Things to Come, 2013

(1) This year, I will unpack. Completely, fully, with organization. I never unpacked at my last house and there are things I missed. Some have already been freed in my new location. My landlord sucks, which can inspire back peddling, but I hope to make peace with one another and be able to stay here for at least 3 years.

(2) Use, use, use my Mexican food cookbook. Make at least 10 new recipes :).

(3) Pay off my student loan. I owe 1405.88. After interest, that might be $1465.88. A range is fairer to me than an absolute elimination. Thus, I'll say that by December 2013, I will owe no more than $310. That means I would have eliminated about 75% of that debt. I explored this topic at 43things

(4) Own less stuff. I'm not really sure how this looks but moving (again) showed me that I have a bunch of stuff. Most ppl don't have this much; why do I? Often, packing helps me see what things to shed. This time, it did not. Before the move, I mentally established the modest goal of getting rid of 60 things in 2013 onward-- 5 things per month on average. That's a minimum. I need less. I need to get rid of more. 365 items seems like an intimidatingly large commitment but maybe not. Somewhere between 100 & 365 for 2013?

(5) Get my health in better shape. There's fibromyalgia, fibromyalgia, fibromyalgia. Then there's fitness. These past 6 months have been much worse than many 6 month periods. I'm trying a new medication (Savella), been referred to aquatherapies, and am reapproaching yoga (stopping is probably one of my worse mistakes thus far). I once said that I refuse to allow fibromyalgia to steal my life. It's been gaining more ground than I prefer so this year I am changing that.

(6) Learn to eat in a way respectful to my body, particularly as it relates to delayed food sensitives

(7) Do not increase the number of medications I take. Decrease my total of pills by at least one at year's end. This goal sounds mild but note that my doctor has me on 3 additional pills per day compared to what I was taking a month ago and has another on standby  Really, I think I'm trying to get off a blood pressure med, not be put back on cholesterol med, and not have Prilosec become a daily norm. More than get off of meds, I want to not increase despite being on the verge of that.

(8) Be a photographer/craftster for the year. Learn photoshop, Build my website (http://photosbyamy.weebly.com/). Build a kickstarter account to raise funds for a good and functional camera. Participate in 6 art fairs. Participate in photo club. Build some skills. Lets see what happens. I can put out another $700 with no or little return or I can see products move (though probably not enough to earn everything I put out in year 1 of seriousness).

(9) Be a better steward of my money. Actually balance my checking account regularly-- track weekly/biweekly. Balance quarterly. It's enough for me.

(10) Lose some weight. My mom's pain increases when she gains weight. Dr. Steven Murphree once stated I would hurt less if I weighed less. Without mom's testimony it sounds silly but why not give it a try? I'll set a modest 12lb goal by my 31st (6-30-13). Shockingly (to me), I just opened my journal and learned that I've gained 25 lbs since Jan. 2010. For those of you that actually see me, do you see that 25lbs gained? Wow! SMH.

(11) Recycled from Jan 2012: "Put forth more effort to find a spiritual home. 24 attempts minimal." Okay, 20. Slight change from last year.

(12) Read a book about money, finances, etc. I once heard that wealthy people do and decided I should too. This is the year to put money where my mouth is.

(13) Scrapbook. I like the idea of it, I never achieve the goal of getting it done. I'm thinking about starting a meetup group for scrapbooking. I worry about trying to find time to craft for a side gig and "Craft" in scrapbooking. More specifically, I am trying that scrapbook one week of your life idea I saw on pinterest. This is the week.

(14) Write out a 5 year plan. My old plan ended yesterday. There are areas where I missed the mark but the basic premise of that plan did influence what was constantly on my mind.

(15) Keep A1C at or below 6.5. It's a constant goal of mine though my new doc wants it at a 6.0. I guess I can aim for 6.3

(16) Get my first tattoo. I wrote that for 2011 but here it is 2 years later. It's time to get some of these reoccurring items off the list.

(17) Redistribute TSP funds (retirement money)

(18) Do some training in reading others. A microexpression online training? Read Bodytalk? Something.

(19) Shoot a gun; take a class. Oddly enough, this goal began to form after a dream about me as a landlord....

(20) Evaluate these goals and my progress regularly, no less than once a quarter.