A new year, a new start

Happy 2013 everyone!

This coming year, I have many resolutions and many plans. Most are the same ones I had last year. Haha! However, that's not a bad thing as it shows that I'm still trying and haven't given up. In any case, my goals are all related to living healthier and more frugally. Some of my resolutions are:

1. Cook most dinners and pack most lunches. This not only allows me to live healthier, but also saves a lot of money. This is a repeat from last year as I lost sight of this goal halfway through the year.

2. Create a household cleaning schedule and share chores with hubby. Since hubby works late, I'm not expecting an equitable division of labor here. However, I do like to have the option of saying that I'm too tired to do the chores and just point to the list so hubby can step up. The way I see it, in order to keep the house spic and span, certain things need to be done regularly.

3. Grow more food. Last year, we planted two heirloom tomato plants, some store bought scallions (ate the tops and just planted the bottoms) and some store-bought celery (again ate the tops and planted the bottom). The scallions and celery were miserable though the celery is, amazingly, still alive and green in our back yard. The tomato plants were planted too close together and tried to kill each other, resulting in only a handful of tomatoes. This year, I'm going to do things differently. I'll plant two tomato plants farther apart and also put tomato cages around them. I also have garlic growing on the side, some mint growing in a pot and a horseradish root buried in a big planter. I currently have a couple of citrus trees under grow lights, but I don't think they're going to make it through the winter. :-(

4. Take more breaks from staring at stuff. I spend all day staring. I stare at my computer at work, I stare at my phone when commuting, I stare at the TV when I'm relaxing and I stare at my iPad before bed. That's a lot of staring and my eyes are always feeling dry and strained. It's time to give them a break by taking hourly breaks every day. So this year, I'm going to try to break away from backlit screens every hour by taking a walk around the house or office floor, even if it's just to pet the cat or get a drink of water.

5. Run 5K by the end of the year. I want to exercise, but I can never keep it up because I'm super lazy and always tired. So I figure if I have a concrete goal in mind, I can be motivated to keep moving. So the goal is to run 5K by the end of the year. Yeah, I'm taking it easy, but it's better than doing nothing!

So that's it! My 2013 resolutions. I wonder how many I'll be able to keep!