Starting Strong

January has felt like I’m starting to get into some kind of routine and settle into life here in NZ. I went back to Australia for about a week over Christmas. It was really good to spend some time with my little sister and visit Mum’s grave. I have a lot of emotions to unpack from that trip and I’m not sure I’m ready to do that just yet.

I don’t know when I’ll be going back to Oz again. The hardest part of that is not knowing when I’ll see Little M again. It felt like we grew a lot closer while I was there, but everyday I'm gone again we just fall closer back to what our relationship was before. I wish I knew how we could be better.

Here's my monthly recap, where I take a look at the areas of my life that are important to me, that I'm working on or trying to improve.

Reading

I’ve only finished one book in the last month, and I think that’s mostly because I keep starting new books. I need to focus on finishing some in Feb. It's been a long time since I've read this little. I've been struggling to be able to sit and read lately. I get two pages into anything and my eyes start drooping. So most of my reading has been audiobooks.

Finished

• Spindle’s End by Robin McKinley - This was a cute little story that was quite nice in the end. I’m not really a fan of fairy tale retellings, but this offered enough variation on the known story to keep me interested. Still a bit too YA for my tastes.

In progress

• Winter’s Heart – No progress here, struggling to get invested in it to be honest, but I really want to finish the series.

• The Bronze Horseman – I’m going to prioritise this one next month. I borrowed it from a friend as she said it’s her favourite book. It's the first of three, but unless the second half improves a lot I don’t think I’ll continue. I can’t get behind the romance situation.

• Dark Iron – I had issues with my Libby app that I was only able to fix when I went back to Oz so I’ve only just got this one back. It will be on my audiobook rotation once I finish Lud-In-the-Mist and The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat

• Gormenghast trilogy – I don’t get to the library as often now that I don’t work close by, so I’ll try and grab this when I’m in the library next, hopefully it’s available.

• Lud-In-The-Mist – this one has been on my TBR for a long time and I decided it was a must read now, because of my reread of The Dark Tower series. I’m currently on book three, The Waste Lands and there is a city by the name of Lud. Given that I’m doing a deep dive on the series I thought I would stop before they reach the city and read this book to see if there is a connection. I note that in the Kingslingers podcast when they were discussing the name Lud, this book wasn’t mentioned. So far it feels kind of old school middle-grade fantasy, very similar to Spindle’s End actually. No sign so far of having any connection to the Lud in The Dark Tower.

• Witchmark – this is another one I lost access to for a while until I got Libby fixed. I’m listening to this one when I sleep so it’s taking me a long time in short chunks with lots of repeating parts I’ve heard before. I’m really interested to see where this one goes though. It might get bumped up to my walking book before Dark Iron, depending on how it progresses. I think it might get too interesting for sleepy reads.

• The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat – Really close to finishing this one so I might just knock it out on a walk one day.

• The King In Yellow – I couldn’t help myself starting a new book this month even though I have so many on the go. I’m really enjoying this one a lot more than I thought I would. I’m not a huge fan of short stories, but these ones are worth it, and I love having the connecting thread.

• The Waste Lands – I’m trying to force myself to slow down and enjoy the journey to the tower and not rush it, so I’m taking a break to read Lud-In-The-Mist. Then I’ll prioritise some other books before pushing on too quickly with this one.

Health

I’ve built a decent habit this month of Monday’s going to Muay Thai and Saturday’s doing parkrun. We’re looking at adding another Muay Thai day in there, which is great for my health and fitness, not so great for time management. Going to MT after work pretty much takes out the whole evening meaning I don’t have time for writing or working on BoS.

I’ve also been trying to walk to and from work more regularly. I didn’t when I started last year, but this year I’m making walking to work the default, and walking home a priority, unless we have Muay Thai then I walk there, or if there’s an appointment or some other genuine reason. I have been going for walks at lunch time as well, but I think I’m going to start using lunch for life admin and writing. I only get half an hour for lunch anyway, and if I’m walking to and from work then I’m not missing out on too many steps.

I’m finding that the extra walking is really good for improving my daily calorie burn, so if I can make it a habit I’ll do a lot better with my weight loss goals. We finally got a scale again, and my initial weigh in was a little disappointing. I felt like I had made some progress again, but not in regards to the number on the scale. That’s not the only way to track progress, I know. But generally, when I walk more I notice it on the scale and in the size of my belly.

I would like to be more consistent at doing weights as well. I’m going to try and do at least one weights session per week.

Diet has been pretty good, maybe a little too much snacking in the evenings, and overloaded desserts. But we haven’t had takeaway very often at all, and I’ve been cooking most meals. I’ve got a set breakfast and lunch now that seems to be doing well. I’m trying to make sure I get a good amount of protein daily. It’s still not up to the recommended amount, but it’s better. I get 2 pieces of fruit on weekdays and some veggies for dinner usually. I’m making sure that I finish my water bottle every day at work. It’s probably not even a litre, but it’s a start.

I’ve been getting a few headaches and had one migraine that was bad enough to make me vomit.

I made use of the EAP here and went to see a counsellor because I was struggling a little with my mental health. It was a waste of time. Absolutely no rapport with the guy and he nothing of value to say to me. I have been feeling mentally stronger since then though, simply out of spite. I guess seeing a bad counsellor was enough to remind me that I’ve been here before and I got through it. I’ll be here again and I’ll get through it then as well.

Writing

I found a local writer’s group and went along to one of their meetings. I’ll keep going, I think it will be a good way to keep myself accountable and push me to do more writing. I want to start submitting some pieces for publication this year, as well as continue my monthly prompts group and work on the novel idea I have. This month I’ve been working through a free resource that helps you map out your novel. I think I’m now just using it to procrastinate doing the actual writing work, though.

I don’t really have a regular writing habit at the moment. The last couple of weeks I’ve written on a Sunday morning for a couple of hours, but that’s not really enough time if I want to be more serious about it. I’m going to start writing in the evenings before bed. I will take my tablet with me to bed and write for 15 mins before I go to sleep. I don’t know if this habit will stick or if it will result in any decent writing, but trying something is better than trying nothing. I’ll also bring my tablet work and see if I can do some at lunchtime.

Book of Stitches

I haven’t done a lot of stitching this month, mostly just chipping away at the large logo project I’ve been doing for S. I had a few sales on Etsy which was surprising and welcome. The best part was a review I got where they posted a picture of their finished item, and it looks amazing! It’s the first time I’ve seen photos of someone actually completing one of my patterns and it was a real ego boost. I haven’t been looking at my Etsy stats because it’s not something I’ve focussed on for a while but I want to again so I’ll start putting my last 30 days stats in here for some accountability.

Total views: 138

Total visits: 87

Total sales: 2

I’ve got a bit of a to-do list for BoS at the moment, but I find myself preferring to do actual stitching rather than admin work when I have the time.

I found a local embroidery guild and went to a meeting last week. It was a little intimidating, to be honest. I felt like a fraud trying to sell my silly little patterns when there’s people out there with so much more knowledge and skills than me. They would laugh if they knew what I was doing. But what was really cool, is that they know about exhibitions and competitions that we can enter our work in. There’s nothing like a competition or some prize money on the line to get me motivated.

Finances

Things have been much better financially since starting my new job. We still have to be very mindful of how much we’re spending, but we usually have about $20 left at the end of the week these days.

I put together a repayment plan for my credit card, and it’s going to take me 2 years to pay it off at current rates. It would be great to earn some extra money from Etsy or writing to pay some extra chunks off, but I’m not relying on it. The plan needs some tweaking still so I have to finish doing that. I also haven’t included my HECS debt which still needs to be repaid.

We also had a hefty tax bill. The business has money to pay for that, but it’s still a big hit.

Groceries just keep getting more expensive and I’m finding it hard to keep it under $180 a week for shopping. I’m a little trepidatious about adding additional expenses like a second vehicle or a gym membership, which are both things we want to do. We could do them, but it will just add that little bit of extra strain on the budget.

Work

Work has been difficult. The new job has its perks, mostly the higher salary, but I’m struggling to figure out what I’m actually supposed to be doing. I feel really out of my depth. I’m struggling with my instinct to be an overachiever at work. I keep telling myself that it’s ok that I don’t know what I’m doing, I’ll pick it up and if they are having regrets about hiring me, that’s their problem. There’s no probation period or here so it would be quite a process for them to get rid of me. I keep telling myself that it’s ok to do the requirements of the job and nothing more. I've been making sure to ask in any meeting with my manager if there's anything else I should be doing or that they want me to be working on, and they say there isn't so I'll just keep doing what I'm doing for now.

The other downside of this job is that there’s no work from home. Even a day a week would make a huge difference, but they just don’t do it here.

Actionable goals

This year I think I’m going to finish these recaps with some actionable goals for the next month.

In February I will:

• Finish two books

• Go to Muay Thai at least once a week

• Go to parkrun every Saturday

• Do one weights session a week

• Put the Gatsby notebook up on Etsy

• Put one pattern up on Etsy
• Finalise repayment plan and calculate my true Debt Free Date

I’ll report back next month on how things went. I hope you’ve all good starts to your 2025, despite the chaos and madness in the world right now.