I'm still working on things.... Really!

When I started this blog, my goal was to update it regularly but as usually happens with my writing, I tend to put it on the back burner when things get busy. November and December have both been very busy months in the Barnhart home. I traveled a lot during November and so sitting down to write was hard on the road.  I decided to focus on more hospitality in December and have had several groups of people over for meals.  One of these invites fulfills one item on my 52 list so I made sure to take a few pictures so I could show it was completed.  While traveling in Colorado in November I was able to stop at my (used to be) local oriental market and pick up some of the items I would need for a Japanese meal. We used to host Japanese meals more regularly for friends when we first came back but I hadn't done one in a long time.  It is quite a bit of work in the preparation part of the meal.  I made gyozas, yakiniku/yakitori and served Japanese tea. Marc and Amanda (and baby Micah) and Will and Sarah were our guests for the evening and we played games after the meal. I was exhausted by the end of the day but at the same time quite satisfied that I'd made a fun memory for us that night.
With all the travel and extra entertaining, I'm slightly behind on some of my 52 items but all are things that can be caught up easily.  I will be finishing my 13th book since starting today.  I found a nice website called "Good Reads"  where I can log books I've read, set goals for myself and get recommendations of books similar to things I've been reading.  I've almost reached my goal of 42 for last year so I know I've got to step it up for this year to make that extra 10. I am right on target so far though with a book read each week since I started.  If I keep up this pace I shall reach my goal with no problem.
I've only tried 5 new recipes so I will need to do several a week to catch up on that goal. My blog posts are lagging behind but January is typically a good writing month for me so I hope to catch up on that by writing more each week.  I've had 6 lunches with friends.  (actually more than that but only counting each friend once in the tally to make it more challenging). I'm really behind on my scrapbooking but as with all the other items January and February are good months for catch-up. When I'm in my scrapping groove I can kick out 5 or 6 pages at a time so I'm not worried about getting behind on that. I'm also behind on my walks because of a bad spell with my back.  I hope to find more places to walk away from home once the weather turns nicer. I have done some neighborhood walking but these don't count on my "walk challenge".  I've watched 6 sunrises and 7 sunsets. I've seen the tail ends of many more than that but for me to count them I need to be stopping what I'm doing to admire it rather than seeing it happen subconsciously.
I've still not looked at the scale since October 1 nor have I drank any colas.  I did have a fruit punch that had a little sprite in it but I didn't know the sprite was in there at the time.  I'm still working on learning to take pictures in manual mode.  It's challenging because the lighting is always changing and so there are always adjustments to be made.  I'm getting a new lens for Christmas which I'm excited about so I hope to have more photo ops in the new year.
Progress in any form keeps me pressing on towards reaching the goals.  I know that I'm not recording everything that could fall into some of the categories but that's okay because I can always go beyond 52 in any area and still be good.