It’s finally March! That means spring is around the corner. Hooray! It also means we’ve been through two months of 2013 so far. How is everyone doing on their New Year’s resolutions? Were you able to make ones that fit your wants, needs and lifestyle? Were you successful at keeping them?
Here are my original resolution tips: Resolution Aid
For accountability’s sake, I’ll let you in on how I’m doing with mine. For each one, I’ll give myself a letter grade and an assessment based on two months of working on the resolution.
1. Go through several drafts of my novel by editing/writing while my son is nursing or sleeping; show it to peer editors; sign up for mentorship program at GWW; start process to publication.
How I’m doing: B+
Why: Editing is going very well, and I’m starting to get that feeling of anticipation that means I’m getting close. I’m starting to show it to people, and I’m planning to call GWW this week. I’m only giving myself a B+ because I think I could have edited more in January.
2. Experiment with magazine writing by composing 5 query letters per month of varying topics and sending each to 4-5 periodicals with varying circulations.
How I’m doing: D
Why: I haven’t done any of this! Though it’s still possible that I might do it before year’s end, I keep stalling on it, and I’ve started to think that magazine writing might not be my thing. And I replaced this project with another writing experiment: writing a children’s book series with my friend Cristen. That is going much better and I feel happier working on it than I did composing magazine queries.
3. Maintain current schedule of exercising (4-5 times per week) and blogging (about 7 times per month).
How I’m doing: A+
Why: I’ve exceeded both of those goals with nearly 200 minutes of exercise per week and blogging 9 times in February and 10 in January. Yay!
4. Help my husband and me eat healthier by cutting up salad vegetables every Sunday for easy salad making, mixing and packaging trail mix, and baking healthy breakfast bars.
How I’m doing: A
Why: Every Sunday I wash and chop a bunch of salad veggies and we make fresh salads several times per week. I find that keeping the lettuce in the salad spinner makes it stay fresh and crisp longer. I also mix the trail mix and package it for my husband to take with him to work every day, and we bake the breakfast bars together every couple of weeks. Here’s the recipe we use (found on Pinterest): Homemade Alaskan Energy Bars
5. Learn how to make 10-12 cheap, easy healthy dinners that we both enjoy.
How I’m doing: A
Why: Pinterest is fantastic for recipes. Every one I’ve tried so far has been a winner. I now have 7-8 dinner recipes that fit the bill. Not bad for only 2 months, especially since my husband is still cooking at least as much as I am. (He’s the far superior cook, and I’m the better baker. But since I’m home more, I have to take more responsibility for cooking.)
6. Take better care of my teeth by flossing and using fluoride rinse every night. (This will be the hardest to accomplish, as I hate anything to do with teeth!)
How I’m doing: A+!
Why: Every single night, no matter how tired I am! I even do a series of stretches during the 60 seconds of fluoride rinse. I’m giving myself the “+” because I hated this so much at first, and now it’s no big deal. It’s also really important, since my union benefits have lapsed for the duration of my leave and I can’t afford to see the dentist. (Which I am not complaining about. I am not kidding you when I say I’d rather give birth again than go to the dentist.)
I’m pretty pleased with how I’m doing so far. How about you?