G is for Goals

Last year [2009] I didn't do nearly as much reading as I am normally capable of. I didn't even do the R.I.P. Challenge this year [2010]. I think I read maybe 7 books in 2010. Another goal in 2011 is a lot more reading.

Here's my book list so far:
Forest House - Marion Zimmer Bradley (started this a few days ago)

Hansel and Gretel

Dark Tower V - Stephen King

The Kiss - Katherine Harrison

Poisonwood Bible - Barabara Kingsolver

Fatal Cure - Robin Cook

You Suck and Bite Me - Christopher Moore

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley (R.I.P. Challenge)

Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert A. Heinlein (R.I.P. Challenge)

Daywatch - (R.I.P. Challenge)

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - (R.I.P. Challenge)

I also want to read more plays so I'm going to read at least one play each from my favorite playwrights - Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams, and Oscar Wilde.



OK, I wrote the above a few days before the new year and I am still trudging through Forest House. It's not bad, but it's just not really grabbing me and last night, when I realized it's March and I still have over 200 pages left!, I think I might do something I NEVER do. I think I might actually put it down for a bit and crank out a couple other books.



I definitely want to crank out the Christopher Moore books and maybe a play or two and that may jump start me getting back to reading.



I hate putting a book down. I can't stand not knowing the end of the story even if the story sucks.



Forest House does not suck. It's really quite good but it's sort of the same as Mists of Avalon in that everyone is being used by older people with political agendas and no one seems to have any choices.



I did read a book last year that was almost sucky. I don't want to say the name of it because if it was at all my cup of tea, it probably wouldn't have been sucky. It was a "cozy" mystery so no blood or guts and it was all very sanitary. I don't much care for sanitary. There were over 200 pages and by page 30 I knew who was going to die, how they would die, who killed them and what the motive was. I was wrong about the way the victim died and half-right about the motive. Blah.



Sometime last year, or maybe even the year before, I completely lost my reading mojo. I used to be insatiable with books. I watch a ton of TV and movies but I always read, too, but lately, I just don't ever feel like reading. It makes me sad because I feel like I'm losing something I once loved.

My knitting goals are coming along. I finished a WIP pair of socks and a bath mat I started 3 years ago, I've made about 6 hats, 2 pickle ornaments and I'm making progress on two sweaters. I throw in a bunch of little stuff here and there to make myself believe I've finished lots of things.

One of the things I did to help with my knitting goals was to make a list of what to work on each week:
Monday - Hats
Tuesday - Socks
Wednesday - Socks
Thursday - Dealer's Choice
Friday - Sweaters
Saturday - Sweaters
Sunday - WIP/UFO's

I know it seems like a special piece of crazy but it's really working for me! And it's not set in stone, if I want to work on something non-hat on Monday, I do.

My health goals haven't even been attempted. I was working out like crazy for 8 months, I lost 20 pounds and 2 sizes but I hit a wall and haven't worked out in months. I bought a size 12 pair of pants at Old Navy (yay!) and they are already a bit loose (double yay!). No explanation for it other then maybe because I quit grazing all the time, I'm still losing weight?

In anticipation of this year's Alphabet Soup, I started this post and a couple others at the end of last year. Just wrote down ideas for letters and a line or two to remind me what I wanted to write about. When I wrote this one initially, it was all full of promise and hope, but as March rolls around and I see where I'm at, it's ending with a bunch of Fail. That's not depressing at all.

A bowl full of sunshine, Ruth!