New Years "Goals"

I've never been good with New Years Resolutions. I either forget about them or fail to come up with anything worthwhile. So this year I decided to make two New Years "Goals"....

1. Read a new book each month.

2. Run a 5K some time this year.

Books

Throughout college I discovered numerous books I thought were interesting, helpful, entertaining, educational, etc. but had no extra time to read past the back cover. I have a list started of titles I plan to read and some even sitting on my bookshelf! They range from John and Stasi Eldredge's Captivating to Richard Adam's Watership Down to Robert T. Kiyosaki's Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I have different reasons for each selection and I welcome any suggestions!

I am very happy to say that I have been successful with this goal!
Last month I read "For Women Only" by Shauti Feldhahn. I really enjoyed reading the information presented in the book about what's really going on in our guy's mind. Her information is based on national surveys and interviews with thousands of men - both Christian and not. Some of the things pointed out I was familiar with but had never thought about it in that particular way, while others I was definitely clueless about. It was fun to read parts of the book to Dusty and to hear his feedback about how "right on" the book is. Any bit of insight into the foreign mind of my husband is welcome. =)



This month I've been reading "Rich Dad, Poor Dad - What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money - That The Poor And Middle Class Do Not!" by Robert T. Kiyosaki. A good friend of ours gave it to Dusty when he graduated from A&M, but it's been sitting on the shelf until I decided I needed to know what this book was about! The author explains that the way to becoming rich is to have your money work for you - not to work for your money. He has made several solid points - I'm game to try them out. I'm almost finished with the book - I have one more day!


5K

I haven't started running to train for a 5K yet. It's just been too stinking cold! The snow has been melting the past week, though - it was even in the 50's today! When it warms up enough for me to go outside without 4 layers of clothing on, Bentley and I will be running - you can hold me to it! Does anyone want to come and run one with me???

Well, I've made it off to a not-so-great start with my blog. =) Not that I don't think about it almost every day... but the time to sit down and type out a few paragraphs seems to somehow escape me. Anyway, here's what we've been up to:

We were able to switch apartments after having some "issues" with our first one. The downstairs neighbors were a bit noisy late at night and they smoked... a LOT. Our entire apartment smelled so intense of cigarette smoke that it was affecting Kate and Dusty's allergies and making me nauseous. We are actually in a duplex now just around the corner from our first apartment and we love it! We have a basement, a garage for Dusty's car, and a deck that leads out to our side yard. Our neighbors have a 2 year old boy and a 1 week old girl, so it's nice and quiet, especially at night.

Our furniture should arrive on Wednesday and I think all three of us couldn't be more ready. Dusty is looking forward to being able to sleep on a real bed, Kate will appreciate having furniture to bounce on, and I'm ecstatic about getting all of our kitchen "stuff"! The first two weeks we were able to get by with steamed veggies prepared in the microwave among other easily prepared "dishes." The new apartment doesn't have a microwave so we've had to get a little creative with our meals. I have one baking sheet. Needless to say, we've eaten a lot of sandwiches, salads, fruit, and pre-cooked chicken. Dusty took us out to Chilis Saturday night and I don't think I can remember food tasting better!

While driving around yesterday we found a park with a real hill to sled on! We all bundled up and went out to play this afternoon. Here are a few pictures from our adventure.

I think all of us had a blast!

Bentley seemed to enjoy himself as well. He wasn't quite sure what to think of Kate sliding past him down the hill, but figured out that it was lots of fun to chase the sled. =) We had the park to ourselves and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of our afternoon.

After sledding we went for a drive, not really knowing where we would end up. We drove northeast towards Vermont and ended up in Glens Falls, NY. There are so many pretty cities and towns I just can't get over it! I'm enjoying the historical aspect of it, too. In an hour we must have seen 20 historical marker signs next to gorgeous old houses and churches. We got a few pictures today, but we ran out of daylight. We plan on going back soon to get more pictures.

I Did It!

Well, here it goes.... I decided that starting a "blog" is probably the best way for me to keep track of all the memories that will be made. I always have the best intentions to journal, send letters and emails, but somehow I never follow through. I've thoroughly enjoyed reading everyone else's blogs. I just hope mine will be half as interesting! (If I can figure out how to do it!)

So we've been in Clifton Park a week today. It took us three days to drive up - I'm sure we could've made it in two, but with Kate and two dogs (Bentley and Zambi) we decided we'd like to keep our sanity. Lori was a sport and endured the 2,000 mile journey with us, as did Dusty's best friend Robert - aka DeOtte.

Here are a couple of pictures from the trip:

It has snowed (gasp!) at least 3 days since we've been here - about 4-6 inches two nights ago. Kate is absolutely THRILLED. For the first 3 days every time she would look out the window or we'd walk outside, she'd exclaim "Look!! There's SNOW!!!!" We assured her it isn't going anywhere for a while. We found a plastic "sled" at Target and she and Dusty have made the piles of snow pushed up to clear the roads their sledding ground. It's pretty cute.

This is Rosie. La La and Kate made her the second day we were here. She is now under about 4" of snow. =)

Dusty has started "class" and Kate and I are trying to figure out what we're supposed to do. We found a playground Tuesday at one of the malls where she made a friend and we're going to take Bentley to Pet Co. tomorrow. Exciting days! I'm going to apply for a few jobs this week. I love being at home, but I'm ready to use my degree that I worked so hard (and owe a lot of money) for.

Thanks for reading my first blog! Hopefully I will update on a regular basis and they won't all be this long. =) We love and miss everyone and can't wait for you all to come visit.