Here I am, with a little less than 9 months left to complete my journey and my goals. That’s still plenty of time, right? I feel energized and motivated today, something I haven’t felt for oh, about 6 weeks…once Thanksgiving rolls around, I’m pretty much useless until the first of the year. Then last week, right when I should be gearing myself back up again, I caught a bad cold and did nothing but sit and play computer games all week. By Saturday,  I was pretty much sick of myself, but I feel much better now physically and mentally. I sat down yesterday and made out a loose daily schedule (if I make it TOO structured I just never stick to it) to help me get things accomplished, and I made a list of things that I want to get done just for THIS week. So far so good. My ultimate goals are still memorizing the whole book of Romans, completing the first draft of one novel, entering my watercolors in Art in the Park, and getting healthier by losing 50 pounds.

Over the holidays I did gain 5 pounds, but I have lost most of that. I did complete two paintings, but they were Christmas presents for my son and son-in-law and as both of them came from copyrighted material, I won’t even post photos of them…let’s just say they turned out pretty sweet and leave it at that. No writing to speak of, and I’m WAY behind on my memorizing. But that’s okay, I’m ready to go!

Here’s the deal, though. I need to have at least 6 (count ‘em, SIX) watercolors that I like enough to submit for judging by March 1 (that’s when the applications for Art in the Park are due). So between now and March 1, I must paint at least one painting per week to meet that deadline. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! Suffice it to say, painting will have to be my big push for the next 7 weeks! And I’ll try NOT to think about the fact that I might not be able to come up with stuff I like…JUST PAINT!!! I can do this, I can do this, I can do this. My heart is palpitating just thinking about it…I’m climbing Mt. Everest here, folks. I can do this.

Okay, I gave myself all kinds of small stuff to get done this week, but the three main short-term goals are:

1) Review Romans 1 and 2 and finish memorizing chapter 2 (only about 5 more verses)
2) Complete ONE painting by Sunday
3) Write 5000 words of either of my novels (or a combination of the two)

My concentration for eating healthier for this week is lots of water, NO SUGAR, little or no carbs at night (and I started walking again today). Trying to keep it simple, since I have so much other stuff on my mind…I can do this. I’ll let you know next week how it went! Now, take a deep breath aaaaaaand….JUMP!