Very impressed by everyone's progress thus far. Y'all rock! Here's the roundup on my first week of 2012.
Productive things
- My project for the next few days is to remove everything from my fridge that's out of date. So far, cleaned two shelves and threw away a lot of old food. Intend to clean one shelve a day until it's clean. Then I will start on the freezer.
- House still has Christmas decorations up inside, but the outside lights and inflatables are ready to go into the backyard storage building. Intended to put away the inside decorations tonight and this coming week, but still have one more Christmas gathering to host next Saturday. That's okay. I hate taking down my Christmas village anyway, and the house always seems bare when the decorations are gone.
- Filed and worked on getting a pile of paperwork reduced.
- Started gathering receipts and docs for taxes. Should be interesting this year.
- Worked on Murder by the Mile. Not as much as I should have, but I did make progress. I "un-killed" the mother of Benjamin Rivers, and that seems to have really opened things up. She's an odd lady, bitter and vengeful. She also thinks she's psychic. And maybe she is. (At least one time.) I did not make my five pages a week goal. In fact, with editing and changes, I lost ground. It's okay, though. I knew beginning again would be rough. Next week, I will advance again.
- Made it to the gym two times this week. Illness and soreness kept me away. Next week, I will do better.
- Ate at least one fruit (banana, apple, banana, banana, strawberry, apple, orange) and one green veggie a day (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, spinach, etc.). And had a salad five times this week.
- Started using my Daily 20 list again and aimed for getting at least 10 items done a day. Averaged 17 items today. Pleased about that. Will continue to use the Daily 20.
- Continued to read the New Testament. On Acts now.
Nonproductive things
- Ate things I shouldn't. Including doughnut holes and a creme-filled doughnut. Also, drank two regular Dr Peppers. No excuses. I craved them, so gave in. Will do better next week.
- Watched TV too much. Annoyed at myself about this. Kept me from being as productive as I wanted to be. Will cut back next week.
- Beat myself up over bills and the slow book sales. Hard to remember that I can only control the things I do, not what happens after that. In other words, I can write and publish and promote, but I cannot control sales. I can only do my part.
- Black dog has been stalking me. Hate the way it steals energy from me. Makes everything hard. Hate this time of year with the cold temps and short days. Ready for spring.
- Still fighting the insomnia. Seems to be a little better. Just got to go to bed when I feel tired and not work through it until I wake up again. Often, I want to finish what I'm doing when I should recognize the sleep cycle has come around.
That's my first week.
Next week:
- Exercise 5 times a week.
- Write 5 new pages for Murder by the Mile.
- Continue to use the Daily 20 for decluttering, cleaning, and daily chores.
- Promote my book sales 5 times a week on Facebook, Twitter, 51313 Harbor Street, etc. I mean, 5 times total, not 5 times each. There's a lot of overlap on all of them, and I don't want to burn my audience out.
- Upload a new Christmas card to Oakleaf Harbor.
- Create a birthday card section on Oakleaf Harbor and upload a birthday card.
- Read three books.
That should keep me busy. Hope next week is great for all of us!
8 comments:
What a week! You need to make friends with old black dog, since he hangs around so much. Maybe then he'll be a happy dog.
You did a lot of good, productive stuff this week. I know the donuts and Dr. Pepper's aren't good for your diabetes, but it sounds like you limited yourself. How were your glucose readings afterward? If they weren't too bad, don't beat yourself up. Keep on truckin'!
Don't forget you can make a public posting at G+, too. Also, do you have your Author page at G+ yet? Take a look at Tammy's if you need an example.
I don't remember if I've asked, but do you pronounce your name as Steven or Steffen? I do it as Steven, and I'd like to make sure I do it correctly.
I think the black dog just needs to go the pound. I'll be happier when he does.
My readings were terrible afterwards. I do know better, of course, but it's hard when I crave them.
No, I don't have an author page on G+. I'll have to look at Tammy's.
It's Stephen (Steven). Like Saint Stephen in the Bible. I was named for him. Are there Stephens who pronounce their name as Steffen? I didn't know that. Why do you need to pronounce my name? Are you talking to the FBI? :)
This black dog sounds like the (real) black dog we had living under our house when we bought it. It wasn't friendly, it sometimes chased neighbor kids, and then it had puppies, and we envisioned an entire pack of dogs living under our house and the lawsuits the would follow for us not taking care of "our" dogs, so Animal Control finally got her and the puppies and took her away. I'm sure none of them came to a happy ending, which is sad, but there wasn't going to be a happy ending for anybody as it was either. Your black dog sounds very similar to that black dog, so, yes, the pound would be better.
That's right. Saint Stephen. I remember that conversation several years ago. Yes, there's at least one current NBA player who spells his name Stephen and pronounces it Steffen (which is always the way I pronounced that spelling when I was a kid -- the "ph" as the "eff" sound, you know). Of course, for decades, I pronounced the name "Sean" as "Seen" until I finally saw the spelling "Sean" and the pronunciation "Shawn" together. I like the words in my head when I think them to be correctly pronounced, and when I talk with you to hubby, I want to make sure I'm saying it right. As for the FBI? No more than usual.
Tell your hubby I said hi. :)
I never knew anyone pronounced Stephen as Steffen. That's interesting.
I like the idea of a daily 20 list. I may have to give that a try.
Overall it sounds like a good week. I'm glad you posted about what you beat yourself up over, mostly because you've identified it as a problem. Recognizing the problem is the only way to fix it. I'm with you on the TV, and what makes it more frustrating is it's the off season, so I watched mostly stuff I've already seen.
I agree with Wendy. Overall it sounds good, with a few struggles.
Send that black dog packing! Let him knock over someone else's trashcans for awhile and poo on their porch! {{huggs}}
Can you tell us more about the daily 20 list? How specific is it, or is it more of a broad guideline? Like - Clean the bathroom (broad) vs scrub the toilet (specific)
Wendy, I'm with you on that. I watched some shows I had already seen. I think TV is easy when you're depressed. Gives you something mindless to do.
Tammy, here's my D20 for yesterday.
1. Wash & dry sheets
2. Make bed
3. Vacuum house
4. Dust living room
5. Wash & dry & put away towels.
6. Walk at gym
7. Morn - take meds
8. Even - take meds
9. Empty trash cans
10. Find polar bear for Jean
11. Edit first 10 pages on MBTM
12. Wash black car
13. Christmas card upload
14. Blog on 51313
15. Blog on CreateSlate
16. Birthday card upload
17. Make out bills
18. Mail bills
19. Thank you card to Janelle
20. Wrap Fosters' presents
As you can see, it's a mix of specific and broad. I was able to do 15 items on it yesterday. On Sundays, I don't make a list, although I may do a few things just because I can.
I find it satisfying to mark items off. It also helps to quiet the discouraging voice that I tangle with because I have this list of completed items as evidence that I'm not wasting my time.
On bad black dog days, I find I tend to the specific because every little thing seems hard.
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