Blogging · Humor · Mi Vida Loca · nonfiction · postaday · writing

Looking Forward

JackieP

Hello people! Hope that you had a great NYE and are not too hung over. I don’t drink, so I’m good. I couldn’t even stay up till midnight last night. I’m getting old, I tell  you.

I’m not a person who makes New Year’s resolutions. Why set myself up for failure? I do make goals for myself, though. Goals I try to achieve throughout the year.

2014 was a terrible year for me. I’m glad it’s gone and a new one beginning. So instead of looking back, I’m going to look forward. Forward to a better year, reaching some of my goals, and making good inroads with other goals. I may not succeed in accomplishing everything I set for myself and that’s ok. I haven’t failed, it’s just going to take a little longer to achieve what I want. That’s the nice thing about goals, if you don’t get them done within a certain period of time, you can just keep going till you do. No failure. I like that. A little kindness to myself never goes amiss.

So here is my top goals for 2015! May the New Year roll on in! Bring it!

flames

 

1. Burn my damn mattress! My number one goal for this new year may sound strange to you, so let me explain. I have the bed from Hell. I do. It is the most uncomfortable thing going. Its springs are broken thanks to the bunch of guys that helped move us more than a year ago. They set my almost new mattress on the bottom of the pickup truck bed, placed a glass cupboard on it and strapped that thing down so hard it broke the springs in the mattress. It’s not even in the middle of the bed! I have one side that is like sleeping in a hole, the other side is higher up. If I lay on it, since it’s not quite half the mattress I slide down the slope into the hole. Not good for sleeping!

My number 1 goal for this year is to be able to afford a new mattress (though I have NO idea how I’m going to do this!). Then I am going to drag my old mattress into the yard, pour gasoline on it and set it on fire! I am going to laugh, and laugh, and laugh while the flames leap up into the sky!

2. Lose weight. Yes, I know just about everyone says this in the New Year. I usually don’t, because it’s sort of cliché. This year I’m breaking my own rule and adding this in as a goal. I’m not going to state numbers. I don’t even own a scale. Got rid of that thing years ago.

For health reasons (I’m a diabetic) I am setting one of my goals for losing weight. I have to, I need to, and dammit, I’m going to! Losing weight will help me get healthier. I will need this for when I drag my mattress through the house, into the yard and set it on fire! I will cackle like a crazy woman as I watch it burn! I will need to be healthier to do this.

3. Exercise more. Yes, it goes with losing weight. I sit in my comfy office chair in front of my trusty computer far too many hours a day. From morning to-night. I need to get off my butt and go take Sam for a walk or something. Only in warmer weather though, as walking the little guy in freezing ass weather is more torture for both of us than exercise. During the winter I will do something else. Maybe practice runs, dragging my mattress through the house so I can set it on fire and dance with wild abandon around the blaze!

4. Write more stories. I really let myself down this past year. I didn’t write as much as I wanted to. I have 3 novels in the works in different stages of completion. I need to finish at least one of these and start the hunt to get it published! I want to write more flash fiction, short stories and the like. I have no excuse for not doing so last year, except for maybe sleep deprivation from sleeping on the mattress from hell. Which I plan to burn this year. I will even write its eulogy. Then I will set it on fire and because I lost weight and am healthier I will jump up and down with glee as it watch it burn!

5. Read more blogs and comment more. I actually read quite a few blogs. Like everyone though I have favorites that I love to read everything they post. Most of the other blogs I read, but usually don’t comment. I’m actually pretty shy. (Ok, quit laughing!) I’m an introvert by nature and quiet. I lurk a lot. I need to stop that and engage in conversations. After all, it’s  the polite thing to do. I will do this right after I burn my bed. I will light that sucker aflame and throw a bed burning party! Yes, I will. You just watch me!

Fire Dance: image credit - Angela Marie Henriette

Fire Dance: image credit – Angela Marie Henriette

 

Whew, so that’s the biggest goals I have for this bright, shiny, new year. I have several other personal ones, that I will keep to myself for now. A girl has to have some secrets.

As for the mattress burning party, you are all invited!! Maybe, I should start a Kickstarter thing, anyone who donates money toward a new comfy mattress will have a personal invite to the bed burning with cocktails and brunch with me, where we can watch it burn and laugh and laugh and laugh.

What do you think? Good idea? So who wants to donate for a good cause?? Anyone?

29 thoughts on “Looking Forward”

  1. I am quite sure that there is some sort of environmental issue with mattress burning. Maybe you can do like people are supposed to do when they burn the mortgage deed for their house: don’t burn the actual one, but a fake one. Maybe a Barbie mattress?

    Not that it helps now, but I was able to put my mattresses on layaway for an indefinite amount of time. I knew we were moving a year ahead and M had outgrown his bunk beds, so I paid a little at a time and finished right before the move.

    You completed the month long poetry challenge, which is a huge thing given the subject. You did awesome this year, though I totally get it about it being a hard one.

    Here’s to 2015! 🙂

    Like

    1. Hm, I will have to look into the laws here in Canada about burning mattress’s. I mean what’s the fun in burning a little itty bitty mattress? lol I’m going for big girl!

      I don’t even have the extra cash to put it on layaway right now. That’s how tight things are for me. But, if things ever loosen up I will look into that.

      I did finish the poetry month didn’t I? That was a hard one too! Thanks kiddo! You made me feel better 🙂

      Here’s to 2015!

      Liked by 1 person

  2. These are good goals, Jackie! The Kickstarter (or some similar drive) is a great idea, don’t be shy, do it! And remember you have an ally in Sam for the exercising goal…give him a treat after every walk and he’ll drag you out on the road every day 🙂
    Love & hugs!

    Like

    1. Thanks tiny! The only way I could afford a good mattress is to start a Kickstarter or something like it. Sad, but true. Sam loves to go for walks, it’s me that is lagging. lol Love and hugs!

      Like

          1. There’s also gofundme.com
            A gal from our church needed eye surgery and raised the funds through that. Check it out.

            Like

  5. Here’s a little mattress fund money making idea for you. You might know about this already, but if not – on Facebook, find the pages for all the women’s magazines, all the trashy ones, whether you like them or not, and like their pages. What they do is they regularly ask questions on facebook, sometimes for opinions, or sometimes for examples of things that have happened to you. Sometimes it’s just for facebook chatter, but sometimes it’s for publishing, like in their letters page (they usually specify if it’s for publishing). A while back one of them asked something and wanted responses sent by email, so I did, it took me literally two minutes to write a silly little one sentence answer, it got published in the magazine and they paid me £50! (That’s about 90 Canadian Dollars). I’ve got another one at the moment with another magazine that they’ve been emailing me about to get more info, and again they’re going to pay me £50. Now that’s two out of a total of about five I think that I’ve responded to! Start submitting regularly to those and you could soon have your new mattress 🙂 Then after than, you write up the mattress story in a funny way, including the burning of it etc, and submit that story to a magazine too!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. And here I thought all those things were scams! I could get paid AND get published? Something to think about for sure! Thanks Vanessa!

      Like

      1. I’m sure there are scam ones out there, but I’m talking about the well known familiar magazines that you see on the shelves. If you find their official facebook pages and like them, then you know it’s not a scam. The weekly ones are generally better for this kind of thing, not the big glossy ones! A bit later I’m going to email you the one I did…

        Liked by 1 person

  7. Yes!! Mattress burning party, hell yeah!
    You crack me up, lol.
    I am also a lurker too. Except on my favorite blogs that I never miss, like yours, my friend. 🙂

    Like

  8. Oh my God, Jackie. No wonder you write such dark and ornery stuff. Anyone who hasn’t slept well in a year has got to be a bear to be around. I’m going to replace my mattress someday but this one was made special for us in our little town in AZ. I got double memory foam on top. That was at least 10 years ago. I’d go back and get another if I could drive and tow a trailer back. My worst nights sleep is probably better than your best. I’d be happy to chip in to a kick starter fund. I’ll give it some thought but I loved Vanessa’s idea. Count me among the virtual watchers of your bed burning and I’ll have my drink with you here.
    I’m a lurker too. My daughter says I’m an introverted extrovert. :).
    P.S. Thanks for the laugh!

    Like

    1. Yes, that’s why I’m so ornery. LOL I had to laugh at that. I may be ornery. Ok, sometimes I am. But, it’s been so long since I had a good night’s sleep. I have even tried sleeping pills and they just make me sick, so that’s out. I don’t think I have ever had a more uncomfortable mattress in my life. I’ve only got a double bed, so it wouldn’t be too expensive to get a new mattress, just, we are so tight for money that I can’t even put one on layaway. I’m just not sure how much more I can take on it. I actually do daydream about burning it. 🙂
      Between taking care of the husband and no sleep I’m about to give out.

      Like

  9. Jackie, you crack me up. 🙂 I am right with you on needing to pay attention and lose weight. I can’t think of anything you could add to your list, except maybe you should think about getting a new mattress this year. 🙂

    Here’s an idea maybe you could swap with hubby. See if he figures it out. 🙂

    2015 will be a great year for you. i can feel it.

    Like

    1. Oh, I have an idea about getting a new mattress, which is needed badly. Swapping with the husband would not work as his bed is smaller than mine. He needs it worse than I do with his bad back.

      Here’s to 2015! Thanks Lois 🙂

      Like

      1. Jackie, I just read your post about hubby eating. I am so sorry for my comment about switching mattresses with him, I was trying to make a joke but as soon as I hit post comment I wished I could take it back and had to hope you understood my real intention.

        Here’s to a much better 2015.

        Like

        1. No worries my friend. I knew you were joking. I took it as a joke also. After all we are much alike, so I think I know you pretty well. 🙂

          2015 is already much better! I have friends like you! ❤

          Like

  10. Pingback: With A Little Help From My Friends | To Breathe is to Write

Comments are closed.