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We're in it Now
In the past year, I read lots of books, did lots of volunteering, adopted two pets and joined a gym. I also had a really good year at work. Outside of the office, here is how I want to step it up:
Reading
I have passed 60 books two years in a row, so I think I will make that the new benchmark. 60 Book Challenge! But the real goal is one I discussed with my friend Nyla last night. My TBR pile is out of control. I am not going to try to make myself read certain types of books or read only things that I already have. But I am going to make a concerted effort to buy fewer books. A serious thing since I still volunteer at a used book store. But I have made some progress in the last couple of months by recognizing that the popular mysteries are not likely re-reads, so I checked them out from the library. Also, Christmas netted me an ipad mini and the library app is already more appealing to me that paying $10 from a retailer for a download.
Volunteering
Doing pro bono work through Taproot has been a fabulous experience, but it takes an awful lot of time. While my employer has been very supportive in allowing me work-time to pursue it, I just don’t think I can fit it in to my schedule.
I continue to volunteer with a Refuge for Saving the Wildlife, the parrot rescue, through weekly work onsite (feeding, cleaning, interacting with the birds) as well as maintaining the Facebook page. I expect to be helping out with the main website next year, also.
I have also picked up responsibility for the Facebook page of my chapter of Project Linus. The Facebook audience isn’t very big compared to the number of active participants in the chapter, but it is slowly growing and I am working on sharing more stuff from other groups to differentiate a bit from the main website. Also, I attended most of the Saturday events, most of the Starbucks gatherings and made 91 blankets this year. I expect to keep it up.
With the library, also, I am maintaining my once a week onsite work. We have settled into a much more consistent routine in the past year and our sales have improved tremendously in the new building. Online sales are still troublesome, but I don’t know what the answer is there. I continue to hope for better communication between volunteers.
Finally, Fiona and I had a great time at the five charity dog walks that we did. I expect to attend at least as many next year.
Health and Wellness
I joined my local YMCA a couple of months ago and have tried out different classes. Oh, how awesome it would be if I didn’t have to work during the day. But I am pursuing yoga and a couple of other things during the week. The goal, which will start after I return from our annual meeting in Nashville, is to complete the Marython. It is a 26-week program developed by one of the leaders at Project Linus designed to help people get moving. Her name is Mary. A full Marython is 30 minutes of exercise 5 days a week for 26 of the 52 weeks in 2013. I imagine that for 26 weeks out of the year, (particularly with the flexibility of the rules) I can manage that, but because I am lazy about tracking things, I will primarily be counting things I do at the actual gym and will commit to the Half Marython. Three days a week for at least 26 weeks out of the year.
The Pets
We adopted Sigmund the Grey in February and Fiona the Border Collie in March. In 100 ways Fiona is a great dog, but her herding instincts are unbelievable and we are not able to have her on the same floor of my house when the birds are out of their cages. I expect to be contacting the trainer sometime soon. Also, the tummy troubles continue for both dogs. On Boxing Day, I took a stool sample to the vet out of sheer frustration and found that Gibbs has parasites again (or still). So both dogs are on the serious meds (again). And basically, all of the data I had about different diets we had tried is totally invalid. I must get this under control because it is making me insane.
That ought to do it. Happy New Year!
The Next Dark Age 