Category: current events

Fail-Proof Goal Setting

There are four types of goals/resolutions people make every year in January–

Financial goals

  1. save money
  2. spend less
  3. trim expenses
  4. get rid of (fill in the blank)
  5. start a retirement fund
  6. pay off debt
  7. work on paying off debt
  8. don’t incur any further debt

Health goals

  1. lose weight
  2. get healthy
  3. join a gym
  4. try a new diet
  5. change lifestyle/habits
  6. start counseling
  7. quit drinking
  8. quit smoking

Home Goals

  1. buy a new home
  2. sell your home
  3. save for a home
  4. fix current home

Work related goals

  1. promotion
  2. project completion
  3. goals associated with boss/colleagues
  4. make more money
  5. change job
  6. quit job

These are not comprehensive lists, but they are some of the top goals and resolutions under the headings-financial, health, home, and work.

Success at any one of them means picking 1-2 from each category and deciding short term or long term?

Here’s mine:

Financial–my #1 goal is to save more money, start an investment fund, and buy a new vehicle.

Health– special diet: increase vegetables (even ones I don’t like), more fiber, more cardio exercise.

Home- buy less of everything. Live a more simple, non-materialistic life.

Work– commute less, remote work the same or more, continue selling online (preparing for move, lightening the load), take a vacation.

The secret to fail-proof goal setting is to make realistic goals/resolutions that are short term or long term, adjust the terms as needed, and don’t look for ways out of them, but rather ways you can adjust/reset them to complete them/succeed at them/meet them.

Happy New Year to All!! and Happy, Healthy Goal-setting too!

 

Rest

Rest–a very underrated activity.  When was the last time you took a nap?

Nap facts:

  • Naps 20-30 minutes in duration are the most beneficial
  • Napping can help lower your blood pressure
  • Napping can later help you to fall asleep and stay asleep
  • Napping can help you be more alert and less stressed

Meditation helps with being more:

  • Mindful
  • Focused
  • Present
  • Aware

Looking Ahead:

I am uncertain whether Black Friday is still relevant today. There are several times a year that deals are available from all the big box retailers. Most of our shopping is done long before November, and this year and last we’ve purchased most gifts from local small businesses. I know not everyone can do this, but when you can, it really is a special moment created for both you and for the small business owner.

Shopping days until Christmas: 35

My husband and I are doing things differently this year. We decided to create gifts by looking for things like fall/winter photography sessions or a professional photo for our Christmas card or a ticket to a local museum or opera next year. The holidays for us this year are going to be very intentional; they will also include whatever we can do for our community at this time and lots of time together at home creating lasting memories. That said, every year we look forward to Small Business Saturday. Until next time,

Wishing you and yours a happy holiday season! đŸŽ„đŸŽ…đŸ»â˜ƒïžđŸŽ€

fall

xoxo

Hello, May!

May Day is here. May Day is a European tradition that celebrates the historic struggles and gains made by workers during the labor movement. In France, on May 1st, they celebrate FĂȘte du Travail (Labor Day), and almost every shop, restaurant, and tourist attraction is closed for the day. People in France give friends and family bouquets of muguet (lily of the valley). In America, from the 1800s through the early 1900s, May baskets were hung on friends’, family’s, and often love interests’ doors on May 1st. Now in the U.S., not much, if anything, is done to celebrate this wonderful day anymore. I order a rosemary plant for close friends, and I also buy each of them a bar of Muguet soap off of Etsy. 

Friends, start planning your summer bucket list now because things will move quickly from May 1st to Labor Day. We’re getting ready to go on a day trip to Door County. Once we’re back home, I have my container garden, hiking, sunsets, writing, antiquing, farmers markets, YT, and more to keep me busy all summer.

Enjoy May!

🐝safe & 🐝 well.

Standing Still

Standing still and bidding farewell to April. May is, after all, my favorite of all months. One thing is for sure: time is not standing still. I need to take a minute here in my life and just breathe. One of the things that is on my mind as we close out the 1st month of the 2nd quarter of 2025 is, “How do I prepare for the unexpected better?” In the year 2020, I was reading news about what we would eventually deal with from 2020 to 2023, long before mainstream news picked up the story. I read news regularly from parts all over the world. We started to slowly prepare, and even though I would never know just how bad the situation would become all over the world, what we personally prepared ourselves for worked. We never ran out of anything and, because of our continued commitment to our health, stayed healthy. It was a lot.

Now, regardless of your politics, by now you’ve heard that retailers are refusing to pay the tariffs for goods. There have been preorders made for items generally sold in big box stores through August. Nothing that is being reported is entirely 100% accurate because people/news just don’t know. What has been said by people in the retail industry is by June, if not sooner, shelves will clear with panic, and supply will not be available for restocking. Christmas goods, usually shipped early summer, may wait at ports until someone decides to pay tariffs or the tariffs disappear. Fake trees, bulbs, decor, etc., all come from China. Toys, home decor, furniture, and holiday goods do too.

I’ve asked someone that is more organized than I feel that I am what to do. I was told to do this, if nothing else. Go room to room and ask yourself, “How many of these do I use or need for 1 year’s time?” I started in the medicine cabinet (OTC meds), then spices, any food stuffs that would be in an “international” aisle in the grocery store, electronics (back-up tablets?), toiletry items that could go up in price exponentially (makeup, shavers, toothpaste, deodorant, lotions), garbage bags, counter-top appliances, and easy to buy and store car parts for future work (we need a suspension issue fixed and front brakes; $225+tax for the parts now). We’re doing well in the clothing and shoe department. So, that’s a start. We’re thinking about $400.00 out of savings should get us these things, and then as far as these items go, we’ll be good for a year. That’s all we can do, and for right now it’s all we can afford. The worst outcome from buying these things is that we’ll be out $400.00 early on, and the best thing is that when and if prices go up or stock goes out, we have a backup or two of some very necessary items.

Let me know if you’re preparing in any way. In the meantime, I’m going to go back to taking it easy, keeping my head on straight, and preparing to move into my favorite month. I’m going to continue to enjoy the birdsong every morning, the different shades of pink at sunrise, the anticipation of fresh produce at the farmstand soon available, and the thrill that I will get when my tiny apartment garden is planted mid-May.

Until next time, be safe and be well.

Easter on the Farm & Free Easter Coloring Pages

for the kids or grandkids!

Here

Easter Sunday in the 70’s –growing up on the farm.

Happy Easter!!

People seem to think on the first day of spring, or at least by Easter Sunday, that winter should be finished. That isn’t how I remember things growing up on the family farm in the 1970’s. Oh yes, there was an Easter or two, where we could wear our new spring dresses and patent leather shoes. But many times, Easter fell at a time when our world was filled with snow and cold. And then the most asked and answered question would be, “How will the Easter bunny get through all the snow?” He always made it—that’s for sure!

Prior to that day, I would have watched any and all of the religious programming on television put on by our father for our viewing pleasure–Billy Graham, Robert Schuller, and Oral Roberts. Oh, our dad loved his Evangelical preachers. My most enjoyable part of any of what showed up on television at this time of year was Jesus of Nazareth, which I still watch to this day, some 50 years later. Before the big day, mom would shop for all our favorites, including beef short ribs or sometimes ham, which were meats that she really knew how to make. Of course, her Easter table always had scalloped potatoes, sometimes scalloped corn, carrots, peas, and store bought buns warmed up. What we had for dessert escapes me now. Often times, especially when I was younger, our grandparents would be our dinner guests. Supper would be leftovers from our Easter meal, and Dad would be able to take an extra long nap in his chair.

And yes, we got Easter baskets that usually held a hollow chocolate bunny plus a big cream egg (fruit and nut or cherry) in a box, and mom would hide jelly beans all over the dining room and living room. It never took me long to find most of them–same places year after year (window sills, desk, and table) lol. Mom seemed to really enjoy making holidays like Easter and Christmas special for us.

My earliest memory of Easter was when I was 8 years old and had written a letter to the Easter bunny. Low and behold, when I woke up, he had answered my letter with muddyđŸŸ prints and a basket of goodies. Easter time growing up is a wonderful memory for me and one I reflect back on each and every year as the holiday arrives. Though we didn’t have baby chicks or bunnies on our farm, springtime was a time of renewal on this special place. The land after a cold, wet winter was renewed and ready for new crops. The cows began calving and our barn cats began having kittens. The first flowers I would see and smell were my grandmother’s tulips—she loved the red and yellow ones. All of the spring rains, longer days, warmer days and nights, and the return of the robins and whippoorwill are all things that I think about when I remember all of my Easters on the farm. 🐄 đŸ°đŸ€ đŸ±

The 12 Days of Christmas!

We may be some of the very few left in the universe that celebrated the 12 days of Christmas this past week. I’m kind of ashamed to say that, until several years ago, I thought the 12 days of Christmas were pre-December 25th. While attending a private Catholic university, I learned that I’d been wrong my whole adult life. The 12 days of Christmas begin on December 25th and end on January 5th, with the Epiphany (the day of feast) celebrated on January 6th.  There is more information about this here and here. Once I learned this, I then explained to my husband, who also had never known this, why our Christmas celebrations would now end after January 6th.

Growing up, we did not count down the days or celebrate the epiphany, and if it was mentioned in church, I wasn’t paying attention. Yes, we sang the song associated with this celebration, but I never understood its real meaning. Even before this revelation, we always left Christmas up until January 5th. Our traditions were established long before social media began to decide for the masses when Christmas “happened,” and then was “over.” Traditions are very important to me. They really provide a sense of stability and are a central and fundamental part of my life and an important part of my sobriety. Much of what I saw on social media this year and throughout the holidays was commercialism and consumerism. Christmas as I knew it as a kid has left the building.

Year after year, I grasp hold of memories of Christmases gone by or my ideas of Christmas crafted from childhood Christmases, and I create two special weeks for my husband, myself, and friends. On the internet, and in the lives of many influenced by social media, Christmas starts late September and ends on Christmas eve or Christmas Day. This year was exceptionally crazy in that social media influencers had already taken their tree down Christmas afternoon and were planning trips to plant stores and in an ordering frenzy for spring remodels by December 26th. So Sad. Social media has really changed how people look at holidays, vacations, and, well, everything. Sigh.

I saw this Natural Life chirp on Facebook this morning and love it!

In my little world, our tree is still lit, our Christmas lights are still glowing; there are two Christmas movies I still want to watch, and at least a half dozen cookies have yet to be eaten. I’m probably the most organized person I know, and in no way does my tree, its ornaments, or Christmas cookies make my home dirty, full of clutter, or disorganized. If you purchased my guide, you know that my new year starts in the early fall of the previous year, so I’ve been planning and organizing 2025 since September 2024. I’m already all set up for tax time, and again, all things Christmas in our home aren’t getting in my way at all. This year we may begin the ritual of taking down the tree and storing all of our Christmas things sometime around January 15th.

This Christmas we had a Christmas Eve dinner; just the two of us, and I made ham, scalloped potatoes, Brussels sprouts, corn, homemade dinner rolls, and two salads for dessert. The days leading up to Christmas Eve were a bit hectic as I tore my ACL and sprained or strained something that made my knee go out of joint (pain at a 9 for weeks now) Shorthly after Christmas tax time begins to ramp up and taxes are what I do for a living (I also oversee 10 employees and their tax work). I also analyze the beginning of year commodities–that’s a very busy facet of my job. I don’t get a full break during the holiday season, so there’s that to deal with while I do Christmas. I was unable to do any volunteering this year which made me quite sad and disappointed as I look forward to it at this time all year long.

On Christmas Day, we had four guests, and I served leftover ham, turkey, glazed carrots, roasted cauliflower and beets, homemade rolls, salad, stuffing, and Key Lime pie for dessert. On New Year’s Eve, we had two friends over for BBQ ribs, chicken wings, roasted potatoes, pecan pie, and we played board games. As they say, that’s a wrap for 2024.

Here is a great recipe for the Galette des Rois (in my blog post photo). Happy Epiphany Day!

Until next time, xoxo