I am so excited about Kiva. I made another investment. I have loaned money to a group of 11 women from Bolivia.

Here's a little about them...

“Talita Kurmi” is a group of 11 women who attend meetings in the “Alto Lima” Center. They meet to secure access to the loan that they all need to increase their working capital for various enterprises including the sale of vegetables, cookies, spun wool, operating neighborhood stores and creating jewelry crafts."

I want to read the Bible more. I really don't read whole books or sections. I read it sporadically. I avoid parts that are more difficult. I always have something else to do. It's easy to put off.

I'm sad with this. I want to learn the stories in the Bible. I want to be inspired. I want know God's Word.

The UCC has a New Testament reading schedule on the website. I want to read the New Testament this year.

There are 27 books in the NT. I think it's totally doable and will totally help me while I am discerning my call to ministry.

If I had to sum up 2009 in one word I would think it would have to be "Challenges". It felt like 2009 was one big challenge after another.

Challenges at work. Challenges with family. Challenges at home. Challenges with money. Challenges everywhere. Challenges with our son. Challenges with his school. Challenges with the dog. Challenges with each other. Challenges every day. It started to get depressing and hard to dig ourselves out of.

I suppose there were some highlights to the year. We got Scout. I voiced my desire to pursue a call to ministry. Husband started working somewhere he likes. Andrew continues to grow up. We are saving for a trip to the UK. We have an EF (albeit small).

When faced with all the low one truly needs to remember the highs and all the reasons one has to be truly happy and thankful.

2010 is going to be the year of ACTION for this family. No more CHALLENGES. Only ACTION.

Today I joined KIVA.ORG and I made my first loan today! I loaned $25 to Estelbina in Nicaragua to help her with her family's farm.

That's what it 'feels like' here right now. Blargh. Winnipeg in Winter = Not fun.

Today is a bunch of random.

I used some of my Christmas money yesterday to purchase Wii Active. I tried it last night and OMG I was at my limit on the 'easy' work out setting. Squats and lunges and RUNNING. I'm eager to use it again tonight.

Andrew started at a new school yesterday. We were not satisfied with the care and attention he was receiving at the other school so we withdrew him over the holidays. We enrolled him a small private school that is very close to our house. His first day went well. No tears and he made a friend. That is more progress then 4 months at the public school. I hope it continues to go well.

I haven't worked on my cross stitch at all this week. Feeling all ho-hum about it again. I really should make a round ripple baby blanket for a co-worker that just recently had a little girl. But I haven't had the desire too.

I've been cleaning up tonight and watching Project Runway and staying warm. I hope everyone else is staying warm too tonight.

ps. I meant to say that the Olympic torch came to my work today and I got to hold one of the runners torches. It was very cool and neat to be a part of the torch relay--even if it was just by hooting and hollering as it left my work.

I know this goal doesn't really fit in with other themes I had picked (ie. Health & Wellness, Money Matters, etc...) but it's something I have certainly been missing in my life.

I used to be a ferocious reader. I read all sorts of everything and I read lots of it. However, since I had Andrew there has been next to no reading.

Last year I think I only read 5 books (& really 2 of those books were from the Twilight series...which practically don't even count). The year before that it was even less. The year Andrew was born the only book I read was HP6. Isn't that sad?

So, I am armed with a library card, practically a whole bookshelf of books I have not read, many friends that have wonderful libraries, and some swagbucks that may or may not be used to purchase some books off of amazon. 25 books in a year is just over 2 books a month. Totally doable. Totally plausible.

& good for the brain.

I was thinking about the 250 walks in 2010 this morning while I was driving to work. I realized that 250 walks doesn't meet with my pledge to go twice a day.

5 days in a week, 4 weeks in a month = 20 days * 2 walks a day is 40 walks a month. 40 walks a month * 12 months = 480.

Isn't it sad how I am math challenged? *sigh* Welcome to my world.

Amended Resolution #1 of 2010

I, Dinah The Human pledge to walk Scout the Dog twice a day 5 days a week, with the goal of 480 walks in 2010.

It's a big jump. 480 from 250...but I figure there's leeway in there. I could make up for lost days by going on weekends or some days going for 3 walks. It's doable. Now, I've gotta switch up my sidebars.

The Olympic Torch went through our neighborhood tonight after works so we took a little stroll (with the dog -- ahem, 1 walk down) to see it. It was over so fast and the flame was quite large. Andrew was super excited. It was a nice night for it, only minus 15.

I'm settling in for a nice night of Project Runway 2, tidying up the kichen, surfing the net, and relapsing.

cheers!

I don't post much about this anymore. If anyone has been really interested in Dinah they might have read my archives from 2006 and discovered that it was all I blogged about. It was my focus that year and I was obsessed about what I was buying, and what I was eating, and how much I moved and what the scale read and on and on and on. It was motivating at the time, but it was also all-encompassing and I felt like I was obsessed with THAT NUMBER ON THE GODDAMN SCALE. (Can you tell that me and the scale don't have a good relationship).

I've gained and lost 10 pounds so many times it makes me want to cry. I've made the promise to myself to eat well, exercise, and get fit about 36 500 times now and I've failed a good 30 000 times.

I realize that I need to do something different in 2010. I need to do something that works! But what?

Do Weight Watchers again? Try another diet plan? Try Atkins? Journal what I eat? Exercise every day? Take up a new sport? Have the goal to run a 5KM? Focus on exercise or focus on diet? Stop smoking? Do the couch to 5k? Take a running room clinic? Join a gym? Buy a treadmill? Buy an elliptical? Buy some work out dvds? Learn yoga? Aim to lose 10 pounds, 30 pounds, 50 pounds, 75 pounds, 100 pounds? Walk 5 miles, 10, 20, 30, 500?

See, there are too many choices. I never know what to focus on. & because there are so many options I flip back and forth between each one as it suits me. That is not good either.

Some facts ala Intro to Philosophy.

Fact #1 - Dinah The Human needs exercise.
Fact #2 - Scout The Dog needs walks.
Fact #3 - Humans get exercise from walks.

Therefore Dinah The Human needs to walk Scout the Dog for exercise.

Simple, eh?

I desperately need to pick something that I will succeed at, but is a step in the right direction and is ACTION (remember this is the year of ACTION for Dinah). I think something to do with the dog would be a good starting place as I want to see her be a successful part of this family.

RESOLUTION #1 OF 2010

I, Dinah The Human pledge to walk Scout the Dog twice a day 5 days a week, with the goal of 250 walks in 2010.

There are some caveats to this that I have decided I need to have:
1. If it is colder then -30 one walk is optional
2. A walk can consist of as short a distance of 5 houses and back.


I will make some kind of side bar thingy to keep me motivated and to keep me on track and for me to remember (cause I have a bad memory). I think it would be neat to have a ticker that counted how many walks I have done with her...some like a goal of 250 walks this year? Ooooh, I like how that sounds....(I adjusted the pledge up there in case there is confusion)

Dinah quickly hits publish and runs off to find a side bar she likes...

Well, I would just like to say that for about 1 week our EF had over $1,000 in it. We achieved our initial goal of $1,000!!!!!!

Then the washing machine broke. Leaking on the underneath, cracked pipe. We talked about getting it fixed, but then we discovered that brand new that washer is under $250. It didn't seem worth it to try and fix it.

We purchased another one for altogether $532. I took $32 out of our House Fund (leaves $7) and the rest out of the EF. It's a Samsung front loader and it arrives Jan. 19. Until it arrives we are creatively doing laundry at the laundromat. We wash the clothes there and then bring them home to dry them in the dryer.

So we are now down $500 in our EF. In some ways I'm sad. It took so long to get it to 1K and now we've emptied it back to almost halfway.

BUT

It was wonderful and almost exciting to just go out and buy a new washing machine. There was no worry. There was no question about which cc to put it on. There was no panic about cost. There was no arguments. There was no lost sleep. There was no uncertainty.

It was just go out and buy what we needed. It was an awesome feeling.

I was at the library this morning working on my sermon for tomorrow and before I left I checked out some books. The other day I had been compiling an Amazon Wishlist full of books to work on buying.

As I was about to leave, I realized "hey this is a library. I betcha a bunch of those books I was going to buy are actually here and I could borrow the books instead of buying them and then only reading half of them".

2 of the books were at the library! I came home with these...


I also found this book which looks quite interesting.
Not only do I feel frugal, I also feel quite green today. I'm also feeling quite academic. :)

This year there is so much to say goodbye too. We're saying goodbye to 2009 and to the 2000's as well. This morning it's a whole new decade. This morning it's a whole new year. This morning is an empty slate. Clean and Fresh.

A new year, a new decade, a new day, a new month, brings us to new beginnings. In blog land the minute there is a new beginning of anything we make goals. In real life we make resolutions. On the interwebz we make lists and lists of what we will achieve and then promptly not follow through with anything. Or at least I do.

I looked at what my goals for 2009 were and in typical dinah fashion I did not follow through on any of them. It's not like they were stupid goals. It's not like they didn't apply to my life. It's not like they were unachievable. I just lost focus--as usual.

This year, for 2010, I don't want to jump into anything. I don't want to panic and write something just because that's what everyone else is doing. I really need to sit down and examine what I need to work on in 2010 and what I want to work on. I need to have a plan with steps, not just a vague statement. I want to work on what I am passionate about. I want to change myself and the world and my family.

I'm going to hopefully have about a weeks worth of meditative and reflective blog posts detailing what's going to happen in 2010. This might look like a month by month strategy. Or something more open, without any numerical boundaries.

I believe I want to focus on these areas in 2010:

1. Health & Wellness
2. Being Green
3. Money Matters
4. Career & Business
5. God's Call

These are basically what I presently blog about, so my first challenge is to learn how to translate my ramblings into something concrete that I can and will follow through with.

I want 2010 to be the year of action for dinah.