Resolution Check Up

So how am I doing with my ambitious list of New Year's Resolutions?  Okay :o)  I'm reading a lot of great books... and revisiting some I've already read.  I just finished The Happiness Project this morning and am on to start The Hunger Games at some point today! 

I'm trying new recipes weekly.  But this is becoming a little bit of a problem... as I've added more and more "new" menu items, I'm also seeing an increase in our grocery bill.  Oops.  So I'm trying to reel in the excitement a bit and keep it to one or two new things a week, while making sure to prepare at least two meatless/frugal meals to help stretch the budget money out a bit ;o)  We'll see how it goes.

Some of my recipe trials have been successes, some failures.  But I'm trying new things and am very happy with that!

I'm drawing a little.  I wish I was making myself do it every day like I said.  But I haven't been able to.  Because it's one of those complicated things (I really want to do it but I really don't want to work at it) I'm definitely struggling to "get going".  But here's a simple sketch that I was proud of after a week of working on various cups and mugs.

I'm doing absolutely terrible about exercising!  I think the last time I did yoga was three weeks ago.  My motivation for exercise is not even zero... it's around -10!  It's hard, too, because I know that if I exercise I'll have more energy.  But I'd rather be lazy and go with the lie that I don't have energy to exercise ;o)  Oh well.  I hate working out at home... what can I say?  I'm holding out hope that the weather will break in a little less than two months so we can get out there and get moving again!

"Do daily activities with Lily" has turned into "do daily activities with Double Trouble"... and it actually has been a bit of trouble to figure out how to manage both of them.  Sam is no longer napping twice a day... a change that I encouraged for various reasons.  I just wasn't thinking about how hard it would be to, oh for example, paint with Lily while keeping Sam occupied with something else.  Tricky.  So I'm adjusting expectations in that department a little.  And getting more time with both girls together each day isn't a bad thing :o)  Especially if it means they will both take a good, solid two hour nap each afternoon... sometimes a little longer if I'm lucky!

Overall, I feel good about what I've been accomplishing, though I am always up for doing better.  I read this quote by Ben Frankin in The Happiness Project and I couldn't agree more:

"On the whole, though I had never arrived at the perfection I was so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it, yet as I was, by the endeavor, a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been had I not attempted it." 

You don't always accomplish all your goals, but in striving to attain them you get farther than you would have otherwise!  So I may have been ambitious in my New Year's Resolutions, but hey, I'm okay with the process of trying.  And besides, it's only February.  I always feel more motivated in the warmer months... so maybe I'll revisit my list come Spring.

How are you doing on your New Year's Resolutions or goals?