Progress Report

Well it has been a week since I posted my New Year's resolutions, and let's see how I did.

The Good:

I have been to church and have enjoyed going. The sermon this morning was all about temptation. Seems rather fitting to the bad list below. I do want to try at least one other church in town, but I am enjoying it more.

I have also been on top of everything this week! I wouldn't say I have totally stopped procrastinating, but I have made huge headway!

I have been blogging a lot lately. They may not all be winners, but once a week is really no big deal!

The Bad: (this list is noticeably longer!)

I ate out three times this week instead of once. Sue me! Had I not resolved to eat out only once a week, then it probably would have been a lot more. I think I had one lunch this week at Arby's, which I guess is not too bad. (except for the fries) I did have one lunch at a local Tahlequah favorite called Vidalia's. It is a soup/sandwich/coffee shop that is awesome! While you may be thinking that a sandwhich is not too bad, you would be wrong. The Arizona Monster is ridiculously good! An everything bagel sandwich with turkey, bacon, cheese, spicy mayo, onion, lettuce and jalapenos. It is absolutely worth breaking a resolution!

I was not too financially irresponsible this week. I bought only what I needed with the exception of a copy of The Hangover. I did not have to have this, but I sure did want it!

I guess I really did not do that bad. I guess we can wait and see how it goes. I am going to Ft. Worth next weekend for Margaret's Birthdaypalooza, so their is room for lots of resolutions to be broken!

Last year I resolved to quit drinking cokes, which for anyone not from Texas means all soft drinks, not just Coca Cola. It has been over a year since I had a Dr. Pepper, which is my coke of choice. For some reason I decided I wanted one today. I went down to the convenience store and bought one, aware that this is a slippery slope for me. It really was not that good! I think something is wrong with the mix they have going on, because a Dr. Pepper should always be nothing short of amazing. I can rest assured knowing that I will not be picking that habit back up. One Dr. Pepper in 2010 will be enough for me!

Happy Monday

Today was a pretty busy day at work, actually it was a really busy day. I am very thankful that I did not start my day the same way my neighbor did. I do not know the whole story behind what happened this morning, but I am pretty sure that this is the noise that woke me from a sound warm slumber this morning. I did not know it had happened until I left so I took a moment to snap a picture. I will post another one tomorrow. I can snap another picture of what it looks like now. Happy Monday!

Starving Artists

I went to Tulsa this morning for the Starving Artists sale at the Radisson. I have been to one of these sales before and thought it was pretty neat. I'm not a huge art fan, but getting a sofa size oil painting for $59 is strangely appealing. I really like the one I got, although I'm not sure it's for everyone. I got to thinking about it, and it will probably be a painting that I hang in my house until I'm married and "we" decide that it's not something "we" really want in our new house. Until that day comes, I will be enjoying this painting. This is a terrible picture by the way.

New template

I had to go back to the old template. I really want to find a cool template, but I don't really know how. Fortunately, I know a blogmaster named Kristi who might be able to help me find a new one sometime!

Guest blogger

Tonight I have a guest blogger who would like to remain nameless for now. Actually, she said we could call her Jane Austen. I am posting on behalf of her, and it is weird how much her blog and my resolution #4 were being penned at the same time. I hope seeing her words on my blog will make her start her own!

Reasons I go to church:

1. to give thanks to God for all the people, things, and talents with which He has blessed me
2. to pray and beg for forgiveness for thoughts, words and actions that betray the person God made me to be and to become
3. to learn new ways to live my Christian faith on a daily basis
4. to reset my life; a demarcation, a line in the sand if you will, where I can go forward with renewed determination and faith to live as I should

Things that distract me from my church purpose

1. moms who, without leaving the pew, bust out a boob in the middle of Mass for their previously screaming baby to nurse on (p.s. I feel more sorry for their husbands than I do for me, they are probably thinking ‘I can’t even see it at home, and you’re showing all of them???’
2. assholes in Lexuses, Hummers, Jaguars, Mercedes (aaah, Suburbia, how you have materialized everything) who do not merge appropriately, make decisions that can only be explained by the driver’s eyes being inoperative, and who fail to do the I’m-sorry-I-just-cut-you-off, performed-an-unsafe-act, or I-didn’t-see-you wave. (it’s church; be penitent!)
3. the guy who knocked me to the ground because he opened the door without looking and I was on the other side

New Year's Resolutions 2010 Addendum

I would like to add one addendum to the resolutions I just posted. I can hold out on a lot of things in order to meet these resolutions and become the me I preach to be. However, I cannot, I will not be held accountable for these resolutions while in Las Vegas. I totally missed you in 2009, but I'm coming to see you twice this year, perhaps three times. I miss you Vegas!

New Year's Resolutions 2010

I have put off posting these resolutions for quite a while. Maybe it was because I wanted one more week of not being held accountable for the actions I resolved to amend or maybe it has a little to do with resolution number one. I guess you can be the judge of that.

These are my resolutions for 2010:

1. Stop procrastinating! Most of the time procrastinating is not a huge deal. It is, however, always a pain in the ass! Why put something off until the last minute? I'll tell you why! I work better under pressure. It doesn't need to be done right now. I get a thrill from doing things right before they are due. If you, like me, have ever uttered these dreaded phrases, then you are a procrastinator! Just own it. I need to start living my life like I treat my netflix account. When I get a movie in the mail I watch it that night and mail back the next day. Why don't I do that with other tasks and projects? I'm not sure, but it stops here!
2. Get healthy! I know, I know! This is the number one resolution for almost everyone. Why? Because we're fat! I'm not an idiot though. One week on the treadmill does not a Tony Horton commercial make! This resolution is probably the most crucial to me right now. I kind of feel like if I can conquer this hurdle then everything else will fall into place too. Maybe this is naive or vain, but just go with it. I turn 30 this year, and I've got several pounds I would like to leave in my twenties. So how do I go about this? Good question! I think it might involve working out and eating less? I'm pretty sure that's right. Seriously though, I have a treadmill and I am not afraid to use it! My diet has to change drastically. This time of year wreaks havoc on my diet. It is so easy to go to the drive thru when you have just worked a 14 hour day. However, this has to be the first thing to change! FAST FOOD IS THE DEVIL! So what's the plan? It would be easy to say "No more fast food!" but we all know that is not going to happen! But how about this? I can have fast food once a week.....starting tomorrow! But really, I have to stick to this! I have also decided that if I am going to continue to watch TV, then I need to workout while I do it. I zone out watching tv. Anyone who calls me during an episode of Lost or How I Met Your Mother can vouch for that. It stands to reason that I might be able to zone out on the treadmill once I get in front of the tv. I'll keep you posted. I am also the proud owner of the P90X boot camp program. I ordered it three months ago and it is still in the box. (see resolution 1) I don't know that I will start that this week with our busiest week of the Spring coming up, but I WILL start it soon! More to come on that.
3. Be more financially responsible! I have curtailed my frivolous spending a lot over the past several years, but things could certainly be better. The good-I have not used a credit card in over 4 years! The bad-I just spent $50 on all five seasons of Pee-Wee's Playhouse and the Christmas Special. Did I really need that? It was just last week, so survey says YES because I got a great deal. Time will most likely prove me wrong on that one. My car will be paid off in five months, so I need to figure out what to do with the extra money I will be making. I'm thinking right now that I will set up a new savings account and continue to "make payments" to that account so I do not get used to the extra cash flow. The jury is still out on that one. I stop and get a very large iced tea at the convenience store down the street about 5 times a week, sometimes more. With tax, they cost almost a $1.75. This is not a huge expense, but if I do that for an entire year I will have spent $455! This is a conservative estimate too, so let's round it up to $500. I can think of a lot of things I would rather do with $500 than drink iced tea. (Vegas anyone?)
4. Go to church! No more excuses! I love God, and I don't feel that my absence from church has hurt my faith, but I do feel that church is something I desperately need. I loved my church in Panhandle. I was so lucky to have a great church in College Station too. I almost never missed in college, even if I got home from the bar at 3 a.m. Our minister there had a way of preaching that seemed to single me out every time. It was like they followed me around all week and tailor made the sermon for me. I loved it! I have not had the same luck since I left College Station. When I was in Vegas I tried several churches. None of them were what I was looking for. I absolutely love the Methodist church, but in Vegas I even stepped out to a Presbyterian church. That one didn't do the trick either! Then I moved to Corpus Christi. It was a new start, and I tried five different churches, but all of them left me feeling empty. It was a little different in Portales. They only had one Methodist church. The sermons were not bad, but they were not what I was used to hearing either. To tell you the truth, I let a petty thing keep me from going. I am used to all churches having a moment of fellowship where you greet the people around you, shake hands, and exchange pleasantries. This is a very common practice in most churches I have attended. The key word is "moment." In Portales the moment was more like halftime. For starters, it was in the middle of the service, which breaks up what we already have going. That moment should come at the beginning or the end of the service, not in the middle. It's distracting! The moment should also be short, 30 seconds tops! I timed it once in Portales and the "moment" went on for eleven and a half minutes. Seriously? That happened more than once. It totally turned me off from going to Portales FUMC. I have been to church a few times here, and have found minute things about the service I do not like, but I have to start going again! It stands to reason that the more I go the more people I will meet and the more I will like the church overall. Just like Dr. Spalding's algebra II class, I will get something out of it, it just might not be apparent to me for a few years.
5. I have to blog at least once a week! Okay, you are reading this right now, so I have to be held accountable for it. Several people over the holidays told me that they read my blog, and while that astounds me (!), I think I should occasionally have something new for them to read. Once a week is not a big task. I enjoy blogging, and I am still amazed other people read it, so this resolution should not be hard to keep. (famous last words, right?)

So these are the resolutions. A friend sent me a list of some random dude's New Year's resolutions and they were hilarious. I would post them, but some of them are kind of vulgar. If our lists were given an MPAA rating his would be R. I think mine would be PG, although I did use the word "ass" once. (actually, twice now, sorry, maybe I'm PG-13) If you want the list I can email it to you. Mine are no where near as hilarious, but probably just as important to me.

So have we learned anything? You know I will be blogging more because of resolutions 5 and 1. I will have more to blog about because of resolution 2. I will have more time to blog because I am not out spending money because of resolution 3. You see where I'm going with this? It all boils down to the blog. This blog has the power to save me.......or destroy me! Come on 2010, let's do this!