Winter Shed: The Final Week

Winter is almost over, can you feel it...? We had lovely warm Spring-like weather at the beginning of the week, only to revert back to icy cold wind and the occasional snow flurries as of Wednesday. I can't wait for Spring (and warmer weather) to arrive!

The full back story of this blog hop hosted by Kathy at Bereaved and Blessed can be found here. She's planning to continue the series with a Spring Shed and I intend to follow along and, as Kathy suggest, I'll take a look at my goals for this Winter/New Year and adjust them as I want or feel the need to, in an effort to better represent where I want my focus to be during this next season.

But I'm getting ahead of myself... On to report on how I did during week ten:

1. Read more novels.

I didn't even open a book this week (except for a dictionary)! I don't really know why, I just didn't feel like reading much...

2. Follow the news more.

This is one of the topics I need to think hard about when continuing on in the Spring. Of course the news that a new pope was elected did reach me, but I think only people living under a rock would have missed that...

3. Pick up regular blogging again and start a series/hop on Cultural Differences.

The first installment of the Cultural Differences series went live on Monday! I might have hoped for a few more comments, but overall I think it was a good start. I also participated for the first time in Time Warp Tuesday (also hosted by Kathy), which was fun. 

4. Get my professional website up and running.

Again, no update this week, but I've been having some new ideas for it again, so once my translation job is done I will start working on it and hopefully will be able to turn those ideas into something concrete.

5. Find more clients / pursue more paid projects.

The third document is almost completely translated. The deadline is next Friday, but I should be able to finish it by Monday (I actually could have finished it today, but somehow knowing that I will easily be able to finish before the deadline makes me less productive), double check it and send it out on Tuesday.

The 007 assignment (web intelligence) is still as boring as last week. It's supposed to last until the end of the month, but there will be a meeting next week between the agency and the final client to see if it is really necessary to continue. So I'll await further orders. ;)

Other than that I've of course been too busy with the translation job to pursue anything else, so I have no paid projects lined up, but at least I can focus on getting my website online (and also finally get some more professional-looking business cards).

6. Start playing the cello again.

The instrument still rests in its case (which is gathering dusts). You probably won't see this one on my Spring list...

Winter Shed: Week Nine

Wow, already week nine, before we know it winter will be over! The full back story of this blog hop hosted by Kathy at Bereaved and Blessed can be found here.

This week I recuperated from all the work done on the translation job in the previous weeks. I had planned to start on the third document to translate, but since there is no fixed deadline yet for that one I'm procrastinating. Instead I filed admin stuff, did our finances (too many bank accounts in three different countries! I closed one of them this week), and went on a major grocery shopping trip (long live the French hypermarkets).

Now to report on how I did during week nine:

1. Read more novels.
Well I might have been a bit too optimistic about finishing that novel. I actually haven't read that much this week - we're now away for a long weekend in the mountains (where it's rainy and warm, but still some snow fun to be had of course) and I hope to finish it before we're back home.

2. Follow the news more.
Right… Well, I did get the news that Chavez died, that must count for something?

3. Pick up regular blogging again and start a series/hop on Cultural Differences.
My intro post on the Cultural Differences series is up and the first topic is written and scheduled for coming Monday! I've submitted it to the LFCA too so I hope I will get some response. I'm excited!

4. Get my professional website up and running.
No update this week.

5. Find more clients / pursue more paid projects.
I sent in the quote for the Dutch to French translation on Monday morning, got a response back the same evening saying that they needed it urgently (which they hadn't mentioned in their first email), so they had already found someone else. Oh well... even if I had given them a quote right away I couldn't have started before finishing the other translation, so this one was just not for me.

The 007 assignment continues, but there is nothing to report just yet (to the client I mean, as a real spy I'm not allowed to tell you people anything!), so it's a bit boring. I'm not complaining though because I still earn money, even if there is no news!

I did do something for the third document that still needs translating and that is organizing it and putting it into a word document (they provided me with a PDF, which isn't the handiest format to work with for translations). So I'm good to go on Monday morning. I've more or less agreed with the client that it will be finished by the end of the week of March 18, so I can't procrastinate much longer (but yes, it is true, I work better when there is a real deadline).

6. Start playing the cello again.
No updates.

Winter Shed: Week Eight

Another week has passed and I'm finally able to post my Winter Shed update on Friday again! The full back story of this blog hop hosted by Kathy at Bereaved and Blessed can be found here. 

This week was a mixed week in terms of workload. Until Tuesday I was still busy with the translation job, as the laid-out text needed to be proofread one more time before it went to the printer. It's amazing how many small errors we still found! I hope they were all incorporated because I didn't see the final corrected version before it was sent to the printer. Then on Wednesday I had some lovely quality time with M. Sensible (good for a Perfect Moment Monday post!), Thursday I had lunch with a friend and on the way back stopped by the communication agency's office (i.e. my client for the translation job) to finally meet my contact in person and talk a bit about the third document and the financial compensation. Today was a lazy day spent at home with my two boys. We all took very long naps!

Now to report on how I did during week eight:

1. Read more novels.

I started reading the new French novel and made it to page 26, so there is some progress there. I think with next week being more relaxed I should be able to finish it (it's only 103 pages thick and a pretty easy read).

2. Follow the news more.

Hmmm.... this is still not going well. Hopefully by next week I will have found a way to incorporate this into my daily routine again.

3. Pick up regular blogging again and start a series/hop on Cultural Differences.

After visiting the client yesterday I got another idea for a topic for the Cultural Differences series, so now I really want to start it! I think I will try to get the first post up next week, even if I won't be able to submit it to LFCA until the following Monday. I just have to jump!

4. Get my professional website up and running.

I didn't do anything yet with the ideas I had last week. However I found a few more funny automatic translations online that I like to use on my website as a reason for using professional translation services (one was at a Spanish website where I got this as a confirmation message after having ordered concert tickets: "Congratulations! Youtube hav made the parchase of imput correctly, Youtube wil shortly recibe email with tour ticket"), so at least the ideas keep coming. 

5. Find more clients / pursue more paid projects.

I completed last week's translation by proofreading it in it's final layout and went to see the client yesterday. I now have the text for the translation of the third document, which doesn't have a fixed deadline yet (my client's client is too busy preparing for the trade show in mid-March for which they needed the other brochure) but we're aiming for the third week of March. Is half the size of the previous document, so should be doable. She thanked me for not throwing in the towel halfway (hey, I would never do that!). We also talked a bit about finances. They're OK with the initial price I quoted (I didn't even have to try to convince them) and I can also bill them for the extra hours spent on proofreading and getting the two translations streamlined into one final document. So I'm really happy that they've seen the value of my work and didn't try to cut costs.

I had planned to send in the quote for the Dutch to French translation request, but haven't done so yet, which I'm not very happy about because I think it's not very professional to keep a potential client waiting too long. I did calculate how much time I think I would need for it, so all the basic information is ready, I just need to formulate it into a decent quote (but after all the stress of the last two weeks I couldn't put my mind to it when the other project was finally done).

Today was the first day of my '007' assignment. It was a good thing I had set a reminder on my phone (even if there is no news I have to send the client an email at 5 pm) because otherwise I would have completely forgotten it! I must admit that I didn't do an active search, but relied on my Google Alerts and there were none. I'll get more serious about it starting Monday! ;-)

6. Start playing the cello again.

I'm strongly contemplating removing this from my list, even though I'd like to start playing again, but I have no idea how to add it to my weekly schedule at the moment.

Winter Shed: Week Seven

No, I didn't fall off the Winter Shed bandwagon! I was just too busy trying to meet my work deadline that there was absolutely no time to write this post on Friday, or even on the weekend. However, the translation has been emailed to the client, M. Sensible is at day camp and M. Gourmand at the sitter, the house desperately needs cleaning, but I allow myself to write a blog post first. The full back story of this blog hop hosted by Kathy at Bereaved and Blessed can be found here. 

Now to report on how I did during week seven:

1. Read more novels.

The book I had picked out stayed on my night table for the entire week. I only picked it up to read this weekend, which is officially no longer in week seven, so not much progress here this week. 

2. Follow the news more.

My work took up all my time and energy this week, so apart from some news snippets hubby shared with me I have no idea what went on in the world this week.

3. Pick up regular blogging again and start a series/hop on Cultural Differences.

Again I am glad for committing to do this blog hop, even though I'm again late in writing this post. I intend to write a Perfect Moment Monday post today as well.

4. Get my professional website up and running.

No time and energy for that this week, but I did get some new ideas for what to put on my website, mainly by things that came up during the translation job.

5. Find more clients / pursue more paid projects.

This week was taken up entirely by the second document that needed to be translated for the same client as last week. My father and his girlfriend arrived here on Monday evening and stayed until Friday morning and they were a huge help taking care of the kids so I could work. It was four times as much text, in about the same amount of time, so the job was split between me and another translator. I was very hesitant about this in the beginning, afraid that the two styles would be too different and we wouldn't have time to make one coherent piece out of it, but in the end it worked out fine. It clicked really well with the other woman - we kept in touch via Skype chat to quickly check translation of certain words / technical terms and then once we both had finished translating our parts, met up on Friday and Saturday to go through the texts together. We did some final tweaking last night and I emailed both files to the client yesterday evening. 

There is a third document in the pipeline, but I have no idea yet when I will get that and what the deadline is. I will not bother my client with that question today, as she is busy finalizing the layout of the other document so it can be printed ASAP.

Then I got two other requests for work this week! 

The first one is from a client I already did a project for in December. I call it my 007 assignment: it's a daily internet watch I have to do for news in Dutch about a certain company. If I find anything I have to mail the URL and a summary (in French) about the news, and also check if there are tweets, FB shares, etc.

The other request is for a translation from Dutch to French of a workshop manual. I'm a little hesitant about this one since I usually only translate the other way around, but I will respond to it anyway and ask a French friend to be on standby for proofreading if I do get the job. It's a lot of text so if they don't have a crazy deadline like my current client it would be a nice way of keeping me busy for the coming weeks or even months.

6. Start playing the cello again.

Again, just no time right now.

Winter Shed: Week Six

Another week has passed, time for another Winter Shed post! The full back story of this blog hop hosted by Kathy at Bereaved and Blessed can be found here. 

Overall this week was very busy but a lot better than last week. Everyone was healthy again (except for hubby taking over M. Gourmand's pink eye, but he got over it relatively quickly). The translation job finally started (see under #5) and I finished the first document on time (with help from hubby who did some final proofreading and improved quite some stuff). Our neighbor, whose son is the same age as M. Sensible and is going to the same preschool (different class though), was willing to take in M. Sensible all day on Tuesday so I could work even during the teachers' strike, which was great. Then on Wednesday I could bring M. Gourmand to the sitter but had M. Sensible home, but he was very sweet, watched cartoons all morning and took a 2-hour afternoon nap, so I still had a pretty productive day. Hubby is off for business for the coming two days, but my dad and his girlfriend are coming over from Holland to help out so I can keep working as much as possible on this crazy project.

On a completely different note, I was very saddened to read that Bio Girl's sister Missy had died of brain cancer, and it brought back many memories of my mother's final days and death. If you haven't already done so, please go over to her blog to read about her wonderful sister and let her know you're thinking about her in this difficult time.

Now to report on how I did during week six:

1. Read more novels.

I finished the 500-page Dutch novel on Wednesday (well, actually it was very early Thursday morning)! The story is set during WWI, first in London and then at the West Front. Heavy stuff, but a story very well written, so a definite page-turner! The next day I already picked out a new book. I first wanted to take a German novel, but with my current translation job, which is French to English, the thought of adding another language in the mix didn't seem such a good idea. Since I'll have a crazy workload for another week I chose a thin book and it seems like a pretty easy read, so hopefully I can pick it up a few times in the coming week when I desperately need a break from work, kids etc... (I still haven't opened it though).

2. Follow the news more.

I did read and watched some in-depth stories about the  equal marriage rights bill here in France, which was accepted last Tuesday after long and heated debates (it also includes adoption rights, but ART still no covered for gay couples (and might still be labeled 'illegal', which is scandalous). The French Minister of Justice is an amazing woman, I have never seen someone expressing her convictions so passionately and slamming down the opposition with poetry and quotes from philosophers.

3. Pick up regular blogging again and start a series/hop on Cultural Differences.

Luckily I committed to this weekly blog hop, otherwise there might not have been a post from me this week! Just too busy with the work project (see under #5)

4. Get my professional website up and running.

I finally could get started on the translation job, so no, no time to work on the website.

5. Find more clients / pursue more paid projects.

It felt really good to finally be able to start on the translation job on Monday! I must say that the first two days were still complete and utter chaos - I would be told to start on one document, then two hours later I got a call that the final client still had corrections for that doc, so I'd better start on the other doc, only to receive an email the next morning that the client hadn't proofread that one yet, so no-go for the translation. Finally on Tuesday afternoon things were clearer and I could really get going and I haven't stopped since (well, that's not true - I do still keep the household running too, although at a bare minimum this week - and M. Sensible has been watching a lot of videos...). I handed in the translation of the first doc yesterday afternoon. 

The final version of the other document should be ready for translation by Monday and needs to go to the printer on Friday. When I saw that I laughed out loud, what else can you do..? And if it goes like the first doc the client will keep making changes until the very end....

The good thing is that my contact (at the design studio, which is my client) is a very nice woman and we understand each other very well, so that keeps the work atmosphere healthy, even with a crazy client and an unrealistic deadline.

I also replied to a request from someone who's setting up a new company in the area with ties to the Netherlands and was looking for independent translators. Haven't heard back yet though.

6. Start playing the cello again.

Just no time right now.

Winter Shed: Week Five

It's Friday, which means it's time for another Winter Shed post! The full back story of this blog hop hosted by Kathy at Bereaved and Blessed can be found here.

I feel I just want to crawl in a little hole and come back out when it's nice and warm and my kids are grown up. The weekend started great but that changed quickly: M. Sensible came down with the flu and M. Gourmand with a conjunctivitis. On top of that, hubby said he wasn't feeling great either. So on Monday no extra time for me to work because M. Sensible could have stayed at school for lunch, but sickbay at home caring for both boys. Same story on Tuesday. On Wednesday everyone was doing better but no school on Wednesdays in France, so I had M. Sensible at home. Luckily the sitter could take M. Gourmand (even though normally I have both kids home on Wednesdays), so I could get some work done. However I still hadn't received anything and the February 18 deadline was still standing! On Thursday I brought M. Sensible to school only to find out that his teacher wasn't there and they didn't have a replacement. If it would be possible, they'd appreciate it if I could keep my child with me, otherwise the class would be split over the other classes. I took him home after we dropped M. Gourmand off at the sitter. The poor little fella was still suffering from his conjunctivitis - every morning he would wake up with big crusts on his eye lashes and trying to clean his eyes, let alone administer the eye drops was a twice daily struggle. The skin under his eyes looked almost worse than the eyes themselves, completely red and raw from all the cleaning. He even refused to lay down on the changing table (still does, even if I just want to change his diaper), screaming as if I'm about to torture him, and I had to put all my weight on his little body to try to keep him to lie still. And of course, because we share everything, since yesterday evening I now also have an infected eye...

On top of that, when I picked him up at the sitter's yesterday she told me he now also has a stomach flu. I'm not completely convinced though, the way he's chewing on my chopping boards and everything else he can get in his mouth (my shoulder, for example), makes me hope the weird poop is caused by emerging teeth. But I've been wrong before...

Yesterday evening I got a little respite from everything during dinner with a few girlfriends, which was great, but they got me a little anxious when they asked me if our school would be closed too coming Tuesday because of a teacher strike. Hubby dropped M. Sensible off this morning while I brought M. Gourmand to the sitter and this is what he emailed me:

A note from M. Sensible's teacher: "I will be on strike Tuesday, February 12,
you will receive a document (explanation) shortly."

So yeah, no school on Tuesday... The strike is about the changes the government wants to make to the school week. Currently Wednesday is a school free day, but the government wants to change that and also have classes on Wednesday mornings. The teachers don't have a problem with that, but with the way the government decided on the changes without consulting teachers, PTAs etc, and giving no solutions for a number of other issues.

This is why I just want to crawl in my little hole and not come out until life is a little less complicated. 

Now to report on how I did during week five:

1. Read more novels.

I made a nice little dent in the 500-page Dutch novel I'm reading at the moment. Mostly in the evening and a little bit during nap time, when I didn't want to take a nap myself because I wanted to be 'on alert' in case my client would send me the texts to translate (oh, I could have slept... see under #5).

2. Follow the news more.

Shall we just skip this item...?

3. Pick up regular blogging again and start a series/hop on Cultural Differences.

Two published post this week, a short one explaining my sons' new blog names and this one. I wrote a first draft for an introductory text for my Cultural Differences series, but am not completely satisfied with it yet, so the launch will not be for right away, but it's getting a bit more concrete already.

4. Get my professional website up and running.

Well, now that I think about it I could have worked on this while waiting for my client to send me the documents to translate (more on that under #5). So if I still don't have work by Monday I might do this.

5. Find more clients / pursue more paid projects.

I should be over my head in the translation job right now, but I still haven't received the texts! This whole project is really getting ridiculous and I'm almost at a point where I'll call them and tell them to forget it. I spoke to their project manager on Tuesday and we agreed that one of the three documents would be translated by someone else, because there would be just no way for me to be able to finish everything in such a short amount of time. The text for the other document would come the next day and the third document had been postponed to Mid-March. Ok, fine. Come Wednesday, no text. So I call again Thursday morning. No answer. So I send an email, demanding clarity. She left a voicemail that she wasn't able to answer all my questions right away, but she would surely do so tomorrow. Which is now. It's past 6:30 pm and I still haven't heard from her...

6. Start playing the cello again.

Skip please! 

However, on another musical note, we bought a 1/4 violin for M. Sensible on eBay - it's still a bit too big (we should have bought a 1/8 size, but oh well, he will grow into this one). No violin lessons for the moment as it seems that the Suzuki classes (which are the only ones who take kids as young as three years old) don't take on new students halfway through the school year. That's ok though, he can get acquainted with it and we can sign him up after the summer.

Winter Shed: Week Four

Another week has passed, so time again for a Winter Shed post! The full back story of this blog hop hosted by Kathy at Bereaved and Blessed can be found here.

It was a pretty tiring week as our eldest son (now 3.5 years old) had a few very restless nights, including nightmares, bed wetting (although more PJ wetting, the bed was still OK), and hysterical crying. Apart from having a sore throat and a stuffed nose, there was nothing wrong with him, so I'm not sure what he was dealing with, but it seems to have passed, as the last two nights have been much better. Of course to keep mommy on her toes the youngest (1 year) decided to wake up screaming a few times last night - also major stuffed nose and I suspect an imminent appearance of tooth #8 to make his life (and mine) miserable. Apart from that it I was in preparation mode for the big work project to start - getting organized and cleaning the apartment.

Now to report on how I did during week four:

1. Read more novels.

I finally finished the French novel - I think from start to finish it took me more than a year, oops! - and I immediately started another one which I finished the next day (okay, it was only 133 pages, so not such a big deal). After a one-day break I picked up a thick Dutch novel that my husband gave me last year which should keep me busy reading for a while.

2. Follow the news more.

Well... I still haven't found a way to make this happen. Listening to the radio during breakfast would probably be the best solution as the evening news on TV is smack in the middle of trying to get the kids to bed and reading the New Yorker again still hasn't happened either, as for the moment I prefer to spend the rare spare time reading novels than getting depressed by extended reports on world events, even if they are very well written...

3. Pick up regular blogging again and start a series/hop on Cultural Differences.

Still blogging - two blog hop posts this week, Perfect Moment Monday and this one. I'm happy to say I also commented on almost all the other PMM participants posts. Ideas for the Cultural Differences series are brewing in my head and I would love to get it started by next week, but I also want to announce it on LFCA, which means I need to submit it this weekend at the latest and I'm not sure I will have a first post all thought out by then. I'm also not too sure about the frequency. I want to make it a regular feature, but I think if I do it once a week I will soon run out of topics. So a monthly series? Or should I just hope it attracts enough readers and they will suggest new topics if I ask for it? Most of the topics I have in my head right now are parenting related, as I'm obviously in the midst of that myself and it is also by reading other blogs that I figure out some things are done very differently from one country to another, but it might be too much of a turn-off for those reading LFCA and still battling infertility... Anyway, those are some of the reasons why I'm procrastinating with this project. Any comments and/or suggestions are welcome! 

4. Get my professional website up and running.

I don't think I will give this any time and energy before the project under #5 is finished sometime in mid-March.

5. Find more clients / pursue more paid projects.

All focus here is still on the big project I wrote about last week. They asked me for a price quote which I gave last Friday - I think it's more of a formality and it's unlikely they will come back to me saying no, but I did increase my price since last year and I haven't heard from them in a week, which does make me a little bit nervous... However the project manager said they probably wouldn't have the texts (it's a translation job) before the middle or end of this week, so we should still be good, but I did send an email this morning to ask where things stand (and also to let them know we can talk about the price, if need be), just to be sure.

Update: I got a mail back. They want me to stick to my old price but have brought the deadline forward to February 18 (!) and I will not get the texts before the middle of next week.... I've no idea how I'm going to do this. I'll take the weekend to think about it and will talk to them on Monday.

The school granted me an extra day a week at the school restaurant for my son, so that is great! Things are still a bit uncertain regarding the upcoming school holidays though, as one center that offers day camp was already completely booked. I have a registration appointment on February 11 with another one, but they couldn't say anything yet about availabilities - only that they have 16 spots. So we'll see.

6. Start playing the cello again.

This has been put off until at least after the above-mentioned project is over. If I happen to open the case and tune the instrument before, that's a plus!

Winter Shed: Week Three

This is the third Winter Shed week hosted by Kathy at Bereaved and Blessed and my second post on it. The full back story can be found here.

Thank you to those who commented on my first Winter Shed post and told me to take it easy! I want to clarify my goals a little bit - they are my goals for this coming year. I know I can't do them all in one week! But I'll still list them to see if I made any progress, even if it's minimal. 

Now to report on how I did during week three:

1. Read more novels.

I decided to continue reading the French novel that has been on my bedside table for months and I actually read one chapter this week.

2. Follow the news more.

It was not a good week for following the news for me. Too busy preparing and celebrating the baby's first birthday, welcoming my dad, and trying to tame the two boys who have found a new routine: party  instead of sleep (the little one wakes up - or is still awake - when I put his big brother to bed. When I'm lucky they give up after half an hour and fall (back) asleep. Last night the baby was still babbling at 11 pm...)

3. Pick up regular blogging again and start a series/hop on Cultural Differences.

Still going strong with blogging and I like it! The Cultural Differences series hasn't advanced though, I hope to get it started in February.

4. Get my professional website up and running.

No progress here, but good news under #5!

5. Find more clients / pursue more paid projects.

I haven't heard back on the quote yet (but not too sad, it would bring in money but the project itself is not very appealing). The other client I contacted has no immediate projects but was happy to know I was available again and I got a call from a client I did two small projects for last year with a request for a big project for the coming six to eight weeks! Yay! So my number one priority this week was to get myself more work time, which includes asking the (pre)school to give our son at least one extra day a week at the school restaurant. I now have to pick him up twice a week for the two-hour lunch break and that means I just can't get anything serious done on those days. If I get a negative response another mother has already offered to help out by taking our son home for lunch a few times. I also have set up an appointment with a center that organizes day camps during the upcoming two-week school holidays at the end of February, which fall smack in the middle of this project. As a backup the sitter who takes care of our youngest four days a week has offered she can take the older one as well during the holidays, as one of the other kids is going on vacation. So I think I'm more or less covered and confidently told the client they don't have to look for a second person to help with the project! 

6. Start playing the cello again.

I have decided (also thanks to the comments I received last week) that I need to put this off a little longer. There's just no room in my head for this right now.

Winter Shed: Week One and Two

Kathy over at Bereaved and Blessed started a new blog hop called Winter Shed. Here's what she says about it: "This is a  support group/blog hop for those trying to be accountable for the positive changes we intend to make in our lives in 2013. Whether you are trying to shed weight, find more balance or let go of something else that is dragging you down in the New Year… We can do this — together! Once a week, on Fridays, from now until at least mid-March/Spring, I will check in and share how my week has gone in the key areas I am working on. My hope and intention is that knowing I have this self-imposed report card to file will motivate me to stay focused on my goals." The full back story can be found here.

I think this is a great idea, as there are many things that I'd like to improve or change, but that often don't get done because I'm not actively sharing it with anyone else. Of course as as I was behind with a number of blog posts that were either in drafts folder (whether on my blogger account or in my head), I failed to write my Winter Shed: Week One post on time, so here are week one and two combined.

As I commented on Kathy's original post, the general idea is to get out of what I call "mommy mode isolation" and try to pick up some of my former activities that have fallen by the wayside since the birth of my children (3.5 and 1 year ago).

These include:

1. Read more novels.
2. Follow the news more (including reading the New Yorker).
3. Pick up regular blogging again and start a series/hop on Cultural Differences.
4. Get my professional website up and running.
5. Find more clients / pursue more paid projects.
6. Start playing the cello again (I forgot to mention this in my comment to Kathy's post, but it's a very important one).

Now to report on how I did during week one and two:

1. Read more novels.

I have to give myself a zero here. I haven't read one letter of literature in the past two weeks. I'm halfway through a French novel (been in that state for the past six months or so), but I got turned off when the writer introduced himself in the story, however I do find that despite that the writing is good, so I'm a bit in limbo on whether to ditch it and start a new book or continue reading until the end.

2. Follow the news more.

Well... two days ago I read the newspaper that my husband had brought back from the plane and I listened to (Dutch) news during breakfast a few times this past week. But next week I want to have read at least one New Yorker article!

3. Pick up regular blogging again and start a series/hop on Cultural Differences.

I think I did pretty good here! I had some serious catch-up to do and wrote/finished four blog posts, not including this one, and one already scheduled for next week. My goal is to write and publish at least one blog post a week. Regarding the Cultural Differences series, there are many empty posts (but with topic ideas) in my drafts folder that I hope to fill in the coming weeks. I also commented on a few blogs, but can do better, because I haven't commented on any of the posts of the other December Perfect Moment Monday participants...

4. Get my professional website up and running.

Another zero... Hope to have a better report next week.

5. Find more clients / pursue more paid projects.

Today I followed up on a quote I delivered last month and I contacted a client to see if there might be any projects in the pipeline. So not much, but it's a start...

6. Start playing the cello again.

Another zero... I haven't played since our second son was born a year ago. I don't really know why, there are just always so many other things on my to-do list that I forget, or am too tired. I used to play in a piano trio with two neighbors, who are eager for me to pick that up again, but I recently got very frustrated with one of them over something else and he could drive me crazy too sometimes during rehearsals, so I'm not sure if I want to give up precious weekend time for that...

So... not such a great score. I can say I have an excuse because our youngest son was sick with the stomach flu for a few days, but I know I can do better. Tune in next Friday to see if I can stick to my goals!