10 in 2010

I follow a few friends' blogs and I liked Karen's list of goals. So I'm making my own list and posting it here. Making my goals public will help keep me focused and a little more honest.  These are in no particular order.

1. Get a job more in line with my degrees and training - so if anyone knows of anything in the Piedmont area for a chemist/lab tech please let me know.
   
2. Learn to knit continental - I started knitting in the spring of 2008 and I’ve really enjoyed it. In an effort to keep me interested and challenged, I want to learn to knit continental by the end of the year. It will make doing ribbing easier, if the rumors are true, and it will allow me to switch between hands so neither gets overworked.
   
3. Lose weight and exercise more - I quit smoking in 2009 (yea me!). Now this was a big deal for me, so I’m thrilled that I’ve made it a year with only a few slips. But this year I need to deal with the aftereffects of this achievement, and that means I must lose some weight. At first, I would have bet money that I wasn’t eating more than before I quit, but after stepping on the scales I know this isn’t true. I won’t embarrass myself by posting how much I gained; I’ll just commit to losing 25 pounds by August and 50 pounds by December. I also need to exercise more, so I want to commit to at least 3 hours a week. At this point I don't care what the exercise is, just that I get off my duff and
   
4. Donate to Goodwill at least once a week.
   
5. Take my lunch & breakfast to work at least 3 days a week - This should help me save over $20 a week, and I have plenty of other places to spend that money.
   
6. Knit 6 pairs of socks - I love my hand knit socks, but I’ve slowed down so much that I think I need a goal. I want to finish 6 pairs of socks this year. That seems doable since I can usually knit a pair in 2-3 weeks
   
7. Go 30 days without complaining - I watch the program “Sunday Morning” on, yes you guessed it, Sunday mornings on CBS. A while back I watched a segment about a church that was challenging it’s members to go for 30 days without complaining. I’m a complainer so this seems like an insurmountable task. I tried it a couple of times right after seeing the story and, oh my, did I fail miserably. But I believe this is a challenge worth attempting, and the results should be noteworthy. I may end up breaking it up and being happy in 2010 with 30 individual days versus 30 straight days.
   
8. Donate blood 3 times (more if possible)
9. Go back to following the Fly Lady and her cleaning schedule/plans.
   
10. Sort through all of my unread books until they will all fit on one bookshelf.

I'll try and post updates to these goals and hopefully have some success stories and not just failures. Spring, rather than January, is such a time of hopes for me that I'm glad to make this list now.