What activities I'm willing to try

Here are some activities I want to try

Parkour: I've always wanted to learn parkour. I might have been able to pick it up no problem before I got sick. Now I'll need some bonnafied help to get into shape for it.

Belly Dance: belly dance takes a lot of individual muscle control. When I think of it it reminds me of the bene gesserit from "Dune." Basically the first years of training are meant to teach you to control yourself physically and mentally. I think that would be so neat

Hoop Dancing: hoop dancing is massively badass because it is a beautiful and graceful thing. I mean just look at it: LOOK AT IT!!!

Pole Dance: Every girl wants to feel sexy. And this is a super intense way to do so. The amount of muscle it takes to do some of those moves is incredible. On top of that there is a gracefulness that is a part of pole dancing that I find...enviable

Scuba: I'd say spelunking, but I have problems with not being able to see where I'm going. Scuba is the next best thing. You are free to move as you will, but are still breaking the confinements of being an air breathing creature.

Blacksmithing/Glass blowing: What is more badass than the creative art of making things. In the case of blacksmithing working with fire to mold hard substances to your will. In the case of glass blowing it's the same but instead of using brute strength, using finesse.

Learn piano: I've always liked making music, and the fact a lot of my friends are talented musicians makes me want to be able to join them in music making somehow. I have a piano here at home. I just don't know how to use it.

Slight of hand: Great for parties, and just generally neat, especially that coin finger dance thing where the coin dances over knuckles.Making the coin disappear and reappear are just bonuses.

Play poker: Poker is a card game of both luck and skill. You have to play both the hand and the people around you. It takes a lot of brain power, and playing it cool. That's why poker is so badass, and why I want to be able to play it. Currently I couldn't tell the difference between a straight flush and a royal flush. On a positive note I am confident both of those are actual things.


There are a lot more that I wish I could do but don't feel it's safe with my condition (get good at skeet shooting), and things I used to know how to do but am out of practice (Martial Arts). These are the activities I am willing to try specifically.

Most badass skill

So I asked my Facebook friends what the most badass skill one can have is, and I think I want to try to do a series on trying some of the skills (or modified versions of the skills). The skills are:

• Communicating well (how I will do this is by attending x number of Toastmaster meet ups to improve my speachmaking abilities)
• Balance a checkbook. (Do a week of manual checkbook entries and compare it at the end of the week.)
• Speaking more than 2 languages (share my progress learning Spanish, ASL, and Japanese)
• Self Defence/Krav maga (sign up for martial arts lessons)
• Perseverance (write a post on the things I learned from being sick)
• Axe or knife throwing (buy throwing daggers, set up a target, and practice)
• Beer pong skills. (Go to my friends house and challenge them to beer pong, looking up YouTube pointer videos)
• Cooking (cook 3 challenging recipes and have friends over to taste test them)
• Liking yourself (write a post of 50 things I like about myself.)
• Being nice to mean people. (I'm at a loss for this one)

That would be a fun series to do, I think. I might start it in the summer. If you have another suggestion, please let me know!

What I like to do for fun

So World of Warcraft is something I do for fun lately. Aside from giving myself an anxiety attack tromping through social media political posts, that is.

I play it every day I don't have work. There isn't much to share about it. I am not big on Player v. Player. Dungeons scare me. Honestly, I need to get over my fear of being yelled at on the game before I start doing anything exciting. I'm working on it, though. Last night I did some dungeons with strangers (which is normally where I get yelled at). I did pretty well too. If I'm not exhausted tonight I'll do some more Battleground PvP and maybe another dungeon.

Favorites

Color:

Goldenrod

Flower:

Wisteria

Scent:

Baking Bread

Season:

Autumn

Holiday:

Halloween

Book:

"Mama Day" by Gloria Naylor

Movie:

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

Band:

Great Big Sea

Food:

Cheese

Candy:

Cow Tails

Fruit:

Plums

Drink:

Dole Pineapple Orange Banana Juice

Adult Beverage:

Piña Colada

Animal:

Rat

Sport:

Dagorhir

Breakfast:

Hevoes Rancheros

Dinner:

Steak, Mac and Cheese, Mashed Potatoes, and Green Beans

Dessert:

Taramisu

Soda:

Cherry Coke

Type of Food:

Mexican-American Food

Board Game:

Atmosfear "The Harbingers"

Video Game:

Suikoden II

Song:

"Strange Days" by Mathew Good Band

Author:

Simon R Green

Store:

That political post

Yesterday thousands of women marched in Washington to show their distaste for president Trump. I am so proud of those women for standing up for their beliefs peacefully. Also, I kind of don't like Trump so there's that too. Seriously though, I want to protest when trump eventually makes policy I don't agree with. Like Wednesday there's a protest by teachers by wearing a red shirt against the proposed secretary of education. I'm going to wear red because she is under qualified and kind of stupid. Also I'm hoping no one notices. Im super shy about my political opinions. Last time I shared them I felt like my friends dumped me. But I'm drugged up so I'm sharing them anyway. (I took my sleepy pills, but I'm too something to sleep.

1) I believe in massive education reform.
2) I believe in prison reform. (I believe the school to prison pipeline needs to be fixed in the education system first)
3) I believe that your gender does not need to match your biological sex
4) I am pro choice
5) I am for the legalization of marijuana
6) I believe in vetting gun-owners for but not restricting gun types
7) I believe that we need to fix our healthcare system.
8) I believe that people who are gay deserve the same rights as straight people
9) I believe strongly in the first amendment
10) I firmly believe in the separation of church and state
11) I think children should be vaccinated to attend publicly funded institutions
12) I believe in climate change
13) I believe in funding science
14) I believe in cutting back military spending
15) I don't believe we should be political in other countries right now, I think we need to focus on ourselves before we fix others
16) I don't mind my taxes going up.
17) I think income tax is cumbersome and needs reform.
18) I believe in term limits and linking legislative benefits (pay and vacation time) with the ability to balance a damn budget.
19) I believe the EPA is going overboard with some of their regulations.
20) I believe in taxing carbon emissions.

I feel like I should be more vocal about my beliefs, but I don't like arguments. They stress me out, and my FND and Touretts both get worse when I'm stressed.

And now I hope that no one yells at me on my blog.

What I am ashamed of

I loved my ex husband once, though it's hard to remember why, or what that love even felt like. No, I do remember. It felt warm, not comfortably warm, much more like a bathtub that's starting to get too cool. I did like his eyes. He had such pretty eyes.

He was a good man. He was kind and always willing to help someone out. He once gave a man $20 for gas, and he never locked his car saying "if they take it they must need it more than me." He was a bit foolish, but with an amazing heart.

I asked him to marry me. I also asked him for a divorce, and I'm not sure which I'm more ashamed of. You see, even though I knew there were big problems in our relationship, I still asked him to marry me. He wasn't ready, and to be honest, neither was I. I ignored the problems. I ignored everything because marriage was the next step. Marriage is what you're supposed to do when you live with someone. I ignored the warning signs to my great shame.

But I also took his heart in my hand. I took his trust and happiness onto myself, and I gave up when it got to hard. I did try. There was therapy, self help books, and long conversations trying to figure things out. But in the end I couldn't keep my promise to love and keep him. I gave up.

This is my greatest shame.

I blame it on him a lot. His addictions did betray my trust and kill our intimacy, and I'm still angry about his part in it all, but I am ashamed that I hurt him. I'm ashamed I couldn't keep my promise. I will probably never truest forgive myself for it either.

Now I panic.

I can't stop thinking about what I'm going to do if I loose my disability. I might not have lost it which is good news. but seriously, I can't afford to live without disability. I know this because I am not getting subbing calls. I can't work full time if full time isn't presented to me. That means I'll need a second job, and the only other jobs I'm qualified for are minimum wage jobs, which I also can't live on.

What I need to do is problem solve.

What I'm actually doing is laundry and dishes because they are less threatening.

On a positive note, I got a lot of laundry done today. I also went to the gym and didn't fall asleep on the treadmill. So, progress?

Tomorrow I have to call the DMV about weather they got my seizure update packet. If I didn't fill it out correctly I might loose my license. So I'm worried about that.

I wish I had never gotten sick. I wish I wasn't sick. I wish this past 2 years was a nightmare. I'll wake up and I'll be back in school and on my way to becoming a teacher. I'd have energy and not have to worry about seizures ever. I'd not have to worry about weather I can drive or not. I'd be thinner and beautiful. I really miss my old life.

Also, How do you spell the word "weather" as in "I love you WEATHER or not you love me." It's pissing me off that I don't know it.

Trouble

There has been much badness so far this year in my life. I try to make it seem like a positive, and do successfully most of the time. The most major badness so far is I loose my disability with almost no notice. I found out half through January that my February check wont be coming in. This means a lot of things. First starting immediately I have to work full time which 1) I'm still dealing with exhaustion (I fell asleep running on the treadmill) 2) I don't get paid till the 1st of March for all my hours from Jan 15- Feb 15. That means February is a complete blackened zone when it comes to money. 3) There have been hardly any subbing job calls. How am I supposed to work full time if I can't get the jobs? 4) No more insurance at all. That means I'll have to pay for birth control, all my regular pills, and any doctors appointments I need.

Funny enough I'm not stressing too bad. Like, I should be panicking. I'm not though. Sure I recognize some hard times are coming, and I'm pulling the belt tight like I should, but I really don't care. Maybe it's a sign of all I've been through, but I really will survive even if I get kicked out of this house because I can't pay rent. I have a community and people I love who will help me. Not the least of which is my parents who will probably be funding my February living expenses. I mean I'd rather not have to deal with any of this, but I know everything will turn out alright.

I had my first full day of work, and I did well. I have my next scheduled day on Friday. I still really need to work on classroom management...

I want to get a sleep study as soon as I have insurance. I mean I fell asleep on a treadmill...while running. And this isn't the first time I've fallen asleep at the gym. I hope it's a simple thing like I need to exercise more to build stamina, and not something like narcolepsy. Can I trade my body in for a new one yet?

Good news though, I started the year at 220lbs. I am now down to 208.6. It's the small victories.

Who Matters Most to Me

Who matters most to me? It's really hard to just choose one. My parents and my boyfriend are the main contenders. They both love me and aren't afraid to show it. Sometimes it's financially. Other times its with words of encouragement. All the time they show me how much they care.

It's important that I receive words of encouragement and affection. It's one of my love languages. I need to know that my loved ones are rooting for me. I like when they challenge me to get more done and raise myself to better myself. For example, Joe leaves me to-do list notes. They are my absolute favorite. 1) I know what he wants out of me. 2) He is challenging me to be better. 3) He spent time telling me words of encouragement to be better. Another example is simple. Just saying "I love you" is enough. To me words are important. Saying your feelings about someone is something I take for truth.

Another way they show me they care is gifts. It's not just silly gifts, I take it back. It's mostly silly gifts. For example I collect Rubber Duckies. Joseph brought one home for me from his conference. That literally made my week. Every time I got sad I thought about that rubber duckie's new home among his new family. Also, when I go to my parent's house They always give me things. Sometimes it's a jar of homemade jelly. Sometimes it's cat food samples. It's all small stuff, but it shows me that they were thinking about me when I wasn't around.

And they also support me financially. Joe will pay for food for the house when I'm low on funds, and Daddy and Mommy are always good for buying me my medicine because I can't afford it. 

And finally they are free with the physical affection. This is the most important. I am a touchy feely person. I need to be touched. It's weird, but it reminds me that I'm real and not just a robot. The fact my parents and Joe oblige me in this, even if they don't understand it, means the world to me. And maybe they find as much comfort in physical touch as I do.

Be pleased, never satisfied

One of the most badass quotes I've ever heard is "Be pleased, never satisfied." This is the anthem of self improvement that is indicative of badassary. There are two parts to this quote. The obvious is never satisfied. This means you need to keep striving for more and more success. The important part is be pleased. This means you like where you are. You are allowed to enjoy the states you are in. You don't need to feel bad about them because they aren't where you want to be. You see, You can both enjoy the place you are and still strive for better.

Short term and long term goals.

So I've been over my goals in depth, and recently. So instead of discussing my logical goals, I'm going to try for something a bit more fanciful. My travel goals. As you all know I'm going on a cruise with one of my best friends in June. What I need to do:

1. Confirm our cruise date. 
2. Get a passport
3. Purchase plane tickets to Florida
4. Save up $500 for spending
5. Save enough for a dolphin experience ($160)
6. Pack a rocking bag of outfits 
7. Fly down to the port.
8. Go on an amazing cruise with one of my best friends.

So cold.

The heat went out some point this week and I've spent the past 2 days trying to get it fixed. It all started Thursday when we had the furnace flushed and maintained. I checked the oil at around that point and there was almost a quarter tank. Apparently a gasket was put on too loosely and it started leaking oil onto the floor of our basement. I didn't notice this until Monday when the tempurature wouldn't get above 60 degrees. So Tuesday I call the heating guys and tell them about the mess in the basement and the heat not being on. They send someone out. They fix the gasket problem, however, because I have no oil (because the gasket leaked it all over my floor) they can't start the heat up.

So I call the oil company and ask them to refill the tank. They do, and the cost is almost $600. I'm dead. That is way more than I can afford.I mean I was trying to get myself a passport this year so I could go on a cruise with Val, but jeeze if this isn't putting a wrench in my plans.

Anyway, I call the heating company this morning to get them to come out and turn ON the heat. Which they do. I just hope that they don't charge us for anything cuz if they do I'm going to be very upset

I haven't showered at all since this problem began I smell. I'm greasy. I'm heading to do that as soon as the house is a reasonable temperature. It's just been too cold to be wet and I couldn't have the space heater on in the bathroom because it kept blowing a fuse.

And on top of all this we are having plumbing issues with our washing machine. It needs to be gutted and the system replaced, but our landlord would probably bust a vein at the thought. So I went to open the P-trap in the sink the washer machine drains into. The sink is clogged and Drain-o wont help and I don't have a pipe snake to get at the clog. That leaves draining the P-trap. The problem is the bolt I need to take out is rusted on. I called my friend Chris and he couldn't budge it either.  So I can't do laundry until that gets fixed.

I'm getting another cold. I hope this one isn't bad.

Also, because of all this stress my FND/Tourettes has been worse than usual. I came very close to having a seizure last night. So I called out of work.

This has been a not kind to Laura week...I can't wait for Joe to get home.

Self care day

Today was a self care day. I used a hair mask, two face masks, and shaved. My hair is shiny, my face is soft, and my skin is smooth. All in all I feel pretty good. I'd feel a lot better if my house weren't so cold. One day when I'm rich and have a well insulated house I will have the temperature hover around 70 degrees. Right now it's at 65.

I stayed under calorie again today. It's been pretty cool. I did have a cheat day yesterday because my parents were in town. But I only imagine that happening once a week or so. My limit right now is once a week until we see how the cheat day affected my weight loss goals, but It was getting ridiculous the cravings I was getting.

Tomorrow I hope I get a gig. If not it's hard core cleaning for me. Joe is out of town so I'm trying to get the house clean for his arrival home.

What are my strengths?

So I'm going to do a series based on this image. I'm going to go through each and every question and answer it to the best of my abilities.

The first question is What are my strengths. This one is hard for me. I'm well aware of my weaknesses, but my strengths are a different story. Be that as it may, I need to think of at least 3.

1)I'm good at making people feel wanted. I've been told time and time again I make people feel good about themselves, like they hold value. I don't think this is anything fantastic. It's simply what I want people to do for me. It's pretty selfish actually. I feel as though if I am kind and welcoming to other people, even if they are weird or deficient, maybe they will be kinder to my weirdness and deficiencies. I mean, I'm pretty weird, gross, and not altogether smart or pretty. I make up for my lackings by making others feel good.


2) I'm good at being creative. I write, I craft, and I problem solve. Thinking out of the box is not a foreign concept to me. I honestly used to be better at it, but I haven't lost my ability completely. This is a good thing.

3) I'm good at studying. That is, I'm good at learning. I learn best through reading and watching, but I can learn pretty easily in other ways. No matter what though, if I want to learn something I can learn it, no matter the difficulty. It may take some time and scaffolding (pedegogy term for formatting learning to be challenging but not impossible), but I will learn it.

Things I want to eat

Hot Buffalo wings with blue cheese
Supreme pizza
Peacan pie
Huge salad with meat, cheese, egg, and dressing
Loaded nachos
Sushi, a pile of sushi
Macaroni and cheese
Lasagna with sausage
Bacon cheeseburger
Biscuits and gravy
Onion rings with chipotle ranch dipping sauce
Fried cheese
Baked potato covered in broccoli, cheddar, bacon, and sour cream
Donuts from Strites
A decent French loaf with butter
Avocado toast, heavy on the avocado
Reese's peanut butter cups
Corned beef and cabbage
Steamed Shrimp and cocktail sauce
Loaded beef burritos





I love food, but I love the feeling of losing weight more. I'm at 1238 calories today. Thirty eight calories over my goal isn't bad. But I really want more right now.

Three bits of news

1) I've lost 5 lbs! I am now 110 lbs. That's 5 lbs in a week! At this rate It'll be half a year before I get to my target goal. I haven't been doing anything other than eating healthy and cutting back on calories, either. I am so excited!

2) I've been having my parents pay for one of my pills. The pill that makes all my symptoms go away. (I've skipped a few days of it and I can tell). It cost $800 every two months. Well I went in with my new bonnified insurance plan and I walked out with a 2 month prescription for $1.50. No I didn't misplace the decimal. That is a dollar and fifty cents. I am so excited I can afford my pills now.

I wonder if I can afford that biopsy I've been putting off because it's too expensive.

3) I'm sad that my mommy can't go on the cruise in May with me. The good news is I still have plenty of people I can go with. The unfortunate thing is now that mom can't go the price goes up because we need to get down to Florida. Plane tickets or Gas is expensive. And Val said she'd go with me!!

Diet Plan

There are two things I need to cut back on this year: Calories and Spending. Since my goal is to cut 80lbs I need to cut calories. And since I want to pay off a credit card I need to save money. I've been reading r/Eatcheapandhealthy, a forum dedicated to eating cheep and healthy, and I've formulated a food budget that keeps me at approximately $200 a month for 2 people and keeps me under 1200 calories.

Breakfast: Choice

Oatmeal
Yogurt with granola
2 eggs


Lunch: Choice

English muffin turkey sandwich w/ 1/2 cucumber
Leftovers
Bag of steamed veggies


Snack: Choice

Nuts
Mini Babybell Cheese (Got them for X-mas)
Veggies
Spoon full of peanut butter


Dinner: Choice

Chicken, broccoli, sweet potatoes + onions

Meatloaf, green beans and mushrooms
Corned beef, potato, cabbage
Shrimp, rice and spinach/garlic/tomato
Beans, corn, peppers + onions, guacamole
Egg, mashed sweet potato, tomato + greens salad



As you can see I'm trying to stay away from too many carbs. I'm worried with my weight I'm going to turn diabetic. I mean I haven't cut them out, just cut back. I also have a cup of coffee with cashew or almond milk every day. So far I've stayed around 1200 Calories, and I've already lost 2 lbs. It's been hard. For instance last night before Game I had to break the habit of going into Sheetz and getting a fast food meal for dinner. And at Game itself the GM had cookies out for everyone to nab. I really wanted fatty and sugary foods, but I want to be skinny more.

Katsucon

Come February Joe and I will be doing a cosplay. I am really looking forward to it too. The problem is it's going to be expensive and I just don't have a lot of money. So we'll see if it actually gets finished. We're going as Samurai Sailor Moon and Feudal Lord Tuxedo Mask.

That's ideally what I want us to look like. The cost is really racking up though. It's like $100 each at cheapest. And then Katsucon itself will be $70. But I really want to cosplay and go to Katsucon. I don't know. I guess I'll talk to Joe about it.

In the meantime I'm going to calculate the fabric I need.

Tuxedo Mask:
Coat: 3 yards black cotton, 3 yards red cotton.
Shirt: 4 yards white cotton
Obi: 2 yards grey cotton, 2 yards interfacing.

Additional Expenses- Rice paddy hat, Tabi socks, Japanese flip flop, hakama

Sailor Moon:
Robe: 3 yards red cotton
Boot Cover: 1 yard white cotton



3 yards black: $5.36/yard x3 = $16.08
6 yards red cotton $5.39/yard x6 = $32.34
2 yards grey cotton $5.85/yard x2 = $11.70
5 yards white cotton $4.49/yard x3 = $22.45

3 yards interfacing $2.12/yard x3 = $6.36
Rice Paddy Hat: $13.00

Tabi socks: $1.07
Japanese Flip Flop: $25.00

Hakama: $38.36

Total: $164.89

There's no way I'll be able to afford that. Maybe next year.

Monthly Breakdown of Goals.

January

• Rewrite Santuary
• Get out Thank you cards by the 15th
• Buy Fabric on the 3rd

February

• Rewrite Santuary
• Feb 17th Katsucon. Have cosplay done.

March

• Sanctuary Alpha Test
• Start plants indoors
• Set up garden bed
• Take cats in for a checkup

April

• Finish writing novel. Begin Editing.
• Rewrite Santuary
• Plant Plants outside
• Run a 5k

May

• Research places to volunteer
• Rewrite Santuary
• Go on a cruise

June

• Talk to dad about financing my degree
• Begin volunteering
• Sanctuary Playtest
• LARP
• Work on Family Tree

July

• Rewrite Santuary
• LARP
• Work on Family Tree

August

• Rewrite Santuary
• LARP
• Work on Family Tree

September

• Put in book to be published.
• LARP

October

• Register for classes
• Host Santuary
• Run a 5k zombie run

November

• Write Christmas Cards 

December

• Send out Christmas Cards

Blog every day? 2017 Goal Rundown

I wonder if I can post 365 posts in the new year. It might be fun to try.

Well it's the new year. It started off alright. I didn't get my midnight kiss which is kinda disappointing, but it's just another kiss I guess and I can get kisses anytime. I also lost a contact in my eye. I still think it's there.

I did end up coming home last night (actually early morning). I wanted to sleep in my own bed with my own kitties. It turned out really well. I cuddled with them, got up, cleaned a little, played some WoW. Then I went back to Joe's parent's house for breakfast.

I'm very proud of myself. This morning I only ate half of what I wanted to eat. Granted it was all fried in bacon grease, so none of it was good for my diet anyway.

Lets go through my goals one by one and figure out how I'm going to complete each one.

#1 Work Full Time

I really need to get my stamina up. This means I need to start doing stuff to challenge my stamina. The first thing I'll need to do is stop taking naps during the day. It's going to be hard for me especially if I substitute, but I need to increase my stamina, and I can't do that if I take it easy on myself. That doesn't mean I wont sleep 8-10 hours a night. It just means I wont sleep during the day.

I'll also need to start exercising. The more I exercise, the more stamina I will gain. It'll also be good for my next goal. Right now my goal is to get to the Gym 3 times a week. Monday Wednesday and Friday. Ideally, I'd like to start going everyday starting in June when school gets out for the summer.

#2 Drop 80 lbs

I'm starting to diet. My goal is to drop 80 lbs this year. I currently weigh 218.8 lbs and look like the stay-puffed marshmallow man. Here are my before pictures. (Warning. They are kinda gross) Hopefully next year I'll be back to being skinny.

That means only 1200 calories a day and start exercising again. My goal is 135 lbs so I can look like this again:

I think I'm going to grow my hair out too. I miss having long hair. Mostly I miss braiding it. So this year I'm not going to cut my hair. Maybe next year I'll get a trim, but I'm going to grow it out. It's not really a goal so much as a thought.

#3 Publish

This is going to be a hard one. I need to take time out of my day to write. I'm finding writing a book is more difficult than I thought it would be. I need to overcome that difficulty by just sitting down and writing. Maybe I will make a rule, If I don't sub I'll write at least 2000 words. That has me roughly done in April or May. That leaves me the rest of the year to actually edit and self publish my novel. I'm pretty sure only friends and family will read it, but it's still something I want to do.

So 2000+ words every day I don't sub. Weekends optional.

#4 Register for Classes

This one I might not be able to do this year. But my goal is to begin the registering process in October of this year. I want to be starting school about this time next year. The only requirement is I need to be able to work 5 days a week, and talk to dad about paying for the rest of my degree. I should (if all goes according to plan) be working full time before the end of the school year in June. That leaves July and August to hammer out a finance plan with my father. October is for applying for school. November and December are normally really busy. They will probably consist of not dying of excitement.

#5 Volunteer Weekly Somewhere

This goal will need to wait until June. I will start volunteering during the summer, after my stamina has returned.  Starting in May I will research organizations that I can spend an hour each week helping.

#6 Start Sanctuary

My Larp needs a lot of work. I need at least 2 more Alpha tests, and some massive rewrites. I think that to complete this goal by October I will need to have to spend January and February rewriting some things. I'll have a play test in March. I'll rewrite April and May. Have another Play test in June. July and August will be more rewriting. September and most of October will be helping people make their characters. Then on October 28th, as a Halloween party, I will host my LARP.

#7  Pay off $1000 dollars of debt

I have 2 credit cards. Both of them are almost Maxed out. One has a $1000 limit. The other has a $6000 limit. My goal this year is to use the money I earn from working and put it towards my debt. Honestly it should only take me 15 days of full day work. But because I have insurance now, I'm getting less from disability. I need to work 2 full days a month to make up the difference. It doesn't seem like that much, but as I'm only working a half day a week right now, It's a lot.

#8 Have a well maintained flower garden.

This is another one that doesn't seem like it would be hard, but I don't know how to weed and I'm awful at remembering to water my garden. The goal this year is to focus on one bed and don't do anything else (well maybe some other things.) 

The things I need to do is put down a liner, put down soil, put up a divider from the grass, and make sure to weed and water it at least every other day. I will count this goal as a success if I can do that.

#9 Do 2 5ks

This year I only did two, and with me still being out of shape (and not having a lot of extra money) I think 2 is a reasonable goal. I've already purchased one 5k. I think I'll run it in April. I'll run another one in October. Hopefully I can find a zombie 5k somewhere in my state so I can knock that off my Bucket List.

#10 LARP 4x this year.

This goal is easy, but expensive. I know I want to make Sim Terra once, Shard once, Summerset once, and I don't know about the last Larp I'll do. I'll probably do whichever I enjoyed more. I think I'll do most of that during the Summer after I've gotten my stamina back.

#11 Take the cats in for a yearly checkup

I have to wait till I get money to do this goal. Rowan and Willow both need their vaccinations updated. January's Money is going to Katsucon and paying bills. February's money will too. So maybe in March I will have enough money to bring them in for their checkups and shots.

#12 Maintain Laundry, Litterbox, and Dishes

Every day I want to make my bed in the morning. During the day I want to do 1 load of laundry, and 2 loads of dishes (once in the morning and once in the evening). I want to also clean out the litterbox every night before I shower and get ready for bed. Speaking of which:

#13 Shower & Brush Teeth Daily. Use deodorant after every shower.

To do this one, every evening I will take a shower, brush my teeth, and use deodorant. I've been having problems with hygiene since I got sick. This is how I fix that issue.

#14 Write Christmas Cards

In November 2017 I will buy Christmas cards and send them out after Thanksgiving. This one is easy to do I just need to remember.

#15 Finish Family Tree to Great Grandparents

I will probably take the summer to complete this project.

#16 Go on a Cruise

I need to get on mom about scheduling this trip for May. I'll call mom tomorrow about scheduling it.

#17 Get out Christmas Thank You cards by January 15th.

Tomorrow I should be able to finish writing my thank you notes and mail them out the day after.

#18 Post updates on the progress on my blog once a week.

This will be a thing I need to do after I divvy up and schedule a break down of my goals by months. I'll break down my goals by months and/or weeks tomorrow in the blog. After that I will have a special "Goal Update" blog once a week to update myself, and my esteemed public, on my progress and shortcomings (and how I intend to improve).

#19 Have Costumes ready for Katsucon

Joe and I are going as Samurai Sailor Moon and Feudal Lord Tuxedo Mask. I have a lot of work to do on the costumes and not a lot of time to do it in. The real problem is I don't have the spare money for fabric. So Once I'm paid on the 3rd I'll be buying the fabric. I'll write a post on the 3rd about it.

#20 Play with Rowan for 20 minutes a day

So Rowan has been acting out lately. He's been a little asshole tearing up papers, Scratching fruniture, and attacking his sister to play. To remedy this, after breakfast and dinner every day I will play fetch with him to burn off some of that energy. Each play session will be 10 minutes. Hopefully I can encourage Joe to play with him too.

#21 Do Spanish and Japanese Language Programs every day by the end of the year.

I've been using Duolingo and Memrise to learn Spanish and Japanese respectively. I want to actually let these programs be effective. To do that I will need to spend time daily working on them. I think I will wake up and do Spanish and do Japanese before bed. That's a little difficult at about 40 minutes a day. So I'm not expecting myself to do it daily for a while yet. But for sure I def have to do it 3 times a week.