Resolve for 2012 (A Mama Kat Writing Prompt)

This week, random.org recommended that I write about Mama Kat prompt number two: Quick! Your in laws will be at your house in two hours. What will you feed them out of what you have on hand? The thing is, my inlaws are over a lot and my husband is a pretty good cook, so that wasn't as challenging as number five: What are your resolutions for 2012 and what happened to your resolutions of the past?

I usually pick three resolutions/goals for each year. So far, I have one. It is a carryover goal which I did not achieve in 2011 -- running a 5K in less than 30 minutes. More on that here.

I don't know what the other two will be. I need to put a little more thought into it and actually plan to attend a meditation session to get a little clarity on this.

Part of the prompt asks for outcomes of previous year's goals. Therefore, a report card of sorts:

Here are the 2010 goals:

Guatemala happened. It didn't happen in 2010, but we loved the group we traveled with and ended up sponsoring Estela, so I think the July 2011 trip happened at exactly the right time.

Big Green Pen is happening. I have steady opportunities to proofread, edit, and write as my "sideline" and get positive feedback from the authors with whom I work. My short story, Play Ball, won 3rd place in the Flash Fiction component of the Seven Hills Literary Contest and has been published as part of the Seven Hills Review.

The "Kids Main Driver" goal sort of happened. This was more of an issue for me when I was having to shuttle children off to after school programs every day and pay college students to get them to activities. With changes in their activities (i.e. no more football practice for Wayne), as well as the fact that Tenley now has friends who drive with whom she can ride, it's not as big a need. But it's still a challenge as Wayne Kevin starts speed skating two days a week and has to get from middle school to skating right in the middle of the work day.

Here are the 2011 goals:

The "Run a 5K in less than 30 minutes" has been rolled over to 2012.

Technically, you could say I wrote about Camp Gordon Johnston, because I wrote this post after I participated in their annual reunion last year. But my dream is an Unbroken-style story, one that readers walk away from knowing more about World War II, its people and its places than they did before they picked the book up. Much work remains to be done. This goal has not happened.

"Expand BGP (Big Green Pen) without losing so much sleep" has not happened. My day job still takes up my .... days, of course. Nights and weekends are filled with Big Green Pen stuff, exercising, time with family, other things I love, etc. In fairness to my health, I need to find a more efficient combination for all of this (or eliminate something).

Which brings us to 2012. As I said, I am not ready to go on record with my second and third resolutions yet. Some thoughts in my head include the fact that I really love being outdoors and would like to be more deliberate about getting some outside time in regularly. I also am cognizant that my children are rushing to independence at warp speed. When my son finishes school 5.5 years from now, I don't want to be looking across a table at a spouse whom I have completely lost touch with and I don't want kids who say "you were always on the computer." Something about the 2012 goals has to be more inward facing than previous goals. Lastly, the thought "outer order brings inner calm" is part of the mix. I have never been a neat freak when it comes to my domestic life but I am tired of laundry mountain, dust bunnies, and unresolved pet stains on the carpet. Time to clean some things up.

Maybe Resolve pet stain remover will be my mascot product for 2012!