So it's been a week and how have I done? Well, I didn't give up fiction completely, but I've scaled waaaaay back. So much so that when I went to the library and looked in the fiction stacks, nothing looked interesting. I left. Yay! Definite progress.

I went out with an old friend tonight whom I haven't seen for seven months or so. It was great to see her. She's definitely going to be one of the three (or more) friendships I will develop this year. Even better, she and a friend of hers will be taking a belly dancing class and I'm going to join them! Two birds with one stone. :)

Also this week, I started to read the Book of Mormon chapter headings. It's so fast! I thought it would take hours and hours, but it will only take hours. Get it? Ha!....ha...okay, not that funny. But seriously folks, it should only take two hours max. Probably quite a bit less. I'm not doing it in one day, but I am doing it.... Progress.

Baby steps.

More things I'd like to do this year:

1. Turn my bedroom from a storage unit into a relaxation oasis.
2. Use or get rid of stored furniture.
3. Sell, donate, or throw away unused items, including clothing.
4. Restore the exterior of the house.
5. Take a class on building houses.
6. Volunteer with Habitat for Humanity at least 3 times.
7. Take a drawing class.
8. Take a belly dancing class.
9. Read all the Book of Mormon chapter headings in one day.
10. Build a dog house or shed (to learn and practice stick framing).
11. Install a recessed light (to learn and practice electrical skills).
12. Master 10 classic recipes. Not sure what they are yet. ;)
13. Speed read the Book of Mormon in one month.
14. Reduce my regular monthly expenses to half my monthly net income.
15. Buy a reading chair. How many years have I wanted one???
16. Finish Grandma Barrus' memory book.
17. Take a class on auto mechanics (maintenance and repair).
18. Collect one year's worth of food storage.
19. Master 10 recipes on cooking with food storage.
20. Create a list of needed emergency items, and prioritize it.
    
21. Collect emergency supplies highest priority emergency supplies.
22. Learn how to bake bread.
23. Record every cent spent for a month.
24. Give up sugar for a month. This includes all items where sugar is one of the top 3 ingredients.
25. Get 8 hrs of sleep for a month.
26. Train the dogs to walk on a leash without pulling me every which way.
    

So what shall I do today? My first thought this morning was to grab and novel and start reading. It was not easy to avoid that temptation, but I have thus far escaped fiction's grasping hands. Okay, here's the plan:

• I really need to work on fitness daily if I'm to achieve the body fat percentage and other health related goals. So I'm going to cycle 3 miles today.
  
• Later today I'm going to work on finishing the front room remodeling. Even if we can't finish the baseboard today I can still work on cleaning the walls and caulking the crown molding.
• Go grocery shopping for next week. Spend no more than $30.
• Draw!
  

In Which Alyson Decides to Get a Life

Have you ever looked back on your life and wondered how you spent your time? I have years like that. Yes, years where I have few memories and little record of what occurred. True, I have a terrible memory and haven't owned a camera in more than a decade, but it's still a sad statement. So I have decided to take the plunge and do all the things I always meant to do.

My goal is to do 100 new things this year. Yep, that's one roughly every three days. I don't have a complete list right now, but here are some ideas:

1. Reduce my body fat to 18%.
2. Squat my body weight.
3. Do 1 full pull-up.
4. Cycle 50 miles in one day.
5. Hike 10 miles in one day.
6. Write and distribute a computer program that fills a need.
7. Write and sell an iPhone application.
8. Grow a garden during the winter (possibly just tomatoes and some herbs).
9. Pay off student loans.
10. Landscape the yard into a beautiful oasis.
11. Achieve excellence in drawing. Not sure how to measure this.
12. Develop a TNT (tried 'n true) pants pattern.
13. Develop a TNT T-shirt pattern. Surprisingly difficult....
14. Develop a TNT blouse pattern.
15. Train the dogs to sit, stay, and come.
16. Reach my kids in Primary. They zone out, and I don't blame them. I'm a boring teacher!
17. Finish remodeling the living room.
18. Remodel the main bathroom.
19. Remodel the kitchen.
20. Read no fiction for one year. The first and only "do not" of this list, but this is the main reason I don't live my own life--I'm too busy reading about others' (fictional) lives!
21. Create set of Primary games.
22. Attend every temple in Utah.
23. Learn to knit.
24. Bike to work every day for a month.
25. Go to all major tourist sites in Utah.
1. Antelope Island
2. Brigham Young's home
3. This is the Place State Park
4. Moab
5. Copper mine
6. Lake Powell
7. Goblin Valley
8. Escalante
9. Zion's National Park
10. Uintah Mtns
    
26. Take a downhill skiing lesson.
27. Go cross-country skiing.
28. Go snow-shoeing.
29. Get flexible enough to wrap my hands around my feet.
30. Re-read the Book of Mormon.
31. Read Jesus the Christ by Bruce R. McConkie.
    
32. Re-read the New Testament.
33. Do yoga 3 times a week for a month.
34. Play racquetball 3 times a week for a month.
35. Learn to swim the breaststroke.
36. Take 3 singing lessons.
    
37. Get certified by Toastmasters. (Ha! I went once and was so awful that I cried on the way home.)
    
38. Learn to mingle.
    
39. Attend 3 social events and practice my mingling skills.
    
40. Use coupons for 1 month on every grocery shopping trip.
41. Learn to dance socially. That is, learn to dance so that I can go to a club or a party and not feel like a fool.
    
42. Cook 3 recipes from every cookbook I own.
43. Learn to flirt.
44. Read every book I own (non-fiction), or get rid of it.
45. Return everything I've borrowed.
46. Fulfill all promises I've made.
1. Aunt's pictures
2. Karen's daugher's photo
47. Sew 1 item per Burda or Ottobre sewing magazine that I have.
48. Sew 1 item per pattern that I own, or get rid of it.
49. Budget before every paycheck in advance, and use the envelope system.
50. Write a novel.
51. Change the oil in a car.
52. Learn the basics of how a car operates and what the main components are.
53. Learn to replace a faucet.
54. Learn to tile.
55. Sew all fabric that I currently own and that I'll buy this coming year, or get rid of it.
56. Learn to tune up my own bicycle.
57. Contact all brothers at least once a week (phone, email, text, etc).
58. Develop 3 friendships this year.
59. Go visiting teaching every month this year.
60. Re-learn how to ride a motorcycle.
    

That is quite a list. I was intending to go for 100 items, but I think it's already nearly impossible. I can't wait to start!