2026 Goals

 

I didn't make resolutions! I, instead, made goals. Then I made a page for my scrapbook journal about those goals. Maybe it will help to remind me where I am headed this year. At the end of the year we will see how it went! 

Quote

'When we limit our belief in our own potential to grow, we also limit our incentive to grow'

                                  Mary Pipher

Goals For 2026

Well folks, it's time to start thinking about making New Year's resolutions! 

Geez, I dislike that phrase! Resolutions? They are made and then promptly forgotten. 

                            I say we ''Set Goals" instead.

Goals keep us focused, on task, and gives us such satisfaction at their completion.

                             Here's my Goals for 2026

1. Finish that book I am writing and get it published. I'm about half-way through when I just quit! So onward, I go!

2. Exercise more. I've never liked exercise but I know I need it now more than ever. So, onward I go with that goal as well.

3. Learn something new each week. Anything from a new word to a new skill. Learning keeps us young and connected. 

4. Finish reading the Bible from cover to cover. I am almost there.

                            What are your Goals For 2026? 

That's It, Folks!!

 Christmas is gone... for most people. 

For me, alone on Christmas Day, I just pretended it was not a holiday. It was just Thursday!! 

Our Christmas will be celebrated on Jan. 3rd. Shirley says she's sure she will feel up to it. She's getting better every day now.

So, I got up, said 'Merry Christmas' to myself. Fixed me some breakfast then I dragged out my watercolors. I figured painting was a good way to kill some time. 

Well, that's done!

Hmmmm.... it's not even 1 p.m. what shall I do with the rest of my day?

I turned on Netflix and started watching 'It's All Her Fault' and let me tell you... I was hooked. I sat there all afternoon, one segment after the other. You know they always leave a 'hanger' at the end of each one so Yes, I just kept watching and wondering who did it. Story was about a 5 year old boy who was kidnapped. And, just when you think you've got it all figured out, it takes off in another direction.

So, I'm sitting there on the edge of my seat, popping one chocolate truffle into my mouth after another. A friend gifted me those truffles. They are from Trader Joe's and oh, my... well, anyway, they were good company while I watched tv... until they were gone! 

So,  that's how my Christmas went and that was alright. Different,  a challenge maybe but we all need to shake up our mundane routine from time to time and Shirley's flue really did a bunch of shaking around here. 

It's just amazing how content you can be with the more simple things in life as you age. And, as old as I am.... I am pretty content. hehe. 

Christmas Eve

 On a good note:

Daughter Shirley is home from the hospital but is still very sick. She is the only child I have living near me and now that she is quarantined and doesn't feel up to visitors or should she be having any, this is the first Christmas I will ever spend alone in my entire life. Why don't you all come over and visit.... I'd love that. 

Christmas Cheer

 You girls are amazing! As I read the comments on my 'ice cube' post, I felt heard, understood, supported. It felt soooo good! Thank you all for that!

A quick note: dau. shirley is in the hospital with the flu. For goodness sakes, you all be careful and don't catch that awful stuff. Since our Christmas festivities are centered around Shirley's household and family we will not be waking up on Christmas morning to gifts and hot chocolate and family and fun. It will all be postponed until she is up to it. 

The other day (when she was well and perky) Shirley hosted our Christmas Cookie Decorating get-together downstairs. Last year we decorated gingerbread houses but this year it was cookies. It was fun. Some of the cookies looked like 'store bought'.... some looked like they were purchased at a junk yard. hehe. I was sort of proud of mine.

Do you see my Charlie Brown Christmas Tree Cookie?

 I hope that each of you stay healthy and that you have the most fabulous Christmas ever! 

The Melting Ice Cube of Life

 As the weeks, months, years go by I can't help to notice the changes that are being made in my life. That's ok. I am not complaining but I do think about this aging process and how it will all end up. 

The other day I made up a little story about how I was feeling. I told my baby daughter... she understood, supported, listened. Same with my son but when I told this story to my daughter Shirley along with 2 of our friends, she and one of the friends just didn't get it... sort of made fun of me. 

So, I decided I'd tell my little story to you and see what kind of reaction I get from you. 

It was a cloudy winter day and a bird was flying high in the sky. He had an ice cube in his talons and suddenly he dropped the ice cube and it fell down to the ground. It landed on the sidewalk.

It was cold so the ice cube just sat there .... for a long, long time. Just being what it was meant to be. 

Then the weather got warmer. The ice cube started to sweat just a little around it's top. After awhile some trickles of water slid down it's sides and after some time puddles began to form on the sidewalk around her. 

She realized that she was smaller, still an ice cube but part of her was not with her anymore so she felt sad. The puddles grew larger and larger as the sun shone brighter and brighter. She knew that one of these days she would only be a puddle.

I am that ice cube. Being dropped from that bird was my birth into this world and I spent years sitting on that sidewalk being me. Now, I see myself diminishing, sweating away lifes time, trickles begin forming around me and I am growing smaller and smaller. 

I thought is was a great analogy but evidently my daughter couldn't see the picture. It is rather nutty, isn't it. But, that was how I was feeling and I am entitled to that. Right?