Huh.  So that was February.

On the 12th, I drove Tom to the airport.  I haven’t seen him since.  He had it in his head that this time around he was just going to stay up at the new warehouse until the other manager got there and took there.

But on the 3rd I squeezed him in at the dentist who sent him to another dentist who said he needed to see a third dentist.  Dentist #1 took x-rays and referred him for a root canal.  Dentist #2 said the tooth was a total loss and referred him for extraction.

He wasn’t able to get to Dentist #3 before the 12th.  And after two weeks I finally put my put foot down and said I didn’t marry stupid so get back here to fix that tooth.  Yeesh.  (Dentist #3 has performed other oral surgeries on him so he wanted this specific dentist versus finding someone in Atlanta.)

He’ll be back next Tuesday, and fly out that Sunday again – just squeaking out the “no planes for three days” rule of having a gaping bloody clot in your mouth.  I’m happy he’s coming back because it means if things run longer than planned he’s taken care of.  I’m sad because I’m pretty sure this means he won’t be home for my birthday.

But.  All that is a great excuse for why Tom didn’t write the month the February.  It doesn’t explain my absence.  Except to say that I used to keep my weekends completely clear for spending time with my husband and without that criteria I got a little overbooked.

In February, I:

-Ran 6 miles for the first time ever.  Then did it again.  And again.  And again.  And again.  And again.  I am afraid I am a runner now.

-Attended a free conference on fundraising.  The gist was, our software and coaching skills are the only model that work.  Surprise, surprise.

-Made jam.  Strawberry jam.  In quilted glass bottles that could sit out on the shelf and not grow mold or anything.  I gave some away and the verdict is I make damn good jam.

-Volunteered with a group at an ape sanctuary south of me.  I’ve never been very interested in working with primates, but I have to say chimpanzees and orangutangs are pretty awesome.

-Saw a movie in a real movie theater.  You may say that’s not list-worthy, but it tops the number of movies I saw in a real movie theater in 2011 by one.  (It was the Decedents and I loved it.  I saw it with a friend who has been to Hawaii several times for work and plans to take me with next time so we can hike!)

-Camped out carrying/using all of the gear Tom and I usually carry/use together.  K, my planned hiking partner for a month on the AT this spring, was with me and used all of her two-person gear as well.  We compared everything to determine what would work best for the both of us.  Extra bonus to me is the knowledge I can hike with two-person gear solo if needed.

-Got a little head cold.  It’s gone, thank goodness.

-Attended some fun but time consuming meetings.  One with K to get started with hiking plans.  One with the other leaders of the volunteer group to determine how we can do more outreaches to help other sanctuaries.  (Yeah, I said “other” leaders.  As in, I’m one too.  Gah.  The introvert in me hates stepping up to the plate.  But the animal lover in me knows this needs doing.)

-Kept Tom’s fish alive.  Not a hard or especially time consuming task, granted.  But still.

-On top of running, basically kicked my ass from one side of the gym to the other.  Without my usual weekend indulgences, I’ve managed to keep the numbers on the scale moving in the right direction.  I just signed up for the first day of a one-month boot camp.  Fingers crossed I’m not the slowest person in camp.

-Got my oil changed.  Only 8,000 miles apart this time!

Now that Tom’s coming home in a few days, it’s super lucky I’ve got a pretty clear schedule for this weekend.  I’ve kept up on the basic necessities, but you will notice my February list did not include cleaning/changing the linens.  Or mopping the floors.

Most importantly, I have not scoured the internet for the perfect “I’m sorry I’m a crazy workaholic and missed your birthday” present.

This year I went a tad crazy with resolutions/2012 goals. The news of Tom’s promotion came to us sometime in the beginning of December with the agreement it started in January. That kind of threw everything I knew about 2012 into a blender, added some ice and gave me whiplash.

(Alas, this does not mean he’s been traveling less. If anything, he’s traveling more since he’s driving back and forth to the warehouse in GA (the one we really wish he’d get assigned to run) because its start date is earlier than the FL one and they need his help. Driving instead of flying is dangerous for a workaholic because it’s so easy to add juust-ooonee-mooree-thiiiinnnng onto his plate before driving home. He got in after 10pm one Friday, which never happened when he flew everywhere. And he loves to leave at 4am Monday morning to get a head start on traffic. Bah.)

Once my head kinda settled, I immediately wanted some spreadsheets and lists. It’s not really possible for me to plan much of 2012 yet with so much up in the air. But the combination of the new year and my determination to make the best of this situation for myself made for some crazy uber-lofty re-make-the-world-I-live-in-and-how-I-live-with-it statements. I CAN DO ALL THE THINGS!

I have some huge items on that list. Hiking. Spending extra time at the cabin. Getting a job. Hopefully in that order because I’m pretty sure a new employer would not take kindly if I asked for two months off straight away.

These things, like my health, I am considering “goals”. By which I am defining with my quotations to mean, “Large end events that require much subsequent planning, details, support and additional spreadsheets. Maybe an App or two.”

But there are much more simple things that made the list as well. Things that perhaps came about while thinking about these larger goals. Some are hopes/ideals sprung from the vision I have for Tom and myself when we are living in something different than a breadbox 3 stories in the sky and his drive home is less than 8 hours.

These smaller, simpler items fall more into the “resolution” category. And all of them follow the basic theme of less and more.

More Birthdays. I am horrible at keeping in touch with people. Isn’t everyone? Yet each year I am constantly surprised by the number of emails, cards, calls, and texts I get from across the world on my birthday. It warms my heart. I want to do that for people. So this year I resolve to send real, true snail-mail cards for people’s birthdays.

Less water. I’m probably the only person in the world who needs to make this resolution. But I can drink between 7-9 liters a day. That’s 3-4 times your 8 a day. I’m not pre-diabetic. I’ve never had an adverse reaction or electrolyte imbalance. I started drinking lots of water in college when I battled the freshman 20 (I am an overachiever in EVERYTHING) and heard how good it was for losing weight. Then it kind of just morphed and ramped up. It’s possible it’s even a bit of a social crutch. Can’t think of anything to say? Suck on a straw and nod! But as much as Drs have not found anything bad associated with this phenomenon, I’m not seeing much good to it either. I fill up on water so much I don’t think I have a healthy gauge on what an empty/full stomach feels like. And at some point I’m just wasting water – the extra liters than go right through me PLUS the flush it takes to get rid of it. So I want to limit myself to 4-5 liters a day.

More Music. Once upon a time I owned a 51-rack CD player. The stereo was set up near the front door and I didn’t have cable. Instead of mindless TV as background noise, I hit “shuffle” and heard discs physically rotating from song to song. Now I own an old generation iPod Nano that has no off switch and a sound system that doesn’t support charging. It seems every time I think to hook the two up, the Nano is out of juice. I’m going to get better about charging it or get a new system that will eliminate this problem. Also, thanks to a generous Christmas gift card, I am buying 1 new song a week for my running/workout mixes. I should also resolve to sync the nano/computer/iPhone more often so I share this music. OK. Done.

Less recycling. Again with the bizarro world resolution. But this is also about more reducing and re-using. As I get pickier about the foods we eat, the containers they come in get simpler. We re-use any plastic bag or bag-like packaging for cleaning up around the house (I am very careful about ripping the smallest hole possible in the toilet paper packaging so it has future use). I have started saving glass containers to re-use instead of Tupperware. Our biggest recycling need these days is paper. Any advice on how to not get junk mail flyers is appreciated. My biggest waste right now is yogurt containers because my county recycling was created with the concern of food waste rotting in the dumpsters under the FL sun. So instead of being allowed to recycle plastic by coded number, I may pitch anything in that, “Has a neck.” WTF? The hardest thing for me about this resolution means I cannot willy-nilly shop for super-cheap produce at Aldi’s because most of it comes packaged in Styrofoam and cellophane.

More Reading. And less re-reading. I have three or four authors I adore and I rotate through their books as bedtime reading. I also tend to not tackle harder books because I was only reading at bedtime and I need soft, fluffy reading which does not hurt my head mentally or physically when I fall asleep and face plant into it. I’m trying to set aside some time during the day to read the heavy stuff and to use paperbackswap.com to come up with new material.

Less Email Checking. I will finally listen to all those productivity experts. I love, love, love my Smartphone and I believe it has enhanced my life a hundred fold. Just getting to play a game while waiting for the Dr eases my stress. And being able to listen to music, track my run AND have 911 easily available all on one device is priceless. But I have definitely gotten into the habit of checking email way too often. And for what? I work part-time. For my computer-less grandmother. My husband calls for everything and anything. My friends text for need-to-know-now information like if I’ve seen a black belt with a silver buckle since that Vegas trip. Email is a time suck. I hope to get in this habit now so that when I do land a job I can carry this over when it will mean I’m being more productive. Versus right now when it means I have more time to watch Netflix.

More Cooking. More crockpotting. More new ingredients. More new recipes. More menu planning. As I foray deeper and deeper into the desire to understand where my foods have come from and how they were created, I want to make sure this expands my food experience, not shrinks it. Over the holidays I had several recipe “crutches” that I just made and remade and froze and reheated. Yes, they are tasty. But it got boring. I am trying to shake up the taste buds. I also continually get stressed over Friday dinners because I volunteer in the morning/afternoon and am almost always too tired to prepare the planned meal. If only someone created a special pot wherein I could put ingredients in the morning and they would magically be a meal come evening…Sometimes I astound myself with these little “duh” moments.

So, if we pretend I told you all that at the beginning of January….I am doing pretty well on some fronts. I used the crockpot on two Fridays. I’ve made my own pizza crust, scones, and doughnuts.

I’m into Serious Book #2 (Nim Chimpsky). Yes, most of my serious books will revolve around animals – captive or wild.

Thanks in part I’m sure to my decision to not drink for the 1st month of the year, I haven’t had to do any glass recycling in 2012. And I’m down to every-other-week on the other recycling.

I’ve sent out 4 birthday cards so far although I did realize one glitch in my plan…I thought it would be a nice way to catch up with people I don’t talk to often. But then I had my first opportunity to do so and it felt very weird to write all about myself in a card supposedly sent to celebrate the other person. So I just fell back on writing about how long we’d been friends and awesome, yay, happy birthday.

I have no idea how I’m doing on the water. I think better. My main gauge right now is to not re-fill water bottles immediately but try and drink through all of them (I have 3-4) and take note of that before I double-dip for the day.

I need to work on the email checking. I have no real tangible goal for this. Do I get to check it at certain times of the day? Only a certain number of times? Right now I am going for, “Don’t check email while driving.” Yeah. I suck.

My nano is still un-synced for 2012. But I’ve gotten a little better about charging it and playing it while I’m working around the house. And I have kept up with buying myself a new song almost every week. This week I had to skip because I bought two songs last week. In a I-must-hear-it-now fit, I downloaded “Domino” by Jessie J last Friday.

We’ll work on better taste in 2013.