hlmauera | Revisiting goals and navel gazing (Reply)

It's been a while. I did really well for a while and then things kinda imploded and I was too busy to add to this journal. The busyness was accompanied by a bit of depression and I figured if I couldn't say something good it was better to not say anything at all. There was a bit of radio silence all around.
Part of the busyness was working on Durin and Ceridwen's clothes. Most of my help bailed so I ended up doing almost all of their sewing myself. I even had to do embroidery. It turned out fine but it wasn't the spectacular embroidery that other royalty has had or that other artisans are capable of. I just don't do that much of it so I haven't practiced my skills.
Their step down clothing turned out fine though:

At step down they gave me the Heart of the Summits award which was accompanied by a circlet. It was made even more special by the fact that Durin cut down Ceridwen's viscounty circlet and added the heart to it to give to me. That meant more to me than the award, honestly. However, the whole things was very cool.

After stepdown, I had a little sewing to do for my little niece. I made her a jacket and three dresses although all of them are a bit big. I also made sugar scrubs for Christmas presents. These were the only handmade gifts this year. I just didn't have time or inclination. I only got a picture of the coat.

We got some cute pictures of her and I and her and Papa and Gma at JC Penney's. That was fun.
We also went to see the carousel in Albany which was also amazing. I want to paint carousel animals! But I don't have the time to give. It's all volunteer hours.

Both of my siblings and their families came for Christmas. It's the first time we've all been together for Christmas and it was absolute chaos. 10 people, 5 dogs, 1 house. I was glad to retreat to my own home each night. I ended up taking my new anti-anxiety medication several days to handle the chaos. I love my family and, generally, I like spending time with them but I get overwhelmed by everyone at once. I was almost glad to be back to work today so that I don't have to deal with all the chaos.

Christmas eve we went to my aunt and uncles house where there were 20 of us and 7 dogs. Christmas day my aunt and uncle came down to my parent's house but without all the cousins so there were 13 of us and the 5 dogs. My brother's poor mastiff had to stay in his kennel most of the time they were here. He's still a puppy and he can nearly break legs with his enthusiastic tail.

We had the usual feast with the inevitable overeating. I need to get back on a controlled eating regimen and get my weight back under control. With the cold weather, I've wanted to eat all the food.

With all of that, and it's coming up on new year, so I thought I'd revisit my goals for this year and see how I did.

2017 goals
Mental Health and Well-being

Be up front and honest with my family instead of avoiding having hard conversations. (I started this already when I told my mom I didn't want to go to Hawaii if I was going to be under Dad's thumb and not an independent person. She's trying to arrange a family vacation, which, knowing my family, probably won't happen because mom and I are the only planners. However, I told her it was difficult for me to be pleasant and not "ruin" other people's vacations when I had no say in my own participation. I am 42 years old but my dad insists upon treating me like I'm 16 when we get together as a family.)- I will continue to try to do this but it doesn't have a whole lot of effect on my family.
Continue daily journalling for my personal use- I've managed to continue this but have had a couple of weeks where I've had to play catch up on Saturday. If I could head to bed a little earlier I'd be better able to do my journaling before I fall asleep.
Figure out Christmas presents early in the year so I can work on them slowly and not be cramming everything into the last 2-3 months making myself miserable- I opted not to make many presents this year. It was far more expensive but less stressful.
Continue participating in the University Chorale- I have continued to participate but have found it less rewarding this last term. I'm hopeful that it was just that we didn't have a master work this term. We were really ready for our concert though so that's the benefit.
Read! My goal is at least 100 books. I don't really care if they are just fun and fluffy.- I'm sitting at 120 books so far and I think I'll get a couple more read this week.
Reduce screen time at home. Perhaps audio books will help with this.- I wouldn't say this has been successful but I also am not very concerned about it. I tend to put on Netflix to listen to while I am knitting or working on projects.
Learn a couple of new skills. I have two knitting skills in mine, Entrelac and Brioche knitting. But I'd like at least one to be non-knitting related.- I didn't learn any new skills this year but I did have an opportunity to do some practice on some little used skills (embroidery and sewing for others).
Attend at least two cultural events (preferably with Jana but not exclusively)- We went to the Polynesian cultural center in Oahu and went to the luau and show. It was amazing and very much a cultural event, even though it wasn't what I had in mind when I wrote these goals. I also have gone to the Ballet twice- The legend of Sleepy Hollow and an American Christmas Carole. I want to go see the Barber of Seville on the 30th but I don't have $67 to do so.

Physical Health and Well-being

Continue to take my water aerobics class- Work no longer allows me to take the long lunch necessary to participate in this. I've not been very good about finding substitutions. I tired two after work classes but was so busy that this didn't work well for me.
Lose weight. I'd like to get below 200 lbs by the first of next year. That's about 36 lbs. Normally, I wouldn't obsess about this but my surgery revealed that I have a fatty liver and the ONLY way to treat that is to lose weight. I think this is a reasonable goal. If I could do that, I'd only have 25 lbs to go to get to my personal goal weight (perhaps not the doctors). This hasn't happened. In fact, I've put on about 10 lbs of the 30 I took off. I need to get back on track.
In that vein, continue tracking food intake and activity on my Fitbit- I've tracked activity but no food intake the last month or two. That coincides with the weight gain so I need to get back on this.
Once the surgery side effects have stabilized, see a nutritionist to discuss a balanced diet with my severely limited options- I think this should happen no later than March.- The student nutritionist was not able to help me but I think I've hit a reasonable balance. Still not great nutrition but with my limitations that's bound to happen.
Get back to hiking- 3-5 hikes this year would be lovely. This is a little weather dependent and so the last goal I had of 9 was not particularly feasible.- This hasn't happened due to the other obligations on my weekend time.
Exercise 3-5 days a week. Water aerobics will take care of this if I go faithfully but if not, I need to get out and walk to replace the missed days - Not so much. I've been walking occasionally with a new friend but not reliably.

Craft goals

Complete the Christmas knitting. I finished Mom's socks over the weekend but I still need to get Candy's Star Wars scarf completed- I got all of this done and there is no bleed over for this Christmas.
Learn Entrelac and Brioche knitting (as per above)- There has been nearly no time devoted to knitting so this has not happened.
Complete 3-5 shawls. I have at least seven shawls in my queue that I already have yarn for and lots of other yarn besides - I finished one shawlette when I was in Hawaii.
Complete Fiori di Sole. It can count as one of the seven- I did complete this shawl as well
Complete the Poet's pullover. I have the yarn and it's supposed to be an easy sweater. - Hasn't happened yet but I'm hoping to start on this in January.
Sew one thing a month using already acquired fabric. I have a ton of fabric matched with patterns already. - I made five skirts for myself, a jacket and three little dresses for Lilly, And I don't know how many tunics and the like for Durin and Ceridwen. Certainly I met my goal but not in the expected way.
Sew two bliauts (Linen and wool). These can count as part of my one a month but I may have to buy linen for one.- I finished one pseudo-bliaut out of wool. But there was limited time for sewing for myself.
Embellish the green tunic completely. I have a good idea of what this should look like in my head, which makes it easier than any of the other embellishment. Work on embellishing other SCA gear. - Not at this time.

Financial goals

Become a Stampin' Up demonstrator and meet the quarterly goals- preferably without buying all the product for myself. (I have signed up and opened my website but now I have to meet the goals)- I have met my goals but have spent a fair amount of money for myself doing so.
Put $1000 in the savings account.- Well, there is $1000 in my account for working on the back porch but not in the account I intended
Use my credit card only for my business expenses- I refinanced and paid off my credit card. However, I have a $20,000 home equity loan on the house to manage this.
Pay down the balance on the card using my tax return. I did but it wasn't sufficient.
Try making home cleaning/personal products. I have recipes for laundry detergent, shampoo, conditioner, and multipurpose cleaners. It's possible some would be cheaper to make than buy and better for me or the environment. I should also make some wool dryer balls- I suppose this is both a craft and a financial goal. Hmmm, I have been making my own laundry detergent. I tried wool dryer balls but they don't do enough to help with the static, even with vinegar added to the laundry.
I need to start thinking and planning for buying a new car - Thinking but not planning. The car will probably hit 300,000 miles this year. I don't think there is any chance that I will be able to replace it with a truck and only a small chance that a midsize suv is in the future. Probably it will be another used and potentially not as good car this time around. I have money from the home loan to buy a car but I don't know how to make the payments if I do that.

SaveSaveI'll be thinking about my goals for next year in the coming week. I don't feel like I've been very good this year at actively working towards them but I do think it's good to have them. I need to figure out a way to make them more frequently visible.