I don't really have a Resolution for the New Year this year.
I just don't feel like coming up with another one this year for some reason. I mean, I already have enough on my plate as it is.
I exercise 3 days a week. I go play Bluegrass once a week and have periodic concerts. I write books and send them out to publishers. I spend time with my wife and child. I help cook and clean. I lead singing, teach classes, and do other things about church. All this on top of a 40 hour per week job.
I honestly don't feel like I could wedge another resolution into my already packed existence!
If I must add one, it will be to finish the book I'm writing now and do my best to get the first or second one (or both) published.
Any resolutions from the peanut gallery? What are you all doing to progress in the new year?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
31 comments:
TO FINALLY QUIT SMOKING!!!!!!!!!!!
i seem to be a very weak person, as i have cut back, but not given them up completely
You CAN do it, Julianna!
You have the ability to quit at any time. We'll pray for you as always and you do the same.
Sometimes meditation and coming to a knowledge of the peace that passes all understanding can make it easy to give up something like smoking.
I remember the way smakoing made me feel. I felt peaceful. But, with true peace, you don't need things like smokes to keep you at peace. You can let them go, Julianna. I know you can!
Sarcasm is, as we all know, virtually impossible to convey in writing.
However, I will attempt it here, hopefully without hurting Sips feelings, but rather, making him laugh (Since he knows I love him).
Sip, you sound like me before bed. My wife makes fun of me, so I do it more so that she will laugh. I say things like;
"I can’t come to bed right now."
"Why?" She asks.
"I have to brush my teeth, wash my face, take my clothes off, make sure the doors are locked, take a vitamin, drink some water, get in the bed, read, get sleepy, turn the light off, and go to sleep..."
Sip, I will use my comment to help you come up with a new years resolution. Stay with me. The ride will be rough. But a resolution is to come.
There are about 720 hours in a month...
You sleep 240 of them (8 hours a night, we all WISH), so that’s 480 left...
You workout 3 days a week, that’s 12 hours a month maybe? 468 left…
Play bluegrass once a week (more like 3 times a month, we don’t meet EVERY week for one reason or another) so that’s about 8 hours a month, 460 left...
Concerts, uh, like 1 every two months, but ill give you one a month. 2 hours a month. 458 left...
Write books and send to publishers. I have no clue here, ill assume 1 hour a night. 30 hours a month, 428 hours left...
Spend time with wife and child doesn’t count. Id hardly call that work or a chore.
Sitting in front of the TV or eating dinner is spending time with them too. So is just being at home, or walking in the park.
Help cook and clean. 1 hour a day, 30 hours a month. 398 hours left...
Lead singing... all total this takes up about 2 hours a month. 396 left...
Teach classes. You aren’t teaching one this month, but ill give you 4 hours anyway, 392 left...
Do other things about church. Maybe 6 hours a month. 386 left...
386 - 160 hours a month working = 226
man, I wish I had 226 hours free each month. Your resolutions should be:
DO more stuff; you have too much free time.
Or, take away 3 hours and help your wife teach her class on Sunday mornings or Wednesday nights. I’ve taught her class before, and the fact that she does it by herself astounds me. That age is young enough to be cute, but old enough to run all over just one teacher. There isn't a doubt in my mind you'll get more nookie for offering to help her out. And we can all use more of that in the new year.
I have no resolutions.
My resolution, I suppose, could be to master at least one song on the mandolin... practicing an hour a day could do the trick I am sure.
...and to give Mullins his back.
LOL...so true.
I have offered to help her out on Sunday mornings, but I won't be there this Sunday morn since I'm teaching a class and preaching at another congregation.
I think the cooking and cleaning estimates were a little conservative, too. Once you have a child, you can pretty much say you have 10 times as much cooking, cleaning, washing, straightening, etc. to do.
But, yes, I have free time and I enjoy it. If I were constantly doing stuff, I'd be stressed out big time. So, I give myself a fairly liberal buffer to do whatever I want.
So, you're right, I have too much free time, but I do it that way on purpose.
Hey, you didn't count commuting, personal hygeine, and other stuff like that that adds up, either...
We all have less time than we think. Of course, I sleep more like 6 or 7 hours a day, so I make up a little ground there...
Personally, I thought Sip just wanted an "attaboy". But, maybe that's just me. I feel your pain dude.
And if it's not already obvious, my New Year's Resolution is (drum-roll)...
TO FIND A JOB IN N.W. FLORIDA!
It's going to happen, Chuck!
Thanks for the attaboy, er not...
I honestly wanted to see what you guys wanted to resolve. As for me, I am Resolved to enter the Kingdom, leaving this world of sin.
Hey, Chuck! Want to get together with Jamison and me for a pipe smoke out by my new fire pit sometime soon? It'll be a nice, cozy time, my friend!
I know the last comment made me sound like a hypocrit. Sorry, Julianna...
I asked Rachel not long ago if I might be allowed to go out and smoke once a month and she said that's fine as long as Luke never sees me doing it.
Anyway, Jamison, Chuck, and I have started trying to get together for a once per month smoke and it's very fun and relaxing.
Don't mean to encourgage and then make you stumble all in one blog!
I'm a freakin' jerk!
Friends may oppose me, foes may beset me, still will I enter in....
EVERYBODY!
"oomph oomph oomph oomph" I will hasten to Him, hasten so glad and free!
(dance mix version)
I usually never make resolutions. In fact I kind of hate them. To me if you need to make a change, then make it, don't wait until the new year.
However, I've made a few this year. One is to stop drinking soda and eating candy. I've gained a lot of weight since France and much of it has to do with sitting in an office eating/drinking junk.
The second is to exercise. I live five minutes from work and instead of doing my normal walking routine I go home and check my e-mail.
The third is to not get jealous or angry when someone gets something and I don't. An example would be say my boss taking out one of the supervisors to lunch. My initial reaction is to get mad and think why isn't she taking me out. Now my goal is to simply be happy for that person.
ARGHH SIPPER!!!! just kidding.. besides, every now and again is one thing, a pack of smokes every few days is another.
I agree, Brew. I am all about constant and consistent personal evaluation.
If you are lacking, change right away.
But, I think it's cool that there's at least on time of year that encourages introspection in everyone. I just wish it would start a consistent trend!
I hear you Julianna. I just felt kind of stupid saying "You can quit" and then inviting a couple of my homies over for some pipe weed...
Sure...Let's e-mail and set a date. I say the 2nd Week in Jan. Then maybe I can fill you in on some stuff.
woohoo! sounds good, Charles!
I started exercising at the gym at the beginning of December. Kinda felt like an early resolution. It's actually fun for me. And by the way, Josh puts in more than an hour a day cleaning house, etc. But we are very blessed with the spare time we have.
I'm not big on resolutions either, for the same reason as Brewster. If I were to make one it would be to do more nice things for myself. Everything gets so crazy when I'm in school and working and trying (trying being the operative word) to be a good wife, I sort of forget to do anything nice for me. Little things like buying a pretzel during a break at work or a bubble bath after completing a huge assignment can really make all the difference.
Not much for resolutions but my plans for this year are to first buy a pair of running shoes and some cold weather stuff so I can start running again. I was doing a couple of miles five days a week in wonderful but NOT running shoes and then it turned really cold and all I have is heaver cold weather stuff.
Second finish my pilot.
Third which will be a new one for Jules will be to move to a new place. We’re not ready to buy but I’m tired of the townhouse.
Ive lived in my house for only about 3 or 4 years, and still I tell my wife on occation "I am so glad we are not in an apartment anymore."
Little pleasures like having my own garbage can that I can toss trash into while in my underwear still give me joy.. and perhaps my neighbors as well.
Not hearing men scream F words at infants through the walls give me great joy as well. I should find that man and thank him for making my home much more enjoyable.
You should buy a house in the next few years. the housing boom is starting to get smaller, and home prices may be at a great price to "buy now and sell later"
I hate this apartment. The neighbors have quieted down, but I can't garden, I can't let the cat out and I feel really confined.
That said the thought of buying a house scares the crap out of me. Not so much financially, but more in a putting roots down kind of way. My feet are always itching. Buying a house seems like such a big deal and would mean I was in that spot to stay.
We dont have a special house, and it doesnt stick out and it certaily isnt near as large as the majority in our neighborhood, but we say often how much we LOVE our house.
Ive never said that about an apartment.
Dont think about it, just do it. If i had time to think about this before we bought, I would have never done it. Im glad we were kind of rushed to buy.
I'm a settler, a homebody, a stick-in-the-mud, if you will.
We started house hunting in Montgomery six months BEFORE I got a job here.
Once we got here, we were able to buy the exact house we wanted for a more than reasonable price and not have to live wiwth my in-laws for more than 2 weeks.
Anyway, don't be scared of buying. Once you get settled, you'll enjoy the peace and tranquility of home. It's an entirely different feeling and way of living.
Might want to get some athlete's foot powder for those itchy feet, too.
Sips right. Even in a slow market, houses sell quickly if the price is right.
the only drawback is that in order to "make money" off your house, it pays to stay in it 3 or 4 years. That way, you can sell it for more than you bought it for and still make money despite your loan's interest rate.
Jamison is also right. When we sold our Georgia house, we had only been in it for about 2 years.
We put in on the market a few months before I got my Montgomery job and we moved. But, it didn't sell until the September after that (10 months later!) so we had to pay 2 mortgages.
When it did sell, we got money back, but not nearly enough to cover all the mortgage we had paid. Fortunately, we had enough to be able to pay 2 mortgages until we sold it, which was helpful, but it sucked.
Our plan now is to stay in this house till we die. So, I'm not concerned about selling and moving anymore.
Again it is really not the financial side of it that keeps us from buying a house.
Somewhere in my brain the idea of buying a house means that we are settling down somewhere. And I'm not quite ready for that. Even though logically we could buy one and then sell it in a couple of years, conceptually that just seems enormous.
Amy and I are not very good long term planners. Coming back from France we figured Amy had a year of classes then we'd find her a job. Now we're looking at another year of classes and afterwards we don't know what we're doing.
Maybe she'll get a professor job somewhere stateside.
OR
Maybe we'll go back to France
OR
Maybe we'll go to China with my sister.
OR
Maye we'll go somewhere else overseas.
And that's the way it has been with us. We never know what we're doing in the future. And buying a house seems like a more permanent decision.
Sure we could buy a house now and then sell it in a year and a half when we decide to do whatever. But there is no guarantee we'd sell it quick then we'd have a mortgage for a house we don't live in. Ask Sipper about how that sucks.
The really big decision ahead is babies. We're not getting any younger and if we want a family we need to start soon.
We've really been talking about going overseas again. Personally I'd love to go to China for a couple of years. THe experience would be awesome. My sister expects to save something like $20000 a year. Man a couple of years of that and we'd have a really nice nest egg to start with.
THe baby puts this idea into jeapordy. Do we want to have a baby in china? Probably not. Do we have it here and move the youngling overseas? Maybe but that means a couple of years down the road, which puts off any kind of settling down into my mid thirties.
That's the two sides of me right now. One side that wants to keep moving and experiencing new cultures and places. And the other that says I'm getting old and should grow some roots.
>Our plan now is to stay in this house >till we die. So, I'm not concerned >about selling and moving anymore.
This idea just blows my mind. Realize I lived in about 20 different houses the first 18 years of my life. THen I moved to alabama for college, Texas for Grad school, then back to Oklahoma, to Joplin MO, to Oakridge, Tn to Maryville and back to Oakridge then to Indiana to France and back to Indiana.
That's six states and two countries in about 10 years.
The idea of staying in one spot for the rest of my life is so foreign to me I don't think I can comprehend it.
Not that its bad, Josh. In fact its kinda awesome. Its really neat to think you're children will be raised there and your grandchildren too. So many memories will grow into those walls.
I'm exactly the opposite. I don't think moving all over is bad. In fact, I pretty much signed up for it when I entered the military.
But, I found out quickly that moving around is NOT for me. I find moving around and bouncing stressful, costly, complicated, and exhausting.
I love to vacation elsewhere, but moving and living in transition all the time would give me a heart attack. I grew up with a great deal of peace and stability and I guess I'm just made that way now.
Everyone's different, but you're right, Brew. Being settled and content is wonderful. Luke knows where he is and where he'll always be, just like I did growing up. That makes me happy.
i guess i am between brew and sip....
no way I am going to die in the house I live in now (Unless I slip in the tub.) A die-able house to me is one where you cant see or hear your neighbors, in otherwords, on so land, not half an acre.
But, moving around like brew wont work for me either. I may be from Tennessee, but I have actually started saying in my head that I like Alabama. Not Montgomery exactly, but the state as a whole, I like.
Mullins, dont tell anyone back home I said that. I still hate the football team.
LOL!
I just hate football as a whole.
Anyway, I love this state, too. It was over 80 degrees yesterday. We went to the zoo and had a great day!
We could easily move out to my parents' propert near Luverne, but I doubt we ever will. I have lived out in the country and lived far from work and shopping, etc.
As a result, I've decided that I like living in the city. Where we are now is exactly where we want to be to have the peaceful neighborhood and plenty of convenience, too.
But, when I really want to have deep peace, going out to the country is just 45 minutes away and it's wonderful!
I totally understand the love of the open spaces, though. Having plenty of space and few neighbors is pretty nice.
Post a Comment