Resting Up and Gearing Up

Wow! I can't believe it's been three weeks. This has been a month of resting up and gearing up for the fun that begins tomorrow, otherwise known as legislative session.

On the resting up front, we spent a weekend with friends down in SC and have otherwise been enjoying some down time. This past weekend was spent laying around the house partially due to the ice outside and the rest a combination of Rob being sick and me being lazy.

On the gearing up front, work has been steadily increasing and I've just been trying to leave at a decent hour every day because I know that soon that won't always be an option.  I've also been trying to work on some personal goals for 2013.

I've decided that 2013 is "The Year of Knitting Socks", so one of my knitting goals is to knit 13 pairs of socks in 2013.

Aren't they lovely?

My other personal goals all relate to my recurring two goals to lose weight and write more.  At least I   keep trying right?  I'm trying a new tactic this year.  I have a "goal notebook" and once a week I set specific goals for each day of that week.  I also have "to do" for each day for things that just need to get done, but aren't really goals.  I give myself a star, yes a real gold star sticker, for every goal I meet each day and a smiley face, yes a sticker, for each "to do" I get crossed off the list.  At the end of the week I total up my stars and smiley faces.  Sounds silly in a way, but it really is fun to see a bunch of stars in one day!  So far, I'm only getting about 50% success per week, but once again....keep trying right?

I had something else in my head to write about today, but once again, trying to post a picture here from my ipad has ruined my mood, and now that I've finally come to the laptop to post the picture and finish this post, I can't remember what I had in mind to say.

Best Intentions

The clouds were very dramatic as I left work this evening, and since I'm trying to be more aware of moments like these, I took a picture.

Then I spent 30 minutes tonight trying to figure out how to get it from my phone to here via my ipad.  I've decided that the Blogger app is practically worthless.  Any post uploaded through the app is written in stone and completely incapable of being edited in any manner for eternity, so heaven forbid you're not perfect in typing on your phone or ipad.  I was trying to use the regular website (that I'm using right now from my laptop), but on my ipad.  Generally, that works well, except for the picture issue I encountered tonight.  I had no trouble getting the picture from my phone to my ipad through Dropbox, but why is it that on my laptop I have an option to upload a picture directly, but that same option does not exist on the browser on my ipad?  Makes no sense to me.  So I uploaded the picture from my ipad to Flickr and tried to link to the url, but blogger kept telling me there was no picture at that url, which was a total LIE.

Finally, I gave up and came to the laptop.  The picture is not really that great, or even necessary to what I originally intended this post to be about, but it was the principle of the matter by that point.  I've always found Blogger to be relatively simple when I was using only my laptop to post, but now that I've become more technologically tethered, it might be time to investigate other options.  I've viewed my smartphone and now my ipad as ways to possibly post more often since I can do it places other than at home, but that idea is backfiring because of the frustrations of trying to do things that seem so logical to me, but apparently are not to the programmers of Blogger.  Then again, I'm not sure I've ever known a computer programmer who thought like an average person.

So now that I've essentially written a blog post on my difficulties with making a blog post, I guess I'll save what I had intended to write about for tomorrow.  In the meantime, if anyone is reading this & has any suggestions for another method of setting up a blog that has an easy method of blogging from both smartphone (Android OS) and ipad, please let me know.

2013 Reading List

Books I've Read in 2013 - Total 69

I also have a Goodreads page where I sometimes provide more

 commentary on what I thought of the book.

January (8)

Big Sky River by Linda Lael Miller
In for a Penny by Maggie Toussaint
On the Nickel by Maggie Toussaint
A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash
The Abduction of Mary Rose by Joan Hall Hovey
Dare Me by Megan Abbott
Home Front by Kristin Hannah
The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

February (9)
Careless in Red by Elizabeth George
Defending Jacob by William Landay
And Then You Dye by Monica Ferris
Cover of  Snow by Jenny Milchman
The Long Way Home by Mariah Stewart
The Wedding Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini
Sonoma Rose by Jennifer Chiaverini
Until Proven: A Mystery in 2 Parts by Nora Gaskin
Return to Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs

March (5)
A Demon in My View by Ruth Rendell
Cold Feet by Karen Pullen
Regulated for Murder by Suzanne Adair
A Place in Life by Robert Hartstein
Two Graves by Preston & Child

April (5)
Reflection Point by Emily March
The Wanderer by Robyn Carr
The Sound of Broken Glass by Deborah Crombie
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Sand Castle Bay by Sherryl Woods

May (9)
Rage Against the Dying by Becky Masterman
Wind Chime Point by Sherryl Woods
Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
No Bells by F.M. Meredith
Huntress Moon by Alexandra Sokoloff
Death Will Get You Sober by Elizabeth Zelvin
Snipe Hunt by Sarah R. Shaber
Big Sky Summer by Linda Lael Miller
Soft Target by Rachel A. Brune

June (7)
A Field of Darkness by Cornelia Read
This Body of Death by Elizabeth George
Deadly Stakes by J.A. Jance
Six Years by Harlan Coben
The Time Between by Karen White
Sea Glass Island by Sherryl Woods
The Newcomer by Robyn Carr

July (6)
The Mystery Box
Joyland by Stephen King
Simon Said by Sarah R. Shaber
The Grave Gourmet by Alexander Campion
A Killing in the Hills by Julia Keller
Looking For Me by Beth Hoffman

August (6)
The Other Woman by Hank Phillippi Ryan
Say Goodbye by Lisa Gardner
Deeply Odd by Dean Koontz
Death Will Help You Leave Him by Elizabeth Zelvin
Ladies' Night by Mary Kay Andrews
And Then I Found You by Patti Callahan Henry

September (4)
Time of Death by Nora Gaskin
Touch & Go by Lisa Gardner
Bones of the Lost by Kathy Reichs
The Wrong Girl by Hank Phillipi Ryan

October (3)
The Prophet by Michael Koryta
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
It Happens in the Dark by Carol O'Connell

November (4)
A Hostage to Heritage by Suzanne Adair
The Bones of Paris by Laurie R. King
Cut to the Bone by Jefferson Bass
King's Mountain by Sharyn McCrumb

December (3)
Death Will Extend Your Vacation by Elizabeth Zelvin
Second Watch by J.A. Jance
The All-girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg
 

Another New Year

We had a nice New Year's Eve last night, with just one other couple, sitting around a fire in the backyard.  Today was a lazy day of watching TV and knitting.

And so another new year begins.

I've been thinking about my goals for the new year, and trying to make them specific, without making them so specific I fail immediately.  A lot of them are the same general goals I made last year, which I was spectacularly unsuccessful at achieving, but at least I guess I should get points for the fact that I keep trying right?

I'm going into this year optimistic that, despite all the dire warnings in the media, it will be a good one.  I'm definitely a glass half full type person, so I am hoping for the best in all aspects of my life, and the lives of those that I love, as well as the rest of the world.

Hoping you all have a wonderful 2013 as well.