Eric did not enjoy his brief time wearing the dog’s holiday bandana…
We’ve been having a laid back holiday break. The guaranteed time off between Christmas and New Year’s is one of the best perks of working in higher ed as far as I’m concerned. I take time to stay up late, sleep in, and work on projects. We also got to spend some time with family and friends. We made our first full-on proper Christmas dinner. It’s been good.
Today I’m starting to return to a few of my “normal” things because work starts back up tomorrow. I wanted to take a minute to reflect on the year that was 2022, briefly.
We welcomed a niece to the family. We celebrated more birthdays and our second anniversary. We took two lovely road trips. I made a total of 179 projects. And we still (to the best of our knowledge) have not had COVID. It’s been a good year.
In terms of the goals I set for myself last year, I did really well. I was not able to lose weight and I bought a single skein of yarn, but I aced everything else. That makes me really proud.
My goals for next year:
- No new craft supplies
- Finish all of my kits
- Read at least 4 books
- Establish and maintain habits/routines for exercising
- Complete at least 5 creative projects each month
- No new clothes unless I need new underwear or bras
- No new shoes
- Lose 50lbs
- Post on my blog at least once per week
- Learn how to bake bread from scratch
- Earn at least one professional certificate
- Learn at least one new craft skill
Part of the weekly blog post will be an update on goals, to help keep me accountable. In the spirit of full transparency, I did stack the deck just a bit. Prior to the end of the year I purchased a few more craft supplies and some clothes. I also spent some time yesterday disassembling some old jewelry that I don’t wear anymore and salvaged most of it to reuse.
The “word” for next year is going to be FRUGAL.
We have plenty, we want for nothing really. Not saying that we’re wealthy by the financial standards set by many in this country, but we have enough to keep a roof over our heads, food on the table, the lights on, and extra to do fun things periodically. By the standards of many places we are wealthy as kings, and that’s not lost on us.
Every month we make a donation to the local food bank. Throughout the year we make donations to other charities. I share my cookies whenever it makes sense, and we’ll continue to do that. Not spending money on things we really don’t need means we’ll be able to help others.
Top Left: Us on Christmas Day
Top Right: Eric the Red, the Most Interesting Cat in the World
Middle Right: Improv dinner – baked pork chops with onions, cranberries, and acorn squash in a whiskey mustard butter sauce
Lower Left: Beaded ornament I made for my friend, Dr. K
Lower Middle: Tiny star earrings I made myself
Lower Right: The finished Celtic Neck Warmer
randomly erin 