Time to Review....

It's that time of year when I let you know how I did on my New Year's Resolutions for 2015...
and here is something that is very important for you to understand before we start that even if I do not totally achieve a specific Resolution, I do not in any way consider it a failure.

There is learning in the journey, not just in reaching the destination, and sometimes the errors and mistakes and missteps teach you more than the easy achievement.

I consider my life one that is always in progress.  I always want to learn, push myself and just keep trying.

Since I made these a year ago, here is a recap if you want to read it...  2015 Resolutions

#1.  Celebrate more...

       This started out good and well intentioned.  I joined an art group that I now can not imagine not being a part of.  I found my rowing club.  I attended things that I probably would not of attended, but then it sort of twisted on me...
       Sometimes you need to say no...  Saying yes when you are overbooked and overwhelmed is not a good thing.  This resolution reminded me once again that BALANCE is the key to life.  Saying yes to things that enrich and bring joy to your life is a very good thing, but don't say yes because you feel you should.

#2.  Exercise with the intention of Love, not Fear.

       I maintained my weight this year, and if you are reading this blog and are in my life, you know that there have been some major upheavals, grief, accident for another family member, and health issues this year.  I listened to my body and some activities that I used to do, I no longer do and some activities that I had never done before are now joys in my life.  I am not perfect with this, but I do feel there has been a MAJOR shift in my thinking.

#3.  Twice a month get my camera out.

      Total hit and miss with this.....  I did well some months and not so well others.  I did come up with plans of taking the pictures, but sometimes did not make it out to do it.  Need to keep going on this....

#4.  Do a Money Savings Challenge.

      I had to completely redo my plan on this one.  I laid it out here, and revamped it here, and in the end did not do a spectacular job on this one.  I had a lot of unexpected expenses this year, travel and medical, that made this VERY hard to do, but on the other hand I did not add to my debt in this year and paid some others off.  I have this set up to continue in 2016, so I believe I am on the right track.

#5.  Get the piano tuned and find a piano teacher.

       See above, but I have an appointment during January and have found a teacher.  My piano is in such bad shape that it is going to take more money than I initially planned.  I am now very excited to get this done, and play once again.

#6.  Do a Reading Challenge.

       LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this resolution!  I finished as documented in my 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarter book reports.  I will be doing another reading challenge in 2016.

#7.  Cross more items off my Bucket List.

       I didn't do the ones I thought, but still made progress.  I learned to row and still do it!  I visited a psychic (weird but cool).  I finished watching the top 100 movies, some of which I will never see again.  I did some personal ones that I never mentioned on here.  Life is a journey and this year's journey kept me close to home, but hopefully travel will come back in 2016.

#8.  Don't let things sit.

     I dealt with things I had no clue I was going to have to deal with and I did.  It wasn't easy, but it was easier than letting it build and explode.  This will always be a work in progress thing for me as I still seem to struggle when expressing myself when I am really emotional to get the right words out.

#9.  Journal consistently

    My journaling changed dramatically this year by introducing Art Journaling into the mix.  I could tell what was really going on emotionally by the type of art I was doing.  I still wrote periodically, both here and on paper, but art took the stage this year.  My one regret is that I let my Gratitude Journal get out of practice, but I am currently getting that back on track.

Here's to another year of trying new things and working on myself...
and yes, 2016 resolutions are on their way.

Melissa

K.I.S.S.

(I just realize I never posted this after I wrote this in May...oops)


In the 9th grade, my science teacher was Mr. Browning.  On the first day of class, as we walked in, we all noticed something written on the board....

 Keep

 It

 Simple

 Stupid

Not the greatest confidence builder since it implied we were stupid, but it has proven time and time again to be worth while life motto and reminder.

Why am I bringing it up now?  Well, it has to do with a New Year's Resolution I set up.  Ironically, it was the repeat of last year.....the Savings Challenge, written about here...

It has proven to be a very time consuming and obnoxious process, and too complicated for success.

So, I am revamping and making it simple.

$25 a week.....

Lesson Learned.
Melissa

Community....

In the past couple of weeks, I have come to realize what an amazing community of people I have in my life.

Some I see regularly,
Others not so much.

Some I talk to a lot,
Others randomly.

In the morning,
In the afternoon,
In the night,
Really all hours of the day....

In Person,
On the phone,
Text Messages,
Facebook,
Emails,
and every other form of communication you can think of.

I just want to say THANK YOU!!!  and I hope that I am there for you too.

I have been asked a question quite a bit lately and I have had a hard time answering it, but you have done it just the same.

"What can I do to help?"

You have held me in your love and support, and that is what I have needed.

Now that grief has lessened its initial grip, I have some things that I would like to suggest.  Some will be hard while others easier, but they are all important to me...

1.  This is a doozy, so I am going to start with this:
     Talk to your parents/spouses/significant others about end of life care.
When my Dad brought up what the subject for the first time, I balked.  I didn't want to talk about it, but he asked me to stay and it ended up being (believe it or not) a beautiful conversation.  Be honest.  Be accepting.  And realize this very important fact, if you talk to 10 people, you will get 10 very different decisions and wishes and they are all OK.   The conversation that I had with my Dad and the ones that he had with everyone else in the family made it so we KNEW what to do and there were no discussions and indecisions about what to do.  It strangely made it easier.....

2.  This is a practical one....
      Airlines have eliminated their Bereavement fares.
I have immediate family in 2 states separated by the majority of the continent.  Death/illness/accidents do not come with a 14 day advance warning.  Airfare purchased the day of is EXPENSIVE!!!!  Set aside some money for airfare if you are like me and have family far from you.  I had started a fund after the October health scare, but did not have near enough.  I was helped out by a friend who works with an airline, and if I did not have that option, family would of helped out.  Don't let financial issues keep you from being there.  I know money is tight, but trust me, family, especially in hard times is worth everything.

3.  Accept your emotions as they come.
    I have ugly cried.
    I have laughed.
    I have felt this is just weird.
    I have ached.
    I have been sentimental.
    I have been numb.
    I have had no appetite.
    I have been oh, so tired.
 
    and it is ok.  I am on the very strange journey of grief.

4.  Accept support when it is offered.
     If you are like me, and fairly independent, this may be a little hard.  People, who love you, just want to help in any way they can.  The support will be from expected and unexpected sources.   Accept that this is a time you are in need.

5.  Please know that I will be there for you....
    One of the greatest gifts of all of this is the firm knowledge that I have AMAZING people in my life who love and support me.  I feel the same about you.


The words that demanded to be put down are gone, so I will end this here.....

Feeling secure in my community,
Melissa

What? How? I'm confused....

I am asking you to bear with me on this one....

for my Money Savings Challenge resolution I once again went to Pinterest and got an idea, but I kept reading reviews that it had some flaws, so I decided to tweak it.

It's the 52 week Savings Challenge where the original plan is to put $1 in week one, $2 in week two, $3 in week three, and so on and so on......culminating with $52 in week 52.  With a Grand Total of $1378.00.

You do not have to be a math whiz to figure out that in the month of December, you are going to be putting just about $200 in savings.  

The success rate for this did not seem that high......

But I liked the idea of putting money away every week, so I thought about my options.

Option #1.  Save $26 week and still end up with $1352.00

  

Option #2.  Save every week, but have a low month, then have a high month and end up with $1378.00 and maybe a little more

I'm choosing option 2....and it will look like this...

Week 1 $1                                       Week  18  $10                             Week 36   $20

          2 $2                                                  19  $11                                       37  $36

          3 $3                                                  20  $12                                       38  $35

          4 $4                                                  21  $44                                        39  $34

          5 $52                                                22  $43                                        40  $33

          6 $51                                                23 $42                                        41  $21

          7 $50                                                24  $41                                       42  $22

          8 $49                                                25  $13                                       43  $23

          9 $5                                                  26  $14                                       44  $24

        10 $6                                                  27  $15                                       45  $32

        11 $7                                                  28  $16                                       46  $31

        12 $8                                                  29  $40                                       47  $30

        13 $48                                                30  $39                                       48  $29

        14 $47                                                31  $38                                       49  $25

        15 $46                                                32  $37                                       50  $26

        16 $45                                                33  $17                                       51  $27

        17  $9                                                 34  $18                                       52  $28

                                                                   35  $19

I promise there is a logic to this....

On odd numbered months, you build... 1,2, 3,4....

And on even numbered months it decreases 52, 51, 50, 49,.....

It ends up with some very easy months and a couple of heavy saving months, but they are spread out. 

I hope to add extra on the light months and actually be ahead at the end of the year.

I also wanted to challenge myself on those $200 months and see if it is realistic in addition to my other savings that I do.

The plan for this money...

If everything stays on track and I do as planned financially this year, I will take half and add it to my Emergency fund and the other half will go towards travel/season tickets/fun for 2016. 

Save on...

Melissa

2015 Resolutions!

Yep, I'm doing it again....

Resolutions...
I have defended them,
I have completed them,
and I have left some incomplete,
but still I resolve.

In 2015,
I make resolutions to....

1.  Celebrate more!!
      People, not just on Birthdays or major events, but on Tuesday just cause...  Events, I said no a lot last year, for no reason.  Saying yes is a positive thing and I want and need more positivity in my life.  So if you ask, and if I can and I am able, I am IN!  And if I can find other ways to celebrate life, I'm going to do it.  This resolution was inspired by a quote I've been seeing a lot lately...
                    Until further notice, Celebrate EVERYTHING!!

2.  Exercise with the intention of Love, not Fear.
     If you read my 2014 Resolution Recap, you know why I am doing this...It is a simple concept that I have recently embraced and want to keep going.

3.  Twice a month (minimum) get my camera out and take pictures.
     I have a tendency only to use my camera when I am on vacation.  My photography will improve by shooting more and just as important, I love spending time with my camera.  The city that I live in is beautiful and I need to document my view of it....and so are the people and animals that inhabit it.

4.  Do a Money Savings Challenge.
    Redo from 2014, I had no plan last year, but I do now and it's a twist of a popular one seen on both Facebook and Pinterest.  I will be doing a post on my plan in the next week or so to explain....

5.  Get the piano tuned and then find a piano teacher and start taking lessons again.
     Throughout 2014, I began to miss playing the piano consistently.  When I was playing, it was a great stress reliever.  I had certain pieces that I would play when I was upset or frustrated and I would take it out on the keys and pour my passion into it.  The piano in my house has been left alone for years, and if you know pianos, they need and loved to be played to stay healthy.  I, first, need to come up with funds to get my piano happy again, and then I want to take lessons and play again.  I miss the joy of playing a new piece.  I also want to see if by being a little older, my fear of playing in public will of lessened or if I will need to overcome that as well....

6.  Do a Reading Challenge.
     I am a voracious reader.  I read a lot.  I mean A LOT.  Having said that, it does not mean I have been reading great novels or a wide variety of books.  I have fallen into a lazy reading pattern and with this challenge will break out of it.  I found my challenge on Pinterest, of course I did you are thinking, and will be doing a post with categories and my planned books, but if you don't want to wait for it, here is a link to my Pinterest post, 2015 Book Challenge.

7.  Cross more Items off my BucketList.
    Yes, more National Parks will be visited in 2015, but I am also planning on some of the more service oriented items as well.

8.  Don't Let Things Sit (emotions, projects, or you name it).  Stay in the PRESENT.
     When I deal with things immediately, I do well..
     If I let them fester, I don't....
    I need to stay in the PRESENT, not the past, and not thinking about a future that I can not control.
    For the projects, working until completion and enjoy the process....

9.  Journal consistently, at least twice a month.
     When I journal, I deal with things immediately...(see above)
     I also just get it out of my head, so my mind quiets.
    I plan to do traditional journaling, journaling with questions to guide, and SoulCollage cards.
    During my Yoga retreat, every afternoon, I hung out in a hammock and journaled and I began to feel better....and I realized how much I needed journaling in my life.

Another long list, but once again, it just feels right.
Here we go 2015.
Melissa