Goals Post

I have a cold. Blah. In lieu of Fierce Friday (because I'm sick and dressed in my pajamas), I've decided this means it's a good time to update you about my goals.

Books
I'm seven books behind on my goal of reading 116 books this year.

Man reading while sitting on the floor of a library.

Here's what I've read since my last book update:

Lulu and the Brontosaurus by Judith Viorst
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde
Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde
First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde
One of our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde
The Woman Who Died a Lot by Jasper Fforde
On S'y Fera by Zoya Pirzad
Beauty is a Verb: The New Poetry of Disability edited by Jennifer Bartlett
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
The Bagel: The Surprising History of a Modest Bread by Maria Balinska
Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities by Amy Stewart
Olives, Lemons & Za'atar: Palestinian Home Cooking from Nazareth to New York by Rawla Bishara and Jumana Bishara
A Green and Ancient Light by Frederic S. Durbin
The Gospel According to Jesus Christ by José Saramago
The Last Witchfinder by James K. Morrow
Lick It!: Creamy Dreamy Vegan Ice Creams Your Mouth Will Love by Cathe Olson
The Vegetable Gardener's Book of Building Projects: 39 Indispensable Projects to Increase the Bounty and Beauty of You Garden by Cindy A. Littlefield
Arab Jazz by Karim Miské
Chocolate and Zucchini: Daily Adventures in a Parisian Kitchen by Clotilde Dusoulier
Garnishing by Francis Talyn Lynch
Chloe's Vegan Italian Kitchen by Chlor Coscarelli
The Castle by Franz Kafka (the graphic novel version adapted by David Zane Mairowitz and illustrated by Jaromir 99)
To Be or Not To Be: A Choosable-Path Adventure by William Shakespeare and Ryan North
Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties by Beth Kobliner
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Endgame by Samuel Beckett
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice by Paul Kivel

Diet
To recap, my dietary goals were:

* Drink 8+ glasses of water a day
* Take a daily multivitamin
* Stick as closely as possible to the macro- and micro-nutrient breakdowns I set in myfitnesspal
* Avoid soy, MSG, and foods with long lists of unpronounceable ingredients
* Only eat when sitting down at a table with no distractions
* Stop and assess whether I'm actually hungry before eating or getting seconds
* Eat every four(ish) hours on a breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner schedule
* No food after 10pm

Picture of vegetables in the shape of a heart.

My plan of having a protein shake for breakfast was a great one and it completely fixed the problem I had where I failed to eat breakfast. I've even started keeping some pre-made protein shakes at work for the days when I can't manage to make one before I leave the house. The nighttime binges are a bigger problem. I've stopped eating when I get home from my night job, but not eating at work is more difficult because my boss eats a bunch of junk food every single night - usually chips, nachos, or chocolate. It always gives me the munchies to watch him eating even if I know I'm not really hungry. Worse, since I'm the one who goes out to buy his snacks, I wind up buying a snack for myself while I'm out. Sigh.

Exercise
I've slacked a bit on taking the stairs all the time. It's just so much easier to be lazy.

Line drawing of a man walking up stairs looking exhausted.

I tried ballet, yoga, and a couch to 5K program that showed me I dislike running. I may still do a 5K color run this spring, but we'll see. My other goals seem kind of out of reach at the moment. Remember, they were: be able to do a handstand, a cartwheel, a split, 25 pull ups, 50 pushups, 200 situps, and 200 squats. Once I have a bit more money I'm planning to go to Esh Circus Arts, Rock Climbing, Kickboxing, and Krav Maga. Though I'll obviously have to pick one at a time because they're expensive. For now I've joined the YMCA with my housemates which should at least help with the out-of-reach feeling goals.

Finances
As for finances, it's going decently but could be going better. I'm still chanting Tea's and my money motto - "I am a money magnet!" I'm on track with paying off everything, and am debiting about 10% of my income every two weeks to my Roth IRA at Vanguard. I've given up on my rainy day fund plan (5% per paycheck until I have $10,000 in the account) because I keep having rainy days. I know I was going automate this and then do CD laddering, but I'm not sure I can spare enough for regular deductions right now.

To force myself to save something, I decided to try using Digit, which works via an app and the texting feature on your phone. The way it works is that it tracks your spending patterns and then every few days it'll move a few dollars from your checking account to your Digit account. The idea is that it has its own internal calculations to figure out when and how much you can afford to save and it debits it bit by bit so you don't have to think about it. Then every three months it gives you a (very tiny) bonus of 5 cents for every $100 based on your average balance over those three months. Digit is free to use, has bank level security, is FDIC insured up to $250,000, and will cover your overdraft fees if they miscalculate and overdraft your account. I know a few people who have it and like it, so I figured it was worth checking out.

Plant growing out of a coin jar.

I temporarily suspended my $20/week charity donations because I'm broke. I need to get back to that because I think it's important and as a side benefit it made me feel really happy every time I donated.

Bucket List
If you'll recall, my bucket list was:

Become a Parent
Publish my Kids' book
Volunteer as an Educational Advocate
Help Youth Aging Out of Foster Care
Travel

Photo of a blue bucket on the beach. Bucket says "bucket list."

I've added a couple more. They are:

Get Boudoir Photos of Myself
Write a Will
Learn Basic Auto Repair
Take a Glider Flight
Learn to Shoot a Gun
Learn Archery
Send my family on a nice trip using my timeshare.

Things to Do Before the End of This Year

Patch that says "Buy Art."

Buy art. I'm going to buy a few pieces of art from my friend. Her etsy name is Spider's Closet.

Elderly woman and adult man.

Take my grandmother out. My grandmother is amazing and I don't spend nearly enough time with her so before the end of the year I want to make sure I take her out somewhere nice.

Junk statue of a monkey.

Make a junk statue. There's a bike trail I know of where people have made statues out of old junk and Tea and I have talked about making one of our own to add to the collection.

Man getting a massage.

Get a professional massage. I've never had one before and I think it'd be a nice thing to try.

Two men on a date drinking beers.

Go on a date. My divorce was two years ago. It's time to get back on the proverbial horse. While I haven't been entirely abstinent this whole time, I haven't felt ready to date until more recently. Time to start going out again.

A pile of photographs.

Organize all of my photos. This needs to happen. I haven't organized anything post college. My photos are either online or sitting in bins. Which is annoying. Plus I think organizing all of the photos from when I was married will be a huge relief since I won't have them lying about anymore. Ideally I'd like to get caught up and then just order photo books of my photos every month/year/whatever.

THAT'S IT!!!!

All of my goals. I'm not doing too bad. How are you doing on your goals?