New Year's goals and plans

It's early January, so that means it's time for resolutions, as I usually call them, but which are really goals and plans -- I don't resolve to do anything, usually, not really. Looking back, last year I remember that I got very upset about making resolutions, because I felt too tired and depressed and poor to do anything. I couldn't pay off my credit card, I was terribly worried about the prospect of Rocket Boy moving to St. Louis, and everything seemed overwhelming.

I am happy -- and rather surprised -- to note that things are different this year. I still don't have a lot of energy, I'm still often depressed, and we still don't have a lot of money. And Rocket Boy is living in St. Louis! But we have more money than we did a year ago. And I'm making things work, more or less. And I seem to have a bit more hope. So, I went ahead and made 24 resolutions (plans, goals, whatever) for 2020. It's not that I think they're all going to happen, or even most of them. But I don't feel bad about making them. I'm willing to hope that this could be a good year.

A cartoon in the paper this morning noted that "VOTE" should be everyone's #1 resolution this year, but since voting for me is like breathing, it's not on my list. Here is my list:

(1) Find a job or volunteer work, something meaningful to me. It would be better for our bottom line if I found paying work, but I'm considering the possibility of volunteer work too. I think I should do something -- it's good for me to get out in the world, have some responsibility beyond the house. But what will the something be?
(2) Give writing its due in my life. I thought, when I quit my job back in September, that I would spend more time writing. Instead, I stopped altogether (except for this blog). This resolution reminds me that I love to write and writing deserves a bigger place in my life.
(3) Continue saving money, minimum $500/month, preferably $750 or more. Since Rocket Boy started working, back in May, I've managed to save just under $10,000 -- compared with $0 saved in any of the previous 10-12 years. Of course, a big chunk of that money will be used in the next few months, to pay all our property taxes and insurance. But that was the whole point of saving the money, and anyway, I'll keep on saving more.
     (3.5) Don't go into credit card debt. Just a reminder.

(4) Read at least 52 books, including the Classics Challenge. It'll probably be more.
(5) Read biographies of Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and Grant. Rocket Boy has already bought me Team of Rivals and a Grant biography, so I think I can get through at least three presidents this year.
(6) Keep reading to the kids at night. Even if they suddenly decide they're too old for this. I don't think they will, though. It seems to be very important to them.
(7) See at least 26 movies/shows. I'm finding it fun to share favorite non-kid movies with the kids (I first wrote "adult movies" but no, I'm not sharing porn). Also, since we essentially don't have TV anymore, it's fun to catch up on some popular shows via DVDs from the library.

(8) Continue keeping the household running. Not so much a resolution as a reminder that this is a big deal, and I should be proud of myself for doing it without RB.
(9) Arrange needed repairs (e.g., replacing disintegrating bathroom tile and probably the drywall behind it, replacing or fixing kitchen floor, pruning the backyard). I don't want to do any of this. We'll take the tasks one by one (unless some other disaster occurs first).
(10) Arrange 2-3 vacations w/Rocket Boy and the kids. In 2019 we had our trips to the Four Corners area and St. Louis. In 2020 I'd like to do something for Spring Break, the summer, and maybe Fall Break again. It's made me so sad that we haven't been able to travel the last few years.
(11) Care for pets responsibly and sensibly. We had a disaster with Chester this past week -- a consult with an internal medicine specialist led to $1500 in charges, with the promise of a lot more ahead. In one day, we spent our Spring Break airfare on the cat (we're now thinking about a within-Colorado driving trip instead). I told our regular vet that I'm not doing that anymore. No more special consults, no more emergency vet charges. We'll keep the cats comfortable and that's it. Wish me luck on this one.
(12) Start getting the kids to help with chores -- meal prep, cleaning. This is probably the hardest resolution on the list. How will I do it, exactly? I'm thinking baby steps and extremely low expectations.
(13) Encourage the kids re: schoolwork and music practice. This doesn't mean hassle them endlessly, but it does mean staying on top of what they're doing and thinking of ways to help them do better. Kid A, despite the academic support he gets, is "below expectations" in everything except PE and Band. Kid B is doing better, but definitely not as well as he could be. Really have to think about this.

(14) Continue going to bed at 11, getting 7.5 hours of sleep each night. For the first time in years, I've been doing really well on this, and life is so much more pleasant after a good night's sleep. I'll try to keep it up.
(15) Continue trying to maintain my weight, or lose a little. The eternal resolution, scaled way back (ignore the pun). I've been keeping an almost-daily record of my weight for the past four and a half years, starting in May 2015.
     2015: lost 7 lbs. (from taking weight loss drugs through my doctor)
     2016: lost 3.5 lbs. (still from weight loss drugs, which I went on and off)
     2017: gained 24 lbs. (quit the weight loss drug because it raised my blood pressure and immediately gained back all I'd lost plus a lot more)
     2018: gained 6 lbs. (still part of the reaction to going off the drugs, but then I started doing a new weight-loss program and lost a little)
     2019: gained 1 lb. (spent months trying to do the weight-loss program, finally quit)
Although I would like to lose 60 lbs (ideally 100 lbs), gaining 1 lb over the course of a whole year is not bad. Some things I'm finding useful include eating a late breakfast, replacing lunch with an afternoon snack, and not eating after dinner. If I desperately want ice cream, I eat it in the afternoon, not at 9 pm. It seems helpful to compress my eating into a smaller time frame -- not quite fasting, as is currently being recommended, but a little like that. Of course, if I get a new job, I may have to eat more. It's easy to eat less if you aren't exerting yourself.
(16) Walk in nature every day (or as often as possible). This fall I just stopped walking. No more walking the kids to school, no more walking associated with work, and I don't seem to want to walk for pleasure. This is nuts! I love walking! I would really like to figure out what has gone wrong here and fix it. I still think getting a dog would help, but not while we have two such expensive cats.
(17) Lift weights twice a week. Still trying to revive this practice. Maybe this will be the year.

(18) Blog each week. I've been doing pretty well with this. Recently I realized that most of the blogs I used to read regularly have gone defunct and I miss them. I decided not to do that to my few faithful readers. Also, this is such a good way to record our family's doings.
(19) Stay in touch w/friends, reach out to people. Always hard for me. I've had two old friends reach out to me in the past month and I want to keep that going. I am not an island.
(20) Do fun stuff with the kids -- try for two special outings each month. Considering that we've done about two special things in the past 8 months, this is a big plan. On the other hand, it's not really that hard to do fun stuff with the kids. We went to the Denver Museum yesterday (see photo) and we're talking about visiting the Botanical Gardens tomorrow. If we do, I'm already good for January.
(21) Get the piano tuned. I keep wanting to play the piano and then I remember how awful it sounds, so out of tune. But for some reason the thought of calling the piano tuner produces great anxiety. Very weird. Keep trying, because playing the piano is fun.
(22) Journal regularly. I bought myself a little journal for 2020 in which to note the days' happenings. Not sure yet whether I'll use it. A resolution reminder to give it a try.
(23) Bake every week. I got into baking more this fall, and it's been fun to be able to feed the kids homemade oatmeal cookies or banana bread instead of chips and candy. I'm going to skip the recommendation to reduce our sugar intake and focus on eating fewer processed grocery-store foods.
(24) Do more sewing. Last year, sewing drawstring bags for the spaghetti dinner reminded me that sewing can be fun. Since then, however, I have only used the sewing machine for mending. This resolution is a reminder to seek out this source of pleasure.