Healthy Eating, Exercising...It isn't fun

One of my goals for this year was to start eating healthier. I hoped I would be able to make a lot of changes right away and stick to them. Well.....things haven't gone quite as planned. I am incorporating little things again into my daily habits. I only drank one Dr. Pepper last weekend (compared to my usual 3-4) and I have been choosing healthy sandwiches for lunch. I still haven't curbed my craving for sweet stuff. Of all the challenges in the healthy eating/dieting world, that is the hardest one for me. I love sweets. One thing I really want to do is cut back on the sugar. Another thing I want to do is start drinking green tea again (unsweetened). So that's what I want to work on for the next week or two.

I have managed to make exercise part of my everyday routine again. During warm weather, I exercise everyday, go for long walks, play tennis -- stay pretty active in general. When the weather is cold, though, I don't want to do any of it. I even hate working out on my home gym during winter. It's ridiculous, I know, to use cold weather as an excuse not to work out indoors, but I just really don't like it. So, I had to make up my mind at the first of the year that I was going to exercise everyday and I have kept it up pretty well. I checked out some exercise DVDs from the library and I have started lifting light weights on my gym again. It's still not fun, but it's not anywhere as bad as I try to make myself believe it is. Anybody else trying to eat right and exercise this year?

Last Post in 2007

Today is the last day in 2007 and a brand new year begins tomorrow. I generally start the new year half optimistic and half pessimistic -- optimistic because I make a lot of plans that I hope will work out and pessimistic because previous experience tells me most of them probably won't. In a lot of ways, 2007 was a good year for me. I made some friends, accomplished a few goals, and had some pretty enjoyable days. On the other hand, there were some challenges and times when I was downright discouraged. I guess most people can say the same thing. No one has a "perfect" year. Still, on December 31, we like to hope that one is just around the corner. We make lists of everything we will do and want to do, trying to ignore the fact that there are very few check marks on our lists from last year. My list of resolutions gets shorter every year because I know that the more I resolve to do, the less I tend to get done. Last year, I had just six items on my list. I accomplished two and-one-half. The one-half is because I was supposed to learn two new piano pieces. I learned one completely and "sort-of" learned two more. I did read fifteen books that I had never read before and lost those last annoying pounds this summer. I didn't learn to paint well, finish reading that interminable book on the Constitution, or finish writing my novel. This year, I still have similar goals in mind, but a little different, too. What are they?

1. Eat healthy
2. Complete several new pieces of artwork -- portraits, landscapes and a still life
3. Read at least 20 books I have never read before ( I found this to be real incentive to research different authors and find new books this year)
4. Practice the piano and learn at least two new pieces ( I'm going to give this one another try!)
5. Figure out what my painting style is and make at least one decent painting.

Will I do everything on that list? I doubt it. I should probably go ahead and delete "eat healthy" right now. :) But I do want to set goals for these things and try.

I always wonder a little when a new year begins. What is 2008 going to be like? Will it be a happy year or one full of trials? Will our plans for moving back to our hometown at the end of next year work out? Who will be elected president? I don't know the answers to any of these things, but God does. He has everyday planned and is in control of every circumstance.

Psalm 31: 14 But as for me, I trust in You, O LORD; I say, "You are my God." 15 My times are in Your hand

Blogging

I read a lot of blogs. I thought I read a lot of blogs when I read about eight on a regular basis, but now the "MyFavorites" link section of my Internet homepage is full of blogs. Some are new finds, but I have been reading a few of them for more than two years. It amazes me how you can learn so much about a person through reading their blog. When I find a new blog that looks interesting, I sort through a few of the older posts, and in fifteen minutes, I already have an idea of the blogger's interests, family life, and personality. I am often amazed, too, at the thoughtful posts, neat pictures, and great ideas so many bloggers post on a regular basis. Before I tried blogging myself, if I gave any thought to how all those posts I enjoyed ever got posted, I just thought that the blogger probably set aside fifteen minutes for a picture and a paragraph, maybe thirty minutes to put together the long, insightful posts. Now that I blog, I laugh at my former ideas and ask for a big round of applause for all those bloggers who really put time and thought into their posts.

When I started blogging, it was in part for the fun of it, but I really wanted to work on my writing skills and and have a place to post photographs. I had no idea what I was getting into. It is hard to say what I want to say without having the luxury of several rewrites and it is even harder to come up with new things to post about that are even mildly interesting on a consistent basis. I wanted to blog about all my craft/art/cooking projects, but I didn't want my blog to consist solely of that. I wanted to write what I thought about the news or in response to articles I read, as well as detailed movie/book reviews. So far, I just can't find the time. For example, I wanted to write a post on October 31 about the Protestant Reformation. I did have it written out nicely in my head. The trouble was, October 31 came and went and I never even began the post. I do have one very good excuse for my shortcomings: I'm very new at blogging. I only set this blog up in July. It took two months for me to get all the details worked out and I deleted several of my first posts because they were awful (even worse than these). I only began letting people read my blog in September, so I've really been doing this for only two months. My two biggest problems that I must overcome are these:

1. Even though I'm 22, I can't move past the high school mindset that I need at least a week to write a paper before I hand it in to the teacher. Blogging doesn't work that way. I suppose I could write longer posts out and work on them apart from the blog, then copy them into a post, but the point is for your blog to be like your online journal, not your online collection of essays. I may have to try that way a few times, though, at least until I get used to posting about something besides crafts.
2. I have an obsessive habit of proof-reading. Each post must be proofed at least ten times before it is published or I have a nagging feeling throughout the rest of the day that I used the wrong form of "there" somewhere in that post. (I've noticed that the typos somehow slip by anyway. If you see one, don't worry. I always find them two days after I publish it.)

So, my new goal is to put more thought into my posts, even if it takes me three days to get one post up, and I only get to proof-read it three times. Again, to all the bloggers out there who post such great stuff so frequently, thank you!!!

New Music and Christmas Decorations

My new music book finally came in this week. It's a book of hymn arrangements. I had never played anything by this composer before, so I was a little worried that I wouldn't like his style of arranging, but as I've played through the melodies of the different hymns in the book, I'm very happy with it. Just as I hoped, the arrangements are pretty, but not so difficult that they bother the carpal tunnel syndrome in my left hand. I've decided to start working on "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing" so that I can possibly have it ready by Thanksgiving. It has been two years since the problem with my hands caused me to stop playing the piano and I have only played a little off and on all this time. I have really missed being able to play! I hope that my left hand will get stronger as I continue to practice and that I'll be able to play classical music and difficult hymns arrangements again.
Can you believe there are already Christmas decorations in stores? They were actually putting Christmas trees up in department stores the last week in September, before we left for vacation. I like to see the decorations go up in November so I have plenty of time to enjoy them, but September is a little too soon. Maybe this happens every year and I've just never noticed before, but I think this is the first time I've seen grocery stores with the disgusting ghosts and monsters for Halloween on one aisle and then Christmas trees and wreaths on the next. Somehow that just seems strange to me. It really seems strange now that the weather is back up to eighty degrees to walk into stores and see snowy trees and and sleds. It just doesn't seem like the right time of year for Christmas decorations. It also reminds me a little too soon of all the Christmas shopping that's coming up and trying to figure out what the people on my list would like for a present.

How Much Can I Read?

http://www.boundlessline.org/2007/09/help-for-the-wa.html
This is a blog post Boundless published a few days ago. It's kind of a spin-off from one they posted a few weeks ago that discussed a recent study which showed that one in four adults surveyed read no books last year. Since then, different bloggers have been suggesting book lists and tips for reading. This list, though, is really formidable.

"1. Maintain regular reading projects. I strategize my reading in six main categories: Theology, Biblical Studies, Church Life, History, Cultural Studies, and Literature. I have some project from each of these categories going at all times. I collect and gather books for each project, and read them over a determined period of time. This helps to discipline my reading, and also keeps me working across several disciplines."

All I can say is "Wow!" It's pretty pitiful that I'm struggling to keep a few history and literature books going at the same time.

"3. Read all the titles written by some authors. Choose carefully here, but identify some authors whose books demand your attention. Read all they have written and watch their minds at work and their thought in development. No author can complete his thoughts in one book, no matter how large."

Now, this is something I do frequently. If I read one book by an author and like it, I generally read practically everything else they've written. In some cases, it's not so easy. Do you have any idea how many books Charles Dickens wrote and how long each of them are? I have really appreciated my new "discovery" in Elizabeth Gaskell's writing, though, and I plan on reading a lot of her books.

"4. Get some big sets and read them through. Yes, invest in the works of Martin Luther, Jonathan Edwards, and others. Set a project for yourself to read through the entire set, and give yourself time. You will be surprised how far you will get in less time than you think."

This is something I really should do. I haven't read nearly enough of these books.

"5. Allow yourself some fun reading, and learn how to enjoy reading by reading enjoyable books. I like books across the fields of literature, but I really love to read historical biographies and historical works in general. In addition, I really enjoy quality fiction and worthy works of literature. As a boy, I probably discovered my love for reading in these categories of books. I allow some time each day, when possible, to such reading. It doesn't have to be much. Stay in touch with the thrill."

This is something I do a little too much of. Apparently, my reading is slightly unbalanced. :)

"6. Write in your books; mark them up and make them yours. Books are to be read and used, not collected and coddled."

Here we totally disagree. I do not write in my books. I don't mind neatly underlining meaningful or important phrases, but I hate to see my books get all marked up. I take my notes in a notebook. I really hate it when I check out a library book and it's all marked up. Just this morning, I was reading a large Civil War history book from the library and saw that someone had scrawled all over the margins of this big, expensive book. Arrggh!

I appreciate articles like this because they push me to go beyond what I usually do. I may read several books a year, but I need to learn to read a variety of books. I have a lot of catching up to do in a lot of subjects! : )

Summer Is Over

This week was Gabrielle's first week of school, which pretty much ends the summer for me too. Here's an overview of some of my plans for the year:

1. Helping Gabrielle with math. We went through Algebra 1 together last year, so we're going on to Algebra 2 this year. Considering the fact that I hated algebra in high school, this is not a lot of fun for me, but I think I'm learning more from it this time around than I did then.
   
2. Art lessons. I haven't kept up a steady pace with my work this summer, which means I haven't completed as many projects as I did last year. Part of the reason is because we had such a busy summer, and the other reason is a lack of projects. I completed one painting and three graphite portraits by May and then had nothing else to work on. I've just been picking up odd projects here and there since then. My teacher doesn't like for me to use magazine photos for references because they're copyrighted (since I don't sell anything I don't see what difference that makes, but..), so I ended up drawing another graphite portrait and now I'm working on a large graphite house/landscape scene. I did check out a few painting instruction books from the library that gave me some ideas. I really want to work on my painting skills so I think I'm going to buy some new canvases and get to work.
   
3. Reading. There is so much reading I would like to do this year. I set a goal in January to read fifteen books that I'd never read before by 2008 and so far I'm halfway through number twelve. Most of them have been classic literature books, though. I would like to do more "serious" reading -- a few biographies, some history books, my Constitutional Law book (I still haven't finished it), and devotional books. There are a lot of books on my shelf and on my list that I haven't even opened, so I have a lot of catching up to do.
   
4. Music. I really want to get back into playing the piano again. I think my hands can take it now. I've been working on some scales this summer and my right hand is pretty much back to normal. That left hand tends to want to flare up, though. I'm determined to try to work my way back into playing, slowly and steadily. I ordered a new hymn arrangement book today that I'm really excited about. I think it will be difficult enough to be pretty, but easy enough not to stress my hand.
   
5. Writing. I'm going to try update my blog more regularly. Hopefully I'll be able to post three times a week, preferably every other day. I have some other writing projects to keep up too, so this will take a lot of work.


6. Crafts. Everyone knows I have to have crafts of some sort going on. I've got three quilt tops that are waiting for me to quilt them, so I have to buy backing, filling, borders, get them basted together and choose quilting patterns for each one. I'm also working on a cross-stitch sampler, I have a set of Christmas ornaments that I need to make before Christmas if possible, and I have a few more ideas for things I'd like to get done before Christmas. I have a feeling I won't manage it, but I'll try.

That's just the main things. I have a lot of other ideas/plans for the next few months that I have to get busy with if I'm ever going to get anywhere with them. My main goals for right now are to get serious again with my painting/drawing and to start playing the piano again. Once I get those underway, I can start working on the other things more.