Oh My!!!

It's been 2 months since I've blogged - bad Maggie!!! And that's even with me doing biweekly blog prompts at DSAG.

So many things to report - so little time - ha!

In late November, Debb decided to re-organize DSAG and eliminate the store from the site. She formed a collaboration with Theresa Hernandez with NDISB for the designers to sell at that store and also to sell the classes there. DSAG will be primarily a learning site now. Well, that left the CT in a quandry. We could continue to CT at DSAG, but really the only kit to showcase there will be the motnhly Guild kit, we could elect to move over to CT at NDISB, and we were released from our exclusivity agreement with the Guild and be free to pursue other CTs while staying on the Guild CT. I have elected to remain on the Guild CT and the NDISB CT. And I may pursue other options. One of my favorite designers, Birgit Kerr is now at another site entirely, and I may try for her CT when she has a call - or at least see if she is looking for a guest.

I'm not making any resolutions for 2008 - I never manage to keep them. Instead, I'm going to try to instill some habits into my life this year. I have let so many things go over the last few years - my excuses have been mainly related to my ability to get around due to my knees, etc. Well, it's been a year and a half since my knee replacement and I have got to quit using it as an excuse.

So the list of things I want to work on in 2008 is quite long and I don't know how far I will get. It will involve me not immediately crawling into my chair with my laptop as soon as I get home in the evenings. And it will require discipline on my part. Ha! Ha! Thus speaks the inherently lazy person with zero discipline lately.

It takes 21 days to make a habit - yeah, right - I think it takes a lot longer, but we will see.

So My List of Habits I Want to Create in 2008:

Photo a Day
I want to begin shooting a photo a day - I think it will be cool to chronicle the everyday things in life, plus I understand that people who begin this habit feel it only helps their photography skills. Everytime I think I'm improving on my skills, I have incidents like Christmas reach up and slap me in the face. So many of my pics did not turn out well, and I totally forgot to shoot some photos like Audrey all dressed up for church - which she informed Grandy and I that it was her first time to go to church. That's a whole other blog in and of itself, maybe a "Dear Audrey" blog - haven't done one of those in a long time.
Daily Blogging
I think journaling on a regular basis would be a really good thing for me. I leave so many things bottled up and that's not healthy. This will give me a creative outlet for venting. Plus, I want to leave behind some evidence of my existense and maybe some day, someone will look back with fondness on my life - yeah, right. It's also another way to instill some discipline in my life.
Exercise
I really did feel better when I was exercising regularly, even though I had to schedule it into my day like a meeting. In fact, I did best when I exercised at the Fitness Center at work. With my existing work schedule of working at 2 sites, this may be a little more troublesome - but I am paying for a Y membership that I haven't used in probably close to 2 years. That's ridiculous!!!
Healthy Eating
Oh yeah! I gained back almost everything I lost 4 years ago. Last year I played at losing weight a couple of times and I start this year just about where I started last year - not good!!! While, I should just break down and get all the way back on the WW bandwagon whole heartedly today, I'm not going to do that. But next week, the Back to Basics is going to start up where each week for 8 weeks we focus on one aspect of WW, then after the 8 weeks is over, we start over. If I focus on the Back To Basics topic for that week, maybe by the end of the 8 weeks I will actually be in the diet mode - but at least I will be eating healthier and that is ultimately the goal.
Clean House
Neither Mark nor I like to do anything related to housework and it's really showing, especially with the dogs contributing as well. So I want to get into the habit of spending a few minutes every day working on the house. Right now, it's a daunting task with every room in the house needing attention. I need to go through stuff and throw out, which is painful for a packrat - but I can't find stuff anymore, I have no room to do stuff that I want to do, and I don't want anyone coming to my house. I would love to be able to have Audrey come stay at my house in April - but that's not an option at this point.
Gardening
I used to love working in the yard, but then with all the knee injuries, it got to be too much, then I let the yard get away from me. Of course, it doesn't help that Mark has all this crap in front of the house and that the dogs have pretty much destroyed the back yard, but I can clean out the flower beds and do some planting and see how it goes. I'll start with the 4 beds in the front of the house - decide if I want to keep them all and figure out what I want to plant - then figure out a way to keep the yard guys from cutting them down!!!! I realize I have lost another rose bush to them - ARRGGGGHHHHHHHHH!

OK, that's enough for today - and look, I got my post in for the day! Yay! One thing to check off!!!