12 in 2012 - The Great Goal Review Post

Goals for the Year:
Lose 12 pounds in 2012.  Weight on 1/1 was 138.8.  Weight on 12/1 was 130.8.  Weight on 1/1 was 131.6, but really, less than a pound over the holidays = SOLD.  I didn't lose 12 lbs this year, but honestly I never thought I would.  I set the goal high and really just hoped to go sub-130.  I *did* manage that, even if only for a few days, but I'm within spitting distance of it now and know I'll hit that target range for good very soon.  All in all, didn't make my goal, but I count this a success.
Read at least 12 books (other than to my child) in 2012.  Got my 4 required books read, but barely. Total to 99 for the year!  Blew this one out of the water!
Race 12 times in 2012. 2.5 this month.  Completed the La Porte By the Bay Half, the End of the World Half, and half of the Day after the End of the World Half for my first DNF ever.  Race reports to follow.  Means I'm left with 11 for the year.  But, BUT considering how crappily the year started with all the DNS's and everything, I'm really pretty pleased with this.
And I have one other secret 12 goal. 1?  Maybe?  But met this goal a long time ago.

Goals for December:
Continued progress towards 2012 goals.  It may be unreasonable, but I'd really like to go sub 130 on my weight for the first time this year.  Check!
Complete 3 half marathons, and don't lose my mojo after.  Fail.  Started 3, finished 2.  But as I'll explain in my race report, I think DNF'ing was absolutely the right choice, and the HARDER choice, and I'm proud of myself for making it.
Start core work again. And maybe P90X after the races.  P90X started on 12/31.  Core work started with the new year.  Check.
Pick back up the committee reading, hard core.  Better, but need to keep at it.
Financial goals: liquidate SMH and reallocate to J. Get direct deposit for N.  Fail and check.  Ok.
House goals: get another quote on the floors, pick a company, and get started! Finish cleaning out AD's house AND get the maids in there AND get a quote on the work we need done there.  Massive fail.  This was probably too much to ask for a holiday month.
Other: enjoy the holidays. :-)  Not exactly - the stuff going on in my personal life really put a damper on the holidays for me this year.

November Book Reviews

Frost on His Shoulders by Lorenzo Mediano: BLAH.

Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon: I enjoyed this one, but felt like I'd need to read the rest of the series to really love it.  It was an interesting and well written story, but I wasn't *gripped* by it.

Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson: Love!  Short novella, written in Elantris world, but you do NOT need to have read Elantris at all.  Fascinating study in writing - almost the entire setting of the story took place in one room.  Neat magic concept.  Love Sanderson!!

Started but not yet finished: Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin  Enjoying, so far.  More next month!

Monthly Goal Reviews

Goals for the Year:
Lose 12 pounds in 2012.  Weight on 1/1 was 138.8.  Weight on 11/1 was 133.2.  Weight on 12/1 was 130.8, and I got as low as 130.2 several times this month.  I'm pleased!  Very pleased!!
Read at least 12 books (other than to my child) in 2012.  Got my 4 required books read, but barely.  Got my total to 95.  Did manage to ditch the romance novels, but ironically am just reading much less now.  Not the point, Amber!
Race 12 times in 2012. Just the Turkey Trot this month.  Have a big month coming up in December: 3 half marathons!
And I have one other secret 12 goal. Still lost count, we'll guesstimate the total bumped up to 50.

Goals for November:
Continued progress towards 2012 goals.
Keep up the consistency on the run!  Done!
Complete 1, maybe 2 scheduled races.  Done.
Start core work again. Fail. :-(
Start reading for my committee again.  I don't have to stop with the fluff, but I need to find a better balance.  Quickly.  Let's say... at least 4 books completed for the committee.  At least.  Done, barely and with much teeth gnashing.
Financial goals: liquidate SMH and reallocate to J.  Get direct deposit for N.  Fail.
House goals:  get another quote on the floors, pick a company, and get started!  Finish cleaning out AD's house AND get the maids in there AND get a quote on the work we need done there. And another Fail.

Goals for December:
Continued progress towards 2012 goals.  It may be unreasonable, but I'd really like to go sub 130 on my weight for the first time this year.
Complete 3 half marathons, and don't lose my mojo after.
Start core work again. And maybe P90X after the races.
Pick back up the committee reading, hard core.
Financial goals: liquidate SMH and reallocate to J. Get direct deposit for N.
House goals: get another quote on the floors, pick a company, and get started! Finish cleaning out AD's house AND get the maids in there AND get a quote on the work we need done there.
Other: enjoy the holidays. :-)

Last month of the year!  Last chance to get it done!  Let's DO THIS!!!

Monthly Goal Review

Goals for the Year:
Lose 12 pounds in 2012.  Weight on 1/1 was 138.8.  Weight on 10/1 was 133.2.  Weight on 11/1 was 133.2.  Steady is good, but not where I want to be.
Read at least 12 books (other than to my child) in 2012.  Still having trouble ditching my romance novel kick.  Only 2 "required" books read, probably at least 20 "fluffy" books read.  We'll call that a good guesstimate to get my total to 91.  Sheesh!
Race 12 times in 2012. 4 races this month!  4!!!!  In 3 weekends!
And I have one other secret 12 goal. Heh, I've actually lost count, oh yeah!  But I'd say at least, AT LEAST 15.  Making my current total 39.  I cannot accurately communicate how pleased I am with my progress on this one.

Goals for October:
Continued progress towards 2012 goals.
Throw a successful beach birthday party for my (OMG) precocious 2 year old (OMG).  Done.
Keep up the consistency on the run, building to 10 mile long runs.  Done!
Complete 3 (!!) scheduled races.  4.  Bitches. :-)
Continue with the core work and other "fun" working out the rest of the time.  Totally dropped the core.  Enjoying myself very much reading fluff while trainer-biking, though.  So half-check.
Financial goal: liquidate SMH account and reallocate to J.  Fail.
House goals: finish cleaning out AD house, make progress towards floors in my house.  Great, excellent progress on AD's house, though we didn't completely finish.  And we finally got a quote on my house!

Goals for November:
Continued progress towards 2012 goals.
Keep up the consistency on the run!
Complete 1, maybe 2 scheduled races.
Start core work again.
Start reading for my committee again.  I don't have to stop with the fluff, but I need to find a better balance.  Quickly.  Let's say... at least 4 books completed for the committee.  At least.
Financial goals: liquidate SMH and reallocate to J.  Get direct deposit for N.
House goals:  get another quote on the floors, pick a company, and get started!  Finish cleaning out AD's house AND get the maids in there AND get a quote on the work we need done there.

September Book Reviews

The Last Policeman by Ben Winters - What would you do if you only had 6 months to live?  What would society do if everyone only had 6 months to live?  The story of a policeman who chooses to keep investigating as an asteroid hurtles towards Earth.  Good book, the twist made it interesting!

The Bartender's Tale by Ivan Doig - I wish I could explain this, I just keep thinking about this book.  Not a lot actually happens in the book.  Like, at all.  But it is a GOOD book.  Very good.  Kind of a slow read, but not in a bad way.  Actually in a really good way.  Rich in historical detail.  Rich in everything, really.  I'm not *excited* about this book the way I was about... say.... Redshirts.  But this is a really good book.  Highly recommended.

The Country of the Bad Wolfes by James Carlos Blake - I really enjoyed this book.  It was a multi-generational story of a family that involved a huge cast of characters, but magically I still managed to care about the characters and their storylines, which I think shows a master manipulation by Mr. Blake.  Great read, highly recommended.

Prepare to Die by Peter Toban - Ha, this was actually a fun book.  I think the audience is realllllllly specific.  You have to be a comic book nerd, or at least open to that sort of thing.  I also think that the conversational style of the book, while purposeful (I believe) on Toban's part, will make it not appeal to everyone.  And if Goodreads is any indication, not all of the ladies are liking this book; to be fair, the narrator... objectifies women.  But the plot was fast-paced, I thought the story was engrossing, and I had a great time reading it.

Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway - started and having an incredibly difficult time with this one.  It might get abandoned in October.

Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines - about halfway through this one and loving it!  Full review next month.

Monthly Goal Review

Goals for the Year:
Lose 12 pounds in 2012.  Weight on 1/1 was 138.8.  Weight on 9/1 was 132.6. Weight on 10/1 was 133.2.  (I ate some chinese food the other weekend, and it *still* hasn't dropped down!  Then this weekend, I ate about 2 months worth of sugar at a birthday party.  And it is hard to regret it when it is sooooo good!)
Read at least 12 books (other than to my child) in 2012.  34 books read in September bringing the total to 69. 30 of these were the aforementioned sappy/crappy romance novels, but, hey, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.
Race 12 times in 2012. 2 races this month! 
And I have one other secret 12 goal. 8 more to add, making it 24.

Goals for September:
Continued progress towards 2012 goals.
Stay steady on the run, work up to 4 days per week with long runs 6-working-up-to-8 miles.  Done!  Complete 2 scheduled races. Done!! Enjoy the rest while maintaining consistency!  Done!!  Try to get some core work in there.  Done!!
Financial goals: liquidate SMH account and reallocate to J.  Fail, but we *did* FINALLY get the other outstanding AD issue on the road, and that is a very good thing!
House goals: clean AD house. Progress made!  Progress towards floors in my house. I had a great month - guess I couldn't have everything - no progress on this front.

Goals for October:
Continued progress towards 2012 goals.
Throw a successful beach birthday party for my (OMG) precocious 2 year old (OMG).
Keep up the consistency on the run, building to 10 mile long runs.
Complete 3 (!!) scheduled races.
Continue with the core work and other "fun" working out the rest of the time.
Financial goal: liquidate SMH account and reallocate to J.
House goals: finish cleaning out AD house, make progress towards floors in my house.

The Long Run Plan - Update

Sometimes I feel like I'm getting lost in all the planning.  So here is the running plan, just focused on races and long runs and back-to-back weekends.  Starting this weekend.  Dates are Saturday before the / and Sunday after.

7/Run for Recovery 5K
8
9
10 for Texas
Toughest 10K Galveston
7/Houston Half Relay
Rocky Raccoon 10K Trail
10
8
Dallas Turkey Trot 8 (Thursday)/9 (Saturday)
6/La Porte By the Bay Half
8/6
6
End of the World Half/Day After the End of the World Half

This gets me my 12 races for the year.  It also gets me a full Half before the big weekend, because while I know I don't need any full length training runs, since I'm going for the back-to-back, I think it would be a good idea.  And at 3 weeks out, the timing is perfect.  4 weeks out the 8 on Thursday followed by the 9 on Saturday will be a hard training "weekend", as well.

The only 2 I'm not signed up for yet are the Rocky Raccoon and the La Porte Half.

Goodness, it looks so daunting, but my season is going so well, so far, and I'm treating all of these races like training runs, so it isn't supposed to be high pressure.  I've gotta remember that this represents 3 months.  And it really looks like a nice -build to 10 and drop back, build again to 10 and drop back not as far, build to 13 with some double weekends and drop back, double race weekend.  Also, all the races represent milestones or environments that will be good training... the hill running in the Toughest 10K and the La Porte and the Houston Half Relay and the Turkey Trot, my first 10 at 10 for Texas, including the stabilization muscles in the trail run...

I just really really want this to work out.  Injury and DNS free.  That's all I want.

August Book Reviews

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Twisted, twisted, twisted psychological mystery.  Twisted.  Great discussion book.  Read it.

May the Road Rise Up to Meet You by Peter Troy
Really nice story about 4 completely different people whose stories intertwine by the end.  Covers history from the Irish famine to the Civil War.  I was initially annoyed by the writing of the accents (I am *always* annoyed by this in books), but I actually got over it pretty quickly, which is rare for me - usually accents are cause for abandoning a book.

Defending Jacob by William Landay
Law and Order in book form, only from a lawyer who is trying to protect his son who is accused of murder.  Great read, and an ending that left me speechless.  Another good discussion book.

Angel's Ink by Jocelynn Drake
This one isn't actually going to be published until October, but I snagged an ARC.  I really enjoyed the read - the fantasy world she built was fascinating and I want to read so many more books rooted in that world.  With that said, the sex scene was so terribly written that I marked it down a star just for those few pages (She used the word "body" 27 times in the scene.  Twenty. SEVEN. Times.  Seriously.).  Also, how many times can a dude get beat up, sheesh!  But I'm still glad I read it and will read the sequel when she publishes it (and she will, she left it WIDE open).

Started but not finished:

Shine Shine Shine by Linda Netzer
Weird.  Too weird.  I won't be finishing this one.

Bartender's Tale by Ivan Doig
Slow read, but highly enjoyable!  Full review when I finish it.

Country of the Bad Wolfes by James Carlos Blake
LOVING it!  Reading it slowly because it is on the Kindle and I try to conserve my electronic reads so I don't have to keep buying more!  Full review when I finish it.

Monthly Goal Review

Goals for the Year:
Lose 12 pounds in 2012.  Weight on 1/1 was 138.8.  Weight on 8/1 was 134.2.  Weight on 9/1 was 132.6. I managed to erase Paris!
Read at least 12 books (other than to my child) in 2012.  4 books read in August bringing the total to 33.
Race 12 times in 2012. I missed my August race due to the terrible horrible no good vomiting illness, but still have a plan to try to cram the rest into this year - don't count this one out!
And I have one other secret 12 goal. 2 more to add, making it 16.

Goals for August:Continued progress towards 2012 goals.  Especially losing that Paris weight!  Done.
Shift to more of a run focus following the tri, pick up some "fun" cross training.  (There is a group doing Insanity at work.  Or maybe some P90X at home.  Some swimming until the pool closes.  Maybe riding on the trainer so I can read at the same time. ;-))  Done, and all of those fun things, done!
Financial goals: liquidate SMH account and reallocate to J. Nope.  Contribute to Z's college plan.  Done!
House goals: clean AD house. Worked on.  Progress towards floors in my house.  Unfortunately, no.

Goals for September:
Continued progress towards 2012 goals.
Stay steady on the run, work up to 4 days per week with long runs 6-working-up-to-8 miles.  Complete 2 scheduled races.  Enjoy the rest while maintaining consistency!  Try to get some core work in there.
Financial goals: liquidate SMH account and reallocate to J.
House goals: clean AD house. Progress towards floors in my house.

The Schedule Strategy

My goal for the year is 12 races.  It is late August and I have 2.  (And 3, THREE, DNSs, ugh!)  But I think this is still do-able, I really do.

My strategy is two-fold.  I'm looking for races that help me build up to my target distance of 13.1 miles by mid December.  And I'm looking for races on Sundays that I can run the day after a long run to get my legs used to running tired since I'm targeting 13.1 miles the day after my first 13.1 miles.

Races meeting qualification A include:
*Toughest 10K Kemah
Toughest 10K Galveston
*Houston Half Relay  (Also meets qualification B)
Rocky Raccoon 10K Trail
*10 for Texas
Dallas Turkey Trot 8 miler

Races meeting qualification B include:
Tunnel to Towers 5K
Running of the Bulls 5K
Mistletoe Fun Run 5K

I've even added in one more than I need to meet my 12 goal, just in case I have to DNS another time.  * indicates the ones I've already signed up for, so obviously this isn't written in stone - I'm open to other options as long as they make scheduling sense.  The two longer ones that I'm most uncertain about are Toughest 10K Galveston and Rocky Raccoon 10K, because if I did both I'd be racing 3 weekends in a row (along with the Houston Half Relay).  The shorter one that I'm not as sure of is Tunnel to Towers, but honestly I'm not married to any of the 5Ks.  They'll be plentiful enough as the weather cools down to take my pick, although Sunday ones are a little more rare. 

But just as it is I think this is a good, do-able schedule that meets all of my goals.

(Now if I can just stay HEALTHY!)

Monthly Goal Review

Goals for the Year:
Lose 12 pounds in 2012.  Weight on 1/1 was 138.8.  Weight on 7/1 was 132.6.  Weight on 8/1 was 134.2.  Only 1.5 lbs gained in Paris - I'll take it!
Read at least 12 books (other than to my child) in 2012.  5 books read in July bringing the total to 29.
Race 12 times in 2012. 4th of July race, making it 2, finally some movement!
And I have one other secret 12 goal. 4 more to add, making it 14.

Goals for July:
Relax, enjoy my trip(s), and eat the yummy food when I want to.  But not lose tri fitness.  Well, all in all, I think I did pretty well with this.  I walked a ton in Paris and climbed bunches of stairs and when I got home I immediately returned to running, then got in a nice long brick last weekend.  This tri may be rough, but I can finish it.

Also in my perfect world:
Financial goals: liquidate SMH acct and reallocate to J.  Fail. Contribute to Z's college plan.  Fail. Contribute to P's IRA.  Fail. Keep pushing P to push lawyer to finish out remaining AD business (there is one undone thing that is a BIG DEAL for us).  Lawyer's brother was actually one of the victims of the Aurora shootings, so cutting slack there.
House goals: get AD's house clean(er), order new floors for my house OR get an estimate from a contractor or 3.  Wouldn't it be awesome if the work could get done while we were on vacation??  Fail.

Goals for August:
Continued progress towards 2012 goals.  Especially losing that Paris weight!
Shift to more of a run focus following the tri, pick up some "fun" cross training.  (There is a group doing Insanity at work.  Or maybe some P90X at home.  Some swimming until the pool closes.  Maybe riding on the trainer so I can read at the same time. ;-))
Financial goals: liquidate SMH account and reallocate to J. Contribute to Z's college plan.
House goals: clean AD house.  Progress towards floors in my house.

Monthly Goal Review

Goals for the Year:
Lose 12 pounds in 2012.  Weight on 1/1 was 138.8.  Weight on 6/1 was 133.2.  Weight on 7/1 was 132.6.  Yeah, baby!
Read at least 12 books (other than to my child) in 2012.  12(!!!!) books read in June.  Seriously.  I rock.
Race 12 times in 2012. None this month. Holding at 1.  But registered for a 5K on the 4th, and WILL BE THERE.
And I have one other secret 12 goal. 3 more to add, making it 10.


Goals for June:
Continued progress towards 2012 goals.  3/4 check.
Food - clean it back up before the July blow-out that will be Paris.  Pretty successful here.
Consistency on the run. Swim once a week, and bike outside, wrapped up in Another Mother Runner Challenge - before the July blow-out that will be Paris.  Got in lots of swimming, though I did skip a week.  Biked outside and on the trainer for much longer stretches.  Ran more at the beginning and end of the month.  Good progress, all in all.  Completed the challenge!
Race this month.  This will be the last fail of the year.
Financial goals: Liquidate 2 accounts with 2 firms and reallocate to existing accounts. Undone. Liquidate one of AD's accounts and reallocate to existing account. Done.  And get this: P got direct deposit AND requested the form to set up additional voluntary contributions to his retirement account!

Also, we checked off a goal that has been so long in the wings that I stopped even mentioning it - we got new doors this past Friday!  This is so exciting!  Pictures soon.


Goals for July:
Now here's the thing: in July, there are 22 workable days (weekdays).  I will be working on exactly 7 of them, and 2 of those will for a conference, so, well... those are fun days.  I desperately need this time off, but with time off, for me, usually comes travel and often a more difficult time keeping up with my exercise and diet.  And that has to be ok for me.  BUT I don't want to lose all my fitness, given that I'm registered for the Bridgeland Triathlon on (shudder) August 5th.  So the goal for July is to relax, enjoy my trip(s), and eat the yummy food when I want to.  But not lose tri fitness.  Simple.

Also in my perfect world:
Financial goals: liquidate SMH acct and reallocate to J.  Contribute to Z's college plan.  Contribute to P's IRA.  Keep pushing P to push lawyer to finish out remaining AD business (there is one undone thing that is a BIG DEAL for us).
House goals: get AD's house clean(er), order new floors for my house OR get an estimate from a contractor or 3.  Wouldn't it be awesome if the work could get done while we were on vacation??

A Crap-ton of Non-crap books

Edge of Dark Water by Joe R. Lansdale: good book.  Adventure story, interesting, colorful, and fast paced.  Graphic descriptions of dead bodies.  Set in Texas (add a star!). 

Royal Wulff Murders by Keith McCafferty: lots of description of fly fishing should immediately appeal to people who have knowledge of that.  Nice depictions of nature.  And for the mystery - well, I didn't catch on until about 2 paragraphs before the main character did, so that means that bit was well done!  Disliked the romances - one love interest was too stereotypical and not robust enough as a character, and the other was left open.  (I smell a sequel?)

The Cove by Ron Rash: wow.  Just.  wow.  It wasn't what I expected, wrapped in a box with a neat little bow.

Julia's Child by Sarah Pinneo: this one isn't going to bring the literary world to its knees or anything, but if you're a mom who has ever stressed out about what you are feeding your kid, this main character will be stealing the words from your mouth.  Nice beach read if you're that mom.

Home by Toni Morrison: never have liked Toni Morrison.  Still don't.  WTF, seriously?  I just don't get it.

Redshirts by John Scalzi: Love, love, love, loved it!!  Such a fun read.  If you are a Star Trek fan, or if you make fun of "Star Trek physics" or non-sensical plots, read this!  I totally Trek-geeked out, laughed, and seriously enjoyed.

Reading

The background: So, I'm a librarian, right?  Librarians have master's degrees.  And professional organizations.  Well, I'm in my local professional organization and I'm trying to be a better professional.  So I volunteered to be on this committee that creates a list of recommended adult fiction reading each year.  I didn't really know what I was getting into.  Seriously.  You remember how my goal was to read 12 books in 2012 (goal already met - I missed reading!)?  Well, my committee activity just started and OMG I could have to read 120 books in this next year.  120!

I'm offering this background so we can all understand why I'm going to be posting more about books.

I've already finished 3 books this June.  All for the committee:
Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron.  Sacré Bleu by Christopher Moore.  And Arcadia by Lauren Groff.  Here's my take on these 3:

Running the Rift is about a runner growing up during the lead-in to the Rwandan genocide.  I decided to read it for the running.  The running is there, but it isn't a novel about running.  It is a novel about ethnicity, personal identity, love, and hope in the face of unimaginable circumstances.  This book was NOT a depressing read, and it could easily have been.  Best book I've read in years.  Go read it.

Sacré Bleu is... a fun read.  With art.  You know you want to read a novel in which one of the main character's name is "Poopstick".  You know you want to.  (On a serious note, well researched, *believable* fiction, despite the fantastic.)  One note: I had to read this on the iPad and not the (base model) Kindle because there are clips of the art that I couldn't see on the Kindle that really added to the story.

Arcadia. I didn't like Arcadia.  I went through this phase when I was a kid where I imagined myself to be metaphysical.  In which I was an observer of the world and the way it worked, and I had these moments where I imagined I could feel events moving, the earth moving through space, that there was something deep going on that no one else could notice.  That is what this book is.  But I moved on, and Bit doesn't.  And the language - it just got on my nerves.  Not to be an ass, but sometimes washing clothes is just washing clothes, you know?  Also, I didn't think the ending was sufficiently fleshed out.

Now I've started on Julia's Child, which I can already tell I'm going to enjoy, and the Royal Wulff Murders, which is also shaping up to be a fun read.  More on these and many Many MANY more to come!

Goal Review

Goals for the Year:
Lose 12 pounds in 2012.  Weight on 1/1 was 138.8.  Weight 4/1 was 133.8.  Weight on 5/1 was 133.2.  Back in the right direction, baby!
Read at least 12 books (other than to my child) in 2012.  2 books (Book 2 and 3 of Game of Thrones series) read in March, bringing the grand total to 8.
Race 12 times in 2012. None this month. Holding at 1.  Need to get on this!
And I have one other secret 12 goal. 1 more to add, making it 5.

Goals for April:
Continued progress towards 2012 goals. Check.
Get the diet back under control.  Period.  April 1 was a bad day.  April 7 will be a bad day.  There is no need for any other bad days this month.  Period.  This was a big, resounding win for me.  I didn't drop a lot of weight, but I've been eating very cleanly since Easter. I only ate out twice when work required it, and I made smart selections each time.  I tracked calories for a week to get back on track.  And I've been focusing on smart eating and cooking at home. Yay, me!
Get back on my bike.  Outside, trainer, wherever!  Mountain bike is set up and ready to go.  Road bike is set up on trainer and ready to go!
Financial goals: get the moms off the accounts (both forms mailed, waiting for responses), balance/consolidate (endured painful run-around for trying to move my IRA to company account, will try again this month), get AD's POD accounts into P's name (one down, two to go), come up with a plan for AD's accounts and at least partially implement it (have a plan, but no implementation because the accounts are tied to safe-deposit boxes, so we have to keep them open for now), taxes (done, and the lovely refund is already received).

Goals for May:
Continued progress towards 2012 goals.
Food... have fun for my birthday, then go moderate for the rest of the month.
May is the month of the bike.  I need to spend A LOT of time on my bike.
Also, May is the month of consistency on the run. 3x per week.  Period.
Race this month.  Damnit.
Financial goals: get the moms off the accounts, balance/consolidate, get AD's POD accounts into P's name, get P into direct deposit.

Goal Review

Goals for the Year:
Lose 12 pounds in 2012.  Weight on 1/1 was 138.8.  Weight on 3/1 was 133.2.  Weight 4/1 was 133.8.  Suck.
Read at least 12 books (other than to my child) in 2012.  1 book read in March, bringing the grand total to 6.
Race 12 times in 2012. Finally, finally, finally raced.  Finally!  1.  Race report is coming, I promise.
And I have one other secret 12 goal. No progress this month, holding at 4.

Goals for March:
Continued progress towards 2012 goals.  Yay!
Keep eating out to a minimum - maximum once a week.  Fail.  Massive fail.  Don't wanna talk about it fail.
Finances:
Get our respective moms off the last 2 of our respective accounts - one paper filed, one downloaded and just needs filling out.
Consolidate assets (from 4 financial firms to 2) and in the process balance our "portfolio" (still really feels weird to say that - isn't that something adults do??) - can't til those pesky moms get removed.  Have a plan for the balancing.
Work on a Will. Fail. 
Oh, and finish taxes!!  STILL haven't clicked submit.  Gah!
And finish February's goals that I passed on:

Start an IRA for Preston: yes!
Start a 529 for Zoe: yes!
Get Preston into direct deposit: fail.  Still not working much.
Get the last automatic payment to stop coming out of the credit card account that I want to stop using: done, yay!

So I'm really just running a month behind, lol!

Goals for April:
Continued progress towards 2012 goals.
Get the diet back under control.  Period.  April 1 was a bad day.  April 7 will be a bad day.  There is no need for any other bad days this month.  Period.
Get back on my bike.  Outside, trainer, wherever!
Financial goals: get the moms off the accounts, balance/consolidate, get AD's POD accounts into P's name, come up with a plan for AD's accounts and at least partially implement it, taxes.

12 in 2012 - Book 6!

Which was, as I mentioned before, Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire.  This was a big honkin' book, y'all.  (694 pages, according to my library's catalog - I wouldn't know, because I read it on my Kindle!)

So I figured out why starting the book was difficult for me.  You see, I had tried to start this series previously, years ago, and just couldn't get into it.  I actually almost didn't this time.  I started reading, was failing to get sucked in, but I kept hearing that I'd love it, so I kept giving it another chapter, and finally Catelyn's first chapter grabbed me, and then I was hooked.  I think the reason I have difficulty with this series is because George R R Martin writes each chapter from a different person's perspective.  That is actually common, or at least having parts of a book from different characters' perspectives is common, especially, it seems, with the fantasy series I read - I mean, the authors have to advance action across an entire world, so that seems a logical way to do it.  I think the difference with the way GRRM does it and the way I'm used to is that, well, first of all, he does it every chapter.  And I can read a chapter in about 15 minutes.  That's a lot of perspective changing.  And secondly, at the beginnings of books he doesn't start with 1 person and then switch to a person that you got introduced to in the first person's chapter.  He switches to someone who you have no idea how they are related.  While this is really pretty cool because he relies on the reader to make the connections in the beginning, thus making you think and wonder, for me it also makes it harder to get sucked in.  Lots harder.

I started the second book in the series yesterday, and the 3rd chapter (I think it is the third.) is from the perspective of... someone.  I have no idea who they are, where they are, or why they are/will be important.  When I saw that, I just closed the book and went to bed.  Even though I know I'll love this book, I just didn't have the mental wherewithal to care about a new character last night.

Don't get me wrong - I'm already itching to get to reading again today - I just think this is interesting.

Goal Review

Goals for the Year:
Lose 12 pounds in 2012.  Weight on 1/1 was 138.8.  Weight on 2/1 was 132.6.  Weight this morning was 133.2.  Not gonna lie: it was a rough month.  If I had had to post my weight 2 weeks ago, I would have been really ashamed.
Read at least 12 books (other than to my child) in 2012.  1 book read in February, bringing the grand total to 5.
Race 12 times in 2012.  No races this year yet but I'm registered for the Woodlands Fun Run 5K on Saturday!  And I signed up for the Bellaire Trolley Run on 3/31.
And I have one other secret 12 goal. 2 more accomplished towards the 12, making the grand total 4.  Yay, me!

Eating Goals for February:
Eat out once a week or less: general success in terms of the weekends with Preston, had an unusual week where 2 good friends came up to work for long lunches, and well, I wouldn't take that back.  I also had 2 unusual weeks where I was stuck in all day meetings (twice each week) where lunch was provided.  Let's just say that whoever ordered lunch wasn't on a diet.  Nothing for it.  Onto March, in which I'll do better!
Don't cook anything massively incompatible with my goals: done.


Financial Goals for February:
Rollover my IRA: paperwork filled out and submitted, waiting for confirmation or instructions.
Start an IRA for Preston: nope.
Start a 529 for Zoe: done, account opened, just need to write the check now.
Get Preston into direct deposit: fail.  Hopefully when he gets un-furloughed.
Get Preston's dues to start automagically deducting: done.
Get the last automatic payment to stop coming out of the credit card account that I want to stop using: fail.
Finished reading Saving for Retirement without Living like a Pauper or Winning the Lottery by Gail Marks Jarvis (love!), and as a result of that, I also: rebalanced both Preston's and my retirement accounts and the ongoing contributions to them.  And I have more goals for next month from a plan that I drew up this month. :-)  Even though I didn't accomplish all of my initial financial goals this month, I made really good progress, and more importantly, I feel interested and empowered after reading that book!


Goals for March:
Continued progress towards 2012 goals.
Keep eating out to a minimum - maximum once a week.
Finances: start IRA for Preston, get Preston into direct deposit, get that last automatic payment off the credit card I want to stop using, get our respective moms off the last 2 of our respective accounts, consolidate assets (from 4 financial firms to 2) and in the process balance our "portfolio" (still really feels weird to say that - isn't that something adults do??), work on a Will.  Oh, and finish taxes!!  (We're like 99% done - we just need to get off our duffs and click submit!)

Benchmark

Last night I ran to my parents' and back with Z in the stroller to check their mail and pick some stuff up.  I ran with the Garmin (my old friend, how I've missed you!) and discovered that their house is .85 miles from mine.  Door to door.  It took me 9:19 minutes to get there.  So there's my benchmark: may it NEVER take that long again.

It took me 9:09 minutes to get home.  But I had to really push the last 4 blocks or so to make that happen!

(What is that - 10:20ish a mile?  With a stroller, that's not too bad!  I was really feeling it, though.)

Other miscellanea:
#2 on the super-secret 12in2012 goal accomplished.
#4 for books read for 12in2012.  The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson was a great read!
Dear Zoë, please start sleeping through the night again.  Mama needs her sleep, even if you don't.
Had a very big cooking day yesterday: corncakes (these taste like cornbread and freeze well and work great for the baby), pudding, quinoa, maple salmon, and Preston did garlicky cream corn, garlic mashed potatoes, mushrooms, and steak.  We've got a ton of leftovers in the fridge!  And only 2 meals left to cook this work week: spaghetti squash (which is easy and also popular with the Z), and frozen pizza on Thursday!  Annnnd I managed to stock 5 yogurts, 3 lunches, and 1 breakfast for the Z's week in daycare, which will make evenings easier as well.
Also: lmao.

12 in 2012: Books 2 and 3 = DONE

On Friday I finished Dragon's Fire by Anne McCaffrey.  I've read almost all of her Pern novels, and I love the series, but this one had gotten past me somehow.  Even better, I found it on my library's Overdrive offerings, so I was able to check it out for 2 weeks for free.  I was a little stressed about having to get through it in 2 weeks, but I got through most of it in breaks and on lunches (ok, and one afternoon because my Mom was in town and offered to take the baby until dinnertime), and I was so absorbed in it by Thursday evening that I knew I was going to "waste" time on Friday reading.  And I did.  And it was glorious!

Then when I was cataloging at work the other day, I ran across a YA novel that caught my attention.  I actually love to read YA novels.  They are great "beach" reads for me - usually 2-4 hours and done, nothing too mentally taxing, just good (good old day) stories.  So Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally became #3.  It was.... meh... but what a great way to waste a Friday!

Other updates:

Aunt Dollie moved into a skilled nursing facility on Saturday.  6 days after we thought she was dying.  The doctor even told her before she left the hospital that he was shocked that she lived.  Seriously.  The woman must be part cat.  Or Energizer Bunny.  Or something.

I'm over the worst of my sickness.  I've been feeling better since Saturday. 

I ran this morning.  It was a really great run.  About 55 degrees, and I just went out the door, ran for 2.75 miles, and back home.  I pushed from the halfway point on, and I really pushed the last few minutes.  I've come to the conclusion that I'm not pushing enough.  I will work to remedy that.

P and Z and I got family pictures taken on Saturday.  I'm so happy that we finally did it, and I'll probably regret not doing it earlier forever.  But at least we finally did it.  I think they came out really well, and am already plotting doing it again with Gaga and Papi, perhaps for Gaga's birthday, which nicely coincides with Z's 18 month birthday.

I have not managed to avoid eating out this month.  I think I've broken down 3 times so far, once when we were out and there was nothing at home and we were all starving, we got PF Chang's take-out, and I got something I knew was relatively healthy/low calorie, once when Aunt Dollie had her heart attack - hospital food, not healthy at all, but what was I going to do?, and once last weekend after we went to see Aunt Dollie, we went to Panda Garden, which has the BEST fried rice EVAR (and is the only Chinese place other than PF Chang's that I know of that doesn't use MSG) and it was sooooooo good and I don't feel guilty at all. :-)

Weight this morning: 133.8.  5 pounds down so far this month!  (And it got as low as 132.0 when I was sick and before I ate Panda Garden nomminess.)