Resolution Check-up

Well, folks, it's February 3rd. I was sitting in my office today, mulling over a few things about life and I thought about my new year's resolutions and I realized something...I barely remember what they are!! Remember this big 'ol post with all of these things I wanted to achieve? Well, I decided to revisit them today and see just how well I've done since that day back in December when I felt so inspired! Here are my updates:

1. Cook more meals at home. This one has not gone at ALL as planned. I'm terrible at sitting down at the beginning of the week to plan out my meals and if I don't do that, then I don't cook. If I know what to prepare for, then I'm usually okay. So, I need to be better at planning.

2. Restrict my eating out at restaurants to 1-2 times per week and that includes weekends. (And, yes, this one is subject to have an additional meal added (Ex. 1-3 times per week), depending on what I discover in my "eating out tracking" that I plan to do over the next couple of weeks. :) I honestly feel like I've done really well with this. It hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be. However, that may be because I'm in this phase of being tired of restaurants...yup, I agree...I'll just go with that one right now. :)

3. Cut out music, movies and TV. I feel rather embarrassed to admit that the movie/TV thing has gotten a bit out of control. But maybe, by admitting it, I can leave it behind and maybe you can help me to be more honest with that!! :) (And, no, I do not have a TV, but the internet is an "amazing" tool!) I just think that there are too many "things" around me that hinder my quiet time and I am going to cut those things off completely. I want to be deeper in my spiritual service and these pieces are hindering me, sadly enough. Occasional exceptions to the music portion...instrumental music. And, of course, hymns are allowed at any time. This has been going a LOT better, too. It's quite difficult, however, to get through a day of work without some type of music playing!! Sometimes I just get tired of the chatter and noise going on around me and the music helps to drown that out. So, I might just relax about the music end of it while I'm AT work, but then outside of work, just cut back.

4. Read all of the books that currently own a place on my bookshelves at home BEFORE I go out and purchase any more or check out any more from the Library. Once I have read all the books I currently own, then I will be free to return to the stores and libraries. No exceptions to this one! I've purchased these books for a reason, so now it's time to READ them!! Number of books that I have purchased in the last week: six. But I am reading books that I have had on my shelves for a couple of years now, so that's a plus!! My rule for myself was that I couldn't read the NEWLY purchased books until the older, untouched books were read. So...it's about 50/50 right now on this one!! :)

And how are YOU doing with your resolutions? I just thought that it would be a good idea to check in and get realigned with what I wanted to do! So, in this second month of 2009, I will try again!!! :)