Quarterly Resolutions

October 1st, 2009 · 1 Comment · Quarterly Resolutions

October first!

Stuff I Got Done:

I was supposed to ‘finish working on the house’, and I did spend a lot of time on it. I: painted the living room, hallway, kitchen, and dining room. All the furniture in the house is in the room it’s supposed to be in. I bought rugs for the living room and hallway, and put them out. I framed two prints for hanging (but haven’t hung them up yet). I bought fabric to recover the dining room chairs (but haven’t done that yet). I went through a lot of the papers in the office, threw out/shredded a lot of stuff, and organized my regularly-used files. I ordered a glass top for the living room desk. There has been progress.
I put down a few inches of mulch in the front flowerbed.
I read three books: The Big Rewind: A Memoir Brought to You by Pop Culture, by Nathan Rabin; The Magicians, by Lev Grossman; and A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson. The latter took forever to read. It is not a small book. The other two were both pretty good. I gave The Magicians to Tracy to read because I thought she’d like it. She is getting through it very slowly.
I saw two AFI movies, which is better than I thought I did. I saw Sullivan’s Travels (1941) and Wuthering Heights (1939, the version with Laurence Olivier). I liked both of them a lot, obviously. I slightly prefer Sullivan’s Travels only because I didn’t know much about it when I started watching it, and it was good but I also had no idea what was coming. Yet it was such a great movie that I’m surprised I haven’t heard about it before.
I saw my grandparents regularly.
I went to the gym regularly, though I have been a little stop-and-go on the diet. I haven’t gained much back, but I’m definitely at a plateau right now. It’s frustrating, but I can only blame myself. On the plus side, I’ve started going to yoga in addition to the cardio and weights, and that’s a good thing. So, yay.
I did put some nature pictures up for sale on Zenfolio, though I haven’t sold anything.
I am participating in the October rotation for the Columbia Art League. I haven’t put together an entire new exhibit, but I made some prints to add to the best ones from the last exhibit. On the plus side, I actually signed and titled the prints that I put together for this go-round! I hadn’t done that yet, but I wished I had when I sold those two prints last spring.
I did take new photos for the July (100 steps from your house) and August (blades of grass) photo club contests, though the September contest was ‘photos from your archives’, so I didn’t have to do new photos for that one.

It was not a terribly productive quarter on paper, but I feel like the big main thing that I wanted to get done is getting done. The fresh paint is a huge improvement (though I still can’t promise that I love the warm beige. I would like to get used to it, but I’m not sure I don’t want to repaint it). Everything is starting to come together, slowly. I am sure I will manage to do it.

Stuff I Didn’t Get Done:

The few inches of mulch in the front flowerbed is as far as I got. My yard is a mess.
The house is not finished. I have no sense of closure on any of the rooms, even the bathroom that I redid a few years ago, because the towel rod came down. My sister says that it looks like I’m moving, and she’s right. It’s just not done.
I didn’t take a road trip, though I planned one and only cancelled at the last minute. It was a really productive weekend otherwise, but I didn’t take a road trip.
I did not see five AFI movies. I only saw two.
I rarely ate lunch out of the office, though I go pick up lunch out of the office at least once a week. That’s not the same, though.
I didn’t attend any Meetup groups.
I didn’t meet up with my International Center friend at all, though I did email her a few weeks ago when school started.
I barely have photos for sale on Zenfolio. I really need to follow through and get them on Etsy.

Despite my poor showing for this quarter, I am still pleased with my overall efforts towards finishing these goals. I know for a fact that I’ve accomplished more because I had this goal than I would have done if I did not have this goal. That is very important.

Quarterly Resolutions for Fourth Quarter of 2009!

Gardening is the number-one priority of the quarter. I have a mess of a yard, and I really want to just pull so much out and put down some plain mulch or grass and just let it not be overgrown flowerbeds anymore. I know my limitations with gardening, and this yard is insane. So, my goals: 1. Rip out everything in the front flowerbeds by the sidewalks. 2. Clean up the front flowerbed. 3. Clean up the back flowerbed. 4. Mulch everywhere. 5. Pull out everything from the circle flowerbed in the backyard and leave it bare until spring when I can put down grass seed. (God, if I get this done, AWESOME. And it’s still a small piece of what needs to get done.)
Working on the house is the second priority of the quarter. Finish it! I know I probably won’t, but I want to finish it.
I pretended like the garage was part of the house until it was time to work on the house, and then after the Great Kitchen Flood of 2009, I pretended like the garage was part of the yard. It could not look worse. Time to clean it up.
Switch out to fall clothes and clean out the closet again.
Make trips to Goodwill with all that stuff. Put stuff on Freecycle. Seriously, this time.
Road trips. I have a family thing planned in Branson in October, but I also want to fit in a trip to Chicago this fall, one slightly longer than last fall. Possibly a full weekend? Family photos, IKEA, thrift stores, Chicago Diner, etc. I love that city.
Autumn photos. Last year, I took a little trip and got some really pretty fall leaf photos. This year, I’d love to do something similar. The leaves have started to change, but they’re not there yet, and even if I just stay around the general area, I should be able to get some great autumn pictures done.
Come up with a logo for the new retro blog.
Have a Halloween party again, possibly with a Pumpkin Party the weekend before (again). Yay.
Make some plans for a big trip in the spring. Somewhere cool. Possibly overseas or a really big long road trip.
Christmas activities! Buy gifts, mail cards, etc. Like I would forget to do that!
I would like to set up the Etsy print sales thing. I really want to do that. But I also want to get a new front page put on my photo blog. Choose one and do it thoroughly.
The usual open-ended goals: see my grandparents more often; see my International Center friend more often; continue diet & exercise; participate in the CAL rotations; take new pictures for the photo club meetings every month.
Read three books, preferably ones I’ve already started.
See five AFI movies. I have ten left on each of the two lists, but there’s some overlap so I think I have only 13 or 14 left in total. Not bad! I can finish this by next summer if I try.