Tuesday, January 03, 2006
In the year 2006, I resolve to...
Happy New Year, everyone! Rick and I are back and rested up from our weekend in P-town, where I got so incredibly drunk that it has taken me the last two days to recuperate. You know, I never mean to get drunk, but it just happens so fast. I know that I was incredibly drunk because I smoked not one, but three cigarettes, on New Year’s Eve. I have often been tempted to smoke while drinking since I quit smoking on October 14, 2000, but until three days ago, I never gave in! I can remember the exact date, you see, because I didn’t really want to quit smoking when I did. Rick and I both quit at that time because we’d just found out that Rick’s dad, a long-time chain-smoker, had to have open heart surgery for his tar-clogged coronary arteries. So in a move of family solidarity, Rick and I joined his parents in kicking the habit. Five years have passed and both his parents have resumed smoking, which has contributed to my fear that if I ever smoked a single cigarette, I’d be off the wagon sucking back 2 packs a day faster than you can say lung cancer. Because, truth be told, I LOVED smoking. LOVED it! I know it stinks and will kill you and all, but damn it feels good.
I mean, smoking is bad and everyone should quit smoking in 2006. Except for anyone who might bum me a cigarette or three when I get really stinkin’ drunk.
Here are my goals for the New Year. I wrote them last week, and now that I read over them again, they sound rather daunting. I imagine I will still find them daunting in a few months, when I think to look over them again and have less time to make them happen!
1. Get organized:
Holy crap, I am in desperate need of a total house makeover. I have knitting supplies in every room, piles of papers of varying importance on my desk, and three closets that are filled to the brim.
To organize, I hope to get the following things done this year: Install cabinets in the utility room, place plywood in the attic to place seldom-used stuff on, clean out the closets and organize them, clean off the desk and clean out the file cabinets (do you think I can shred the bill stubs from 2003 yet?), and clean out and organize the bathroom drawers and cabinets (I KNOW I can throw out medicines from ’98!).
2. Get Healthy:
I have been the worst kind of vegetarian. I don’t really eat salad and I am terribly lazy in the kitchen. Like to the point that if my choice of snack were oranges or chips, I will always go for the chips, even if I am in the mood for an orange, BECAUSE ORANGES HAVE TO BE PEELED. Chips, on the other hand, require no prep. Also, I love the Coke. I can drink 2 or 3 20-ounce bottles A DAY. Seriously. Oh, and it’s not anything for me to eat a whole pizza myself. And, um, cheesecake. You know how some people never finish their slice of cheesecake and they say, “Oh, I can’t finish it. It’s too rich!” I have never had a food that is too rich. If you’re not going to finish your cheesecake, pass the rest to me.
In my nutrition class last year, we had to keep a food diary and assess how many calories, carbs, fat and protein grams, etc. that we consume in a single day. I actually consumed less calories than is recommended for maintaining one’s weight, but I consumed on average about 300-400 grams of carbohydrates a day. A diet that is considered low-carb is 100 grams or less. Whoa! So this lifestyle of eating pasta and cheesecake twice a day and drinking 2 cokes in an 8-hour shift, combined with a complete lack of exercise, adds up to a 15 pound weight gain in 2005. I have two pairs of pants that fit!
So, the goal is: Eat healthier food, do a cardio workout 3 times a week, and lose 15 pounds—hopefully by summer!
3. Debt Reduction:
Hopefully it’s more like debt elimination. If we could pay off the dang credit cards, we would have a lot more cash every month and could get some other goals accomplished (like decorating our house and that trip to Alaska).
The goal: To live as cheap as we can this year and pay off the credit cards by next Christmas. Alas, this means I will have to find some creative ways to use my yarn stash.
4. Home improvement:
Rick and I have decided to make goals for this old house. We bought the house 18 months ago, but have not made a lot of improvements—which a house built in 1939 needs. So this year, we hope to get the outside walls insulated and place drapes/shades on all the windows (gas is expensive, yo!), and get the house jacked up/leveled/whatever you call it, which will put a great big set-back in Goal #3. Also, Rick and Adam will finish rewiring the electricity.
5. Get into an RN program:
This one is a big if. I will be ready for the program in Fall 2006, but there are only 20 slots available and about 200 people that apply every year. And it’s that way at each school I’ll be applying at. Wish me luck!
6. Spend more time with friends and family:
I have no real plans for how to do this. I mean, I suppose I could create some elaborate organizational module for getting all studying and assignments done by certain days so that weekends are left free and yada, yada, yada, but we all know that with work and school, that ain’t happenin’. But I do want to spend more of the little free time I have with those that I care about most. I am becoming way too much of a hermit.
7. Knit like crazy. Finish lots of projects. Learn to use DPNs, knit something with cables, make an adult sweater. Do this during hermit times.
That's all I've come up with for now. Trust me, I can come up with all kinds of self-help resolutions. Like “Become more in touch with my spiritual side”. But this year, I feel like, what-the-fuck-ever! I don't have the energy to create an action plan for spiritual growth! I’m going to focus on physical health, my house, my money, and school. The knitting and the socializing can give me the spiritual boost. And if I can quit smoking, surely I can give the Coke up too, right???
Again, I wish all my friends and family a Happy, Happy 2006!
I mean, smoking is bad and everyone should quit smoking in 2006. Except for anyone who might bum me a cigarette or three when I get really stinkin’ drunk.
Here are my goals for the New Year. I wrote them last week, and now that I read over them again, they sound rather daunting. I imagine I will still find them daunting in a few months, when I think to look over them again and have less time to make them happen!
1. Get organized:
Holy crap, I am in desperate need of a total house makeover. I have knitting supplies in every room, piles of papers of varying importance on my desk, and three closets that are filled to the brim.
To organize, I hope to get the following things done this year: Install cabinets in the utility room, place plywood in the attic to place seldom-used stuff on, clean out the closets and organize them, clean off the desk and clean out the file cabinets (do you think I can shred the bill stubs from 2003 yet?), and clean out and organize the bathroom drawers and cabinets (I KNOW I can throw out medicines from ’98!).
2. Get Healthy:
I have been the worst kind of vegetarian. I don’t really eat salad and I am terribly lazy in the kitchen. Like to the point that if my choice of snack were oranges or chips, I will always go for the chips, even if I am in the mood for an orange, BECAUSE ORANGES HAVE TO BE PEELED. Chips, on the other hand, require no prep. Also, I love the Coke. I can drink 2 or 3 20-ounce bottles A DAY. Seriously. Oh, and it’s not anything for me to eat a whole pizza myself. And, um, cheesecake. You know how some people never finish their slice of cheesecake and they say, “Oh, I can’t finish it. It’s too rich!” I have never had a food that is too rich. If you’re not going to finish your cheesecake, pass the rest to me.
In my nutrition class last year, we had to keep a food diary and assess how many calories, carbs, fat and protein grams, etc. that we consume in a single day. I actually consumed less calories than is recommended for maintaining one’s weight, but I consumed on average about 300-400 grams of carbohydrates a day. A diet that is considered low-carb is 100 grams or less. Whoa! So this lifestyle of eating pasta and cheesecake twice a day and drinking 2 cokes in an 8-hour shift, combined with a complete lack of exercise, adds up to a 15 pound weight gain in 2005. I have two pairs of pants that fit!
So, the goal is: Eat healthier food, do a cardio workout 3 times a week, and lose 15 pounds—hopefully by summer!
3. Debt Reduction:
Hopefully it’s more like debt elimination. If we could pay off the dang credit cards, we would have a lot more cash every month and could get some other goals accomplished (like decorating our house and that trip to Alaska).
The goal: To live as cheap as we can this year and pay off the credit cards by next Christmas. Alas, this means I will have to find some creative ways to use my yarn stash.
4. Home improvement:
Rick and I have decided to make goals for this old house. We bought the house 18 months ago, but have not made a lot of improvements—which a house built in 1939 needs. So this year, we hope to get the outside walls insulated and place drapes/shades on all the windows (gas is expensive, yo!), and get the house jacked up/leveled/whatever you call it, which will put a great big set-back in Goal #3. Also, Rick and Adam will finish rewiring the electricity.
5. Get into an RN program:
This one is a big if. I will be ready for the program in Fall 2006, but there are only 20 slots available and about 200 people that apply every year. And it’s that way at each school I’ll be applying at. Wish me luck!
6. Spend more time with friends and family:
I have no real plans for how to do this. I mean, I suppose I could create some elaborate organizational module for getting all studying and assignments done by certain days so that weekends are left free and yada, yada, yada, but we all know that with work and school, that ain’t happenin’. But I do want to spend more of the little free time I have with those that I care about most. I am becoming way too much of a hermit.
7. Knit like crazy. Finish lots of projects. Learn to use DPNs, knit something with cables, make an adult sweater. Do this during hermit times.
That's all I've come up with for now. Trust me, I can come up with all kinds of self-help resolutions. Like “Become more in touch with my spiritual side”. But this year, I feel like, what-the-fuck-ever! I don't have the energy to create an action plan for spiritual growth! I’m going to focus on physical health, my house, my money, and school. The knitting and the socializing can give me the spiritual boost. And if I can quit smoking, surely I can give the Coke up too, right???
Again, I wish all my friends and family a Happy, Happy 2006!
# posted by katie @ 8:14 AM 
Comments:
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Wow, sometimes it's crazy how much we have in common.
Smoking issues? check. Coke issues? check. Too-damn-lazy-to-peel-an-orange? check. (although I dont generally care for chips)
Let me know what I can do to help promote socialization ;)
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Smoking issues? check. Coke issues? check. Too-damn-lazy-to-peel-an-orange? check. (although I dont generally care for chips)
Let me know what I can do to help promote socialization ;)
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