2017 New Year's Resolutions Update

It occurs to me that I never gave the 2017 resolutions recap. Here it is!

Diet
If you'll recall, my plan was to track what I eat in order to figure out how much I eat in a year so I would know what I need to plant to grow it myself. I made a really good start with this, but with multiple moves and food sharing with housemates it was too hard to keep track. I might re-start this plan in 2018 but we'll see.

Exercise
My exercise goals were to be able to do a handstand, a cartwheel, a split, 25 pull ups, 50 pushups, 200 situps, and 200 squats. I still can't do the handstand, splits, or pull-ups, but I've reached all the other goals.

I debated and ultimately wound up deciding against doing a 5K color run because as exciting as crossing the finish line sounds to me, it turns out that running just isn't my thing.

I was curious about the circus classes , rock climbing, kickboxing, and Krav Maga. I wound up taking "Survey of Circus" at Esh Circus Arts in Somerville. I'd love to take another circus class at some point, but now I don't live near there anymore. After I moved here, I started taking kickboxing and Krav Maga at a local studio and I'm really enjoying both.

Finances
I am proud to announce that I'm credit card debt free, my car is paid off, and I'm on my way towards paying off my current student loans before I need to take out loans for nursing school. I have not managed to put money into retirement because I've been throwing anything extra into debt. I fizzled out on using Digit for no particular reason. I did, however, keep up with my charity donations. I should really start posting about the charities I pick again.

Focus More on Spirituality
I did a really good job with this goal overall. I continued to do my daily gratitudes and finally got into the habit of saying grace before meals. Although I did pray more frequently, I wasn't successful at the morning and bedtime prayers. I finally found a new local church and I need to get into a more regular routine with going.

One thing I'm really proud of myself for this year is following through with both my "Become Love" motto and the "Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?" criteria regarding my speech. I've been in several extremely difficult interpersonal situations this past year and I'm overall satisfied with how I conducted myself. I behaved well, even in the face of lies and slander directed at me by people I'd trusted.

This Year's To-Do List
If you'll recall, these were the smaller things that didn't seem large enough to be proper resolutions.

Here are the ones I managed to do:
* Get a professional massage.
* Go on a date.
* Swim in the ocean.
* Make video recordings of me reading kids' books and send them to Wolfie.
* Go dancing.
* Fly a kite.
* Take the kid housemates sledding.
* Take my grandmother out to lunch.

And here are the ones I started but didn't finish:
* Make a will - I have this written up but need to make it official.
* Self-publish my kids' book - I've switched who is illustrating this for me.
* Make a junk statue with Tea.
* Go camping and roast s'mores - I set up MULTIPLE camping trips, all of which failed to happen. I did, however, roast s'mores around a friend's backyard firepit.
* Play a violin duet with Primo - we picked a song but I wound up moving out so this didn't happen.
* Bike around Martha's Vineyard - this was a planned trip with Cupcake that they canceled.

And here are the ones I didn't do:
* Make a junk statue with Tea.
* Organize all of my photos.
* Go sailing.
* Take my dad kayaking.
* Become an ambassador for the Boston Children's Museum.
* Go apple picking and then make a pie.
* Go on a whale watch.

It's January!

It’s January! I’ve been off here for quite a while because I was dealing with a lot of life stuff and a particularly nasty bout of depression. Thankfully, I’m on the other side of it now and I’m picking up the little things that fell to the wayside while I focused elsewhere.

A lot of changes have happened since my last blog update. The biggest change is that I’ve finally moved into my own apartment in Worcester MA. I’m still in the never-ending process of getting it set up, but I love it so far and I’m so so so happy to be living by myself again. The apartment is a lead-free two bedroom with a gigantic yard and amazingly friendly neighbors so (God willing) I won’t have to move from here unless I’m either buying a house or headed for Canada. Other big changes include totaling my old car and getting a new one, finishing the Red Cross CNA program and passing the state CNA test, getting another higher-paying job, and taking my nursing prerequisites at North Shore Community College. Here's a monthly breakdown of what I've been up to:

In July I visited Rockport with Feather, Dolphin, Wolfie, and Surrogate Mom. 

Me, Dolphin, and Feather find a unicorn!

Feather, me, and Wolfie at the beach.

Blanket fort.

I also went to a fourth of July party, took my former nannying kid to and Mini T the aquarium and the science museum, saw Surrogate Mom's choral concert, celebrated Alice's birthday, went kayaking with friends, and had a mini tea party:

Mini T and Joy's little brother with sparklers.

Fourth of July fire pit with Cupcake, Joy's brother, Mini T, Joy's mom, and Belle.

Former nannying kid and Mini T at the aquarium touch tank.

Me with the dinosaur bones at the science museum.

Former nannying kid at the science museum.

Surrogate mom's choral concert.

Alice and Plath at Alice's birthday party.

Kayaking with a friend.

Me drinking tea out of a tiny cup.

And, because I'm ridiculous, I dressed up as an anglerfish for a costuming event at Revere Beach:

I did the Red Cross CNA program and passed the state CNA test:

My CNA class.

Me, my professor, and the medical dummy.

When August started, Feather and Wolfie were still visiting the USA. While they were here, our friends in France finally had their super adorable baby (not pictured).

Wolfie and me on a nature walk.

Feather in the ocean.

Seagull on the beach.

Wolfie on a rock fence.

Wolfie and Feather headed to the airport.

I also went to a Labyrinth-themed ball at the old Higgins Armory museum, which is now an event venue.

Karma, Bones, Bruno's new husband, and Bruno are unintentionally coordinated in red, white, and black.

Karma and Bone in harlequin-esque outfits.

Bruno's husband, Bruno, and me in unintentionally matching outfits.

Here's Karma, me, and Bones again looking fierce.

Crowd shot.

Crowd shot.

The end of August was also the first leg of my move. Because my lease was up before I found a new place to live, my things went into storage and the cats and I moved in with friends:

One of the friends I was living with, Tinkerbell, teaches archery and knows how to make her own arrows.

The lake where I spent much of the end of August.

Prettier shot of the lake.

Esh and Mayim on top of me on the couch in our temporary house.

My September was mostly spent house searching and starting classes at North Shore Community College, where I'm doing my prerequisites for nursing school. Despite being super busy with house searching and school and work, I did have some fun. I discovered the wonders of Jordan's Furniture with my new client Waldo. I also went window shopping a bunch while I looked for things for the new apartment:

Waldo at Jordan's Furniture in front of some jelly bean sculptures.

Mini T and I try out all the makeup in Sephora.

Me with a unicorn head.

In October I moved into my new place. I'll make a house tour post here at some point. I also carved pumpkins, went on multiple nature walks, went to the Topsfield Fair twice (winning multiple goldfish that promptly died), and went to a charity event where we drank and catapulted pumpkins at an old car.

Mayim in her new favorite spot - the bathroom sink!

Joy, Belle, me, Mini T, and the fish we won.

The catapult.

For Halloween I dressed up with Waldo - I was Jaws, he was Quint, and his wheelchair was the boat. I also dressed up as Miss Hannigan, because why have one halloween costume when you could have two:

Waldo and I as Quint and Jaws.

Me as Miss Hannigan.

A fun project that Dolphin convinced me to do in November is Dinovember. The idea is that each day in November you one picture of plastic dinosaurs posed as though they came to life when you weren’t looking. Here are (in my opinion) the five best dino pics I took:

Dinos at the water cooler.

Velociraptors attacking the leftover Halloween candy.

Dinos doing dishes.

T-Rex gives a stump speech (while standing on a tree stump).

Dinos stealing croissants.

Other than Dinovember, I did two big things in November. One of them was Waldo's sister's wedding:

The happy couple dancing up a storm.

Waldo and I.

Me and Waldo's Nonna, aka my surrogate Nonna.

The other big thing I did in November was visiting Dolphin, Feather, Wolfie, and my other friends in France for Thanksgiving break - including my friends' new baby! It was so good to see all of them! We had goddaughter-godfather playtime at the park, a big group of us went to a fashion show and dance party, we had a godparent gathering of aperos, we hit up the local queer bar, we had a living room sing-a-long with friends, we went out for tea, we had dinner with the friends who have the new baby, we had a HUGE Thanksgiving dinner with a turkey as big as Wolfie, we went to the #metoo protests, and of course we went to church because what kind of godfather would I be if I didn't make sure Wolfie was getting a proper religious education? Random assorted pictures follow:

Wolfie on one of our walks.

Dolphin, Feather, me, and Wolfie making ridiculous faces.

How many adults does it take to put a temporary tattoo on Wolfie? Apparently three of them.

Feather and I getting the turkey.

Wolfie and Feather making cookies.

Wolfie and Tat.

Friend sing-along!

At the protest!

Apparently we looked very interview-able.

Crowd shot of the protest. It was HUGE.

Wolfie with our sign.

New baby visit!

In December I put up a tree, went hiking, saw the Christmas display at Faneuil hall, and learned to make Glögg which, frankly, tastes like cough medicine BUT you get to light it on fire!

Making Glögg .

I also hosted my annual cookie swap – I only took one photograph but I think it gets the point across:

Picture of my kitchen table filled with cookies.

For Christmas I went to Church, had housemate Christmas with Belle, Joy, and Mini T, and did queer family Christmas at Pacman and Purl's house.

Picture of the gingerbread house I made with Belle, Joy, and Mini T.

I also went to a friend's art opening at the Springdale Barrel Room:

The room.

Friends! Artist friend is on the left, Tinkerbell is on the right.

My January was slightly more sedate. Aside from a skating trip and a few manly spa days (which is now a thing I do with some of my guy friends), I mostly spent January setting up my house.

Pacman and I go skating.

Me in a spa mask.

Alice helps me put up my new painting.

Two days ago I went to a friend's birthday party. We're gonna call this friend The Rev (he is not a reverend):

Fire pit.

The Rev and his cake.

And yesterday I hosted a Soup Throwdown. I again didn't take pictures other than this one photo of the ballot box where people could vote on their favorite soups. The winner was Aquafabulous and her pumpkin soup. I was also excited to receive a scarf from Pacman to replace the one he made me before that met a sad death in the dryer of my former coop.

Soup throwdown ballot box, crown, and award (a can of tomato soup).

Me in my new scarf.

What else?

I’ve set up dating profiles and one of my goals for this year is to actually start going on dates. We’ll see how it goes, but now that my life is finally exactly where I want it to be, I feel like I'm ready to put in the time and emotional energy needed for a real relationship. 

Prince Charming and the male Snow White.

I’ve also recommitted to maintaining my physical health. I joined a gym that is dirt cheap and has locations five minutes from my house, five minutes from my work, and ten minutes from my school. They also let you bring a guest for free every time you go, which is great for me because it means I can bring my own workout buddy without them needing to be a member. In addition to that gym, I've joined the local kickboxing and krav maga studio that my friend Karaoqueen attends. Because I love kickboxing and I’ve always wanted to try krav maga.

Picture of two white men with tattoos fighting.

I’ve found some good local churches but haven't quite settled on any of them. I've got it narrowed down to three right now - an Episcopal church, a Baptist church, and a Congregational church. All of them seem to hits my church criteria: an ethnically and racially diverse congregation that is engaged with immigrants rights and racial justice, a close-knit community with lots of events outside of Sunday worship, child-friendly with a good Sunday school but also allowing kids into the “grown-up” services if they don’t want to leave their parents, accessible to people with disabilities, has a choir and adult Bible study that I can join, and emphasizes enacting your faith physically through community service both individually and with the rest of the church community.

Clipart image of a church.

I’ve also gotten serious about preparing to adopt. I intentionally picked this apartment because of how kid-friendly it is. I’m at the end of a dead-end street and many of the neighbors – including the folks upstairs in my building – have kids. Before it got so cold out I saw them playing outside together every day. I’m literally a five-minute walk from the local school. And of course the apartment itself is set up for a family between the second bedroom, large yard, and lead free certification (which my state requires for foster and adoption and which is surprisingly hard to find). All I need to make the apartment set for kids a set of bunkbeds (because the kid room is otherwise set up now) and some kid safety things like outlet covers and cabinet locks. And all I need to do aside from the apartment is to prepare a bit more financially, switch to a CNA job that has better hours (which will also fix the financial situation because being a CNA pays more than my current job), and figure out good affordable childcare (not easy!).

Male Rosie the Riveter holding a baby and a dust pan.