New year, new goals. Normally this is where I’d review my previous ones, but after having a really bad relapse in 2022 I don’t even remember if I set any last year. Not a big problem though 😊 I’ve got quite a few for this year, though as always they’re very much health dependent, and I’m not expecting to manage them all. I have some for games, but they’ll be in a separate post as this is already very long.
Read 15 books
The only one I remember from last year was to read 20 books. I managed 10. I figured I’d start with a goal of 15 since I feel more able to read again (already managed two books) and I can up it if it feels too low.
Sort out my social media
I miss talking to people, and I’m hoping that with my slight improvement in brain stuff I’ll be able to manage it more. I currently use 6 services, and need to figure out which are most useful to me and how best to use them. I’ve found a multiposter website which helps a bit with posting at least, and Firefox with add-ons is now usable on my tablet.
- Discord – Go through servers, leave unneeded ones, reorganise them so the most important ones are at the top.
- Twitter – Find the people who I want to keep up with who haven’t moved, unfollow those I don’t/struggle with, see if there are ways of blocking the intrusive posts.
- Bluesky – Remember it exists 😛 Find those who moved over from Twitter I want to keep up with. Give those I know who want to join invite codes.
- Facebook – I found an add-on that makes it much easier to use by blocking sponsored/suggested posts, so I just need to leave unneeded groups, mute/unfriend those who I struggle with, and favourite those I really want to keep up with.
- Instagram – Remember to use the following mode, maybe occasionally post stuff? When well enough, comment.
- Mastodon – Continue organising my lists, check for Twitter friends who have moved over, upload penguin emojis.
I think Mastodon will continue to be my main social media service, but not everyone is on there so I’ll try and check in on the others reasonably regularly. I’m not going on Tiktok as it’s far too overwhelming, and I don’t use YouTube as social media.
Create list of meals we both like
Izzy and I are both forgetful. It’ll make food shopping a lot easier if we know what we want to eat. We’ve done well to reduce how many takeaways we’re eating by swapping to Ocado for our main shop (they put the use by/best before dates on the receipt so I can see them, and they tend to be longer so we waste a lot less food and are actually saving money), so the next step is to list our favourite foods, how easy they are to make, and what we should keep in stock for when my health plays up and I can’t feed myself or chew.
Do more loom knitting
This one depends on both my hands doing well and me remembering to ask for the stuff to be given to me, but I miss creating things. I’ve got three projects I want to focus on:
- New arm warmers – Simple, but require accurate row counting so needs some concentration.
- Hat and scarf set for Sammie – I started this a few years ago, but realised quickly that I needed to redo it with the extra pegs on the loom removed. That’s going to require Izzy’s help. The patterns are simple but the yarn is a little fiddly.
- Hat and scarf set for Izzy – The easiest of the three, as the yarn I’ve picked is easy to work with and the patterns are pretty much keep going until it’s big enough. This one I can do while watching or listening to something.
Eat more vegetables
I love most vegetables. I want to eat more. Fruit is easy, because Izzy can just hand me a pear or a pot of prepared fruit or similar even at 3am, and when I can’t chew the baby fruit pouches are tasty cold.
Vegetables are harder. Literally, for most of them, when uncooked. I like things like raw carrots, but they’re not worth the digestive pain they cause. Cooking them is often beyond Izzy’s ability if I’ve been asleep all day, and the baby veg pouches are not nice cold (we’ve not yet tried them hot, because that’s cooking).
We’re looking into a safe way to give me soup that also isn’t too complicated for Izzy. She mostly vetoes it because she’s fed up of me getting covered in it, which is fair. I wanted to replace my Sucup as the mouthpiece went missing, but they’re not sold any longer which is annoying.
We’re going to keep microwave veg packs in stock (preferably without too much sweetcorn which is fiddly to eat with hands) and also sweet potatoes which I like just microwaved and then topped with cheese. I’m going to keep looking for options when I’m awake only at night, preferably that don’t cause massive pain.
Drink Tea
I’m British. I like a good cup of tea. Izzy does not like me and the bed being covered in hot tea, which has happened even using various special cups and straws. I’ve solved the milk being off whenever I want a cup by buying milk powder (I’m not fussy), now we need to figure out a way I can drink it safely that is also easy for Izzy. Hot chocolate has the same issue, but should also have the same solution.
Work on sitting up
It sucks having to start from the beginning again, but I’ve done it before so I can do it again. For much of the November/December relapse I had to tilt the bed backwards so my head was lower than my heart, but I’m back to flat now with my usual two pillows. My dizziness is also getting back to my normal, so I’m hoping soon I can start working on raising the back of my bed so I can hopefully get back into my wheelchair without it causing another relapse.
If I can sit up enough, go outside for fun
It’s been over two years since I last went outside other than to go into hospital or respite, and I was on a stretcher for the former and completely out of it for the latter. Since my wheelchair tilts and reclines, I don’t need to be that sat up to be able to manage it. Even going on the ramp would be awesome.
Work on making my bedroom nice
My bedroom is currently a mess, with a lot of clutter and has random blobs of blue tack and missing paint on the walls where things have fallen down, which really bugs me. I got a new curtain pole and curtains in 2022 which helped a lot with the window (and means it’s much easier to adjust light levels).
As I’m not well enough to have it redecorated right now (and we’ve got no idea where we’d put everything to get it done) I’m hoping to at least get the blue tack off the walls, and cover the missing paint with posters or stickers. Izzy covered up one patch with a penguin sticker and it makes me smile every time I see it, so I know that can work. We have Goo Gone for when it’s time to remove them to decorate.
I’m also slowly sorting out my bed bags and want to work on my bedside trolley. During Covid my room became a bit of a dumping ground for anything Izzy didn’t want to misplace, on top of the stuff I need, so I’m hoping quite a bit can go (either out of the flat or in a better place).
We’re getting an hour a week of help for tidying and cleaning, so even though I could only tolerate 20 minutes last time progress was made. Apparently the rest of the flat is much better too. With that, and little things like having matching bedding and displaying photos and penguins, I’m hopeful it’ll be nice in here again 😊
See People
I’m not well enough for this right now, but I miss seeing people. I know there are people who want to see me too. My brother has a boyfriend I want to meet, and there’s friends I’ve not seen in years. I’m hoping I’ll manage it later this year 😊
That’s quite a lot. No idea yet how achievable they are, especially those requiring help from other people, but I like having things to look forward to and having stuff to do when I’m bored. My awesome carer says this is gonna be my year, and I’m going to do my best to make it so 😊
Would this cup help with drinking tea? https://www.essentialaids.com/kitchen-aids-feeding-aids/cups-mugs/novo-cup.html
Might do, and it’s cheap enough to try out. Ugly, but I’ve accepted that pretty and functional is mostly asking too much (though I did find a purple cup on there that might work on good hand days). Thank you!