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Happy Homemaker Monday, Sunday Night Style

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Second week of posting something for me! Hooray. The Sunday night scary is attempting to settle in with me. However, I’ve decided to try and just focus on the week ahead by doing something fun like getting a Happy Homemaker Monday post going!

Later, probably tomorrow night, I’ll link up with Sandra over at Diary Of A Stay At Home Mom.

The Weather

Fall like today, so nice to be under 80 degrees! Enjoying it because tomorrow, just in time for the Chiefs game, we’re back to a high of 91! Then upper to mid 80’s for the rest of the week with quite a few rain chances sprinkled in there.

As I Look Outside My Window

A few leaves starting to fall, lots of acorns falling, still seeing a hummingbird as well. Just cleaned and refilled his feeder this morning.

Right Now

I am waiting on our taco soup to finish, typing this post, and randomly texting with a friend about possible plans on either Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday. Oh, and glancing at the NFL game on television (Sorry, Carrie, the Packers don’t seem to be winning this one).

Thinking And Pondering

If I want to sign up for an Alpha class at the church, how the house got so messy, and whether I had too much caffeine today.

How I Am Feeling

See caffeine comment above, a little anxious, a bit tired, overwhelmed, but happy everyone is home and dinner is almost ready.

On The Breakfast Plate

Bacon and a biscuit plus a biscuit with huckleberry jam. Then, later at the grocery store, I had a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks.

On The Lunch Plate

We were out so stopped at Whataburger, it was really good.

On The Dinner Plate

Taco soup, eventually.

On The Menu

Monday: hot dogs, French Fries, cucumbers, brownies (?)

Tuesday: Sheet pan chicken thighs with spicy corn (might grill chicken, weather dependent)

Wednesday: Vodka pasta

Thursday: Maybe roast or maybe someone else decides…

Friday: OUT, maybe Chinese food?

What I’m Wearing Today

I can share my Monday outfit since I’ve already planned it. What I’m referring to as my “ugly” Chiefs dress (it’s a sleeveless color block maxi dress: red, white, and pink that I picked up on clearance at the end of last season. When it arrived, my husband said it was ugly and I said I thought so as well but I didn’t care because I know the kids will love it!) and some gold tennis shoes that I just found yesterday.

On My Reading Pile

I finished It Could’ve Been Her by Lisa Jewell, it was good but not one of her best. Now, I’m reading Sour Crime Donuts by Ginger Bolton. Just a nice, cozy mystery.

On My TV

FOOTBALL is back! So happy. Chiefs on Monday night! Over the weekend, I watched Matilda the musical on Netflix, super fun, and Supergirl, not great but not as bad as the reviews said.

On My To Do List

Not too much as I did quite a bit of errand running this weekend.

  1. Pay bills
  2. Clean the house
  3. Finalize plans with friend (waiting on her to text me back)
  4. Probably a bunch of things I am forgetting
  5. I really need to make pesto, so much basil!

What I Am Creating

I got nothing for this. Might bake an apple cake sometime this week, does that count?

Something Fun To Share

We tried a new flavor of Oreo cookies just for fun. (Side note: Any of you Instagram people following the whole Oreo group chat messages? It’s like a little mini soap opera on there). Anyway, I was at Menards yesterday and they had a special flavor on the clearance rack. Let’s just say Chicken and Waffles aren’t on any of our Christmas wish lists. I spit mine in the trash! Oh, they are so bad!

From The Camera

I definitely need to improve in this area.

View of Children’s Mercy Park where Sporting KC plays. (Our soccer team)

 

We’ve been seeing so many of these little butterflies or moths around here.

Quote For The Week

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.

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Happy Homemaker Monday

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Happy Labor Day Weekend! I decided to get back to blogging starting this month. And since I have today off, figured it was a good day to jump back into things. Can’t think of a better way to start back than with a Happy Homemaker Monday post.

Thank you to Sandra over at Diary Of A Stay At Home Mom for hosting these link ups. I have missed this little hobby of mine as well as keeping up with all the wonderful bloggers. I’ve been terrible at keeping up with everyone (in real life as well) so my goal for this fall is to be A LOT better about it.

Before I get on with the post, I should share I’m typing this from a brand new laptop and being a desktop kind of gal, this is new to me. Hopefully, I’ll just figure it out as I go.

The Weather

As a summer lover, I’m hereby declaring that this summer needs to end. NOW. We’re on day 10 million of heat advisory over here. Okay, maybe like day 6 or 7, been a long stretch of temps in the 90’s with feels likes over 100. It’s currently 83 outside with a feels like of 88 and that feels halfway decent.

It’s supposed to be 99 degrees tomorrow but then, we get a break the rest of the week with a bit of rain and temps mostly in the upper 80s. Counting down to the 84 degree that’s supposedly coming on Thursday.

As I Look Outside My Window

The hummingbird fights are on! We’ve had FOUR hummingbirds at our feeder lately but they don’t get along too well.

Right Now I Am

Sitting in the living room trying to get this post typed up before lunch.

Thinking And Pondering

How crazy the next couple of weeks are going to be at work with one of our regular teachers out, how the house is ever going to get clean, and a million other little things.

How I Am Feeling

I’ve been a bit crabby this weekend, probably a mix of the heat and not sleeping great

On The Breakfast Plate

Sausage and biscuits (not the gravy stuff) and a biscuit with huckleberry jam. Husband made homemade biscuits yesterday & I had the leftovers.

On The Lunch Plate

Husband is making us hamburgers

On The Dinner Plate

Great question

What I’m Wearing Today

Old Navy star tee shirt, jean shorts

On My Reading Pile

Just started reading It Could Have Been Her by Lisa Jewell. Good and suspenseful so far.

On My TV

Not much, I re-watched Avengers: Infinity War on Friday. I am excited for a new season of Best Medicine, a remake of Doc Martin, to start back

On The Menu

Crazy  high heat does not make for good menu planning. Neither does needing to go to the store…

Today: Hamburgers for lunch, we might just do frozen pizza or something else light later

TUESDAY: Most likely tacos

WEDNESDAY: Maybe pasta, I need to make pesto as I have lots of basil going wild around the gardens

THURSDAY: ????

FRIDAY: ?????

On My To Do List

  1. Usual shopping errands: Grocery/Target/Dollar Tree
  2. Library
  3. Clean the house a bit
  4. Continue to figure out this laptop
  5. Get some extra meals in the freezer for busy days

What I Am Creating

Just went yesterday and got some seedlings for a fall garden: cabbage, lettuce, and need to plant some carrots (not sure I have time…need to check).

Something Fun To Share

A couple of 9 spotted forester moths visited my garden one day. These were new to me. Lots of fun to watch!

 

From The Camera

We went to Roaring River State Park for our anniversary a couple weeks back. Still very hot but it was peaceful.

Quote For The Week

Not every season asks you to bloom. Some just ask you to breathe. (Aurelia Leafsong)

*found on Pinterest*

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So It’s Been A Few Months

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Not really sure how to do a half-year catch up around here. So I decided to just share a few phone pictures from February through June, no July. Ahem. Sadly, I haven’t been picking up my big camera much either. Need to get back to that as well.

Let’s start with July and work backwards…you know the whole start where you are thing.

July so far:

That might have been the end of June but my Bee Balm did spectacular this year. Lots of happy bees (not pictured)!

J and I took a trip to Saint Louis over Fourth of July weekend to the International Barbershop Society Convention to watch the finals. (No he doesn’t sing, just a fan of the music style) We watched the chorus finals and the barbershop quartet group finals.

I upgraded out hotel room for a little extra fun as well:

Lots of great groups and the fun part was that a female group (they only started allowing female groups to compete in 2018 (!!) ) won the quartet contest for the first time ever! Here’s a link to their page, their winning song is there at the bottom (warning: grab a tissue!). They definitely deserved to win, so good:

GQ, the winners of the contest

June Happenings:

We had a bit of weather here and there but thankfully, everyone stayed safe. Most of it wasn’t really near our house though we heard the sirens.

Girlfriend trip to Hannibal, Missouri. This window is from the Rockcliffe Mansion that we toured. I didn’t even really want to do it but it ended up being one of the favorite things we did for me. Definitely, worth it if you find yourself in that area.

And back at home, there were a few animals:

This sweet girl showed up on the playground at school and I took her home for a few days (she wouldn’t leave the kids or teachers alone, and allergies so home she came with me one morning). Turned out to be a fiasco but one thing we did learn, we are not quite ready for a new cat.

And on a happier note, we had a rare bird in KC! So I did get the “real” camera out for this one and we drove to the Anita B. Gorman Conservation Center (which is oddly near the plaza and in quite an urban area) to view our guest:

The brown footed booby! I just checked and it appears he left our area sometime in late June and hopefully, is safe and sound back at home somewhere near a tropical ocean.

April and May

Honestly, I barely remember April and May. I know Easter was in April and J played at church. May was all the teacher things, appreciation week (felt very appreciated, lots of kindness) and preschool graduation, went well. Also, G’s birthday, he turned 25! Here’s a sunrise and a random store picture of jelly beans that I have no idea why I took it, maybe the price? 

January and February:

January was not great, we lost our cat, good friends of ours lost their father. Too many endings at the beginning of the year. I guess we did randomly eat some vegetables at some point though.

Still did Galentine’s Day which was our traditional fun at the Cheesecake factory and with cute gifts.

And we had a great horned owl visit the backyard in February, this is the best photo we managed, my husband got this with his cell phone:

 It’s about time to wrap up this post:

I saw this clock/thermometer at Menards and I really want it! So, of course, I did the next best thing, took a picture of it! Does anyone else do that? Maybe someday when I have a big, beautiful backyard garden with paths and all the things, I’ll get it.

So, basically back to today, I’m working on this post because I said I’d do an update. Also, it’s a million degrees outside (okay, not quite but the feel like temp is supposed to 111 or something). I’m still working full-time at the school, trying very hard to honor my word of staying one full school year but I’ve struggled the past couple of months. And it’s definitely not the kids. Enough of that. Husband is still working, boys are doing well. Garden is actually doing not bad. I call it my hobby that I’m not good at but still enjoy.

And if you’re still here reading, thank you! I really am planning to be in this space a bit more. Like I said in my post last week, trying to find my way back.

Finding My Way Back

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I’m still here. Needing to find my way back to this space. I do miss it. All is well other than still very much missing my little gray sidekick cat. Rest of the family is doing well. Picture above is the Mississippi river, photo taken from a short riverboat ride in Hannibal, Missouri (girlfriend getaway weekend in June).

Proper update coming soon….maybe Saturday? Hope all is well with anyone who happens to still read this blog.

 

Rough One Last Week

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Last week was rough. Before I continue, I just want to say it was rough here but compared to other parts of our country and the world, I do know this is all small stuff. Still it is the day to day here. And with that said, here’s a look at my photos from last week with a bit more background as needed.

I’m starting with my winter branches against the sky from last Sunday. Last Saturday’s photo was an evening sky and I can’t get it to transfer over and am not in the mood to fight the computer right now. I was trying to get a winter robin but they weren’t cooperating.

Monday and Tuesday

I snapped this photo of the moon in the morning on Monday before the week got so crazy.

 

And sometimes it’s hard working and thinking of what to photograph so I simply shared a photo from the fridge on Tuesday:

Wednesday

I shared this photo on Wednesday of our sweet little gray cat curled up in the chair:

However, the first photo I took of her was this one:

She is not doing well lately and my heart is breaking just a tiny bit more each day. Yesterday was really hard as we could see she was having trouble moving, getting tired walking just to her food bowl and such. So, we’ve moved things closer to make it easier for her. She’s still eating, drinking, wanting to be with us so I know it’s not quite time but it’s getting near.

Thursday

This day started out with great promise:

Look at that sky!

However, it went downhill quickly as a work situation escalated and one of my dear friends at work is no longer working there as they let her go. She was the reason I wanted to be in the classroom full-time, tried to keep the peace, etc. SIGH. Can’t comment much but if you can believe it the tipping point was over a Valentine’s Day party planning process?!

A church facebook post had a little quiz (?) thing where you paused for your verse later that night and here’s what I got:

Going to need to do that. And work on the whole trust thing (whole sermon yesterday was on trusting God…oh boy, did I need that).

Friday:

As you might imagine, Friday was a bit of a stressful, chaotic workday where I ended up having a meeting with my boss that was almost 2 hours long. I wasn’t in trouble, she was just letting me know about everything. The other 2 teachers were told on Thursday but I had to wait until Friday as she ran out of time to talk to me plus I’m fairly busy at the end of the day. Of course, I kind of knew what was happening by that point but clarity is always nice. And I was able to make my 2 requests for moving forward (I want absolutely nothing to do with the class pets, lol, and requested slightly different hours. We’ll see.) That night I mainly wanted to just curl up under my blanket.

It also spit snow very briefly on Friday. Not enough to be pretty or anything though.

It’s been a year has it not? Wait, what we’re only halfway through January?

And Saturday, I took a pic of my prayer plant just to finish out last week:

(thought it was a goner but it’s maybe going to come back)

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So between phone calls and worrying about the cat, I didn’t have a lot of time to visit blogland last week.

(I have very sweet coworker friends who called me to check in a lot this weekend. Actually my friend who was let go had a few of them over and called me Thursday night on speaker phone to make sure *I* was okay. So kind. She’s okay and relieved to be out of a very stressful environment herself.)

So glad it was a long weekend to relax and mostly watch football. Today, I’ve been doing laundry and re-organizing the pantry. Weather’s not been super cooperative for outdoor time.

Hopefully, I’ll have something a bit less chaotic to share after this week. Now, I really do need to go finish up the pantry, almost done.

Weird First Week of January

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Here are my everyday photos from this past week. It was a bit exhausting and weird. Also, I’m hoping the photos get a bit more interesting as the days get longer and we get closer to spring or at least have maybe some real winter weather. I’ve decided to also share some extra photos each week as I only post one each day on Instagram. I don’t have too many extras this week so don’t get too excited.

Sunday and Monday

I took a picture of the tv on Sunday, clearly before the Chiefs lost but I knew they were likely not winning. Seems strange to not be cheering them on in a Superbowl run this January. It’s been a minute since we weren’t in the playoffs. Maybe next year.

Monday, I took a picture of the very strange looking pinkish sky. This is the photo I edited for Instagram and the photo at the top of my post is what my phone did to the sky. Neither photo gets the sky quite right. It was just very surreal looking outside.

Also, took this one as a reminder to myself:

Tuesday and Wednesday

You know I love my spring/summer weather and we’ve been having some!

It was 61 degrees outside at 2pm on Wednesday. We’ve been running around in t-shirts and no coats. It’s nice and yet, I admit to missing winter a bit. The weird sad thing on this day, I hit a hawk with my car. It was in the medium of the highway and I was going wow, look at that as it randomly took flight and clipped my right bumper. I really hope it was okay. It did go back down into a wooded area.

Wednesday was just a basic back to the routine of working, bit of buyer’s remorse on taking the full-time job this week, that day. Took a picture of the pineapple I had after dinner.

Lots of sickness floating around in our area, one teacher in our classroom is getting over the flu. Few kids out, the news covering the large number of flu cases at the local hospitals. So, I’m taking my vitamins and trying to double down on the fruits and veggies.

Also, tried getting a sunset picture on Wednesday, however, as you can see, it wasn’t great. We just aren’t at a good location to get proper sunset photos. 

Thursday and Friday

Thursday was still warm but rainy almost all day until early afternoon. This random cat from the neighborhood was hanging out on the front porch when I returned home.

I didn’t recall seeing it but my husband said he visited often leaving his mark around our home (ugh). Our little gray cat is hanging in there though has slowed down so much. She mainly sleeps in my husband’s recliner but always perks up to see who has food and will sometimes go to the door to sniff the air or step on the porch a minute if the weather is nice enough. She usually doesn’t stay out there very long.

On Friday, I simply shared another photo of my sock monkey mug. This is where my husband would like to remind you that they are NOT mine but rather his that I wouldn’t let him trade away. Ha!

These mugs just make me smile and are such a fun way to start the day with my morning coffee. Of course, today they were both in the dishwasher so it was a plain boring cup this Saturday!

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Next week I’ll start with today’s photo since I’m posting this somewhat early this morning. Not sure what today’s plans might be….either cleaning house or trying to get out of the house. Maybe both. Trying to talk the husband into going to the nature area about an hour north of here to see the bald eagles. Need to treat houseplants for fungus gnats, SIGH. Watching the playoff football games on tv. Laundry. Usual weekend chores.

How was your week? What are you doing this weekend?

 

Elvis Birthday and Quote

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This isn’t really an official post with photos but just a quote that was on my Farmer’s Almanac daily email. I really liked it and thought I’d share it here.

They shared an Elvis Presley quote as today is his birthday. So, I’m just sharing the quote with all of you:

Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t going away.

(Elvis Presley 1935-77)

(Old photo from January 2022)

 

 

Photos This Week

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I’ll have to think of a better title later. Hopefully, this idea will be more exciting next week when I have a full week worth of photos but I wanted to get into the habit.

So, one of my list items was to take a photo every day in 2026 and post it somewhere probably Instagram. Then, I thought maybe I’d do a weekly post here each Saturday of all the photos and when I have the energy, a bit more explanation.

Photos This Week:

First we have a snowman decoration, it lights up and changes color. An unexpected early Christmas present from a friend. I took this photo randomly last night after realizing my plans to capture the first full moon of the year wouldn’t work on a cloudy day/night.

We did see the moon tonight and it was amazing but we were on the highway so I didn’t even bother trying to get a photo.

Tonight’s photos are a bit more Christmas. We had a white elephant gift/housewarming party to attend at a friend’s new home.

One of our gifts we took:

Inside this bag is a mini tabletop pool table with all the parts. And a couple of small tabletop games. It pleased the recipient and that made me happy. Not pictured, the other gift we took was a small peppermint dip bowl with a little spoon. I also put some Twisted Peppermint soap from Bath & Body Works in there along with some candy canes taped together to make hearts. Someone traded another gift for it and so they were also happy.

The gifts we received:

I traded away a 500 piece Christmas puzzle for the Art Game (I’m not a puzzle person and thought maybe I could do something with the art game parts for my work). And I was thrilled with my husband’s gift of the sock monkey coffee cups with the cocoa inside. I wouldn’t let him trade them away! One of my list items was also to treat myself to a new coffee cup each month. So I’m counting this one as a list item completed for January!

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Not sure how detailed this post is going to be next week. Honestly, I already have Sunday night anxiety even though it’s still Saturday night. It’ll be fine, just struggling to wrap my head around going back to work on Monday. I miss the kids but I’m just not quite ready for it all. I’m also already preemptively missing my quiet at home, everyone else is at work after the holidays time. However, I chose this and I know I’ll be fine and happy once I get there.

Anyone else not quite ready to get back to the routine next week? Also, on a lighter note, do you consider a snowman decoration to be Christmas or not?

 

Happy New Year!

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Happy 2026! Praying it’s the beginning of a kinder, gentler, more peaceful year for all of us.

We had a great end to a not the best year. My practical husband made me spend the last day of 2025 getting new tires (much needed) on my car. A bit annoying but that’s part of why I love him because he thinks of that kind of stuff. Up to me? I’d be thinking about new tires when they were falling off the car.

Also, saw a fun joke later that said: Always get new tires on New Year’s Eve so you can be sure to have a Good Year. Ha, such a bad joke. However, fitting for me this time.  (For anyone who doesn’t know, Goodyear is a brand of tires)

Then, we rang in the new year with friends eating good food and playing games. This Stinky pig game I gave my husband for Christmas was a big hit. Just silly and fun.

Yesterday, I didn’t do much to start off the year. Made a little mini brunch from leftovers for 3 of us (G slept in quite a bit) and then, simply read my book and rested.

Just what I needed. Everyone is Lying to You by Jo Piazza is the best book I’ve read all year! (haha). It was really good though, a bit of a thriller about a murder revolving around influencers and social media but it also had a good friendship type story.

And now for the 2 traditional items I post around the beginning of each year…

My Word of the Year

I probably won’t be posting as much this year (see full-time work hours) but I doubt I’d be posting too much about my word of the year anyway. It’s a bit more personal this year but I still wanted to share it. I know I like seeing what words everyone who does this picks. So I’ll share mine. I considered many: rest, gentle, relax, pause, pray, trust. Got some answer so stupid I don’t even remember it on a buzzfeed quiz. The surrender answer (again!) on the Dayspring quiz. However this is the word that settled on my heart:

Pray

Trust is definitely the companion to my word of the year as well. So, it just means I plan to talk to God a lot more this year and leave things in his hands. Also, not just pray for wants/needs but I also plan to offer up more prayers of gratitude.

Hopefully, I’ll do better than I did with last year’s word of notice. I “noticed” I didn’t do a very good job at it past oh I don’t know January. SIGH. Again, where did last year go? Note: In no way whatsoever, do I want another 2025.

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Moving on…I’m also making a basic 26 things for 2026 list. Did I do many of the 25 things from last time? Uh, no. I did do a fun hot chocolate challenge though! Still, I enjoy making these lists if nothing else and who knows maybe someone reading can be inspired and will do something I ultimately skip over.

My List of 26 for 2026

The no thrills just a straight up list edition. I am going to throw in some eye-break photos from last year though. And some of these are going to be vague, sorry, I know it’s going to bug you detail-oriented types out there!

  1. Take one photo every day and post somewhere (probably Instagram though my big plan is to try and post all the photos for the week here each Saturday. The brunch photos above were my photos from yesterday)
  2. Go on one walk a week
  3. Take one box a week/maybe a month? to the donation center. Basically, declutter!
  4. Frame the calendar cross-stitch months my late mother-in-law made (found these in my father-in-law’s things. I’ll share them at some point)
  5. Organize the holiday tubs (in progress)
  6. Subscribe to 3-4 magazines that I want to read and enjoy (physical subscriptions, not digital!)
  7. Plant more green beans and black-eyed peas in the garden.
  8. Date with husband once a month (better share this one again, we didn’t do great last year but I can’t remember if I shared it with him, LOL!)
  9. Continue to strive to set an example of peace and kindness over hate and anger.
  10. Improve our home decor (I know that sounds shallow and materialistic but I lived with a lot of half-finished spaces for a long time and I miss completed spaces) 
  11. Step back and let others step up (This is going to be so hard to do!)
  12. Clean out my email AND hit unsubscribe as I do so
  13. Read a book a week (this should be easy for me as I read every night before bed)
  14. Give myself permission to NOT finish crappy books/tv shows/movies
  15. Treat myself to a fun new seasonal coffee cup each month (hubands gonna love this one, ha!)
  16. Get another facial (I did this for the first time last year as part of our mom’s night out fun at a local beauty school and it was so relaxing…) 
  17. Actually, use my gift cards! And maybe for myself? Are you a gift card collector as well or is it just me? Oh, I’ll just pay normal this time instead of digging out the gift cards that you know are somewhere in your purse/wallet? I need to see what I have…mostly Target ones, I think.
  18. Organize our hall/linen closet. It’s sooo bad right now.
  19. Do something brave
  20. Pick a new restaurant to check out once a month (hopefully, we can do this as a family)
  21. Set up laptop my son gave me (It involves finding many of my passwords that connect automatically on the desktop so I keep putting it off)
  22. Learn to use the laminator I got for my birthday
  23. Organize my bill payment system a bit better
  24. Don’t replace feelings with being busy (something I was getting better at and then, this year, a setback…reference working full-time hours)
  25. Get my passport (Something I probably should’ve done a long time ago)
  26. Try a new drink off my Pinterest “drinks” board each month (hot drinks in the winter, most likely, cold drinks in the summer…)

If you’re still reading, thank you! And of course, you know I’m going to ask. Word of the year for you? Did you make a list? Anything fun on it (I might want to trade)?

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