What You Been Doing?

I can cross things off my list. It's been awhile.

7. Buy an original piece of art.
Done like dinner! I am the proud owner of an Elaine Amyot original, which I've proudly hung on my living room wall. I love, love, love, this painting! I have coveted it for a long time, many years, so I'm psyched to finally own it.

9. Become involved in drama, either theatre or film production, on a regular basis. (i.e. like join the film co-op or get into a theatre club, etc.)
I'm crossing this off. Why? Because I'm in rehearsals for a play right now. And I'm currently working on a script . . . and yes, I believe I've caught the bug.

13. Hang things in your apartment, from the ceiling and on the walls.
I've had things hanging for quite awhile now actually. You'd swear I had a home. But I didn't want to cross it off until I hung the lamp . . . but I don't know if I'm ever going to hang the lamp, so off it goes! I have all kinds of pics and things, art, calendars, etc. I'm good.

19. Fall in love.
And they said it couldn't be done . . . okay, so I actually fell in freaking love! How crazy is that?! It was intense and neurotic and completely different from anything else I've ever done. The relationship didn't work out, but I think it served its purpose, which was to prove to myself that I've truly evolved and matured and I'm ready for the big emotional stuff. So, yay me! I am an enlightened human being.

33. Obtain a good camera and take more photos.
Have camera. Occasionally take pics. Certainly more than when I had no camera at all :-)

74. Put up a Christmas tree and decorate your place for the holiday.
I totally did this last Christmas! Purchased a tree, decorations, the works! Did it up right. It was really nice.

89. Do a fasting cleanse.
Okay, it wasn't a "fasting" cleanse, but when I wrote the thing I didn't really have an understanding of what I wanted to do, just knew I wanted to cleanse and that sometimes that involved fasting. But after research I found the Brown Rice Detox, which is so much better than fasting. So I did it once already and I'm planning to do it again. Either before or after I go to Toronto next month.

Searilly Ossifer

52. Drink no alcohol for two weeks.

You know, I don't really drink that much anymore. Not like the drunk that lasted 3 years. Nowhere near that! Seriously, I drank at least a half dozen and usually many many more beer every day of the week. I no longer had the appearance of being drunk, but just the same all the time. It was a bad phase. Then there were years when I may have only drank on a couple of occasions throughout the entire year. I was an easy drunk then. And now, another phase. I love red wine with food. I love red wine with conversation. I love red wine with sappy movies. I love red wine with reality television. I love red wine while I'm relaxing. I like to have one glass with the evening meal. Just one, not the whole bottle. This practice is even supposed to have health benefits. Still I figured weeks went by without me having any wine or alcohol of any kind, but I never kept track, so I couldn't be sure. Now, I'm sure. Two weeks, easy peezy. No big deal. Now I know. I might love it, but that's not a bad thing. I'm not sloshed every day or even once a week or two weeks . . . now where's my corkscrew :-)

Titanic Significance

6. Eat breakfast every day for a month.

I am a woman who eats breakfast! Like every frigging day! There you go. It turns out I really like toast and cereal and bagels and pancakes. See, all these years I've been trying to cram bacon down my throat in the morning and not getting anywhere. Here's to embracing the grain.

47. Drink 8 glasses of water per day for a week.

Will wonders never cease?! I am also a woman who drinks water. A LOT OF WATER! Likely more than the required 8 glasses. I am hydrated! Wow!

92. Make a new friend.

I have a new friend.

Life is pretty good.

Headspin

34. Eat vegetarian for two weeks, no meat or dairy.

I only did the no dairy part for one week. Full blown vegan is too difficult. I love my coffee cream and cheeses way too much. Not to mention the eggs that are in all baked goods. This is not to say I won't go vegan someday. It can be done. It just takes more effort than what I have to give right now. However, the vegetarianism continues. No meat. And that's okay. Feels good. Feels right.

And You Thought I Wouldn't Do It!

56. Renew my medicare.

TA-DA! Done like dinner! Today I swung by Service NB, paid my ten bucks, signed the form and a new card will arrive in the mail in 6 to 8 weeks. Yay me!

What are you doing New Year's Eve?

Been watching some of my Oscar movies. Just finished Marty. God I love the old movies!

Also watched The Godfather (which I've never seen in its entirety in a single sitting) and I've got The Godfather Part II in hand. Think I'll save it for the weekend though. It's a long one. The Godfather Part III didn't win, but still I've got it enroute so I can complete the trilogy.

In other tasks news I read three chapters of The DaVinci Code last night, sometimes my eyes glaze over and I need to slap my hand away from ripping out a dozen pages that aren't really necessary, but other than that, I'm doing fine with that one. I ate breakfast today, but it wasn't really a planned thing, I just happened to be hungry because I went to bed last night hungry. However, if it happens again tomorrow, I'll be on my way toward crossing something off!

Amendment to #3

I haven't given up on the getting up early thingy. Summer officially starts today and I'd like to see some mornings. The 6:30 rising didn't work for me though. Getting up early is no good if the day passes and I never completely exit the hazy fog of sleep. The fact of the matter is I am a night person, I've always been a night person, I will likely always be a night person. Fighting against my nature doesn't help me get anywhere but more exhausted. And more exhaustion, I don't need. Unless I have to be somewhere, I don't set an alarm. I wake up when I wake up. I go to bed when I'm sleepy. When I leave it to nature I go to bed somewhere between 1 and 3, the earlier I go the more I read once I get there, and I wake between 10 and 11, usually about 10 minutes either side of the half hour, 10:20-10:40. Okay, so really, there's nothing wrong with this, I'm getting sleep, I feel rested, I'm getting as many hours of worktime into the day as anyone else, etc. Here's the thing--I actually kinda like mornings too. I like getting stuff done by noon. I like to have evenings to myself to do whatever I want, rather than work. So, I've amended the task from "at 6:30" to "by 7:30." Perhaps I'll have better luck, get closer to where I aspire to be. Maybe I'll start tomorrow . . . maybe I'll wait until Monday. You'll be the first to know.

Task Aborted

Given my workload this week, I felt it necessary to abort the getting up early thing. I don't know if it's the weather or what but I just haven't been able to get my brain cells moving as far as writing or any kind of work goes. I tried switching things up. I tried taking a nap. And it just wasn't happening. Both days my body woke up, but my brain never did. I was getting lots of physical stuff done, but my mind went to mush. So today I decided to go back to letting my body wake me naturally and slept in until the usual 10:30. I feel sharper than I have in days. It's weird. It must be weather related. But I've too much not getting done to mess around with this, this week. I'll try again as soon as I've got some stuff off my plate.

Waking Day #2

So yesterday I did the get up early, go for a walk, eat breakfast thing and quite honestly it didn't work wonders for me. I accomplished very little workwise throughout the day because I was wiped out, fuzzy brain tired, all day. So today I'm going at it a bit differently. I got up early (even earlier than yesterday!) at 6:05. I didn't go for a walk and won't until later in the day. The plan is to go later this afternoon when I feel myself lagging and need a little pick me up. I haven't had breakfast yet because I do find I need an hour or two before I'm hungry. The plan is to check email and do the blogging then taking a break to eat. Hopefully this will work better for me. Because yesterday was truly frustrating, not being able to get my head around the simplest concepts because I was so fogged in. It may have been weather related as well, who knows. Anyway, two days down of early rising! Yay for me!

De-Cluttering & Stuff

99. Sell, donate, or throw away 101 items.

I have it in my head to do this today. I'll be throwing away, but whether I can get to the 101 items . . . we'll see. I plan to try. You'll be the first to know.

I'm also up for some rug shampooing (#81) very soon. Today or tomorrow is my thought. Perhaps it's too much . . . but I'm feeling energetic and it is the kind of blah day outside where I feel like running around and doing stuff inside.

Monday is still on my calendar as day one of the month-long challenge of early-rising. I'd also like to throw in the breakfast challenge for the same time (because I tend to enjoy and be able to eat breakfast more when I get up early, so it might be easier to do then) and the walking challenge as well. Yes, I know that's a tall, tall order and I should just focus on the one thing . . . but ideally, I mean the real goal, I want to become one of those people who gets up and goes for a walk before breakfast everyday. I want to be one of those women in the cutesy jogging suit, hustling down the sidewalk, pumping a bottle of water in one hand (an ipod would be nice, though not on the list at this time). And of course, achieving this, would be a fantastic step toward the goal of doing a marathon. So it's all connected.

Anyway, nothing's getting tossed with me sitting here in front of the puter.

Thoughts on #4 . . . Did I REALLY Say Marathon?

As in physical exercise? As in running? Yikes! But yeah, I said it, and I'm damn serious. As some of you already know if you've been following my regular blog Living in Limbo, I have arthritis. At one point I was in such a terrible flare I seriously doubted I would ever be able to walk like a normal person again, let alone dance or run or comfortably take the stairs and so on. It took a really long time and a major shift in my approach to listening to my body, but I am now living a drug-free, sometimes pain-free, walkable, danceable, runnable, taking the stairs two at a time kind of life. I often feel like I've been given a second chance, like I magically escaped. Every time I walk to the post office I think, "Wow! Here I am! Walking!" I don't take that simple act for granted anymore.

For a couple of years I've been thinking about doing a walk or a run or a marathon of sorts, just to celebrate myself, my ability to do it. The more I thought about it I thought why not do it for other sufferers as well. So, I started investigating the Arthritis Society's Joints in Motion Campaign. And the more I looked into it, the more I wanted to do it. But this year has been impossible. There was no way I could undertake such a huge endeavour. I mean besides getting in the physical and mental shape to do the thing, you also have to do a lot of fundraising (the point afterall). So, I declined Amsterdam :-( Said so long to Hawaii and Arizona :-( and told organizers I'd have to wait until next year. And now begins the task of simplifying my life to the point where I have room for a great big old marathon (I'm hearing rumors of Athens, yay!) Life is going to have to become Job, Personal Writing and Marathon, c'est tout! No volunteer. No freelance. No extras. Totally feasible.

I think this will be one of the most important things I do in my life.