Hat on Top, Coat Below
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Weekly Report Card
December 8, 2003
A week ago, I declared that December was going to be a better month than November had been as far as my achievement of personal goals went because this month I was going to have weekly mini-goals to keep me on track. Now it’s time to grade my performance.
First, I promised I would write down everything I eat. I did that. There was a lot of stuff to record, and I don’t mean fruits and vegetables, either, so I did not actually make any progress toward getting my weight back under control, at least not any progress that showed on the scale. Still, getting back in the habit of keeping a food diary is a baby step in the right direction. Working out three times this week was a bigger step; the last time I managed that was early July.
Second, I said I’d get at least halfway through the book I just started reading. I did that. I’m really enjoying this book (Travelling Ladies by Janice Keefer); the stories paint wonderful pictures.
Third, I vowed to finish the baby quilt. Yep, did it, as the entry before this one shows. I was really hoping to finish Saturday so I could focus on the next one on Sunday, but I had some tension issues with my sewing machine and ended up having to take out some of the quilting and doing more test stitching on scraps than usual. Perhaps taking that piece out of the mechanism a few months ago when I was having trouble with threads breaking was not the best idea even though it did solve the immediate problem. I really need to get that machine in for service but don’t want to be without it. Are there places that offer loaners? I wonder.
Fourth, I pledged to do the tasks on the daily and weekly cards and, for extra credit, do one or more of the zone tasks. I mostly did this. I say mostly because there are cards in the box with tasks that are really Mr. Karen’s (as defined in the pre-box system of household chore management), and I didn’t do all of those. Loading and unloading the dishwasher if he hadn’t gotten to it yet? That was easy enough, especially since it gave me something to do while I waited every morning for the bubbles in my glass of diet Coke to subside enough to pour the rest of the can. Vacuuming? Not so much. I don’t like vacuuming. I don’t like having to get the vacuum out of the closet and put the thing on and then get the other thing and put it on the first thing and then drag it around like a dead pig to wherever the dirt is and then know that at some point I’ll have to empty the nasty, dusty bag. Just yuck. The rug has to be pretty dirty before I think it’s worth going through the hassle. I’ve sometimes wondered if I’d be more likely to do it if we had a nicer vacuum, and I seem to remember that we even went shopping for one at some point but decided to save the money for something else (the down payment on our house, maybe) . At any rate, when I got the card that said “vacuum downstairs”, I skipped it. I did, however, do a couple of the bathroom zone chores, so I think that evens out.
Overall, it was a successful week. To build on it, this week I’ll: 1) Keep writing down everything I eat and stay under my points limit at least two days (hey, I need to set the bar low so as not to get too discouraged in this season of food, food everywhere). 2) Finish Traveling Ladies and start on the book club book for this month. 3) Make progress on the baby quilt at least temporarily known as the rail fence quilt. 4) Keep working those cards, baby. For extra credit, pick a box of clippings for December and get started on that, sticking to the newly-instituted “one in, one out” rule when it comes to filing. That’s plenty, especially since I also need to buy and address Christmas cards this week. Oh, and work. Always with the work. Except for when I’m on vacation, but I can’t go on vacation unless I work in between. Tough life, I know.
A year ago? I was skiing. If only we had some real mountains here in Michigan, I would ski a lot more.
