i'm more than a week early, suckas.

so i really really hate new year's resolutions.

i know that i will hate new year's resolutioners who take my treadmill at the gym from early january to mid february (we all know that few of us last for more than six weeks). but mainly i hate new year's resolutions because any time i did it, it seemed artificial and desperate and not likely to last. i get it, i get it.  it's a new year, you want to turn over a new leaf, blah blah blah.

you can turn over a new leaf any time. that's what repentance and change and goals are all about. 

that's why i hate new year's resolutions. because we can do them any day at any time.

so i might hate it a little that my new goals suspiciously coincide with the beginning of a new year.  but really, i've only now had time to breathe, plan, and make some goals.  and there is something captivating about a brand new year.

musicboy and i have been making some plans, and those plans coincide with and have lead to my six month goals. or perhaps i will call them my 180 day goals.  i don't know. 

but because goals are never real unless you write them down and are accountable for them, i'm going to write them down and change my sidebar to track them.  you may not care. you may not want to follow them. but it will help me if i can be accountable. 

so here we go.

in the next six months, i will:

• do all i can to lose 20 pounds.  while i recognize that, with my new gym regimen of strength + cardio, i may very well gain weight while shrinking in size initially because muscle weighs more than fat, i very much want to reach a particular number by may or june.  i am also completely aware that after losing 100+ pounds, my body may not be as happy to be at the number i'd like to be at, but i know that i can at least lose 15 pounds, so what's another 5? 
• work hard to build up our savings.  that means being smarter about money and vigilant about moving money when we have any extra.  that means i need to start shopping the megasales at grocery stores and making cheaper meals (or making meals last...which actually i'm pretty good at actually).
• finish my dissertation.  this will be promptly followed by a dissertation defense and then walking and getting hooded (which sounds vaguely ominous, but that's okay.).
• pray every morning and evening as a family and individually.  i haven't been doing as well with this, but i need to do it.  it's the thing that makes my days better.  it will be the only way that i will be able to accomplish any of the above. 

there you go.  i think i've covered most all of the important areas of my life--trying to achieve balance and all of that--and they're all pretty challenging. some more than others, of course, but all will require diligence and discipline, something that i feel like i've been lacking lately.  what i know, also, is that success in one will inevitably lead to success in the other. on the days when i manage to run longer on the treadmill than i thought that i could, i feel like master of the universe. that gives me the confidence to work on a chapter that was bothering me, which leads me to feel like i can do more with less and gives me hope.  that, of course, leads me to be grateful which leads me to give thanks. you see what i mean.

so there you go. my six month goals. 

in other news, i have piles of laundry to do and i will i will i will go back to the gym today. musicboy and i went early this morning and did strength, but i didn't get enough of a calorie burn.  i'm trying to do twoadays this week because i don't think i'll be working out much at all next week.  i don't think i've ever had this many presents to wrap (two families! for the first time!) and i have to get new tires for the car and get the brakes fixed and the oil changed etc before we head off for christmas travel to far north of collegetown.  i really hate and procrastinate getting my car worked on. it's not because i'm afraid of the cost--i know it's going to be insane--but i just hate it.  i don't know why.  it's stupid.  inconvenient too.  blah. 

that's a deeply uninteresting update for you, but there you go. 

what are you up to?

oh, and in case i don't post again before the big day, merry christmas everyone.  may your days be full of love and warmth and lots of yummy food.  may we all remember how much we have to be grateful for, most especially because of the Son that we celebrate on this day. 

His gift is the best gift of all.