up with projects that will use fun stitches and not look completely juvenile. First I have to get to Hallowe'en. Tomorrow's project is finding the fabric I need.

Home again!

Vegas was amazing! I had so much fun, and there is so much to see. We didn't get to see everything, so now I have an excuse to go back. The whole trip wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be either. We managed to see most of our shows at a discount, and got some discounted meals as well. If I do go back again, I think I'd try to take advantage of more of the deal they have available. We didn't really clue in to using the coupons we were given until partway through the trip. Everywhere you go they give you coupons for food, shows, nightclubs, merchandise, everything. Use them! For some of the things we did, we got discounts of 50%. That makes it much nicer on my finances when I come back to reality and realize how much I spent.

It just might be time for another buy nothing month. I might do one for November, but I might also wait until after Christmas to do my next one. My family hasn't decided what we are doing for gifts yet, and I want the freedom to buy gifts when I see them rather than scramble in December. That way I can also spread out the gift buying a bit.

I'm excited for Hallowe'en! I am going as Catwoman, because I have always wanted to do that costume. I have most of it together. I have to figure out what to do about the mask (I might try to make it!) and then I will be all set. Of course, I am also helping other people with their costumes. So it won't end with the mask, but at least that will be done. This might make me actually fix my sewing machine too, since I can't make things without it!

Oh, and I bought a pair of leather gloves, so that is one more goal down!

To carry on with the goal review:

Work
11. Pass UFE - DONE! Yay no more studying!
12. Get a promotion - still waiting, but hopefully I'll have an idea of when it will be happening sometime soon.
13. Reach 2nd level bonus each year - Done for first year, on hold until next bonus season
14. Improve typing by 10 wpm - I did a test awhile ago that put me at 45 wpm, so I need to get at least 55 wpm next time. Other than typing for work and emails, I haven't been doing much to work on this. I really should do the typing games, I'll try to work that in. I was a bit surprised that my typing was so low. I may try to improve by more than 10, just because I feel that I can do so much better than 55 wpm. I have to type so much for work, I really should be a lot faster! I do make lots of errors when I type, so that could be bringing it down. Accuracy needs to be improved too, not just speed.
15. Go to work early during tax season - this one didn't really work out last year, because there was no reason for me to get there early. I did go in early a few times, when it was warranted. We'll see how it goes next year.
16. Take all vacation days - working on it! I have not used any for non-fun things like appointments, they have all been for going on vacation or for my birthday. I have two left for this year, not sure if I'll take them at Christmas (since it's on a weekend anyway) or if I'll carry them over/get them paid out. Depends what comes up!

Overall - 1/6, but 3/6 are recurring ones, so they are partially done too. I'm taking credit for those! 1 I have no real control over when it happens (the promotion), and I'll try to work on the typing one.

Financial
17. Pay off school debt - Almost, just a few more months and then I will be free!
18. Do 3 buy nothing months - I've done one, and as I said above, I'm working on figuring out when to do another one. I need to have the right kind of motivation to do it.
19. Invest in stock - I got a trading account, but I have yet to work up the nerve to actually transfer money into it, and buy stock. Maybe after Hallowe'en is over I'll have time to do some research.
20. Start saving to buy property - this will start as soon as I'm done with the school debt
21. Request credit report - Have not done yet, for no good reason. I guess that means I'd better just do it and get it over with!

Overall: None completed, but progress made on 4/5. And if I make the time to actually request the credit report, then I will have one completed.

I'm so excited!

My sister and I finally got our vacation time decided on and approved, so we decided to jump on the bandwagon and booked tickets to VEGAS! We now have a hotel and have booked one show (Cher!), and we are being slow about getting everything else decided. Right now we are working different schedules, so it's hard to plan. Planning via text message does not go well. So instead we are just browsing and getting familiar with what Vegas has to offer. I definitely want to see the grand canyon when I'm there. I missed it when I was in Arizona, now's my chance to make up for it. My sister is afraid of heights like me, which works out well because neither of us wants to test our fear by hiking down or riding a donkey down. Those beasts are trained to walk next to the edge so the hikers don't have to. Way too scary for me. I'd have a heart attack before the bottom! Much better for me to stay at the top with the really high guard rails and no chance of falling.

For my birthday this year I bought myself a new bed. A 'big-girl' bed, as we call it. Anything that's grown up-ish gets called 'big-girl' in my house, like a big-girl job, a big-girl bed, etc. Since it is no longer a tiny twin bed, it gets called big-girl. And it is big. It's a queen with a really big solid wood head board and foot board, with a really high mattress to fill it out. I'm so glad I got a tall mattress, it balances the bed more and suits it better than a shorter mattress would. It's also amazingly comfy. Last weekend I went and bought a new top cover blanket for it since my blankets were too small, so now I really feel like I have a grown up bed. Thank you Walmart for completing the set.

It's hard to believe that more than a year has passed since I started this project. Time is funny how it crawls sometimes, and then at others it races so fast you can hardly keep up with it. I think it's time to start reviewing my progress so far, especially since I'm nearing my halfway mark. I worked it out that December 30 is my halfway mark. That's only three months away and I don't think I'm anywhere near halfway. Thank you Excel for allowing me to add and subtract dates, instead of counting on my fingers and toes.

I guess I'll do them by section, and see how that goes. I'll just do the first section today. The rest can be split over upcoming posts.

Greater Good.
1. Donate blood: not done yet, but I've been looking into clinics near my work to possibly do it during lunch or after work. Weekend would be best, but I keep being away. I'll be away for the next three weekends, and then it's Hallowe'en. Being lightheaded seems like a bad idea that weekend.
2. Plant a tree: my mom is supposed to be letting me know about an upcoming plant that one of her friends told her about. Still waiting. This might have to wait until spring though, since it's getting cold fast.
3. First-aid: Not a bit of effort into this one yet, I'd better get on it. This seems like something that will be difficult to plan around, with scheduling.
4. Donate 500,000 at freerice.com: I've sucked at this one, I've been at 35,000 forever. Today I changed my homepage to it, and I'm going to set the tracker to keep my progress for me. That'll give me a chance of at least progressing on this goal.
5. Purge clothing: I did this once, I need to do it again. I'm planning on doing it either next spring/summer, or next time I move, whichever comes first.
6. Donate to charities: Done. I try to support my friends whenever they are participating in a charity event, so long as it is a charity I want to support :)
7. Reduce carbon footprint: This one is harder than I thought. I wasn't able to find a calculator that got specific enough to give me a measure that would actually change. This goal might get lost :(
8. Do a litter chase: I'm hoping to participate in the community clean up next spring, or in the Tim Horton's spring litter chase.
9. Make something for charity: I've been thinking about this, and haven't yet come up with anything. Still thinking.
10. Personal: I keep meaning to do this one, and then either forget or it doesn't work out. Not forgotten yet!

Hmm, so 1/10 done, and only 2 or 3 with any progress (thought progress counts!). I need to get to work!

Bad Kid

Bad kid keeps forgetting to post! So much going on lately with the end of summer, blogging got pushed to the side. I've been good on goals though. I ran my first 5k race (6 minutes faster than I was hoping for!), and I went to Tobermory (no camping - the weather did not comply. But I went). That's two more goals down! We also did some figuring out about the shed while we were there. That thing is sad, and sorely needs to be replaced. But replacing it will be a big job. One that might require help from quite a few people at once. I'm looking forward to having a usable shed up there again. It's been quite awhile!

My sister and I have been doing some other planning as well. We're currently working together to reach both of our goal weights by December. We actually have the same goal weight because we are the exact same height, but we are slightly different weights now so our progressions will be slightly different. We also carry our weight very differently. I have found that I am lucky and mine has slowly accumulated all over my body, whereas hers is concentrated in the middle. So even though we are close to the same weight, we have very different body shapes. But hopefully soon we will both be smaller! I've convinced her to also do a food journal as part of this, so we are going to be starting that together soon. It's just easier to do it with someone, especially if that person is the one that you eat and cook with.

We are also tentatively planning on going on vacation together (girls vacation!) in late October, if it can work out. We both have to get the time off work first, and since she has only been at her job for a few months we don't really know if it'll pan out. Fingers crossed.

I have been bad at other goals again though, mainly going to the gym, knitting, colouring and sketching. I started taking an adult ballet class once a week, so I'm planning on trying to make it to the gym at least two other times a week. And I've been doing a pilates class at lunch. So if I can keep it up, and change bad eating habits, I should be well on my way for that December weigh in. We're also measuring to see where we've lost the weight (once we lose it, of course). I hope there will be a noticeable difference in the end. We're going to do progress measure once a month too, so I doubt there will be much difference between those. But overall it would be nice to be slimmer, especially in the thighs. Makes pants shopping less evil.

Alright, I'm going to give up on the blogging for tonight, and go colour a page. Baby steps.

Oops.

So much stuff has been going on, I've been forgetting to post to keep track of it all.

I went for the canoe trip in Algonquin a few weekends ago. I'd forgotten how much I loved it up there. It's just so peaceful. There were tons of loons around too, they were everywhere. At one point, there was a whole flock of them swimming together. I'd never seen them in groups of more than two or three, I was amazed. We followed them around for awhile. We didn't run into any moose while we were up there, unfortunately. The loons were the wildest animals that we saw. That and chipmunks that were not nearly as afraid of people as they should be. Cheeky little buggers.

I went to the Green Day concert last week, it was awesome. They really put on a good show, and played a good mix between the new stuff and old stuff. And some completely random stuff that wasn't even theirs. At one point they let a bunch of audience members up on stage with the band. Sadly, I was way too far back for that. The band could barely play, they were mobbed with fans. Although they actually managed quite well, I guess they're used to it. For 'Long View' they had one of the fans come up and sing it. He did a really good job of it too, and they gave him the guitar that Billy Joel played for that song. Easily best night of that guy's life.

I'm getting closer on a bunch of goals. One more concert and that one is done, two more movies and I'm done that one. It's now been just over a year since I started this project. So far I think I am ok with the progress that I have made. There are some goals that I thought/hoped that I would be further along on (*cough, gym, *cough, cough), but overall I'm doing well. I have to keep reminding myself that even though I only have 19 out of 101 completed, there are a lot that are long-term goals. The one-shot goals are a lot easier to get through than the long term goals. But I'm still working on them. Hopefully I can get my butt in gear to work a little harder on them!

I have made some good progress on the books. Partly because I underestimated how long it would take for the books I requested at the library to be available. I then had a mad rush to read them before they were due. But I made it through! I have two more on their way, one classic and one banned, but getting through them will be easier, because I am going to be good and not request more until I am almost done those ones. I am a fast reader, but not that fast.

I've also got a number of things lined up/in the works:
1) a 5K run coming up - nervous and excited for that
2) a trip to Wonderland planned to get working on the rollercoasters
3) a camping trip to Tobermory planned
4) permission from my work to organize a team for the corporate CN Tower climb
5) READ

So here's to another year of good progress!

Into the wild

I'm heading to Algonquin Park later today, as soon as my canoe buddies tell me they ae on their way yo get me. I can't wait! It has been so long since I went on a canoe trip, I am very excited. We are not doing a full out trip, since not everyone going is experienced. We are going to make a base camp and do some day trips from there. Not sure yet if portaging will be included in those - either way I'm happy. My bags are packed and sitting by the door.

I'm still reading up a storm, trying to get through all the books I checked out of the library before they are due. I know I can just take them out again but I hate not reading a book the whole way through. I know some people can read multiple books at once, but I can't. Once I start it, I have to keep going until the end. I have a little stack on my dresser of the books I have out, in the order I need to read them. I am currently making my way through Sherlock Holmes -it is huge. I checked out the complete works, so it has all the short stories and the Hound of the Baskervilles novel. Hopefully the long ride to Algonquin and back will give me lots of time to finish it, as it is due back Tuesday night. I think that's enough time.

Went to the Kings of Leon concert the other night, it was wicked. And the rain was nice and happened early, and not during the concert. We had seats in the uncovered area, so a rainy concert would not have been nearly as much fun. The amphitheatre was packed though. It's been so long since I've been to a concert there that I forgot how huge it was. The lawn was packed too, you could barely tell that there was any grass. I guess the rain didn't deter anyone!

time goes by

And I forget to post. I am starting to get into a bit of a schedule with the gym, I'm trying to go every Tuesday and Thursday night. That way I can make plans around it, and if it works out to go to the gym on the weekend too, then I have a day of rest in between either way. Going twice a week is also helping me to catch up on all the times I was bad before and did not go to the gym. Slowly catching up, but at least I'm no longer getting further behind.

I am also getting better at tracking my gym going and push ups, I've started writing them on my calendar with a tally number. Now, at a glance, I know how many times I've gone to the gym since starting (it's a pitiful number still) and where in the push up program I am. It is also helping me keep on top of doing the push ups, since I can see when it's been a few days without doing them. I'm getting into the harder weeks, so it's hard to keep at it. I have a feeling that I will need to repeat a few weeks before it is completed. My arms are getting definition though, which is nice for summer.

Two weekends ago I did manage to make it to the Toronto zoo and the Pride Parade (and Medieval Times!) so I get to move two more goals from the incomplete list, to the completed list. Go me! It was a very busy weekend. Lots of standing and walking, and lots of sunscreen. No burns this time, an improvement over previous weekends. I still have a visible streak on my arm where I managed to not apply or reapply sunscreen one very sunny day. It is not fading fast enough for my liking!

My intentions of reading classics/banned books for a while is working, I am starting to get through those goals. Right now I am working my way through Moby Dick. I had no idea it was so long though, and had requested Sherlock Holmes at the same time. Also very long. I am now in a mad rush to finish Moby Dick and return it, so that I can then read Sherlock Holmes and return it in time too. No late fees please! Except now that I am reading like a fiend, I keep dreaming about whales. I don't really remember the dreams. But when I wake up whales are on my mind and I have half-memories of dreaming. Hopefully this will not last long!

Down with jet lag. Again.

Back now from a second trip, again with a three hour time difference. This one was to escape the craziness that was the G20 in Toronto. So glad I was not here for the looting, car burnings, mass arrests, and general pandemonium that was the downtown. I have heard various stories, and each one makes me thankful I was far, far away. I will gladly pay the price of jet lag.

Still making slow progress on goals - moving at a snail's pace. I got a piece of art framed, one that I made while I was younger. I haven't seen the final product yet, but I'm counting it as completed since I went in and picked everything out. Now I'm just waiting to be notified that it has been put all together for me. There was a mat already with the piece too, so I didn't have to pay extra for one.

I'm surprised at how fast I have been making it through the movies goal, I'm almost done that one. I always thought I never watched movies all that often, I guess I was wrong. Once I started paying attention to it, I realized that I actually watch quite a few. I guess I assumed wrong. Either way, four more movies and that's another goal down. Just 84 to go after that one.

I'll be knocking off one more this weekend, I have plans to attend the Pride Parade. If all goes well, I might even get to the zoo too. I'm having some people come visit for the parade, so if they are up to it, I'm going to try to push going to the zoo the next day as well. Need to make their visit worth it! And of course use it to my own selfish gains. But really, who doesn't love the zoo? They have all the babies right now. Everyone loves baby animals.

Down with jet lag

I don't normally suffer too badly from jet lag, but I think that's because usually I'm going in the other direction. I had a hard time getting back to Ontario-time after a week-plus in BC. When going 'back' in time it's easier, because you just stay up a bit later the first day and then you're pretty much fine after that. But coming back was awful. Not only was I trying to go to bed earlier due to the time change (three hours), but I was also trying to go to bed earlier due to having to get up to go to work, instead of being on vacation time. So add at least another two hours to that time, if not three, and I was trying to go to bed at what felt like 9pm to me. Or to put it another way, my body didn't think it was supposed to go to bed until at least 5am (Ontario time). A week of crappy sleep followed. I think I'm over it now, and just victim to my own night-owl ways. Hence the late-night post when I should be sleeping.

BC was awesome, did lots and saw lots. Didn't get to see or do everything I wanted, but that was beyond my control. Like I wanted to climb Grouse Mountain by doing the 'Grouse Grind', but the trail wasn't open yet for the season and they were doing maintenance on it. I also wanted to go see Vancouver Olympic stuff, like the torch, but apparently they took everything down almost immediately following the Olympics. As a Vancouver tourist, I was very disappointed. That was something I was excited to see, and there was pretty much no trace of the Olympics. It's almost like it never happened. The only thing we saw was the inukshuk at Whistler. But even Whistler had gotten rid of everything else. There were Olympic things noted on their big maps, but when we came upon them they were construction sites, all Olympic-related paraphernalia gone. So disappointing. I couldn't make it to the Olympics, but I thought I would at least get to see some Olympic stuff while I was there. I heard also that they are legally allowed to keep everything up for a full year following, so it really makes no sense to me why it was all gone. Sigh. OK, done complaining.

Lots of other things I did made up for it. I got to go to the aquarium, see lots of mountains, do some wine tastings, a beer tasting and a sake tasting (not all in the same day, just the beer and sake in one day and wine another), see a bear in the wild, visit Seattle, do some shopping, and, most important, hang out with my bestfriend lots. That was the whole purpose of the visit. Mission accomplished.

I bought a colouring book while I was in BC, thank you Walmart! I've coloured a few pages so far, it's actually fairly relaxing. Now that I have it I just have to remember to keep doing it, or I'll be colouring like a fiend at the end. I'm working on getting more goals underway. I made a list of banned books that I wanted to read for that goal a while ago, so today I requested a few from the library. Now I have to be patient and wait for them to get there. I also discovered that one of the books I read in the fall, that was borrowed, was on my list, so now I have one banned book down! Only nine more to go. I read a lot, so I'm not really worried about getting the reading goals done. My problem is choosing what to read! I walk into the library and want to take out 20 books each time. I have to restrain myself each time. But I hate having to not check out book, which is why I like borrowing books from my family. There's no return date, so I can take as many as I want as long as I promise to eventually return them. But books are heavy to carry back and forth when I go home on the bus, so library it is!

one more sleep!

I'm off to BC tomorrow, can't wait! Lots to do before I go though, like finish doing laundry and pack. I have a feeling it will be a late night tonight. There might have to be lots of sleeping on the plane. It's a five hour flight, so that shouldn't be a problem. It was a late night last night too, so I'm due for some catch-up sleep.

I've been getting busy with life stuff lately, but still trying to get some goal stuff done. I've been trying to be better about going to the gym, and I've been doing push-ups in the morning before work. I've also tried to keep knitting squares, so I'm making a dent in those. A very small dent, but a dent nonetheless. What I really need to get started on are my reading goals. I've been neglecting going to the library because I've been reading borrowed books. When I get back from my trip I'll have to hit the library again. I'll need to learn how to get books sent to my branch, since it is tiny and might not have some of the books that I want to read. I'm sure it's not hard, I just haven't tried it out yet.

I've been trying to keep an ongoing list of books that I want to read. Problem is that I have multiple lists going at once, in multiple places. I think I'll just have to pick a few from one of the lists and go from there. It'll be fun to pick out my own reading material for once. For so long I've been picking from other peoples books. Which does give me choice, but it's limited to their tastes. With the library I will get to choose from pretty much everything I could possibly want.

I have been making plans to work on some other goals. I'm working on planning a trip to Wonderland to ride roller coasters, let's hope it works out. I also discovered that I won't be able to go to the Pride Parade this year, since I will be away on vacation when it happens. So next year I have to make sure I am here!

Down to the wire

Just two more work days for tax season, and then we finally get a break! Starting in May, we go back to normal working hours (we have extended hours for tax season). I am quite excited to leave work 'early' again. For the first week or so I never know what to do with myself, because I always feel like I have so much free time. It's amazing how just one extra hour can make such a big difference in your perception of time. Mind you, it's actually more than one hour difference when you count in the fact that I usually stay late during tax season. Not as much this year as in past years, there simply wasn't reason to. I'm not sure how it's going to go in the next few weeks, whether we'll have enough to keep us busy or not. A lot of people go on vacation, myself included, so that always helps.

I worked it out the other day, and not only am I going to hit the bonus, but I'm going to get the second level! Unless by some chance I do not do any work all day today or tomorrow. That doesn't seem likely though. Not sure how I would get away with that, even if I tried.

That's all for now. Not much has been happening outside of work. I did some knitting, but that's about it. There is one piece that I still have to block and sew together, that I am resisting doing. In all my years knitting, I never really learned how to block. When I eventually get up the courage/drive to do it, it'll be an adventure. And probably not a big deal at all.

Almost done!

Well, things are slowly and surely making their way to the end of April, and the end of busy season. Also known as the not-so-busy season this year. There are only 9 more regular working days left. Depending on how work goes this week and next, I think I am in good shape to hit the first level bonus. I may even have a chance at the second level, which would be fantastic. I worked on a non-chargeable project that might turn chargeable, I just hope that if it does, it changes in time for it to count.

I am going to try to make it in early, but it's hard to motivate myself to do it. Since I'm not really busy, there's not much reason for me to go in early at all. I'm considering modifying that goal to include going in on weekends to do work. It's a two-part goal - get me to work on time, and increase my chargeable hours. Going in on the weekend accomplishes one of those.

The hardest part about the goals right now is making plans and following through on them. Work isn't all that busy, but there are occasional days where I do end up staying late. Those days also seem to always fall on the day that I want to go to the gym after work, and then it's too late by the time I finally leave. That was today and last Thursday. I went to a pilates class (using my yoga card) at lunch today, and wanted to follow it with some quality gym time tonight. But then I ended up getting a couple of clients responding to the questions that we sent them, and had to deal with all of that. And since it's been so hard to get chargeable hours, right now my priority is hours. Gym loses. Gym can win in May instead, when chargeable hours stop counting towards anything. Going to pilates at lunch was wicked though, because there was hardly anyone there. I never went to the after work ones, because they were always so packed. I went to yoga instead. But I think I might try to keep it up, because it's so convenient.

Spend-less

The buy nothing month is going well so far. Work has picked up a bit so that has helped keep me busy. The only challenge has been making sure that I always have a lunch prepared so that I can follow my 'no buying lunch' rule. It really is ridiculous how much more expensive it is to buy lunch vs. make lunch. I never, ever used to buy my lunch, and then I started being lazy and not making them. I'm hoping that after this month is over that I am back in the habit of making lunches and keep it up, except for days when I plan ahead to go out. Sometimes we go out as a group at lunch. But laziness should not be an excuse anymore. But so far my allowance idea is working out well. I haven't spent over, but I also don't feel overly restricted. I don't want to feel like binge spending after the month is over, and the allowance is helping me feel like I still have a bit of freedom. I think I will continue with it afterwards, but slightly higher and less restrictive on what I can spend it on. Really I just need to start budgeting again, and actually following the budget. Making the budget is easy, but I tend to have poor follow-through on sticking to it.

I've also inspired another friend of mine to do her own buy-nothing month. She hasn't started yet, but she's interested and kept asking questions about how to do it, so I think she might actually commit. I hope she does! My roommate that is doing it with me isn't taking to it very well (in my opinion). I think she's trying to completely spend her allowance, rather than using it as a max. We'll see how she does for the rest of the month. I don't think she's as committed to it as I am.

My timing is perfect for restricting my spending. I'm getting my tax refund next week, and this will stop me from going and wasting it on something frivolous. Instead it's going straight into savings. And hopefully I will keep it there. I am still undecided, but I am considering buying stock. I'm very hesitant though, because I am afraid of the stock market. Kind of silly since I have a finance background in university and with work, but I still am. Which is why I made it a goal to invest in a stock. Time to conquer my fears. We'll see how it goes. Since I'm on a payment plan for my school debt and there's no benefit to me to repay it early, I can pretty much do whatever I want with any extra money that I come into. Deciding what to do with it is the hardest part. I am a big ninny and am afraid of making a decision and taking a risk.

No more spending :(

April is going to be my first Buy Nothing Month, and I'm not looking forward to it. My roommate is going to join me, so at least I'm not going to be in it alone. It'll still be hard though. I've been trying to come up with rules, since every buy-nothing month is personal there isn't really a set of rules out there for me to follow. So far I have come up with the following rules:

1) Fixed costs are OK (rent, phone, transit, etc., the costs that don't change every month)

2) Groceries do not have a price limit, but what I spend my money on is going to be limited instead. I'm not allowed to buy junk food or pre-made meals, and I have to make a list before I go grocery shopping and stick to that as much as possible. If I actually need something like eggs and forgot to put them on the list, I'm not going to forbid myself from buying them. I'm also going to try to buy the most cost-effective item. This doesn't mean buying everything in bulk, because that makes the individual items cheaper. It means finding the best price for the quantity I need.

3) Discretionary spending is going to be limited. Here is where I have the problem. I don't want to completely cut out discretionary spending, because there are things that I have committed to for April that I will need to pay for, and can't really cancel now. So I am trying to come up with a reasonable 'free money' amount for each week and haven't decided on one yet. Anything that is not a fixed cost or groceries is going to fall into discretionary, so I am trying to figure out what a reasonable amount will be.

4) No buying clothes, shoes, or eating out for lunch. Exception #1: I'm getting together with a bunch of old friends for lunch and suggested pot luck, but got outvoted so we are going to a restaurant. That will come out of discretionary spending. Exception #2: If I am getting reimbursed for a meal by my work, then I can eat out. This happens a lot during tax season, if we stay late they pay for our dinners, to a limit. As long as I stay within that limit, it is OK, because it will be repaid.

From looking at what other people have done with buy-nothing months, a lot of them cut out discretionary spending completely. There is a very good reason that I did not. I do not want to feel resentment towards the activity. The whole reason why I'm doing it is to curb my spending, and to make myself wait until I buy something expensive. If I see something that I want, that is more than I am allowed to spend, I have to wait until the end of the month to get it. Then I find out if it is something that I do really want, or if it was just a passing fancy.

I'm also trying to get out of the habit of being too lazy to make my lunch. I'm hoping that by forcing myself to make a list I can also get in the habit of planning my meals for the week. I've done it a few times in the past, and it really is a time saver. By taking some time to plan out what to buy and what meals I am going to make when, I save myself so much time during the week. I am anticipating a lot of late nights at work in April, so this will come in extra handy. For some reason it never became a habit though. Maybe doing it for a month will fix that.

I'm also considering tracking my food for the month. I figure that if I'm making most of it at home, it will be easier to do since I know exactly what goes into everything. I'm just not looking forward to seeing what my bad habits are. I have a feeling that I don't want to change them!

Climb on!

I went rock climbing last weekend, for the first time in a loooong time. It was a lot of fun, I went with some friends to Rock Oasis. They have a lot of walls, I was sad that my arms gave out so soon. I was definitely feeling it the next day. And quite a few days after that. I actually still feel it in one spot on my back, and the bruises on my knees are just starting to fade. I never notice it when I'm climbing, but I must bump my knees on the wall and the rocks a lot. I do notice when I scrape my hands, I look like I was punching stuff because all my knuckles are scraped. Doesn't help that I keep adding to my hand injuries. Today I sliced my finger on the metal file binding, it was rather unpleasant. The cut didn't really bleed, but it slit the skin from my first knuckle to my nail. That got hidden under a bandaid for the rest of the day.

Last weekend was very productive for me. I made a massive to do list, and got almost all of it done. I can't seem to stop myself from making unrealistic to do lists, there are always a few things on there that I know I won't get to. But I cleaned, did lots of laundry, re-potted a plant (I made sure to do that before cleaning), fixed my shoe, got groceries, and other general small things that I'd been putting off for no good reason. I even got to the library, although I had to wait until Monday for that. Apparently it wasn't really open, I just saw them getting ready to be open. But now that it is back up and running, I plan on taking advantage of it. I just have to plan my time so that I am home early enough to make it there before it closes. Most days that doesn't happen.

I've been really good at some goals, and really crappy at others. I need to start working on some of the ones that I've been slacking on. Like the whole going into work early during tax seasons; that hasn't happened yet. I'm still barely making it on time, and the whole point of that goal is to get me to stop being late for work. Same with the no-snooze one. I hit snooze too many times, which results in me rushing in the mornings and being late for work. I'd better start going in early, or else I won't have enough days left! Some goals are just easier than others, and some are more fun to get done. I am still progressing though, and haven't given up on it. I've even made plans to go to the ROM this weekend for the bat thing, I bought my ticket and everything!

Surprise concert

I got to go to the Muse concert tonight! My lovely big sister had a friend get sick, so I got to swoop the extra ticket. It was a wicked show, they are great to see live. Awesome effects too. It's nice to see a band that combines great music with great stage presence. The only thing I would change would be the audience, as the guy in front of me decided he couldn't make it through the show without smoking. Without going outside to do it. But other than that it was awesome, and a nice surprise on a slow Monday at work.

Work has been slow in general lately. Which means that I am bored alllllll day every day. It also means that I may have to revise my goal about the work bonus. They haven't confirmed, but I'm assuming that the bonus this year will be the same as in prior years, and that's based on our chargeable hours for January through April. But since I barely have enough work to keep me busy during regular hours and haven't yet had to do any overtime, I doubt I'm going to even get the minimum hours to be eligible for the bonus. Which sucks because not only do I not reach my goal, I don't get paid any extra :( Right now I'm just trying for as many hours as possible. We're more than halfway through the time period I have to accumulate hours, and I think I only have about a third of the minimum so far. Things aren't looking good for me! I'm hopeful, but not expecting to reach it. Not the way things are going now. If things pick up, then maybe. I'll figure out if I need to adjust the goal or not after March is over. They keep promising that these big jobs are going to come in, but so far it's all talk.

I also have to adjust another goal. I can't send letters or packages to E, because she is now back in Toronto! Her work sent her back here for a special project. Just R gets packages now. I'm also now only visiting R when I go out. That trip is already booked for the end of May, I'll be ready for a vacation by then!

I'm going to try to go to the library this weekend. I'm almost out of books to read, and won't be going home for a few weeks. I usually borrow from the library that I call my sister's house. The library that is a block away from my house was actually closed for awhile for renovations, but they just reopened so I'm going to take advantage of it. I just have to wait for the weekend, because they aren't open late enough during the week for me to go. I think they are open late one night, so I might get a chance to go earlier, but it depends on what time I get home.

Olympics!

Go Canada! Not too bad so far, eh? I'm glad to see that we're putting on a good show on our home turf, and that we have repeatedly broken the no-gold curse. Let's get a bunch more.

I've been working on my mitts for the Ravelympics, with moderate success. I made some major errors, like not knitting between decreasing rounds and forgetting a step before making the thumb gusset. So I ended up with a mitt, but it's a bit demented. Luckily I thought of weighing the remaining yarn before starting a second demented mitt, because I found out that there was enough left to make two good mitts. I'm now working on finishing the thumb of the first 'good' mitt. Depending on how much yarn (and patience) is left after the good pair are done I might frog the bad one and make child-size mittens. I can give them as a gift to someone, or use that as my 'make something to donate to charity' goal. I'd just like to use the yarn if I can, and there isn't really a purpose to keeping the bad mitt. Other than as a reminder to read the pattern carefully, and not get distracted too much while knitting.

Olympics haven't fully distracted me from goals, although I have been doing a lot of knitting. I still want to do another project for the Ravelympics, but it's not looking likely. Making the oops mitt really put me behind. I can at least start the project though, even though I won't get it done before the closing ceremonies are over. I have to remember to take and post pictures on ravelry, otherwise my projects won't count.

I'm now at 11 goals completed! And many more started, but not finished. I printed a bunch of trip pictures last week (more than 100, easily), so that goal is done. And next weekend I'm heading to a scrapbooking retreat, so I'm going to try to print more. Then I can start my university scrapbook. But I need to actually print university pictures, the ones I printed are from a post-university trip so they won't count. I also need to get digital copies of friends' pictures, since I didn't have a digital camera until halfway through. Which meant that I just didn't really take pictures until I did. And stealing them off facebook isn't cutting it, the picture quality is crappy.

Tomorrow will see me making headway on another goal - new recipes. I've got some bananas that are overripe and way past eating, so I'm going to try to make banana-blueberry muffins. The only thing that stopped me tonight was no baking soda, and no muffin tins. Those are kind of crucial. I'll be making a pit stop on the way home from work tomorrow :) I've also decided that I have now completed the 'start donating to charities' goal, since I've made three donations this year for things myself and friends have done to support charities. 2 goals down, not bad a show for a time when I wasn't going to focus on them!

Zoom zoom

Knocked off another goal today - I went skating outside! It was chilly and I rediscovered muscles that I haven't used in a long time, but still a lot of fun. My favourite part was probably the tiny zamboni they have that comes by and cleans the rink. It's like a suped up riding lawn mower. The guy had to stop halfway and shovel the snow out of the back, it got too full to finish! Second favourite part was warming up afterwards with hot chocolate. That's always the best part of any outdoor winter activity.

Goals are probably going to be set aside for the Olympics. I've signed up to help Team Canada on Ravelry, so wish me luck! Still not sure what events I'll be entering, but I'm going to try for at least two. I have the yarn and pattern for mitts, so I'm definitely going to do that one. Unfortunately can't use it for the goals, since the yarn was given to me after I started.

I've also been looking into signing up for a crafting class. I was too late to sign up for most winter classes, and the ones that are left don't really work with my work schedule right now. So that will have to wait until spring, hopefully I will remember earlier when the time comes to sign up. might do a scrapbooking weekend in a few weeks, that'll force me to start scrapbooking and get pictures printed. I have a coupon for printing, I just need to select pictures for printing. Which really shouldn't be that hard, but just seems so daunting. There are so many pictures to go through! I did manage to get another goal out of the way since my last post - I went to Yuk Yuk's during a girls' weekend, so I hav now completed the visit a comedy club goal. Which brings my total to 10 goals complete!

Baby steps

I made some good progress, knocked off two more goals last weekend. I went and had a day at the spa, and then I went to the King Tut exhibition at the AGO the next day.

I'm finding that the one-time event goals are a lot easier to do than the multiple-event goals. It's easy to get behind. I think I may have been overly ambitious when I was setting the goals. I tried really hard to make them all reasonable, while still making it a challenge. I'm thinking it may be a bit more of a challenge than I expected! It's helping to make a mini-list each week, that way I'm breaking the goals down into more manageable pieces. I usually make a to do list, either for a day or a few days, so I've changed it to be a weekly list. Then I have two columns, one for general life things I need to get done, and a column for goal activities that I want to do that week. So far so good! I am also going through the notebook each week when I make the to do list, so I am not forgetting about any of them. Hopefully I can keep this up and make it a habit. Keeping a list of things that needs to be done is way easier than trying to keep everything in my head. Some things I want to do this week: go to the gym, mend something, draw something (I bought a sketch pad!), finish the square I'm working on and sew the ends in on others that I finished, do pushups, and donate a whole bunch of rice at freerice.com. Good luck to me!

Line em up

and knock em down. That's kind of my mentality right now towards my goals. I'm working on getting some easy ones out of the way, and getting started on the others, so I can feel like I'm moving forward on them. I think having a bit more red on that list will be motivating. And a lot less black.

I did write out the goals on paper, in a notebook. It was good to go through them again slowly, it made me think about them and kind of reminded me of ones that I had forgotten about. For example, because I read through the goals again I went through a cookbook before going grocery shopping. I now have the ingredients for two new recipes, almost. I forgot one spice, so I'll need to get that before I do one of them. I can still do the other one while I wait at least. I also (tried) and failed to stardom no-snooze week. I'm going to try again tomorrow. Maybe by the end of the week I'll be able to do it, then next week I can try it again. I have a feeling this will be one of the harder goals at the beginning. I'm hoping that once I get in the habit it will get easier. That was the whole basis for the goal anyway, just to train myself out of snooze and get better at waking up in the morning in general.

So far I've got three goals lined up: I'm going to see King Tut at the AGO, I have a day at the spa booked, and I have bought tickets to visit E and R in BC. I've also got tentative plans to go ice skating at an outdoor rink, it's weather permitting. And location permitting, since I will have to figure out if I can get there that day or not.

Work is really slow lately, but I'm kind of glad. We're in the lull before busy season starts, and the client that I was supposed to be working on pushed us back because they weren't ready. My days pass really slowly while I'm at work, which does suck, but it also means that when I get home I'm eager to do something to be productive. Not accomplishing anything worthwhile all day is a good motivator. I do hope that it picks up soon, but in the meantime I'm going to try to take advantage of it.