New Year's Resolutions - paleo, movnat, crafts, books, super better and more

I had every good intention of keeping this blog up-to-date over the last year but it just didn't happen.  I am now in a dilemma as to what to do with it to be honest.  It was here for me to keep track on my Permaculture Diploma progress but to be honest I don't even know if I am going to try and get my Diploma anyway.  So I am thinking of just keeping it going as my ramblings about life and where I am heading on my own personal journey.  This journey includes permaculture so that means I can keep the blog title as is and just include other stuff along the way I suppose.

My other dilemma is that my blog doesn't have a specific purpose really such Attic 24's blog which shares her craft techniques and is well worth a visit if you want to do cool crochet things or my Dad's blog which shares his sermons.  My blog is much more stuff that I am doing whilst also teaching me about how to write a blog and add widgets onto the side like I have done here with the flickr pictures and on the left with the google ads widget.  So other than me writing about what I am doing and why and maybe sharing interesting things I have learnt along the way there isn't much more that that really.

Anyway the CKs (my collective name for me, my hubbie Dave and my 2 kids) have had a quiet festive season with a few days seeing family and the rest of the time just chilling about the house.  It was our first Xmas with a real tree which we are now deciding whether to keep for next year or chop and burn in our woodburning stove.

Dave got a planner/thicknesser for Xmas and is busily thinking up things to do with it.  He is designing some furniture for our new kitchen which is due to be started in March - woohoo!! Here is his first piece of planed/thicknessed wood.

Over the last 3 months I have been attending a local Rosemary Conley class.  It is the only weight loss class I would go to because it actually includes a fitness class as part of the fee.  I wanted a kick start to get fitter and have done this class before.  I am combining this with some paleo exercise ideas such as the sprint to lose weight idea which I have put to good use over the last few months using my treadmill and rowing machine.  I have also been looking into natural movement as a way to keep my body in balance.  I would love to do their training course in London in May but will probably just keep watching the you tube videos and incorporating some of the stuff into my every day life.  Chopping wood and moving it around for the fire has really helped but would love to do more.  I am still doing shovel glove movements with my sledgehammer whenever I remember and am sure this is having a positive effect on my muscle density and general fitness levels.  Going to have to buy Dave a sledge hammer of his own now though because he used mine for breaking up tree stumps and broke it (see above.)  I can still use it for my exercises though.  I am also still hula hooping although at the moment there isn't anywhere I can easily practice that is big enough.  The plan is to change the spare room into a gym/exercise room which will give me enough space to hoop to my hearts content.  This is a work in progress though but is getting there as Dave built these new shelves for me to put a TV/DVD player on and to store weights etc (see below in between the rainbow blinds.)  We are getting there slowly.

I have managed to lose half a stone with the Rosemary Conley class but more interesting (and satisfying to me) is that I have lost 3 to 4 inches from my waist, hips and widest parts (as designated by Rosemary Conley.)  One of the fab things that you get when you join a Rosemary Conley class is this tape measure seen here with these fun clips.  You get a big clip which is your starting measurement and then you move the corresponding coloured little clip when you re-measure yourself.  It gives you a fantastic indication of where you have come from size wise and is a much better evidence I think of increased fitness levels and weight lose (via inches) than purely the scales.  You can get one of there magic measures direct from Rosemary Conley here for £3.50.

Anyway I thought I would share my New Year's Resolutions here as another gauge to see how well I do keeping on top of the things I am trying to do.  I have decided to break it down this year so that I have more of a quantifiable set of resolutions so here goes:

Finish 10 crafty projects - with the emphasise here on finish.  I probably have more than 10 unfinished crafty projects already on the go so this should be an easy one to achieve if I can actually keep on top of it.
(To the left is the start of my skywalker shawl that I am doing via one of the craftsy online classes.  These people are well worth a look as they have some great cheap online classes here and you can get money off if you like them via the knitting club on facebook here.)

Read 12 books (and don't buy any more until I have finished at least 12 of the ones I already have.)  Again I probably have at least 12 books I bought this year that I haven't read as yet so again this could be quite easy if I actually manage to stick to it.  I am thinking that I need to pick the 12 books and put them on a shelf somewhere to remind myself that that is my task.

Reach a healthy BMI score which I reckon for my height is 154 pounds which is 11 stone.  Well I am 12 and a half now so that should be doable although a challenge for a chocolate loving, cake loving foody like me but it is always nice to have something to aim for and I told you all now so I will be more likely to stick to it.  I am also using the Super Better website to help me here.  This is well worth a look for anyone who tends to procrastinate or who likes goal setting.  You can set anything as your super better goal and add your own 'bad guys' (things that stop you achieving your goal), add your own 'allies' (friends or family who will help you) and there are quests and boosts and stuff much like in a computer game to help you along the way.  The lady who designed it gives a great TED talk here to explain why she created it and it is free so all good.

I then have a whole set of puzzles that I got years ago as part of one of those weekly subscription magazine deals and I haven't even opened most of them.  I resolve to sort them out so I can keep the ones I want to use as part of my Maths tutoring business and I will get rid of the rest.

There are then other vague ideas like buy a woodland, get the house sorted, de-clutter more, set up my Maths tutoring business, etc., etc., etc. but I will leave those for another blog post I reckon.

Anyway here's to 2013!!