2010 Goals

As a reminder, here is a list of my 2010 goals:

• Read Harry Potter 5, 6, and 7.
  
• Save up to buy an SLR camera.
• Value myself more. Do my hair and put on some makeup every day. Take walks twice a week. Get to the gym once a week.
• Cut TV time. No TV for January, no live TV for February and March. Who knows if I'll even want to watch much TV after that.
• Rework my novella into a novel. I wrote it my senior year of college. While it might sound "cocky," I do think it's better than most fiction I currently read. The only problem (and it's a big one)? It's only 50 pages.
  
• Enter 3 writing contests.
• Participate in Eat from the Pantry Challenge. We started December 28.
  
• Submit 1 piece of writing to an editor.
• Commit to housework schedule. I haven't been flawless so far, but it's going.
  
• Begin bucket list.
• Update blogs three times a week.
• Attend 2 scrapbook retreats.
• Make money blogging.

With just a WEEK of 2010 left, I thought it was a fair time to access my successes and failures.

• I read all the Harry Potter books! SUCCESS
• Did not save up to buy an SLR camera ... I did save up, but then I blew it all. Let's call it even.
  
• Value myself more ... not so much. Take this morning, hair is wild, not a lick of makeup on, and I'm not even sure where the gym is located at our new base. I had sporadic episodes of walking, but that got old. I did lose 10 pounds at one point this year, but I gained it all back. We'll call it all a slight failure - attempts were made, but nothing was stuck to.
• Rework my novella. Nope, never even opened the file. Epic fail.
• Cut TV time ... very sporadic attempts. We'll call it a fail.
• Enter 3 Writing Contests ... entered two? Guess that's fail too.
• Participate in Pantry Challenge. SUCCESS! We saved $300 on groceries in the month of January, which we promptly spent on new glasses that didn't even last a full year.
• Submit 1 piece of writing to an editor. No. Fail. BUT I did successfully complete NaNoWriMo, so I think that's worth something. I'm calling it even on this.
• Commit to housework schedule. No. We sold a home, moved into a house that I sort of hate the look of, and it's very hard to stay motivated to give a crap about cleaning it. My mess and family clutter, I think, hides the stains on the carpet, the poorly tiled countertops and distracts from my landlords terrible interior design tastes. Still, fail.
• Begin bucket list. I think I started on this but never fully finished it. Umm, my decision, so even.
• Update blogs three times a week. I think it started off well, but then dwindled, and then I deleted a blog or two, and now I am floating along wondering what to do next with this endeavor. Still, I'm calling it even.
• Attend 2 scrapbook retreats. Epic fail.
• Make money blogging. I did add some ads to this blog recently. I have not made a dime off any of my blogging attempts. I'll say fail.
  

There is a lot of red in that list, huh? Goals too lofty? Life changes? Oh well. The two success are spectacular, and I will take them and appreciate them. The even stuff isn't bad either - I made attempts. Attempting, in some cases, in a sort of success. I'll take it. No, the failures ... nothing that can't be tried again next year, nothing that destroyed my life.

As I mentioned, I completed NaNoWriMo - big news in my world. I also read 50 books this year (and might complete two more before 2011 hits)! Granted, many of them were mindless reads that I wouldn't, umm, boast about, but I think I had some good variety - AND I finally read To Kill a Mockingbird. Maybe I'll get around to The Scarlet Letter this year. I noticed that I tended to read in groups - lots of memoirs at once, lots of mindless fiction, lots of Southern-inspired novels.

Oh, yes, we also moved to a different state, sold a home, and I didn't lose my mind. There was also my husband's cancer fun and the bug bite that I thought nearly killed my dog and chickens and naughty kittens and visits from my mom and in-laws and a two-week solo stint in Indiana to help out my mom. None of those things were on my list, but I think they count for something.

I am in the process of 2011 goals, which I am not planning out as much as 2010. As we plan on buying a home (and flippin' moving again) and weigh schooling options, it'll be another fun year of "life getting in the way of my plans." But that's probably good for me.