I love January.  Everything’s so fresh and new.  Christmas decorations, though beautiful, are rather cluttery.  I always make an effort to clean through my things in January, too, after being abundantly blessed at Christmas and my birthday.   Though I haven’t completely tackled my desk and its stack of papers (which I saved for last), I feel much more comfortable in my apartment now that almost everything is in it’s place.

January also comes with a fresh start.  Sure, it’s rather arbitrary what time of year we decide is the start of a new year, but I like having it in the dead of winter, the season I naturally have the least motivation.   I think if we celebrated New Year’s some other time, I’d likely fall into a funk after Christmas.  I look forward to having longer days (actually seeing more than the 20 minutes of sunlight I drive in to work) and more natural energy that comes with it.

I suppose I should talk about my lofty goals for this year, if this was a proper New Year’s post.  But of course it’s not, being 4 days late, and I don’t have major goals for this year.  While I have a hunger to learn and grow, I don’t necessarily have resolutions tied to those ambitions.   Really, the only thing I have laid out as plans for this year is my book goals, of which I have a few.  The only other two resolutions/goals I could come up with is to exercise three times a week (which was my goal anyway) and to wear a skirt/dress once a week (since I’ve gotten rather lazy, and really do love to wear a skirt).

More than anything, I want this to be a year where I grow closer to God and more obedient to His word.  For me, one of the hardest things about living for Christ is the living for others.  As my book goals can attest, I’m a bit of a loner. Like every other fallen human being, I tend to live for myself, seeking my own desires and pleasures.  May God show me the needs of the people around me…and may I open my eyes to them and make it a priority to meet those needs.

Photo by Ryan McD

Time for another quarterly update on my goals!

Goal #1: Read 60 books. 

Though I’ve been slacking in the last week or so, I have read 46 books in the first half of the year.  If I don’t make 60, it’s because I’ve suffered some sort of personal/physical crisis that left me incapable of reading.  (Check out the Books Read in 2009 page for updates.)

2.  Complete my novel. 

Do ta do ta do…

Yeah, not getting a lot of progress on this done.  Right now, I need to focus my writing time on writing the SS lessons that I need to have done by August.  I really just need to make it a daily habit of doing a little writing at least (besides this here blog).

3.  Exercise 3 times a week. 

Getting better about taking walks in the evening, with or without my roommate.  I usually go to do water aerobics once a week, too.  I need to restart my lap swimming, though.

4.  Write a letter once a week. 

Yep, still going on this one.

5.  Memorize 4 chapters of the Bible. 

Still haven’t started, though the desire is there.  Doesn’t count though, does it?  Hopefully I start this soon!

And now, for the “news” section of this post…I’m no longer an hourly employee.  As of yesterday, I’m a full-time salary employee!  Not only do I get better compensation, I get paid timeoff and holidays, just in time for July 4th!

Before I go any further, I want to say:

Happy Birthday, Amanda!  I’m so glad that you’re joining our family.  I hope this next year will be filled with happiness and delights!

Summer may just be my favorite season.  As far as weather goes, it’s hard to beat warm weather for its flip-flop-wearing and jacket-neglecting properties.  Sure it can be sweaty too, but I don’t mind it that much, because cool showers in the summer are enjoyable, too.

The good thing about being a student? (Okay, there’s several good things.)  I can decide when summer begins.

Every year, summer beings the moment I walk out of the test or turn in the last paper or project.  Since I have no classes, papers, or projects (or at least none of the educational kind), I decide when summer begins.  Of course, I can’t make the weather cooperate (though it has…it’s been 90s for a few days now!), but I can ACT like it’s summer, right?

So, with that, I’ve decided that summer starts this week.  I’m reseting my habits and recommiting to my goals.  I’ve let good things slip and let bad habits in, so I’m working on reversing that.  I’m working on these things because they’re for my good.  When I let them slip, I become self-indulgent which is a horrible way for a Christian to live.  How can I put Christ and others before myself if I’m constantly serving myself?

And because I know you’ll ask, here’s what I’m working on:

1.  Not eating out unless my schedule absolutely dictates it.  I’ve slipped up in this area a lot recently, and it begets a pattern of laziness and self-indulgence.

2.  Getting back into my nightly reading.  I still have been reading, but it’s just been fun stuff.

3.  Putting in serious time in the Word and prayer.  Hate to say that this has been neglected lately.

4.  Watching TV less.  A friend recently fixed our Internet, and I’ve been overloading on watching TV online.  Of course, this directly leads to #2.

5.  Exercise.  I still haven’t made it back to the pool (if you look closely, my legs resemble a forest right now), but I want to at least get in a walk around our neighborhood in the evenings.

I about forgot to do my quarterly update on this year’s goals, but then I read Debra‘s post to the same affect.  So how have I done?

Goal #1: Read 60 books.

A quarter of this goal would be 15, and as of midnight of March 31st I had finished 22.  As of 12:15 AM on April 1st, I had finished 23, as I stayed up late to finish reading Life of Pi.  I did really great at this goal in January and February, but I slowed down in March primarily because of basketball.  (Check out the Books Read in 2009 page for updates.)

2.  Complete my novel.

I did great in January, writing 3 chapters, but then taxes hit big time and I found I couldn’t devote the mental energy to it in the evenings like I had previously.  Now that things are lightening up, I hope to rectify this.  I might not get done this year (just depends on how ambitious I get), but I really want to.  (Check out the Historian’s Writing page for updates on this.)

3.  Exercise 3 times a week.

I’ve been so-so on this goal.   It seems like it’s more like 2 times a week, and then the last couple of weeks 1 time a week.  I’m really going to push myself to go to the pool 2 or 3 times a week, and probably start taking walks in the evenings many other days.

4.  Write a letter once a week.

There’s probably a week or two where I didn’t, but this goal definitely has been kept.

5.  Memorize 4 chapters of the Bible.

I’ve struggled with how/when to implement this.  Really, I just need to get down to it and start.  I’ve decided that I want to memorize Romans (but obviously not all this year).

So, I’ve definitely had progress, but there’s more work to be done.

Well, obviously from last night the winner is NOT OU.  But let’s put that behind us, shall we?

First of all, staying up late last night to watch the end of the game (and an episode of The Office to get me to calm down enough to sleep…the game was a nail-biter!) did nothing for the cold I’m harboring.  It’s back today in full force.  Here’s to a good night’s sleep tonight, and a weekend of little to do!

Secondly, thanks for letting me know what you are working on improving!

The number one area that you said you wanted to work on was losing weight, getting healthy (17 people).  After that, the areas you wanted to improve in are:

Family relationships (14 people)
Organization (14 people)
Relationship with God (12 people)
Learning/improving an art/craft (7 people)
Saving/earning more money (6 people)
Improving your writing/blogging (5 people)
Learning to relax more and/or worry less (5 people)
Increasing your patience (4 people)
Improving your relationships outside your family (3 people)
Reading more (2 people)
Improving your photography (2 people)

I wish you all the best in pursuing these areas!

But you didn’t come to this post to see all that.  So, And now it’s time for what you’ve been waiting for (I feel like Ryan Seacrest right now)…

Out of 178 entries, the winner of the $50 giftcard to Target  is…

#173…Hi-D!!!

Congrats Hi-D…shoot me an email (ronnica @ ignoranthistorian . com) with your address, and I’ll get that out to you shortly!

(fine print: If I don’t hear back from her by Wednesday, I’ll pick someone new.  But don’t count on that!)

Happy New Year!  I’m traveling back to North Carolina today, but I’ve done some thinking about my resolutions for this year.  I don’t usually do such a thing, but I want the accountability they’ll (hopefully) provide me.  I’ll review them at the end of each quarter and allow myself a chance to get back on track.

This year’s goals (I prefer that term as “resolutions” has a bad rap):

1.  Read 60 books.  This is 5 a month, and in keeping with my current reading plan.  I read 67 in 2007, so it doesn’t seem like a stretch, but that includes text books.  No text books this year!

2.  Complete my novel.  This isn’t an impossible task by any means, but I know at some point I’ll get tired of writing, or at least hit rough patches.  I want to persevere, but at a reasonable pace for a first-time, non-professional novelist.

3.  Exercise 3 times a week.  I hate to put this on my list, because I just don’t want to do it.  I am overweight, but honestly, I don’t really care.  But I’ll keep on gaining weight if I don’t exercise, and besides, it’s good for your health.  That’s the real reason why I’m doing this.  Hopefully I’ll get back in the habit of going to the pool, because I do really enjoy that type of exercise.

4.  Write a letter once a week.  I’d love to do it more than once a week, but this is a more reachable goal.

5.  Memorize 4 chapters of the Bible.  I wish this goal was higher, but I want to keep it doable at 1 chapter/quarter.  I haven’t decided yet where I’m going to be memorizing from, but I’ll get to that soon.

Are you making any resolutions or goals?