Outside my window 48* and it’s a typical overcast winter day. Rain is expected the next few days. The week ahead doesn’t look bad for December though - ten day forecast: 54/40, 49/29, 52/29, 47/27, 47/33, 53/41, 52/34, 49/36, 48/31, 40/27
Listening to Pandora Bruno Mars radio on my Bluetooth speaker that resides on the top of the refrigerator.
Clothing myself in denim leggings, navy long sleeve shirt, new brown boots. My daughter and I have tastes in clothes and shoes so similar that you can barely tell our wardrobes apart :-) Does that mean I dress too young? Nah, she just has great classic taste. That’s what we’ll go with LOL
Keeping house it’s feeling pretty peaceful around here this week. I managed to do some long overdue cleaning earlier in the week and we are so very much more content when the surfaces are clutter free! De-cluttering will continue after the first of the new year. There is always maintenance de-cluttering to do once the big purges are complete. Hope you knew that already. Don’t cry, it’ll be okay.
Keeping it simple every. single. thing. At this time of year when I am even more inclined to stress about my inability to meet my own expectations, I have learned they are just that - my expectations - and I need to cut myself some slack. I venture to bet maybe you do too? I hope to write a lot more in the coming months about what those pesky little buggers do to our mental and emotional health, and how we can use some tools to work through some of the murky waters of expectations.
To be fit and healthy did you just hear me giggle under my breath? If you were sitting across the table from me, you would have. It’s still a work-in-progress. I have walked a couple times this past month, and it really does make a difference. I have no good reasons and lots of excuses for why I haven’t been getting my tush out there on the walking trail, but those don’t help anyone, right? I did make some smart choices that I believe will have a positive affect on my health - I decided to forego the annual baking cookies and making candy. We had a small, intimate cookie exchange. It was kept to a minimum and the temptation to eat them all was removed by the fact that they were placed out-of-sight and out-of-mind. I have not given up, I have plans for continuing my journey to fit and healthy.
Pondering this writing life. Really just life altogether. It’s so good and so challenging at the same time. How to live and love better than ever in the coming year.
Watching not a lot. We completed Harry Potter during October. Our traditional marathon of Lord of the Rings completed last week, and now onto The Hobbit this weekend maybe. Hallmark Christmas has been nearly burnt out - there are so many repeats! And honestly, even I can only take so much gush. It’s all about the same storyline but the names have been changed to protect … well, I don’t know what it’s protecting but it’s getting old. I will be burned at the stake for this by at least one of my daughters! Dear husband started The Last Kingdom on Netflix last week. He seems to like it. I’d rather be reading or writing (or sleeping apparently)
Reading after chatting with a writer acquaintance yesterday, I picked a book off the shelf that has been there, waiting on me for a while. A Mind of Her Own by Diana Lesire Brandmeyer. The Bible - always. Now I have a few others I will be ordering to help grow my writing skills. My girls and I plan to start our own little reading group soon. We are thinking along the lines of the Lee Strobel stuff, The Shack, Redeeming Love, some thought provoking, spiritual type reads.
Loving the moments when God gently leads me back from mindless wandering and shows me the lesson. Also, I confess there is nothing better than going to see your grandkids and having the baby reeaaaccchhh for you and refuse to leave your embrace for someone else :-) Can’t love this enough.
Words worth sharing
“Contentment isn’t about having what you want, it’s wanting what you have”
Giving thanks for so much!!! Mostly for God’s grace. I get lost in my own head too often, and if it weren’t for God’s grace, and Jesus coming to rescue me from myself, I would still be lost and wandering.
Planning for the week ahead there’s a little shopping left to do, a menu to plan for Christmas, an 18th birthday for our youngest!!! There might be a little more decorating that happens, but not much. We need a few lights twinkling in the family room. However, since we did end up moving our tree from the front room where no one was enjoying it to the family room, those twinkle lights are a lot less important. ;-) Time with the family. That’s what it’s all about folks!!
Happy Friday!!!