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1.04.2021
Ten Percent
A new year has begun. Time to set new goals, deadlines, and tasks.
I would like to declare enthusiastically that I have decided to declutter my house by 50%.
Or maybe I could state with confidence that I'm going to pare down my belongings by 25%.
But the reality is that I'm going to (fingers crossed) set a goal of shoveling 10% of stuff out of my house in 2021.
You would think that after the three extra people that lived here in 2020, along with their belongings moved out that I would feel as if my house is empty and roomy. Just the opposite has occurred. I feel like my house just has too much stuff in it.
So I'm starting with the really hard stuff. Books and crafts. In January I hope to reduce my library by 10%. I'm also hoping to reduce my craft supplies, primarily cross-stitch patterns, by 10%.
Will I be successful? Who knows. But I'll give it my best try. I know the day is coming in the next five - ten years when we will be ready to downsize. When that day arrives I don't want to have to face the daunting task of deciding what will move with us and what has to go. So I want to get an early start on it.
And I'm going to get right on it... tomorrow.
1.03.2021
A Glance Back, A Look Ahead
As I look back at 2020, I can easily focus on how blessed I am. Although we were affected by the pandemic (mainly in the difficulty of finding various supplies and food items), our day-to-day life was not that different.
We are so fortunate to live where we do. The weather allows us to be outside almost every day. We had a brief period of businesses being closed, but it was mainly businesses we don't go to anyway (bars, gyms). It has been rough having the grandkids here for school each day. But other than that, life has gone on. I'm so grateful.
In 2020 I accomplished:
Reading 100 books! This has been a goal of mine for years. This year I signed up for the Reading Challenge on GoodReads and managed to meet my goal. I actually read 102 books. I guess that's the good side of having school in my home. I had lots of time to read in between helping them with their lessons, haha.
Bible Reading: If you've read my blog for any length of time you know that I try to read through the Chronological Bible each year. I really enjoy reading the Bible in the order that things happened. So much easier to understand and puts events into perspective. This year I read it on the YouVersion Bible app.
Stitching: Well, my stitching really suffered this year. It was almost impossible to stitch during the school day when I was interrupted every 20-30 minutes with somebody needing something (or so it seemed!). I only managed to complete a few projects, although I did finish a Christmas stocking which is a big job.
One Word: My one word in 2020 was steadfast. As I look back on the year I realize that it was the perfect word because I needed to be steadfast. Steadfast in providing emotional support to my daughter and her kids as they lived with us. Steadfast in believing even on the most stressful days that God is in control and things will be better. Steadfast in protecting my health - both physical and mental! When I chose that word I had no idea what a large role it would play in everyday life.
- 2020 Steadfast
- 2019 Resolute
- 2018 People
- 2017 Hope
- 2016 Content
- 2015 Time
- 2014 Home
- 2013 Bold
- 2012 Freedom
- 2011 Confident
This Blog: This summer I was thinking about my blogs (yes, I have two) and trying to come up with a plan to be a better blogger. Blog more, have more directed content, share more family stuff, try to be inspirational. I have a plan, but as I'm learning (especially this year) life definitely gets in the way! Blogging in 2020 was certainly a hit and miss proposition for me.
Family: For obvious reasons I had a lot of family time this year. Having Katie, Sunny, and Thunder live with us for 287 days... well, that's a LOT of family time! During the summer we had a few family events here at home in the swimming pool. We traveled to Kansas in June. And we capped the summer with Dan's 65th Birthday Celebration with the family all heading to Colorado for Labor Day Weekend. JD, Janel, Blizzard and Winter arrived on Christmas Eve Day and we held Family Christmas on Christmas Eve for the first time ever. The most joyous times are when I have all my kids around me.
A Look Ahead...
Reading: My reading goal for 2021 is 75 books. I have several very thick books I want to read and keeping my goal at 100 does not lend itself to reading thick books!
Stitching: My goal is the same as last year; to complete 12 projects. I also really want to finish the afghan I started with Jessica and Janel in (gulp) 2010.
Bible: I started a new-to-me Chronological Bible on the YouVersion app for this year.
One Word: Oh my goodness. I noticed that the past several years I start this category with a lot of confusion and angst over what my one word with be. This year is no exception. As I've talked with my husband over the past week I realized that the word I use more often to describe how I'm approaching 2021 is optimistic. So that's my one word. I am very optimistic about the future and life in general.
Family: Although no one is living with us now, we still have school in our home. With Katie's work schedule that means we have Sunny and Thunder three days each week. For the foreseeable future. As in, I sure hope this doesn't last until May, but I'm prepared if it does. I think this year we'll be able to get in more family birthday parties, Easter, Mother's Day, etc. We're having a warm, dry winter which means outside festivities are easy to have. We're also planning a trip to the Galveston area in July to celebrate my 65th Birthday. In between there will be lots of sleepovers, cousin days, and other fun activities. We're hoping to get to Kansas at least twice in 2021.
All in all, life is good. We have our health. We have our family close by. We Skype every Sunday with the Kansas family. Everyone has jobs and still goes to work every single day, and has since this all started. (Except the adults in education. One works from home, one goes to work, and one quit her job). So, I'll say it again. All in all, life is good. We are so blessed.
Our original little family: JD, Jessica, Me, Dan, Katie, Zach
1.01.2021
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