Some Resolutions

Sounds good to me...except for the coffee part! 

Morning temperature: 36 degrees

Steps: 9045

End of January

I prefer looking at older buildings but sometimes the contrast between old and new is interesting. The building with round windows is Dream Hotel. You can get a room there in March for $375 to $1000 per night.

It's the last day of the month and a good time to do a recap of my goals for 2014. According to statistics most people gave up on their resolutions about a week ago. I am hoping to continue with mine.

Be Adventurous

I haven't set any records on adventurousness yet. I did manage to try some new recipes for meatloaf (my second ever), white chili, muffins, mojito jello shots, pork tenderloin, bread pudding, hot fudge pudding cake and broccoli scalloped potatoes. Also tried a new brownie recipe and a chocolate cake recipe. I always make brownies from scratch but that might have been my first chocolate cake from scratch.

Learn Things

Not doing well here yet...other than some interesting magazine articles and internet searches.

Organize & Clean

I worked on the pantry so far. Have some plans but no other progress.

Be Charitable

I was able to

   buy a coat and donate it to the New York Cares Coat Drive
   send some handmade cards to Splashes of Joy
   donate some stickers to the Stick it to Diabetes sticker drive

I am trying to keep Random Acts of Kindness in my head. I'm not keeping a list of those because I hope they will be too numerous to count. Sometimes I need to be more aware. It's easy to hold doors for people but I almost passed the blind man who was about to run into a snow bank. I did speak to him before he hit the bank though I need to practice how to verbally guide someone who can't see. Also working on giving out more compliments which sometimes is hard as well. It was easy to compliment the researcher who was leading a study and she was quite grateful which was a bonus.

So here's hoping I keep on track!

Morning temperature: 28 degrees
Morning steps: 6020

New York Cares Coat Drive

Booties for the puppy and boots for his dad

This morning the temperature broke the previous 1896 low record by 2 degrees. Seems like the perfect cold morning to report on my "Be charitable" effort.

I took that $20 bill that I found in the street and put it towards the purchase of a coat for the New York Cares Coat Drive.

The Coat Drive accepts new and used coats until February 7 and has requests from various organizations for 107,000 coats this winter. I had heard before Christmas that they were behind in reaching their goals. They attributed this to, perhaps, SuperStorm Sandy. After this storm devastated the area New Yorkers dug deep into their closets for coats to meet the huge needs.

My closet yielded nothing but ratty winter coats so I looked for some post holiday sales. New York Cares Coat Drive also has links on Amazon and Target websites where you can purchase a coat to be sent directly to the Drive's warehouse.

Share the warmth!


Morning weather: 5 degrees (feels like -16)
Morning steps: 2494

Cleaning the Pantry

Before

After

After

 

I know you are laughing at my before & after photos because they don't look that different. But they are!

For my first organization & cleaning project I started small.  Baby steps…to give me confidence! I cleaned out and reorganized the pantry cabinet. The pantry is now emptier with all the items pulled to the front of the shelves. And clean is good too.

I took out every single thing and wiped down the shelves and entire inside of the cabinet. I threw out things that were outdated and/or half consumed but long forgotten.  By threw out…I mean that I emptied and cleaned every glass and metal container for recycling and put what I could in the compost container…important steps.

I am not proud that I tossed 25 containers in that recycling bag. I am guilty of receiving gifts of or buying specialty foods and “saving” them for a special occasion that never comes (at least before I forget!) I was seeing dollar signs going down the drain but it at this point it couldn't be helped. There was a jar of sauce that had expired in April 2007 and a couple other things with expiration dates of 2008---but most were not that bad! Still I was surprised to find the really old things because I thought I had done this more recently!

Did you know that 5 year old yellow mustard turns really quite brown?

Why did I have 2 bottles of Grapeseed Oil – something I’ve never used? How did I get 3 bottles of Sesame Oil when I rarely cook Asian recipes?  And, Fish Sauce?  What the heck? I’m not cooking recipes that would call for it and I am not a fan of fish! I probably ended up with 3 bottles of Almond Extract because I couldn’t remember if I had any so I bought more…and the same goes for 2 bottles of Peppermint Extract plus a Crème de Menthe.

Now I know what I have, it’s better organized…and clean too.

Morning weather: 52 degrees, fog & rain
Morning steps: 5602

2014: Bring it!

Finishing that Freedom Tower is taking a long time but it still strikes me as a symbol of hope every time I see it

To many, a new year signifies a chance for a do over...a clean slate. Some people get that feeling with the change of season, a birthday or even the monthly turn of the calendar. I am not one of them.

I am not a resolution person. I have "fear of failure so why bother syndrome." Forbes.com says only 8% of people will achieve their New Year resolution goals. Wiki says most will have tired of the effort by the second week of January.

Regardless, I am making some goals for 2014. Here is what I plan to do.

Be adventurous

Do things. Try things. Go places.  Though exciting trips are not in the budget...maybe a new hobby, new recipes, museum visits.

Learn things

This can be little things like reading and listening or big things like taking classes and studying.

Organize and clean

Scary! I am allergic to cleaning and I am organizationally impaired.  Okay...I am not allergic to cleaning though I AM allergic to dust.  Sometimes it seems like leaving dust alone bothers me less than stirring it up and sneezing it across the room. But I am going to try to clean more and organize my stuff for a better quality of life in my little apartment.

Be charitable

More than just giving money, I want to donate time and things. Giving is something I do but this year I want to do it more often (maybe monthly) and not wait for the next natural disaster to kick my butt in gear.

I also want to be nicer, give people the benefit of the doubt, pass around some random acts of kindness.

This morning on my walk I was running this blog post through my head. As I thought the words "donate more" a tiny voice in the back of my head said this might be difficult since I'm currently unemployed. At that exact moment I focused on the street along the gutter where a twenty dollar bill was looking up at me! The first drop in my donation bucket!

So, here we go. A new year...and it's going to be good!

Happy New Year!

Morning temperature: 25 degrees
Morning steps: 5703