Not Failing Miserably

Long story short, I didn't plan to be on this blog today but ended up here which led me to reread my 2018 resolutions post.  In that post, I listed, in short, the following:

1. Eat less sugar.  Eh, that's going better than it was but still not so great.
2. Be super duper extra kind...that's going well.
3. Reach out to friends more.  I've been getting better with this!  Had to bail on a friend for lunch this week and had to bail on a friend this past weekend but considering all other things, I've improved!
4. Keep the clutter down.  Well, the clutter has gotten way worse on account of resolution number 3.

Some things I'm doing that aren't on the list:

1. Doing more for my child's school.
2. Getting back into volunteering for my professional organization (grumble, so much work).
3. Not working so much from home...everyone needs a break.
4. Slowly working on some of those "works in progress" projects!

I also wrote in a notebook a short list of some other things I was going to do which included writing more, either here for fun or on paper as a diary, or even letters to people.  That is a resolution I have not kept up with but maybe this here "test" post (yep, this post is a publishing test post, but worth writing anyway) will slowly encourage more.

So, yea, there ya have it.  Go out and do some fun things!

P.S. My next post, which hopefully you only see if you come back here and look for it (and not posting automatically to social media) will be just a boring old list of some of my favorite podcasts.  Hopefully, you will read it and then suggest some more podcasts to me.  Or books, I am always looking for book recommendations!

Grateful?

This is all so mundane, but if you really ended up hear to keep tabs, see my last post on why I am doing this...(besides of course, to break the tedium).

This week's activity is to take a photo of something I am grateful for and post it to social media with an explanation, this to be done at least twice this week.  I honestly feel like I could do this a few times a day all week...there's constantly something popping up...but worry not.  I will not be one of those people that posts only around the holidays (every day) on the "I'm thankful for ..." kick.  I like it, but, ugh, yea, enough already.

Of this great list of things many are functional (like heat and clean water) and some are frivolous (like my favorite pink scarf).  I take most all things for granted as we are all prone to do, and I don't know that I can pick any one or two out as THE ones.  I could go the route of saying, "ignore the ones that we should all be grateful for and pick personal things" or I could go big-picture items as in the things no one notices is under their nose until it's gone...so I wonder, do I go with those that so many are without (practical well engineered infrastructure) or silly (Staedtler Lumocolor correctable pen) or even mushy/personal (name of friend here)?

What would you choose?  What thing are you grateful for?

Just a small list I started but probably won't pick from because most of them are too mushy/personal...

• My ears so I can hear my child's voice (especially when she breaks out into song at some random time (not unlike her mother)); and also so that I can hear music because it honestly puts me in a great mood and so many times more than not, motivates me.
• My eyes so I can see my beautiful child; and so that I can easily read and drive and function without the inhibitions of blindness.
• My mom, for which I cannot imagine life.  She's my solace.
• My lovely bulldog Beastie who lets me hang on her.
• My gigantic pink calculator, how else would I do my job? (Don't even suggest I do math in my head).
• My reliable car so that I can go the places I need and want to go.
• Twitter because honestly it does kill the tedium (and I guess other reasons too).
• A good book so that I can escape. (this but multiplied to a magnitude of some great number)
• Certain people who shall remain nameless because it's almost torture to get me to tell someone how much they mean to me unless I can tell them in some stupid comedic manner, let alone announcing it in some public manner which leaves me vulnerable.

Silly Resolutions

If you follow me on Twitter and by any unlucky chance get to read my pointless and mundane tweets you will recall I bought an amazing planner for 2016 that has grid dot paper, 12 month layout with weekly layout, dry erase sheet tucked in nice folder, two stretchy binder bands, 3 ribbon bookmarks....really it goes on . I love this planner. One of the other things this planner has is a set of weekly tasks to perform.  They are wholesome tasks and this week's was to write a letter to at least 3 people that have changed my life in some way and thank them.  I did this and have them ready to be mailed in the morning.  Way to go, right? I won't deny that I feel better for doing it and I completely admit that it feels silly.  This week I even feel vulnerable.  There's just something awkward about this all but I'm going to continue with this to the best of my ability.  So if you see me being mushy or saying something that makes you/me uncomfortable....just know I'm getting this silly resolution done!  It makes me better and is there harm in telling someone how appreciated they are?

I also resolved to continue with my better eating/exercise routine from last year (which rocked), to write more things down perhaps here if not elsewhere, to mail more letters, to clean/unclutter the basement!  Wish me luck!