Reading The Bible in a Year

Reading The Bible in a year should be fairly easy, right? I mean, it's a book. It's got words. It's got stories. Easy? Notsomuch.


This is the third year I have put "finish reading The Bible" on my resolution list. I haven't finished it once in any of the previous two years.


I lead (term used loosely) the high school youth group at my church. Why? Because I'm not perfect. I swear. I make bad choices. Multiple times. I watch questionable TV shows and R rated movies. I think that's what teenagers need to see, is someone who struggles the same way they do. They need to see someone who still tries, despite everything, to find and keep a relationship with God. They need to see what letting go of worldly things looks like.

I am not a perfect role model for "my" teens. I'm honest about it. I curse - I try not to and I try to be more conscious of what comes out of my mouth - but I don't hide it. They ask me questions and I don't lie about who I am. We talk about changing our lives, we talk about God, and how to follow what our true lives are. The kids come back every week. They bring their friends and I bring cookies.

Every week I rant a little bit about reading The Bible (see how I'm connecting all this now?). It is the foundation for a relationship with God. The Bible is not just words or stories. The Bible is us. It is a living relationship between us and God. You can't read The Bible without being changed.

This year, they told me to make them excited about reading The Bible. So I'm throwing out the challenge to them. If they buy the dailyaudiobible app, and use it for a month, I will pay for the app. I love this app. I love hearing The Bible read to me. I love hearing Brian explain things, break things down, and make them real. Most of all I love how it connects me to God.

January

I meant to write this a week ago. Most of the week went by and I still hadn't done it yet. Life is just insanely busy and actually getting time to sit at my laptop doesn't seem to happen as often as I'd like. I'm trying though. Really really trying.


I'd love to report HUGE progress on my 2016 resolutions, but as it is I only managed to rally a bit at the end of the month. I'll take rallying over failure any day.


Health:
Continue drinking water and caffeine in moderation - this continues to vary by day

Home:
Finish maintenance list on the fridge - I thought I had the dining room crossed off, but one stinking outlet screwed up that whole deal.

Money:
Get back on track with bill paying - I can actually report progress! I have been successfully setting and resolving a budget every month since October. I paid an outstanding bill in full, and still managed to have some fun. I think I'll be able to clear the rest of the outstanding bills in February and March.
Build up emergency fund - Sadly, The Duder's trip to NYC/DC is sucking up a lot of my savings allotment, but now that I've adjusted to living without that money every week I plan to continue to put that amount into savings every paycheck once the trip is paid for.

 Fun:
Nails (more about this coming, I promise!) I have to strike this one off the list. I'm not motivated. I'm not.
Soap - I'm having fun looking at other people's homemade soap, and trying some of it too. I will eventually post about my own soap at some point in time.

 Books (because... ya know):
Continue reading the Bible - I can't even stay up to date with an audio bible app. The effort is there, I just need to get the habit.
24 books read - I'm putting some firm rules down this year. Namely that every book has seven days to be read. If I haven't managed progress on it, it goes down as unfinished and I move on. I'm discovering a desire to read again. I should be able to exceed 24 books at this rate, although I expect some fudging on my part if I tackle The Outlander series again, or if I know a particularly busy week is coming.
TBR shelf down to 100 - current count is 131 so a long way to go yet.

 Writing:
Decide if I want to or not - I think I want to, I just need to get a handle on everything else first.


So there's progress (and lack of). Some things just aren't worth mentioning at the moment. Actually, as I look at this list, it's better than I thought it was. I imagine this list will become more fluid as months go on and as things get crossed off.

Go For 2016

Every year I go crazy over board with resolutions and burn out by February. This year, I want sustainable. I want simplicity. This year I want 100% success.


Health:
Continue drinking water and caffeine in moderation
Be able to do this yoga flow a year from now


Home:
Finish maintenance list on the fridge
Finish painting The Diva's Room
Make Joe's bed
Start painting the living room
Paint the garage (these colors)
Paint the deck


Money:
Get back on track with bill paying
Build up emergency fund
Keep AMD Soaps running on its own money


Fun:
Nails (more about this coming, I promise!)
Soap


Books (because... ya know):
Continue reading the Bible
24 books read
TBR shelf down to 100


Writing:
Decide if I want to or not


These are my goals for 2016! Some of them are do-able, some of them will be a challenge, and a few in particular I will probably fail miserably at. It's what I do.

2015 Resolution Follow Up

Here it is. The final hours of 2015.

What a crazy freaking year.

So here's my highlight reel.

• Went to India
• Started a home business
• Finished a 5k
• Took a writing class
• Reduced my caffeine intake and increased my water intake (most days)
• Found a partner in weird crimes who is absolutely adorable and increases my happiness beyond belief. (Take THAT, Loser Guys From 2014.)

I did not accomplish the following:

• Money goals
• Finish a manuscript
• Wallow in self pity the whole year (just half of it)
• Take amazing photos of random stuff
• Planking. Seriously scary stuff.

I am, mostly, ok with all the things on both lists.

Reading accomplishments were minimal this year.

I read quite a few doorstoppers this year. I actually read a lot more than I expected to, coming in at 19 books.

I worked on reading more of the Bible, but still falling short of a daily/weekly routine. I am growing spiritually from reading, which is more the point.

I did not make any efforts to control my book intake until later in the year. Like... September, when my paperbackswap credits dropped to an alarming "1". ONE credit. In ten years this has never happened. I went a little wild with books at the beginning of the year, anything and everything. I was funneling brokenness into books again. I have it under control again, but my TBR shelf still bears the scars at a whopping 132 books.

Despite everything, I am counting 2015 as a success, simply because I'm here to see 2016.

It's June!

It snuck up on me. It really did. It was like I went from March to June in the blink of an eye. And I am oh-so-happy to be in June. I love summer. I love the weather. I love summer activities. I love my summer schedule. I love the less-stress-more-fun life I have during the summer months. Love.




Summer doesn't mean I have nothing to do, it's nice paced busy. My busyness is just right. Unfortunately, it's not so hot for blogging. Right now I have something like... six posts in the works. Some of them are terribly over due. (India, anyone?) I'll work on this next week when I'm on my annual Staycation.


I had planned to do a play-by-play of my trip to India... but... I'm not sure I want to. There are too many words and yet not enough to describe my experience, I don't think a single entry or even a series of entries would do the trip justice. The food, the people, the experience of being part of my friend's wedding - and even the weird sensation of personally being exotic - it was an amazing experience. One that I look forward to repeating again in the future. (Hopefully the near future.) I promise though, there are posts coming about my trip.




We're mostly through 2015, and as usual my New Year Resolutions are dying a slow cruel death. Well, no ... some of them went out pretty quick this year, I just haven't acknowledged their deaths.


Money: This is still a work in progress. I blew half of the money I had pigtailed for the new car fund on fixing the old car and then blew the other half on a trip to India. I don't regret either of those decisions.


Writing: This has been off and on (mostly off). I've been stuck in my head because I can't find the original beginning of my novel - like the 20k word document that I saved somewhere... somewhere I would remember it... yeah. My brain is stuck there and won't move on. The peptalk to move myself on from that loss has begun. I just need to convince myself that I can rewrite it and do it better. The first writing class of the year officially starts next week! EEEEK!


Happy People Do This
Project 52
Be Happy
A Month in Photos with my kids.


Drink water - Originally planned as a 90 day challenge, I have stretched this out into June. I have good days and bad days, but I have seen such an improvement in my skin and how I feel overall during the day that I just can't kick the habit! I've been alternating doTerra's peppermint or lemon essential oil into my drinking cup (just one drop per 16oz) and using a tumbler with a straw, and that has really upped my water consumption!


Planking - this is still on the list.


And of course... reading. I've been doing quite a bit of it this year. I've moved some door stoppers off my shelf. Unfortunately, I nursed my broken heart with books and my TBR shelf is out of control.


I've also been doing some blog condensing. My cooking blog is slowly migrating over to here, so there were changes made to blog labels, the look, and even the blog name.


Oh, and if that isn't enough... I'm phasing out of selling Pangea Organics, and trying to launch my own soap business: A Misty Dimness Soap. I'm still in the marketing and research phase of this adventure, so I don't have product out for sale [yet]. I've only made soap in small batches (like 1 pound small) and I'm still tweaking recipes to get them to where I like them. Now I just need to get them to where other people like them! If you're interested at all in trying out some free handmade soap, hit me up on my FaceBook page!


So things I'm not doing this year? It's a pretty small list. Dating. I made a brief attempt at it in March and April, but it's just not what I want right now. That's about it for Not To Do in 2015. I can't wait to see what the rest of the year brings!

Happy Bubbles

I'm taking wins where I can get them this week.

Life has been rough. My car, The Wreaking Ball, made a clunk and left me stranded at the state line for two hours the weekend before last. In the meantime I'm driving my dad's car which is a stick. I haven't driven a stick since 2000! It's been entertaining.

So the win that I'm taking this week is that I'm combining two Project 52 subjects in one photo.

So here it is...

Happy Bubbles at the carwash.  I don't know what it is about the autowash but I love it.

It makes me happy.

I leave with a big grin on my face. If I have a crappy day I don't go to the bar... I go to the carwash. Yep... been there every.day. 'cuz life sucks right now.

Off The Wagon

I had week one and week two... and then week three, well, I was caught up in the crazy.

Water was a struggle. I'm lying. I made a half hearted effort and managed to chug down 16 oz through the day. However, I did stick to my 2 cups of coffee rule!

Bible reading... I thought about it?

Writing... I also thought about it?

Project 52... "Happy" just isn't a subject I want to deal with.

However, life must go on. In the past I would have been caught up in playing the "Catch Up Game", but that is not going to happen in 2015. What is going to happen in 2015 is just accepting where I am at. It will get better, or it will just be, but I won't ever know if I stop trying.

I'm back to using the big jug of water, I cut up half a lemon to put in it. I had been using a whole lemon, but I developed a ginormous cold sore on my lip. I'm not sure if it was from the additional acidity in my diet or just from stress, so on the side of caution I am going to scale back on the amount of lemon that I use.

Bible reading is at the fore front. I went to a workshop over the weekend and one of the topics was "Soul Care" and I have realized that between youth group and teaching Sunday School, my own spiritual well is not a well at all, but a canal. What goes in goes directly out, and sometimes it's in a drought. So I am going to actively seek out more ministry - I started Women's Bible Study last week and I'm going to ask for ministering from my pastor.

I'm going to stick with 15 minute time slots for writing. When I tried to increase to 20 minutes I stalled out, so I think 15 minutes is good. I know it's only about 100 words, but at the end of the week that's about 500 words I didn't have before.

Project 52, I am going to accept that there are some subjects that I may not be inspired by. It's okay, they'll still be there when the inspiration arrives. This week's subject is BUBBLES. Hmmm... I wonder where this will take me?

Also on my goal list for this week... finishing Anna Karenina. It's happening.

Getting on with 2015

I'm trying to be light-hearted as I write this but ... 2014 was a crazy year.

I started the year with the guy who was "the love of my life" and turned out to be a big fat liar.


I was angry.


I painted my dining room.


I vented on FaceBook.

And then I moved on. I met someone else. I was happy - oh so happy - and then Christmas came and it ended (apparently he was not as happy as I was). The relationship, the happiness, the end of it all is an aching spot in my chest. It wakes me up at night. I can't seem to swallow past it. I know it will heal in time. It will go away and just leave a little silvery scar. Right now though... it's pretty fresh.

Even though I'm starting 2015 a little broken, I think it's all going be okay a year from now. Who knows, maybe even next month. Or August. Whatever.

So what are my resolutions for 2015? Breathing. Getting up every morning. Pretending that I care.

I need to be more than that. Standing still, wallowing around in this heartache is not an option. I'm setting a few big goals for the entire year, and then some small goals to help me get back to the land of the living. I don't have set months for most of those challenges, but I'll be organizing and arranging over the next few weeks and will be sharing the challenges, progress, and success (or lack there of) with you.

Big Goals:

Money

• Half of my emergency fund built up. It's taken a hit over the last few years and really needs to be perked up. The other half will be a 2016 goal.
• Full car fund. This may be a necessity in 2015. My current car is 10 years old and I average about 500 miles a week commuting to work. I refuse to make replacing a car become a panic driven emergency. I also refuse to go into debt because of it.
• Christmas Fund. I say this to myself every year, and this time I mean it!

Writing

• Finish a manuscript. I think I have three or four ideas half started. I want this to happen - even if it's not a best seller the next great American classic and I self-publish it myself.
• Take two writing classes. I'm fortunate to be near a college that offers online writing classes.

Happy People Do This
I found a list of 12 things that happy people do. I'm going to focus on one each month, hopefully some become a habit. Fake it till you make it, right?


Project 52
A photo a week. That's it.

Small Challenges
Brought to you via Pinterest. I have collected a few little things that don't fall into the scope of "I have all year to do this" and more into the scope of "taking things one day at a time". Fun things. Fun things, healthy things, that will hopefully help me look at what I have in my life rather than the person who chose to leave it.

• Drink water. I'm making this a 90 day challenge. You have to scroll a bit through the link to get to the part where she talks about drinking water, but it's like she's in my head. I have tried to drink more water - and when I do my skin clears up, I feel better, I sleep better and "other things" are better. I've never managed this for more than a month, so 90 days is a pretty big deal in my "coffee, beer, or tea" world.
• Be Happy. This kind of goes with Happy People Do This, but it's focusing over a quick span of time. A lot of my friends do something similar during November. I'm gonna be weird and do it Not In November.
• Planking. It's my least favorite yoga position. It would also be incredibly good for me to improve my core strength; I'd have less issues with my back and hip if those muscles were built up. I WILL love planking!
• A Month in Photos with my kids. Should be easy. And interesting.

So there ya go! That's my game plan for 2015! Time is going to pass regardless, so I may as well make an effort to enjoy it! Are ya ready? (It's ok. Me neither.)


#WriteOrDie
#12Things
#Project52
#H2O
#HappyHappyJoyJoy
#ILovePlanking
#KiddoPics

2014 Resolutions

One of these is book related, I promise! I spent a lot of time thinking and I came up with a list of 6. I think they're challenging and do-able. So here goes...

1. Read the Bible. The ENTIRE Bible. Accountable on book blog, FB & Twitter.

Read 25% of TBR books: current is 103 books, so goal is 27 books, plus Bible.

TBR shelf cannot exceed 105, year end goal is 80.

 

2. Run a 5k.

Get back into Yoga once a week during non-running season.

Run 2-3x each week starting May 1, gradually increasing distance and improving time.

3. Get my finances under control so that I can spend my bonus checks on FUN!

No-Spend January, April, July, and October.

Create a workable budget.

Create goals for bonus checks.

4. Finish projects: laundry room, Tink’s room, and dining room.
5. Travel: NYC is at the top of my list.
6. Journaling and writing.

Journal once a week.

Work on manuscript / creative writing once a week.