Mid-Years' Resolutions

I never really make New Years' Resolutions, but I feel like a lot is going on right now and we're making some substantial changes in our day-to-day life so maybe this is the ideal time to institute some changes for the better.

1. email shortcomings
At this moment have exactly 3,020 unopened emails in my gmail account (yikes). To be sure, this is not something I'm particularly proud of. But where does one start at this point? I hate that there are email trails just hanging out there that I essentially killed by not being on top of my email. A quite clever friend started titling emails with things like "URGENT, Life or Death, HOT COFFEE!!!" to get attention in my inbox. Nice approach.

I totally remember a time when I was on totally on top of my emails and couldn't understand when people weren't. Note, I wrote "remember" because it is certainly not anything of recent history.

My goal is to get better at immediately organizing/filing/deleting emails as necessary and logging into my personal account on a more regular basis. Granted I've got some things working against me on that last part (gmail blocked from work) but nonetheless- I want to log to email at least 3 times a week AND respond to the emails I read/open... not just save them for later.

2. junk in the trunk
That's right - sister's derriere is, um, growing disproporiate to the rest of my frame -shall we say? I recognize that I lead a sedentary life and for quite some time now I had simply accepted that fact. Again, nothing I was particularly proud of-- it just is what it is.

Well, my plan is to start *gasp* horror of horrors... start ...exercising. Yep. Pam, my incredible physical therapist, has recommended several different activities for me and I want to start excercising 3 times a week. Or maybe 2 to start out with. They are all low impact of course and my back feels so much better the next day, not to mention the seemingly endless benefits.

Benefits such as my heart's health or saving the embarassment of gasping for breath after simply walking up a flight of stairs at work or the avoidance of being called lovingly referred to as 'thunda thighs' (or equivalent junior high slur) during sunday night family dinner.

3. junk in the attic
For the longest time, I postponed cleaning out all our junk and extra boxes "until the remodel was finished" Wouldn't you know, all the extra junk and boxes have actually played a part in postponing the completion of the remodel.

My goal is to get rid of a boat load of old clothes I never wear, books I'll never read and papers that simply collect dust.

This one is gonna be a tough one because clearly I come by the "pack rat" gene honestly (if you've ever been to my parents' or grandparents' houses - I KNOW you've got my back on this one). So this will be a true paradigm shift for me.

So dear friends, I call on you for help. Anyone who is particularly good at purging 'stuff' ...I will bake you a cake, organize your blog links, format recipe cards for you, (geez, my list of things to offer is pretty pathetic here) ...be forever indebted and share a few glasses of wine (bingo!) if you would be so kind to help me out on this one. I don't really know where to start.


4. menus
I haven't done it in over a year.... but when I did make a weekly 'menu' --or a couple weeks at a time-- it was INCREDIBLE how much effort and energy it saved. Yes, that's right. Between each night trying to figure out what to eat, if have the stuff for it, yada yada... or making trips to the grocery store and aimlessly wandering the isles with a general list in hand... it adds up.

When I would take the 20 minutes to sit down and write out a meal a night for a week (with maybe even some leftovers for lunch the next day)... it would save me 10-15 minutes per night. If you do the math... it's quite the time saver. Goal is to start this back up again.



I think I will stop here because i already feel a bit like a wet cat and wondering how the hell I'm gonna tackle all these things. One day at a time, right? Keep me on track.

And you? Any mid-year resolutions?