Living-Deliberately.com

Here it is, just about the end of May!! I’m actually overdue for this check-in; had been hoping to get to it earlier in the month but it’s been a busy one and hey…I’m human! :-).

So here was my original list for 2008:

(obviously not a complete list):

• continue to learn and train as necessary for my first sprint-level Triathlon; I want to do my first in the spring of ‘09 so the bulk of my learning and prep should be within this year.
• obtain and learn to play the guitar (leftover goal from last year, completely untouched).
• read fiction again this summer.
• paint again.
• hit my buisiness goal.
• transition my children healthfully, teaching them to live honestly, loving them patiently.
• continue, and to some extent return to, eating whole, traditonal foods prepared at home, wherever home comes to be.

And here was my last update, in February. Because I had made such good progress on my goals in the first month, I also added to my goal list at that time:

• work on “greening” things up a bit more….compost the food scraps, contribute to the garden, be more diligent with power consumption (turn off this ‘puter at night!), use a reusable water bottle instead of buying them…etc.
• get my budget written. I am now “variable income” and Dave has sheets for that. It’s time to get very, very intentional with money, more than I ever have done so before; there’s no excuse not to because I certainly know better!
• kayak…another long time wish that I’ve done nothing to attain. Saying it in writing is a start.

And here is my mid-year check-in:

• I’ll actually update on my Triathlon Training progress in a separate post but a quick synopsis would be that I’m now doing the run/bike combination a few times each week, with a 5 mile run/walk and a 9.5 mile ride. Biggest need is still for equipment; everything from a cap, shorts, & shoes to a real racing bike, and next to add in for the work out is a swim. Perfect timing with summer here.
• My guitar: oh how I love thee! I’m still strumming by moonlight in my little camper and working on a little finger picking. It probably sounds moody and cliche and that’s just what I love! It’s like the gooey frosting on a cupcake…Sweet On Purpose. And a totally selfish joy, of which I’ll not waste a moment feeling guilty over. My guitar, even played in ways others’ would chuckle at, makes me happy.
• Fiction: I didn’t wait for summer. And, now that summer is here, I’m currently reading through more NON fiction: Dark Nights of the Soul (which is awesome btw) and some fiction: The Whistling Season (which I find to be slow). As it gets hotter, I may ditch reading all together though and go with movies. I have some catching up to do on my never-ending lists!
• Painting: slow but constant. Sunday afternoons are the days that I paint, when I have one that allows for it. I’ve finished two paintings and have begun a third. It’s a good pace that I’m pleased with and the experiments I’m doing with oil and texturizing my canvas are much fun!
• My business goals: cooking right along. I’m hoping for a very good second half of the year and with articulated goals and a schedule for hitting them, seem to be right on track. I’m launching my new website within days.
• My children: oh joy are they doing so much better! Winter has passed in more ways than one. New friends, new sports and activities, new adventures, combined with the restoration of old comforts and traditions, has helped and I thank all of you who pray for them. The road ahead is still a long one and that’s all I can say about that.
• Food: a miraculous thing happened yesterday….I worked a long day and took my tired and sweaty self into the kitchen, cleaned up a bit, and made supper. A creative supper. Without thinking about it too much! It just rolled out, like the old days. I’ve cooked good food in the past few months but I was distressed over how much EFFORT it took to think it through, come up with an idea, and experiment. Last night felt restorative. I twittered it. I think, especially as I’ll soon have my own kitchen again, I will see this return in gradual force.
• on greener: BAD progress. Actually stagnant. I guess it’s good that we’re still using real air…no AC yet. Mom makes tremendous strides (and blogs them here) and I go along with her efforts. But if they weren’t there, I probably wouldn’t be initiating them right now and I still want to change that. Takes energy I haven’t had yet; maybe in the next quarter?
• Budget’s written. ER fund is being worked on (Baby Step 1) with slow, sometimes backwards, motion. Business + a settled divorce should = progress in the next quarter. If I did one TMM, I can do another! The determination is there and that is always the very start.
• Kayak: zero progress. But I have a birthday coming up and I’m kind of eyeballing that company on the waterway that does tours. We’ll see.

Okay…so now it’s YOUR turn! Blog your own goal progress and leave me a link in the comments. Also, link to this post in your own post. I’ll take the names off all who participate and randomly draw one to receive a FREE UseAgainBag…a reusable grocery bag, completely made in America (fabric included), with super-strong handles, hooks for the baggers, and a deep capacity. This ain’t the cheapies they sell for a few bucks that look like they could fall apart in a few trips….made in China, of course! I promise you’ll love your bag!

Thanks to those who participated in my first contest! All “two” of you LOL! My hope is that many others of you mentally compared your progress so far to your goals considered. And, I’ll be doing this contest again the first week of May so if you want to participate, go ahead and blog your goals now so you can check in then!

As far as this contest goes, I really liked reading the progress of both women! You Go!!

Adventures in Simple Living & Daily Ethnography….you both have great blogs; thanks for sharing them! You had a 50/50 chance of winning girls!

Today we did the drawing…I made a slip with each name and Andrew pulled the winner out of the hat.

And the winner is……

ADVENTURES In Simple Living!!

The prize, as promised: A Free Use-Again Bag!!! (email me and we can do the color choice and shipping info: tia AT sixredheads DOT com)

So don’t forget: Contest repeats in early May. The best way to ACHIEVE goals is to write them down and check on the progress. Live Deliberately!

“They” say the best strategy for goal attainment is to write them down, break them into baby steps, and revisit them. Here are some of my stated goals for this year:

Goals for 2008:

(obviously not a complete list):

• continue to learn and train as necessary for my first sprint-level Triathlon; I want to do my first in the spring of ‘09 so the bulk of my learning and prep should be within this year.
• obtain and learn to play the guitar (leftover goal from last year, completely untouched).
• read fiction again this summer.
• paint again.
• hit my buisiness goal.
• transition my children healthfully, teaching them to live honestly, loving them patiently.
• continue, and to some extent return to, eating whole, traditonal foods prepared at home, wherever home comes to be.

And here’s the update:

1. Triathlon efforts continue. I’ve increased my running to include a 3rd lap of my route. I’ve decided I LOVE the end result of running…the toning, the clear mind, the endurance built. I HATE the process of running! It’s boring as heck. I don’t listen to music because I’m concerned I need to be listening for traffic and safety threats. Lap one means I’m having my “worry appointment” and sorting out all the crud in my life that needs to be chewed. Lap 2 means I’m feeling like puking, wishing I could be in childbirth instead and cussing to the caedance of my footfalls. Lap 3 means the worst is over… some kind of stupid mental and physical hurtle has been crossed…I’m smiling because I’m working on a balinese meditation method and I feel strong. In honesty, I *could* run a fourth lap by that point I’m bored out of my gourd and always head in home. It’s time for a shake up in my routine!!! And, I should actually *measure* my distance because I still don’t really know how far I’m going.
2. Fortunatley, one is coming! I have a bike!!! It’s not a racing bike but will get me on two wheels and street riding. I’ve got to refurb it and clean it first. It’s impetus enough to get a helmet and a little variety in the work out. I don’t know what to look for in a helmet…any advice?
3. BWWWWAHAHHHAHAHHAHAAA!!!! Oh joy!!! My beautiful GUITAR!!! I LOVE IT. My fingers have unfamiliar callouses that still take getting used to. I can play enough chords to strum a few favorite songs and am learning to finger pick. I started working with a capo last week. Lots of fun with different keys now! Sitting with my guitar has been tremendously therpeutic and fun. What a happy spot!
4. AND I’m painting again! I’m painting what I dream and I’m working in oils, part of a goal from last year. I finished one painting this weekend and have another in progress. There’s a whole ‘nother post coming on how many times Art and creative expression has saved my life. It may never earn me a dime or hang in anyone’s home but my own but I never feel more honest with myself, more true to who I really am, than when I have my fingers in paint.
5. Fiction in the summer? Gee… I hope so! But I’m really not much of a TV watcher and I got ahold of some fiction recently and decided not to wait. The Kiterunner was first, followed by A Thousand Splendid Suns, and A Year of Wonders. All of them excellent reads. They were good breaks in the more vigorous line up of “recommended for therapy” titles also on my nightstand.
6. (it was somewhere in this past month that I realized painting, singing, and reading have always been a part of my life since early childhood…and if I ever go years at a time without doing any of them again, I ought to take a good hard look at what’s causing that).
7. Business is recovering from a rocky season of too-much travel and disruption. Hopefully that will continue.
8. The children are doing well, though this particular goal will be many years in the meeting and is only in it’s infancy. And it’s much too private to go into detail over.
9. Whole foods…could still improve quite a bit here. I did manage to quit the Buffalo Wings Dorito habit. And I’m nearly addicted to sushi, which is a pretty dang healthy food option. But my diet really does need more good yogurt, soaked beans and grains, and fruit. Coffee is not a food group and I need to work harder on remembering that. There is also WAY too much white sugar going on….though my cupcakes of late have been made with Turbinado. I should give sucanat a try……

Because I’m doing much better on my goals than I expected to, I’m going to add in a few more that I think are healthy and necessary and currently not present enough in my life:

• work on “greening” things up a bit more….compost the food scraps, contribute to the garden, be more diligent with power consumption (turn off this ‘puter at night!), use a reusable water bottle instead of buying them…etc.
• get my budget written. I am now “variable income” and Dave has sheets for that. It’s time to get very, very intentional with money, more than I ever have done so before; there’s no excuse not to because I certainly know better!
• kayak…another long time wish that I’ve done nothing to attain. Saying it in writing is a start.

Okay…so now it’s YOUR turn! Blog your own goal progress and leave me a link in the comments. Also, link to this post in your own post. I’ll take the names off all who participate and randomly draw one to receive a FREE UseAgainBag…a reusable grocery bag, completely made in America (fabric included), with super-strong handles, hooks for the baggers, and a deep capacity. This ain’t the cheapies they sell for a few bucks that look like they could fall apart in a few trips….made in China, of course! I promise you’ll love your bag! (And for those not in the contest or who just want to buy your own…there is currently free shipping all all orders!)

Happy New Year!!! One of my very favorite days of the year…I like it better than christmas, better than my birthday. I like fresh starts, Anne-Shirley-ish reminders that, “tomorrow is a brand new day, with no mistakes”, chances to compare what has been with what is wanted and to make goals and adjustments and strategies for challenges. Today is a day for articulating deliberateness, full of gusto and intention. I love new calendars, new lists, hope and promise and anticipation.

At the end of 2007 I saw nearly everything in my life change. From weekend to weekend I don’t know where I’ll be…and yet we had a beautiful continuity with love, tradition, and memories. It has been a time for finding comfort in the intangible, for deep breaths knowing from experience that this grief will pass with time, for joy and discovery in the simple little things returning to me from long ago. I’ve conquered old fears (at least to some extent), adapted where I thought it was impossible, and opened doorways long in existance at the end of my mind’s hall but that seemed forever closed. With a year ending like that, it feels unlikely that the next will be mundane.

At the end of 2007:

What used to be: I loved music, movie soundtracks, new releases, multiple genres.

What has been: no fm radio, no mp3 technology, a quiet life with radio talk shows and occaissional music finds, usually via rhapsody.com or youtube.

What has become: burned CD’s from friends, a handed-down mp3 player loaded with music belieing a musical-kindred-spiritedness that was a beautiful surprise, and a car radio on the fm dial in multiple places, via a sort of hack involving an adapter and a CD player.

The result: MUSIC!!! New music, old music, lyrics for every emotion and thought, Orthodox worship when I can’t go to church, soundtracks that sweep. Music heals, helps one cope, express, and ventilate. It’s like soothing balm on cracked hands.

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What used to be: airplanes are large metal objects that have no business hurtling through the sky, and if they come down, we ought not be surprised.

What has been: major anxiety attacks when needing to fly…afraid of every bump and jostle, the fear palpable that I’d be in the next headline, having fallen and burned and crashed.

What has become: “it’s a like a bus”, so said a friend, and in so doing, gave me a great measure of freedom. Buses sway and move and make noises and really, an airplane isn’t so different. Sheer time saved makes flying worth the effort, even with crabby holiday travelers. Each flight gets a little easier and I no longer shake and tremble.

The result: I get “there” faster. I feel the world opening to me. I’ve let go of trying to control something that never was in my hands to control.

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Other changes were seeing my Total Money Makeover Beater turn over the 200k mileage mark, setting me on my way to reach my goal of taking the same Dodge Caravan engine and transmission over 269,000. The “Get Divorced Weight Loss Result”, that a friend described to me a year or so ago hasn’t failed…there’s no faster, nor more painful way to loose 15 lbs without even trying. But the flip side of the weight loss is that it’s better than sitting around getting fat and depressed and actually helps motivate me along on the Triathlon Goal.

It’s where I am: a divorcing, single mother of four children with a bad back and a slew of hopes and dreams, hanging onto the encouraging words of others who get me through every day. There’s adventure between every sunrise and set, there is the ordinary mixed with the incredible, there is the Thing To Deal With and the little moments of respite, be they a quick sketch with charcoal, a few chords on a friend’s guitar, or a new food I’ve waited years to try.

Goals for 2008:

(obviously not a complete list):

• continue to learn and train as necessary for my first sprint-level Triathlon; I want to do my first in the spring of ‘09 so the bulk of my learning and prep should be within this year.
• obtain and learn to play the guitar (leftover goal from last year, completely untouched).
• read fiction again this summer.
• paint again.
• hit my buisiness goal.
• transition my children healthfully, teaching them to live honestly, loving them patiently.
• continue, and to some extent return to, eating whole, traditonal foods prepared at home, wherever home comes to be.

************

My calendar this year is a collection of Rodin’s sculptures. I love them because they hold in time moments that are usually fluid, that catch our breath in our throats, that translate much larger than they tangibly seem. Catching the emotion of life in solid form was Rodin’s brilliance, taking motion and holding it, turning it, even as we notice and move onward. That sort of expresses what I want this year to hold…moments kept for thier profundity, even as take each step beyond.