After reviewing my goals I had to stop and take stock of where I am today; how I got here and how to move forward.
Some parts of my life are on the precipice of being out of control. These include areas like home maintenance and finances. I almost got started last year when I pressure washed the house, decks and driveway, but that was just a start, and so much more needs to be done, especially after the freeze this year. Almost every bush and plant in my backyard has to be replaced and I don't know yet if the mango tree survived. Half of the plants out front are goners too. Getting everything back to 'normal' will be time consuming and expensive. I don't even want to think about all of the yard work ahead of me.

My finances are on the brink of being disastrous. Don't get me wrong- I pay my bills every month and never have to worry about answering the phone because it will not be a bill collector, but I would not want to die tomorrow and have my son see the debt I accumulated these past two years. Half of it was expenses related to Tod's death, but the other half was just a lack of awareness of what I was doing to myself. To tell you the truth, I had no idea until I bought Quicken to replace the Microsoft Money 2004 program I have been using. Since I had to start from scratch setting it up, I did not enter just my checking and savings (as I did in the Money version). I went ahead and entered ALL of my accounts- mortgages, credit cards, the works. All I can say is, Whoa! Actually, I should consider myself fortunate. So many people lost their homes or their incomes this past year and have trouble paying their basic living expenses. I don't have that problem. I just have to spend less on frivolous stuff and focus on paying off these balances. Sigh! One more thing to add to my "to do"list; one more thing to add to my goals.