One month down

I met some of my objectives this month. I have been taking my health more seriously and decided to go see some specialists. Best thing I've done in a while. My meds have been changed - and reduced. I feel a bit like a pin cushion with the amount of blood work that has been done, but I have more answers now then I do questions. Coming off the old meds has been more difficult than I would have thought and I am happy they are leaving my system. I feel much better than I have in a long time, but this is only the start of a new journey, not the end.

What else have I accomplished? I have read three books so far. Not bad. I have also completed four Snuggle Blankets for charity. I'm very happy that I started on this first this year. I hope I will be able to finish up a few more and take them over to ARF next month. Next, I plan on finishing up a bunch of chemo caps and getting those over to the the Halos of Hope booth at Stitches West at the end of February. I have quite a few done now, so I may also send some to Headhuggers.

I have also managed to get some scrapbooking done. I finished one calendar that I have hanging at work. I also am working on one for home and one for Kevin's office. For some reason, the last two are taking longer than I would have liked as I'm having some difficulty finding the "perfect" pictures.

I joined two online scrapbooking classes to focus some of my creativity. Both were offered through Big Picture Classes. Two designers that I have taken classes from before are leading these. One is Cathy Zielske and the Move More, Eat Well 2012 group. This is following my plan of getting some sanity back in my life as it pertains to my health. The other is Ali Edwards and her class is called One Little Word 2012. This class focuses on using one one word throughout the year that represents a goal or objective. For me, these two classes go hand in hand towards my overall goals and objectives for the year. We'll see how it goes.

The other positive outcome for January is our trip to Las Vegas. We had a very enjoyable weekend, but I think I spent too much while I was there. On the upside, I have lots of new projects to work on! Having a few days of downtime and being able to just wander and not have any deadlines was a nice break from the norm. I really like going to Vegas, especially this time of year. The weather was perfect - it was in the 60's. Just my kind of weather!

A New Start

To me, New Year's Day is always an opportunity to start fresh. It also is a time to reflect on the year that just passed.

Two personal goals for 2011 was to read and knit more than I had in the previous year. I managed to accomplish both of these objectives, one just barely.

For 2011, I read a total of 36 books. One more than I did in 2010 and three more than I did in 2009. I also wanted to expand my reading horizons and try some different authors and subject matters. I discovered Jo Nesbø, a Norwegian author who writes crime novels. I read 4 of his books this year. I also read Kurt Vonnegut for the first time. While Mortals Slept is a collection of short stories and essays that were very enjoyable. As usual, my library grew larger this year and I have over 20 books queued up and ready to go.

I was also pleasantly surprised with my year end total for my knitting. I doubled up the yardage from last year. I consumed 23,231 yards in 2011, compared to 11,594 in 2010. That is still down from 2007-2009 however. I completed 34 items in 2011, compared to 26 in 2010. That is also down compared to 2007-2009. I was also surprised that I didn't finish a single piece of needlework this year. That is the first time in my life since my fiber compulsion started when I was 7.

So, goals for this year: Buy Less Yarn. I have no hope to truly reduce the stash unless I refrain from adding to it. If I take the 2/1 or 3/1 ratio, for every 2-3 yards I consume I can buy 1, maybe I can truly reduce the total yards in the house. I also want to increase my charity knitting to reduce the stash. I have quite a bit of yarn that is perfect for charity projects.

I also want to do more scrap booking. I managed to eke out some space in the home office to do some scrap booking and accomplished that at Christmas with the creation of 5 Year In Review albums for my Mom and Aunts. I really liked how they turned out. I have a couple of calendars to get done, so I better get cracking on those today.

I also would like to compete at State Fair this year, but if I don't stitch, there won't be any projects to submit. I think I need to set aside a couple of nights a week for stitching projects. That stash has been ignored for some time now.

2012 is also the year that I plan to make a major change in a more personal way. This year it's all about getting healthy so I can get off the prescription drugs. We now have an exercise bike that I need use every day and I need to eat a balanced, healthy diet for every meal. Less processed foods, more fruits and vegetables.

It's not so much about making resolutions, it's about improving and growing. January 1st is a good place to start.

Oh - and another objective is to blog again. I really miss it, so I'm going to try to check in here more often.

Thanks for stopping by -- Happy New Year!