I'm making a list, and checking it twice

I am not in the habit of making new year’s resolutions, mostly on the basis that they are spectacularly unsuccessful. I did read an article in The Age which announced the first ever academic study of the characteristics of successful resolution-keeping, with the observation made that if everyone stuck to the “big five” resolutions* the ramifications for the world’s economies, environment, longevity and the like could be immense.

Of course, having said all that, here is the bit where I become a hypocrite. One of the things I did do was to use moving as an excuse to do a whole heap of things I should have always been doing. It’s been three months since we moved to the country, and in the spirit of program evaluation, let’s see how I’m going….

Goal 1: do more exercise

Well, I’m doing it. Half hour walk each morning, walking or riding to work most days, yoga once a week and 45 minute sessions on the exercise bike about three times a week. I feel a lot healthier and fitter, although I wouldn’t say I’m ready to run a marathon just yet.

Still to do: I think next season (i.e. next summer) I might do my bronze medallion. Well, it’s just an idea at this stage…and all of this is assuming that the exercise “bug” that I have caught doesn’t die. One of the more irritating things about exercise is that people say things like “If you do it for two weeks, it’s a habit”. This is crap. If I do something for two weeks, I can still GIVE IT UP ANY TIME I CHOOSE.

Goal 2: be more environmentally responsible

I sometimes feel like I spend half my bloody life turning off lights, but this has been easier than I thought too. Last weekend we built a compost bin in an abandoned sandpit at the base of our garden. Yesterday heralded the first in the bucketing of water from bath/shower to garden. The only new lights we buy are the eco-globe variety.

Still to do: act a bit more consciously about buying food with less packaging (Grizzlewick not totally on board with this “policy”) replant the major section of our garden with drought resistant plants, buy some additional worms for the compost

Goal 3: get Grizzlewick to try more foods

Lord help me, he’s a fussy one. Of course, if you listen to my mother, I have only myself to blame, being a fussy little sh-t of a child while my sister consumed everything fed to her with a zen-like calm equalled only by the Dalai Lama. BUT the big news is that after two years of absolute refusal, he has now decided that he likes bolognese sauce. Of course, he doesn’t like pasta (I know, what kind of a kid is he?), but the consumption of tomatoes is a major deal in our household.

Still to do: Broccoli?

Goal 4: spend more time with Mr Fix and Grizzlewick

Mission accomplished. I (technically) worked 4 days/week at my old job. Now I work 5 days/week and still have more time with the boys than I did before (mainly because there was a lot of overtime in my old job, much of it unpaid).

Goal 5: spend less/save more

Well, I did buy a new car, and I haven’t exactly paid for it yet. On the other hand, we were driving a museum piece which did not appreciate being pressed into long distance driving, so it’s a vast improvement. I am spending exactly “less than I used to” in order to buy a new car, but I can’t quite manage that extra little bit of savings around the edges.

Goal 6: find some rewarding volunteer work

This is kind of half-done. On one hand, it’s been nice to have a bit of a rest, but on the other hand I’m crazy for the “doing” and I’ve joined up to three Committees that I think will be interesting, but all of them have a limited life-span, which is pretty attractive too.

Still to do: I was having the virtues of a local conservation group touted to me by a friend on the weekend, so it’s probably only a matter of time before something like that happens.


In other years, I would have written “learning to say no” as a goal, but at the moment I’m feeling pretty open with my time and attentions. Hence long-winded, self-indulgent posts about how good everything is.



* quit smoking, diet, exercise more, do my bit for the environment, find a partner