2024: I Will Make This Year Different

  January 28 -   Since I know I won’t have time to complete any more puzzles this month, I decided to pack up most of my puzzle gear and take it downstairs to store it. I need to figure out what to do with my puzzle board, but I feel like an answer will come with the great decluttering in February. Thus far, I really like the focus on one major topic each month. I know that’s saying a lot one month in. However, I didn’t lose focus on what I was trying to accomplish, like I tend to do with a big list of things I give myself each year. I also found that I worked ahead on other topics, but it wasn’t a major focus. For example, after finishing the boat puzzle, I realized that I had no desire to complete the other puzzles in the box, so it was easier for me to give the box away. I found a few little things to declutter around the house, like the travel mugs I don’t really use any more and I also did a tiny bit of crafting, but overall, I focused on the puzzles I wanted to try ...

  January 21 -   I was planning on spending the day at home, but my insane desire to put the books on my cross-stitch book shelf persuaded me to pop into Wal-Mart to grab the needed colors and some chicken broth, as there was none on the shelves when I went shopping on Saturday.  I finished Outliers and I would recommend it to anyone who would like to look deeper into statistics and how they can be used to explain data, but once you look closer at the input you can really see the stories of how people end up being successful. It was quite fascinating. I started The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell. It’s a thicker book so it’ll take me a bit longer to get through. Since I’m doing it as an audiobook it’ll give me time to work on my puzzles. Hopefully I can power through it and devote some time to the book club book for this month because I haven’t even started it! Oh, and I also have a couple of physical books from the library that I need to read, too.  While ...

  January 14 -   I held true to my word! I watched/listened to Pride and Prejudice while working on my monster puzzle! After I finished P&P, my sister treated me to Mexican, then I came home and queued up Downton Abbey and kept working. It’s almost done and I’m so happy!!!! Taking a day and working intensely on this puzzle seems to be the way to finish it. Otherwise I get really frustrated and I want to quit. My next puzzle needs to be easier. It just needs to be. LOL!  I didn’t read at all today and that’s okay. I’m coming off a 6 book reading streak where all the titles have been average. I’m hoping that the next one I pick up will be amazing! January 15 -   Today we were off school because of MLK Jr. Day. Which worked out well, because it’s still SUPER cold and they’re calling for more snow. Goodie.  I finished The Pillars of Creation! I’m so happy!!! It was one of the more difficult puzzles I’ve ever done and while it’s beautiful, it was tediou...

  January 7 -   I moved the puzzle today and worked on it for a bit. It’s going to be a doozie to complete, but it will be SO pretty!  Yesterday I managed to read a 360+ page book. I feel pretty good about that. I also finished Outlander this morning. It was okay. I wasn’t overly excited by it so I don’t think I’ll be reading any additional books in the series. I have too many books I want to read. I finished Elevation by Stephen King today also. Man, I sure do love weekends and the freedom to do whatever I please (which is usually reading)!  I did not get much of anything done on my “to do” list this weekend, so I’ll work on chipping away at stuff over the coming week, ya know, when I’m super busy doing a billion other things. LOL!  January 8 -   I did not work on the puzzle today. I had a meeting that I needed to attend and I spent some time watching the boys play in the snow. I also did some work specific stuff.  I didn’t read either. I’m ...

  January 1 -  Monthly goal is to work on more puzzles and to play games.  I would consider today a success as I worked on a puzzle for about an hour and a half. I now have the border and some of the sky done on puzzle #1 for 2024. It is a 1000 piece puzzle, so it may take a bit to get done. It is one puzzle in a box of 4, all of which have 1000 pieces. When the puzzles are done, I will likely rehome the box of puzzles somewhere else as I don’t really love the puzzles and I think that others would really enjoy the set. However, that may change. I may decide that I don’t want to do puzzles that I don’t love and pass it along after I finish the first. We shall see how that goes. Amanda came over for a few hours this evening. She, Adam and I all played a trivia game. We didn’t really keep score and played through almost the entire deck. We had a really good time together. I’m glad Adam wanted to begin playing games as a family on a weekly basis.  I also started the firs...