Ahhhh ... it's time for New Years Resolutions

I have been having a think, on my walk with Stella-D, about how my life is shaping up, and what I want to achieve in 2012, since a new year and a new beginning all happens tomorrow.

I have decided I will be best to actually write down everything I do, and then alongside it everything I hope to do.  I think I might find that my biggest problem, along with a lot of people, is that I hope to do too much, so what I really need to do is prioritise what is most important and focus on those things, and then commit any 'spare' time to 'everything' else.

So tonights job will be to create this list, and how I plan to tackle it - month by month - starting, of course, with January!

I shall be back …

And here it is;

What I achieved 2011	What I hope to achieve 2012
Finances Records of daily spending	Finances Records of daily spending Spending within my means Debt free aside from mortgage
Farming Hose out shed most mornings	Farming Hose out shed most mornings Milk four times a week Finances once a week MINDA once a week Blog weekly
Photography Increased sales Good customer service Daily records of finances	Photography Increase profile and sales Excellent customer service Daily records of finances Increase skills Exhibition in Winter Thorough backups and records of photos Make a file of outstanding photos
House and Garden House cleanish and tidyish Flower garden planted and mostly weeded Vegetable garden partly planted and mostly weeded	House and Garden House on a cleaning schedule Flower garden weeded weekly Vegetable garden weeded weekly Vegetable garden harvested when required Berry garden birdproofed Flower and vegetable seedlings ready in continuous manner
Friends and Family Reconnected with Carmen Reconnected with Heather	Friends and Family More proactive with birthdays Phone Mum and Dad monthly Dinner monthly with Trent Lunch monthly with Trent Movies with Thelma Email contact with Manda, Heather
Personal Quit my job, less stress Got engaged Got accepted as foster parents Walk Stella-D twice a day	Personal Connect more with God Get fit and healthy Stop watching so much TV Read more books Expand breakfast/lunch/dinner menus Walk Stella-D twice a day Blog weekly

January 2012

Finances

Pay all bills in full, work out total debt or credit

Work out average weekly income from photography business

Work out average weekly expenses (including rental house)

Construct a budget to live within my means

Farming

Milk twice a week

Hose out most mornings

Get MINDA up-to-date

Read newspapers daily for weekly blog

Photography

Mark all events for January in calendar

Daily records of finances

Outstanding January photos to file

Study one chapter of Photography book

House and Garden

Follow cleaning schedule

One day a week vegetable garden weeding

One day a week flower garden weeding

One day (a month) seeds into punnets

Bird netting for raspberries

Friends and Family

Note all January birthdays

Go to Manda’s leaving

Email Thelma about movies

Email Heather to see how Christmas and New Year went

Work out what day of yearling sales to go to with Carmen

Julies wedding - 07th

Personal

Read Bible 5 minutes a day (starting anywhere)

12 week plan starts 16 January

Treat food - small amount twice a week

Walk Stella-D twice a day

Read Skywatch and select movies/programmes that I REALLY want to watch, write down day and time

Watch 1 x cooking programme a week for fresh ideas on what to make for meals

Read 1 x recipe book for fresh meal ideas

Blog weekly x fitness and general blog

Hens 'day'

My friend 'crazy Julie' had her hens day today (she is around 6 months pregnant, so a night was never going to be).  We started off at St. Beads, where we got to make beaded jewellery.  I made two bracelets for my nieces (and I wish I had taken photos as I quite liked them).  It was a tonne of fun, but a wee bit expensive (well what I made was, didn't have to be) so I had to stop myself after making the two, as I was about to go on and make myself something it was so much fun.  We then went for lunch at an old fashioned tea rooms.  Wasn't overly impressed - I had water, jug no glass so I poured it into my tea cup ('clean' - I don't drink tea or coffee) and it had nice dust floaties in it, my scone with jam and cream was $5.50 (wasn't that big, but very tasty).  After lunch we went to Bluewater Hotel and played mini-golf, which was a lot of fun (I was terrible, but it was still fun).  

I decided to come home after mini-golf.  The girls were just going for a drink, and since I am trying to quit soft drinks, and I don't drink alcohol, I didn't see the point.  So I came home, via Scotts Berry Farm, whereby I drove home while consuming a rather large punnet of strawberries - much better for me than McD's I figured, so all good!

Of course, since I had made the girls something I then had to go and buy C something, so he didn't miss out.  I bought him a book that had slide windows in it, which he currently loves, and it went down a treat.  He loved getting more presents a few days after Christmas.

Tonight I went around to my sisters, after tea at Mum and Dads, to give them all their Christmas pressies, and T's birthday pressie.  I felt a bit stink as sis had a friend with her two kids there, and I didn't have gifts for them, but I let them open the ones for sis and partner, so that worked out ok.  I didn't stay long as I am in a bit of a confrontational, opinionated mood and I didn't want to ruin their day by being a nag.  And speaking of being opinionated ...

I wrote a very long email to a 'farmer hater' today.  You can read it here at The Joys Of Farming.  I can be a little 'aggressive' so I ran it by my slightly cooler headed mother first.  She seemed to think it was ok.  I thought of a couple of changes I could have made after I sent it, but a bit late now.  Unfortunately (due to the out of office reply I got) it only goes to the manager, so I hope it gets passed on, once they get back to work, on the 9th of January (farmers should be so lucky to get such a decent break!)  It will be interesting if I get a response, and the kind of response I get.  I believe that, while I made it fairly clear I thought David Trubridge was a hypocrite and highly insulting, I was also polite.

Almost bedtime, but while I am still up - I am glad they have arrested someone over the brutal bashing of a 5 year old tourist in a holiday park here in NZ.  Saddened that he is only 16, but he obviously has some serious issues!  You can read that article here

I need to learn to focus

I was thinking today, about how I am currently involved in another obsession, and how it makes me fantasize about what I could be doing.  I googled a girl who was in my sisters class at school, who prepares thoroughbred yearlings for the sales, and she is now doing it very successfully, because I thought that that would be something I would like to get involved in.  Correction - I thought that that would be something ELSE I would like to get involved in.  And I realised, while walking the dog this evening, that I could and should have been successful at something BUT for the fact I flip flop from one idea to the next, I never, ever fully commit myself to anything, and once I am bored with the latest thing, I begin on another.

The trouble is I have been like this for as long as I can remember, except when a child.  When I was a child I was soley focused on all things horses.  I read horse books.  I rode horses.  I had horse pictures and ornaments.  And when I think back now, I really don't know why I gave it up.  Maybe I grew out of it.  Maybe my friends became more important than my horse.  Maybe, because my parents told me I could not have a job when I left school with horses, as I would never make any money,  I just no longer saw the point.  After the horse obsession came the photography obsession.  I took rolls and rolls and rolls of film.  I had my own darkroom set-up.  I spent hours upon hours in darkrooms, including my lunch hours at school.  And why did I not pursue this?  Too scared of failure.  Money.  And again my parents did not allow me to study photography at Elam school of Arts (Mum said it was dodgy).

So what has happened since I left school.  I went to University and studied psychology, then changed to biology, then back to psychology.  Then I left and mucked around for too long.  Then I finally went to polytechnic and studied photography for 6 months.  I struggled financially for the 6 months so did not bother to apply for the year course that followed.  I then worked in photo labs for a while.  Then I did a conservation course, and then went back to University and studied Science, with a major in Conservation and Ecology (I finally got my bachelors).  I then worked for Dept. of Conservation, Ruapehu Alpine Lifts, Buddle Findlay Law Firm, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, a couple of information centres, Fonterra, and now I am self employed.

During this time I also lived in the Waikato, Wellington, back to Waikato, Queenstown, back to Waikato, Hawke's Bay, Canterbury, Hawke's Bay, Central Plateau, Auckland, Hawke's Bay, and now Taranaki.  I actually do love moving around, but it does mean that I have no super close friends.

I actually think my lifestyle might stem from being unhappy, well actually not unhappy just permanently un-content - I always think something else is better.  I keep thinking, if I do THIS I will finally be content.  And I do it, but I get bored and it's not how I pictured it so I think, if I do THAT I will finally be content.  And I think, if I do that I am so going to do this and this and this and be this person that I really want to be.  And I never am.  I end up being a lazy ass and not applying myself and coasting along and not being as good as I could be.

And so my latest obsession is horse racing.  And so I fantasize about either owning a racehorse or breeding for sales, or preparing other peoples for sales, or owning a stallion and having stud fees.  And I have been watching the racing channel, and listening to the races, and betting on the races (very small amounts, but that adds up when you are doing it obsessively!)  But when I think about it, I also want to be a successful dairy farmer, and expand that business, and possibly breed top rate cows.  And then I want my photography business to expand.  Not to mention children ….. I just sometimes wish my mind would slow down!

Ack, I just think I need to write a(nother) list, and try and get my priorities sorted, and then each time I get sidetracked (and I get seriously sidetracked to the point nothing else gets done, like at the moment, nothing gets done as I am too busy watching racehorses and googling horse studs and trainers and trying to see if there are any jobs out there) …. ooops SEE, each time I get sidetracked I should go and read my list and refocus myself and remember what my goals are.

I shall get onto it now!