jan 08 progress summary

x-posted to firstredmoon

whee, it's the end of january!

Completed

2.brush my teeth twice a day for 30 days in a row

well! my teeth don't look any different because they were quite clean to begin with, so i don't have a picture for you, but there it is! i am definitely in the habit now, and i will continue this as it's become part of my routine, like i hoped it would. hurrah!

5.do yoga once a day for 30 days

i never got a picture of myself doing yoga so no picture for this one, either. doing yoga has become part of my morning routine, so i'll probably continue it, only i'd like to get to a class as soon as i'm well enough as i've been doing the same stale poses on and off for about 6 years now, so i should get some new ones!

53.Work out why we use twice the amount of water here than a normal 3-person household (could be a leak)

completed this in week two or three, our toilets are old and use about 5L of water for every full flush, and our shower fixtures are old too - we live in an old house and still have much of the old plumbing. we're going to replace all the showerheads with water-saving ones, and we've started the weird and wonderful practice of only flushing every now and again. eventually we'll get the toilets replaced, but there are a lot of things going on at the moment, so it won't be now. our water heater is probably up too high but i can't seem to convince my mother that turning it down is a good idea (if the water is less hot to begin with, we won't have to waste cold water getting it down to a temperature we can shower under). i'm rather hampered in my water saving by living with my mum, but oh well. i do what i can.



56.cull possessions down to only 100 things (within reason)

gave away this stuff and i'm feeling the better for it, and hopefully someone can use it:



60.read the newspaper (or at least skim the headlines) 21 out of 30 days

this was a really good one to do. it was great to know what was going on, both in melbourne and the world, but it was also interesting to see how much time and energy reading the paper requires. i don't think i'll keep this as part of my routine, rather i'll glance at the age online as part of my afternoon routine and put a 20 minute limit on it. i'll also watch the sbs news on tv.

well, 5 down, and 96 to go! i think that's pretty good for the first month of year 1. if i keep completing 5 things every month (which is unlikely as i have a lot of items that take a lot of time) i'll be finished in 20 months. i think i'd rather not finish early, so i guess it's good that i have a lot of items that will take a long time.

In progress

8.keep a daily food journal for at least 6 months
9.keep a daily exercise journal for at least 6 months

this has gone well through january, i think i've missed one day or so only.

15.take my medication on time as much as possible

this has gone largely well also!

19. Try out the FlyLady system

this has definitely gone well. and here are a lot of before and after pictures of what i've achieved this month:

argh !! no !! i didn't upload them to my computer but thought i had so i deleted them off my camera ! waaaa ! oh well, take my word for it. everything is tidy and my bed is made and it's pretty well glorious. nothing is exactly clean, though, so i can't really just take an after picture because it doesn't look like much. i've been putting off much of the cleaning aspect of the system as i'm still too unwell for anything resembling elbow grease. oh well. in the next couple of months anyway. at least nothing is filthy, and we have a cleaning lady once a fortnight who vacuums and cleans the bathroom, so i guess that's ok.

31.keep a penpal for at least a year

still waiting on a letter (no pressure to the lovely letter-writing lady, who may be reading this!!), but the letter is at least a thought in her mind, so i think it's in progress :D

33.save 10% of my income for at least 1001 days and put in ING savings account

have put in $60 total, i think. which is not much, but it'll be over a grand by the end of things, and that's quite good. no idea what i'll spend it on yet. i've never had a grand together in my life.

38.do not rack up any fines

i managed to blow this sometime in mid-january, so i have reset it. so far so good, i returned a library book on time today.

40.get 4 pieces of writing published

i just posted some screen caps of emails from harvest mag (they're going to publish a story of mine, yay!) in my last progress report, so i won't repost them here. i sent through an electronic copy of the story for them to edit.

46.photograph and write a little about every cat I meet in the street (or most cats anyway) in 1001 days, and every notable cat while volunteering. Make a zine of this (or a few.. I tend to meet a lot of cats).

well, yes. my cat sense is as good as ever (i can even sense cats on balconies when i'm driving past in the car!) but i often see them at night, and i'm not very good at taking photos, so i'm resetting this one and turning it into taking a video of each cat i meet, and writing a bit about them (except where i can take a photo like once i volunteer at a cat shelter), and making a blog instead of a zine. so look out for the link for that.

59.every time I do something I’m proud of, include evidence of it in my ‘success book’

this has been going strong, though it's turned into a success/things in progress/life organisation book, which i have no problem with. here's entirely too many pictures of the success book:



it's basically just a display book with a clear front cover, and it lives on my writing desk with my planner, as you can see. that's my personal mission statement (a la 7 habits of highly effective people) in the front.



then i put in a photocopy of the picture and title that goes with the only thing i've ever had published, plus a newspaper article i found about the collection it was published in.



then there's my acceptance letter for my naturopathy degree course, which i'm due to start at the end of this month. -hyperventilation-



and these are my morning, afternoon and evening routines, which now need to be altered to fit my feb 08 plan, which i'll post straight after this entry.



then there's a healthy eating pyramid and other healthy eating stuff.



and goals written in giant cursive.



and a copy of my 101 list, plus the 1001 books to read before you die list.

62.stop keeping dirty plates in my room

i've been pretty good about this! nothing has stayed up here for more than a few hours.

63.put things away after I finish with them as much as possible

this has been a natural consequence of following flylady.

65.do my drycleaning at least once every three months

did my drycleaning once, and forgot to take a picture of it.

67.faithfully use my cloth pads for one year

didn't use any plastic pads this month.

73.grow my hair long (only trims allowed)

haven't even had a trim yet, though i think i'm due for one.

74.get new carpet upstairs

the carpet people are coming to do the work on thursday, hurrah!

75.dye my tired white tops each summer

haven't had enough energy to do any actual dyeing, but i did buy some fuschia pink dye, so we'll see how that goes.

91.read 20 books per year

so far i've read these books:







92.round out my capsule wardrobe (buy 3 pairs of shoes including a pair of boots, another coat, 2 more jumpers, 2 more autumn/winter tops, 1 short jacket, 3 more summer tops, 2 more scarves, 1 more warm hat)

bought two summer tops and a pair of shoes.

99. take photos to commemorate as many completed items as possible

that's why i've been so crazy in this post about pictures :D

hurrah ! i'm feeling pretty pleased with myself. i think this was a pretty solid effort and 101 things has given new meaning, intensity and joy to my life, and it's only the first month!