Resolutions vs Goals

I'm not one for making New Year's resolutions, in fact I flat out refuse to make them. However, I do make (and work to achieve) goals all year long. That "resolution" thing just seems like too much pressure to me... and they are usually destined to fail.  So, when I read today's Ten on Tuesday topic - 10 Goals for 2013 - I was happy to see that our host thinks along the same lines as I do!  My goals are...

1. Finish putting my Cricket loom together and figure out how to use it.

2. Read more books.  I have a Nook (the "old fashioned," original one... which is fine by me because I wanted this as an eReader, not a mini laptop!) and really need to use it more.



Knitting projects waiting to be cast on

3. Enjoy more quality time with my knitting needles, and continue knitting from the stash.  I have plenty of projects just waiting to be cast on.

4. Continue on with the "do I really need it, or can I live without it?" mentality that I developed in 2012.... which translates into spending less!  (It also translates into purging stuff that we don't use)

5. Repurpose!  Whether it be using a pretty cookie canister to store craft items or turning old t-shirts into dog beds, my goal is to repurpose and reuse whenever possible.

6. Organize my house... by doing small projects here and there, because we all know a huge task never gets done.  I did some reorganizing of my kitchen cabinets a few weeks ago and found some food items from 2007!  They had gotten pushed to the back in a very unorganized cabinet.

I love my Camelbak bottle

7. Get healthy.  Sure, that translates into loosing weight, but the ultimate goal is to be healthy and fit.  This includes making healthier food choices and making sure to have good snack options and water on hand with me throughout the day. 

8. Write in my new "One Line A Day" five year memory book... every day!

9. Make homemade dog treats.  I've done it once or twice, but with a 4-dog household, I really should do this more often.  Not only can I save money, I will know exactly what my dogs are munching on.

10. Find a new, full time job... and hopefully it's one that I love, or at least like a lot. 

What are some of your goals for 2013?

Lola Update:  She had her stitches out last night from the second biopsy.  One of the cultures has come back negative, and the other one is a more-than-likely going to be negative (they typically allow 2 weeks for any growth, but as of last night nothing had even begun to show up).  The pathologists are all still scratching their heads and calling all their industry friends.  They even told our vet how hard they really tried to make this cancer... but it's just not.  We're now at a point of it being a rare autoimmune issue.  They can't pinpoint exactly what it is, since there are characteristics of different things showing up.  Our vet seems to have it narrowed down to either sterile granuloma and pyogranuloma syndrome or a severe histiocytic inflammatory infiltrate.  She seems to be leaning towards the granuloma however.  We started Lola on prednisone last night and it may just be Mama's wishful thinking, but I swear some of her lumps have already gotten smaller.  We have a check-up with our vet early next week...