2008 Goals

They're mostly knocking around my head, so I'm going to put them here, so that other things can take up residence.
1. Lose weight. I have a lot to lose. Heck, Patrick's seven and a half months old and I'm still wearing maternity clothes! Not a good look. At the moment I'm not going to do a diet plan or anything like that. In fact I'm going to start pretty small _ walking to work as many days as possible (which is a good 30-40 minute walk) and cutting down on the sweet stuff.
2. Pay off stupidly gigantic power bill. Don't ask.
3. Spend less
4. Write every day
5. Buy tea less often
6. Catch up with review books
7. Keep up with Classic books project
8. Finish more than two cross stitch projects
9. Stop striving to seek balance. I know that sounds odd, but honestly that stresses me out more than anything. So I'm going to try and do what I need/want to do at the time and listen to my body when it says I need rest.
10. Spend less time on the internet.
That'll do, I think!

Move it move it

I have a new obsession. Counting to 10 _ the minimum number of times the baby is supposed to move in a day. As soon as I've counted to 10, I can go about my business quite happily. Of course, the baby doesn't know I'm counting, and waiting, so some days take longer than others, making for a very anxious mother. Good grief.
We're getting pretty well-stocked now, and have most 'big-ticket' things. I bought a baby monitor yesterday so of the big stuff all that's left is a cot mattress, maybe a bassinett and a high chair, later on. Otherwise we just need clothes, nappies, stuff like that. There are times when flirting with OCD can be a good thing.
Argh. If I'm not careful, this will turn into a baby only blog. And while I'm finding the whole process fascinating and scary and worrying, never having gone through it before, I'm not sure what the rest of the world thinks.
So. Work is fine. Short-staffed this week (hooray) and still nothing on the promotion. I've put my leave forms in and now it's just a matter of waiting.
Cats all seem to be fine, apart from JD who has developed some impressive mats on his back. I managed to cut out a couple the other night, but he's been a bit absent lately and getting the bigger ones is a two-man job _ he's not the friendliest of cats at all.
I seem to be doing okay on my January goals, except I decided to start rotatering again.
It's one of my goals now for '07 _ stick to the same rotation plan for the whole year and see how successful I am. I have great focus when I bend my mind to it but I'm also very easily distracted by shiny things.
It's raining (wherefore art thou, summer?) and is the perfect day for either lazing on the couch reading, or lazing on the couch stitching.
Ah ... to still have the luxury of choice!

Over for another year

I couldn't connect with Christmas at all this year. Put up the tree, wrapped the presents, spent the day with loud and drunken family members ... and all I got was a lousy headace. And if my sister talked to me ONE MORE TIME about thebabythebabythebaby like she did all day, there was going to be a family rift. I don't mind answering questions and getting advice (she has two children) and I think it's nice that she's excited about this baby but ... hey! HEY! What about me?
Anyway. My mother seemed to have a good day, spending time with her grandchildren and getting proportionally louder as the day went on. For myself, I was glad to get home again.
J and I exchanged presents the night before, when all was quiet. We set a limit of $30 for each other, as things are a little tight this year. I got J the DVD of Sky High and I got Evanescence's new CD and a box of chocolates. Things could definitely be worse!
This year got completely away on me, after we unexpectedly lost Dad in January. After that, it kind of felt like one thing after another.
My sister had her baby in February; I switched shifts at work; J was out of work for a while after the works season finished (he's back at the supermarket now); there was Chloe's ongoing health issues with her leg; and we found out we're having a baby of our own. I'd just like to crawl under something and not come out some days.
But Chloe recovered, the baby's healthy and because J works part-time he does all the housework and the cooking, so all I have to do is go to work and pay bills. I don't have a lot to complain about, really, it's just that some days are better than others I guess.
Next Friday will be a year since Dad died, so that'll be a hard day.
Speaking of things getting away from me ... I'm going to try setting monthly goals again, see how I go. For this purpose, I'm counting from today until January 31. If I wait until December 30 to do it, I'll talk myself out of it for sure.
So I've been thinking about what I'd like to get done in the next month:-
-Write 1000 words a day; see if I can get my mojo back
-Finish the page I'm on and the next one of the Iris pattern for my friend S's wedding
-Get as much possible done of window on cat pattern for the baby's room
-Start DD's Here Be Dragons as your 2007 January start
-Make a list of everyone's birthday
-Finish Pandora's Star and Lord of the Rings
-Read one or two review books; write the reviews every Wednesday or Thursday
-Find out about ante-natal classes
-No Starbucks!
-No buying tea at work
-Get credit card under its limit
-Do one thing off 101 in 1001 days list
That'll keep me off the streets, I think!