Progress Report - First Five

I guess it is quite evident that I have fallen behind in keeping up with this blog. As with all things, I get inspired at the beginning and full of energy and determination jump into a new project and then I lose steam and let life get in the way. I had a busy January and February getting ready for Hannah's wedding and then after the wedding hit, I had a few weeks ailment of "don't want to do anythings". It comes on slowly and it takes quite a bit of self-talk to light the fire again and re-motivate.
I think Hannah's marriage was a little harder on me than I anticipated.  Well, I guess it wasn't actually the marriage but the fact that she instantly moved away. She was my baby girl...the one whom I've focused on the past few years, the one who still gave me daily hugs and was excited to come in from a night of work and talk to me. I felt the emptiness and the permanence of her leaving home more so this time than when she left for college. It was like hitting a brick wall with a sign that says..."things will never be the same again."  So, I'll admit it....I took a few months to re-group and figure out how to adjust to this new stage of my life.  Not sure I'm totally there but at least I'm semi-functioning better.
I'm so far behind on my 52 things and I realize there are many that I will not complete. (I guess I really knew that at the beginning but was hopeful). I thought it would be a nice start back into the blog mode to give a progress report on how I'm doing on the first five and stretch out a report or a plan for each of the other groups of five as well. If nothing else it will help me reach that goal of 52 blog posts.

My reading goal is probably my most successful one to date but I knew it would be and easier one for me because I love to read.  At this point I have logged in 36 books since my birthday. There have been many weeks when I couldn't fit reading in, so I know if I'd read every week that number could still be higher.  I mentioned in my rules post that bible reading would count in the overall book count and that for every 52 chapters I read in the bible, it will count as a book. I think I am most proud of the fact that I've integrated my bible reading into my daily reading routine because of this goal.  I started reading my bible every morning with my breakfast with a pen in hand to underline points that I want to remember or verses that I love.  I have never been a regular daily bible reader in the past. It was always more of a reading for bible classes or when teaching a class and looking up scriptures during sermons.  I've gone to church my entire life and so I have a very good overall knowledge of the scriptures but I don't think I've ever taken the time to read it straight through in the order it is set out in and grasp it all at once.  I thought I would lose momentum when I got to all the begats but I am surprisingly enjoying myself with this venture.  I started with reading through Psalms, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. I figured that they would be an easy way to start and establish the routine.  What is it they say?....it takes 30 days of doing something daily to become a habit.....or something like that. From there I started in Matthew and read Matthew all the way through to Revelation.  I totally enjoyed that and even found a few things I didn't know were in there along the way. I then started in Genesis and am now in the middle of Exodus with my reading. It's gotten to the point now where I miss it if I go a morning without reading the bible because we are traveling or something disrupts my momentum. So, if nothing else good comes out of my reading goal, this has been a real exciting positive for me.  I think I will even enjoy going back and starting all over again at the end of Malachi.  I'm sure each time I will be at a different place in my life where I see something else that stands out.  As far as my book reading goes, I'm still enjoying finding new authors to read and have become a regular Goodwill browser for books.  I've managed to find quite a few there that I'd never heard of before that have come to be favorites.

As you can see from the amount of posts on both blogs this year, I am quite behind in my blog post goal. I've logged in 10 posts counting this one.  I still think I can conquer this one as well as I carry my momentum for writing from my journal to the blog.  I have been taking a class by Ali Edwards called 31 things and in the class we have been writing daily on various topics and I am now developing a daily writing habit from that.  I've thoroughly enjoyed that class and so far have kept up with all the writings.  That alone gives me 31 journal entries for my 52 goal for journal writing AND if I complete the album will add 31 pages to my scrapbook pages goal. Very valuable class indeed in this 52 challenge.

I had good momentum going on the new recipe goal but then the wedding and travel really slowed that down. I have been pinning quite a few that sound wonderful on pinterest so I still hope to complete this one (or at least come close) by my next birthday. I have logged 12 new recipes so far and I'm thinking there may be a few that I forgot to write down. I went out and bought ingredients for quite a few of them and then Russ started traveling with work and then I went on a few trips with him and so in short I haven't cooked much this spring.  Summertime looks to be a busy travel season too so I will have to make it a priority to make a new recipe when I do cook.

I've only written 8 letters to different people although I wrote probably close to ten letters to Dantrell when he was in boot camp.  My goal was to different people so I will start plugging away on that goal this summer. Thank You notes have been about 8 logged but again I think I have done a few others that I forgot to log around the wedding time.  Someday soon I will sit down and write just general "I see what you do" thank yous and try to at least get the list half-way filled.  I've also been negligent with my lunches with friends goals. I go to lunch with the ladies weekly after the ladies' bible class so I have spent time with them as a group but my one on ones can use a little work.  Again, with all the travel we've done this spring and summer, it makes it hard to get out with friends.  We eat out so much when on business trips that I want to eat at home when I get back.  I will keep plugging away at that goal too but it is lagging way behind at this point.

This gets me started in revisiting my goals and I hope to write about the rest in my next few posts.  Until next time.......