And...They're Off!

The first week of 2012 is in the bag.  I think we've all gotten off to a running start.

The Good Stuff:
- According to plan, I've gone to the shop every other day since I got back to Central TX, and I've done my fifteen minutes on the Wii (balance games), 30 minutes on the bike with enough effort to break a sweat, and ten to fifteen minutes on the Wii (Yoga, and I did some aerobics today).  That's two days this week.  Every other day will result in three to four days a week, which should be a good effort.
- I put myself back on the WW plan.  The break was nice.  I stayed relatively stable while on maintenance -- at least weight-wise.  I missed recording points a few days while on maintenance, but, generally, I stuck with it.
- I've been experimenting with a program called Life Balance as a potential replacement or augmentation for Things.  Things is great for a number of things, but I'd like something that will help me track my effort toward accomplishing my primary goals.  Life Balance creates a pie chart based upon my top level goals.  I can adjust the pie slices to approximate approximately how much effort I need to put into each goal, and the program, based upon the items checked off on my ToDo list, will track where my efforts lie.  I downloaded the 30 day trial and after getting it pretty well set up, I took the plunge and purchased it today.  There is a Windows version available. I'm not absolutely certain it's the best thing, but I'm going to work with it and see.  I like it so far.  The manual is helpful.  If you download the trial, I recommend opening the manual before you install the program.  I recommend that, because it's easier to find when you do that.
- I've accomplished several tasks around the house I'd been procrastinating on: Mowed weeds, installed backer rod in the baseboards in the front bedroom (to stop drafts), sorted paperwork, generating even more shredding to do, and crawled under the house to install new insulation where we're pulled it off to repair pipes that froze last winter.
- I'm getting caught up on my reading (Durant and Federalist papers)
- Supposedly, the roofing people came and worked on the downspout problem at the shop while we were out of town.  Hopefully, they fixed the problem of "dribble back" that was resulting in some terrible leakage at one point.
- I unloaded 11 buckets of gravel at the store in preparation for hubby to put it down in front of the pull down doors to create a leveled approach.  While there, I pulled out the ladder and swept off the debris from the gutters.  I put the pole chain saw in my truck and brought it back to the house in preparation for trimming the pear tree before the end of the month
- Paid the last of the property taxes as well as the rest of the bills for this month
- At the last minute, I decided to participate in the 30 Days of Me meme.  If you want to check it out, I'm posting it on Philosophical Meanderings.

Not So Good:
- I think I use work around the house to procrastinate on getting writing related work done.  Working on PBOTL has been on my To Do list all week, yet it seems to not get done.  So has shredding.  If the shredding piles up really bad, I can box it up and take it to a document shredding service (not my preferred method, mind you), but PBOTL?  Only I can do that.
- Why am I resisting?  I'm not sure.  If I haven't started by next week, I'll conclude there's a problem. (I put it on the kitchen table tonight -- kind of a little push.)
- My plan was to do my to do list first, then get on the internet and play.  I've sort of done that, but not quite as effectively as I'd hoped.
- I didn't begin work on the ProGear in the closet.  I went in there, realized stuff hubby wanted out of the blue room was stacked in there in front of my books, got discouraged, and left.
- I didn't begin working on the stuff in the office, but I still dealt with the filing.  I'll need to continue working on it throughout the year, but I got the essential year-end work done.
- After I mowed the back yard to level out the weeds, I got the charger to plug the mower in and charge it, but the charger (transformer) had split it's casing since the last time I used it.  I looked for a replacement on line, and it's been discontinued and no longer available.  The silver lining is the mower has been recalled, so I called the number.  They're sending me a box, and I may get a replacement mower.

Plan for Next Week:
- Spread Bonus S
- Trim pear tree (if not this week, by the end of the month)
- Get some traction on PBOTL
- Continue fitness efforts
- Do a better job of staying on Plan (I look at this week as being a transition week, and I anticipate next week will be a little better)
- Hubby should be here Thursday through Sunday (or so) to drop off full buckets before heading back to SA to fill more buckets
- Work through the FM site changes -- Zette is back on board, so there's little for me to do
- Begin shredding documents
- Continue reading
- Change a couple of addresses with insurance companies
- Continue working with Life Balance and Things