Monthly Archives: January 2026

No Spend Challenge Month One

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Scout is always watching.

Today is January 31 and technically the end of my No Spend Challenge. I started on December 30 so I’ve had a pretty good run so far. This isn’t the end though. I’m just going to recalibrate and keep going for a while longer.

This month has been great. I accomplished some goals but still have some work to do. This challenge isn’t about saving money so much as it is about changing habits. I’m not fighting urges but still need more time because the world is a rough place when you live in such a consumeristic time.

It’s amazing to me how much advertising and suggestion we are exposed to in a day whether you’re out walking around, home watching tv or scrolling on your phone. Even when watching a tv show with no commercials you are being sold products and lifestyle.

Social media has rebranded overconsumption as cute, organized, chic or simply the thing that everyone is doing. If you see videos of people unpacking Walmart hauls, redecorating their homes with new furniture every year, or decanting their prepackaged snacks into cute little containers that make their pantry look like a store you know what I mean.

It’s no wonder Americans are so wasteful with money and other resources. We see it modeled everywhere we look.

Meanwhile, I’ve cooked most meals this month using mostly things I already had. Bills are paid and my budget has been obeyed this month. Mind you, my challenge these days isn’t nearly as strict as it once was. For example, I allowed myself to keep the Book of the Month subscription. My job took me to a bookstore for a writing assignment and I bought two books while there because I couldn’t go representing my job and leave empty handed.

These things were budgeted but the budget was for the amount of books, not the cost of them. Remember, I’m here to change habits and buying books is a hard habit that I don’t want to break but do need to harness.

I’ve barely been inside a store since last month and haven’t been tempted by any online shopping. Life in my snow globe using what I own has been pretty awesome.

Last night I combined a can of tomato basil soup with half a bag of frozen cheese ravioli to make the absolute best and unexpected comfort food. The leftovers will be amazing. I intended to use half the contents in my refrigerator freezer this month and probably have. It’s not nearly as full even though I’ve added a few leftovers for later.

Mt craft room is as organized as it has been in years. I still need to vacuum in there. Some shelves need organized better and I have two containers to sort but I’m gonna go ahead and start celebrating the fact it’s safe to open the door and let Scout explore.

Plus, I have read twelve books this month.

I’m calling January a success.

Next month, I have budgeted for a birthday gift for my mother and a Valentine’s Day excursion with my fella but will otherwise continue with the January rules.

I know people whose No Spend Challenges are extremely strict. Mine were in the beginning years too but I’ve found over time that it’s more productive to plan for life’s extras rather than pretend they don’t exist. I’m not going to say no to our Valentines tradition just because it involves spending a little money when it’s something we both enjoy and delaying it a month sounds silly.

If you’re thinking about trying a challenge like this, I want you to know that saving cash is a wonderful side effect but that’s temporary if you go back to your old ways as soon as the challenge ends. In my world, there is no list of things to go buy when it’s over. That wouldn’t contribute to habit change at all.

My goal is to learn my own triggers and find ways to combat them in the future. And yes, the past has taught me that I will eventually fall back into some bad habits.

That’s why I do this every year – to reset and improve. I am human after all.

If you’re considering a No Spend Challenge, February is a great month to try because it’s the shortest. It’s only 28 days!

Dragon76

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One of the things I like best about cities in this country is the amount of public art like this mural in New York City. It’s by Japanese street artist Dragon76. Located near the Oculus at the World Trade Center, it is a show stopper.

The colors are vibrant and it looks like the horse could leap right off the wall. I found it inspiring and I marveled at the idea someone could create such a magnificent larger-than-life thing.

Go look for art, friends. It will brighten your day!

Pourtales Library

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If you are fortunate enough to be a guest at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs and are a book lover, there’s a very special place to see. It’s called Pourtales Library and it’s located just off the main mezzanine in the resort’s main building. 

I had seen a photo online but was still delighted and enchanted to see it in person for the first time. We were fortunate to be there for the first time when no one else was around.

It’s a small place with big character and an elegance that comes from something that feels both timeless and almost medieval. There’s a massive fireplace with a crest. Floor-to-ceiling shelves are stuffed with books that were donated by a longtime Broadmoor guest.

There are delightful reading nooks built into bookshelves and a warmth that makes you want to sit down and stay. There’s even a ladder!

Time didn’t allow me to sit and stay but I did take time to browse the collection a few times. It’s an eclectic assortment of old and new available to guests on the honor system. Some of the books are truly strange and others are perfect for browsing at a place like this.

I liked everything about this place including the name. Incidentally, it was named for Prussian Count James Pourtales who was a driving force in the development of Colorado Springs and the construction of Broadmoor Casino. That casino no longer exists but was the precursor to the hotel that exists today.

It’s like something from a storybook. If you ever get to stay at the Broadmoor, I hope you will seek out this space and rest a while amongst the books. You will love it!

PS: If you’re into woodworking, you might find this 2020 article about the redo of this library interesting. The woodwork is pretty special!

That Moment

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That moment you realize this seventy year old station wagon is cooler than anything will ever drive. No offense to my White Lightening but this Chevy Beauville is fabulous.

I saw her cruising in the wild in Frankenmuth, Michigan a couple of years ago and it was quite the treat.

Books In Stock Used Books

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For more than thirty years, Wooster, Ohio has been home to a used book store called Books In Stock.

The street view is cute but the inside of this store left me gobsmacked. In fact, my fella and I enjoyed it so much, we went two days in a row! There are books upstairs and downstairs – about 80,000 of them – in all varieties of fiction and nonfiction.

I found a stack of out-of-print Sharyn McCrumb books. Adam barely left the corner with the old west non-fiction during our first trip because the inventory was so rich and this area is one of his favorite genres. He gave off kid in a candy store vibes every time I walked past.

The kids room upstairs features a nice mural. Everything is in good condition, it’s organized, and the prices are fair.

We were barely a mile down the road before I was plotting a summertime return.

How fortunate for the people of Wooster they have such a nice bookstore! Find more about them here!

Snow Day Hits And Misses

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It’s no secret that introverts do well on our own. So a Level Three snow emergency that keeps me at home is basically something I have spent a lifetime training for.

I was awake some Saturday night checking out the snow so I slept later than normal yesterday. After a shower and fresh pjs, I went stomping around in the snow for a while and fed my birds before settling down to work on a new puzzle.

Then I flipped on the television for some noise and found myself captivated by a show called The Last Wright House. A mother/daughter duo had purchased a Frank Lloyd Wright residence in northern Ohio and it came with plans for a second home on the same property. These plans were for the last home that Wright designed and were on his table when he died.

That was over sixty years ago and the home never got built.

The show follows this unlikely duo as they attempt to build the house true to Wright’s specs and preferences. He was notoriously particular about literally every detail.

This was quite a chore in this modern world where building codes and materials are drastically different than in the fifties when the house was designed. Asbestos boards didn’t make it past the modern code enforcement board.

You see them agonize over materials, tour other Wright homes, and even chat with the 100-year-old original owner of a Wright home. It was fascinating, sometimes painful to watch, and absolutely inspiring that they really pulled it off.

You can stay there and I’m desperate to do it. Tragically, it’s far outside my budget and not something I’ll be doing unless I hit the lottery – not a big lottery – just a really big scratch off ticket and I feel like treating myself.

Sigh. Someday.

Next I watched Samantha Brown on PBS as she traveled on Route 66, toured the World War II Museum in New Orleans, explored Michigan’s lower peninsula and hit some of the highlights in South Dakota.

I have been desperate to visit that World War II Museum and am sort of dying to go back to Michigan. I didn’t want to leave Petoskey, Michigan or Sleeping Bear Dunes or really anything else I saw there a couple of years ago.

Touring these places with Samatha Brown didn’t help this at all. My feet are now miserably itchy and I am months away from being free to travel.

Sigh. Later.

In my quest to use up some things that are languishing in my freezer, I got the bright idea to make a breakfast casserole using a sad bag of frozen blueberries. A while back, I picked up a boxed protein pancake mix that was positively awful. I typically like Aldi brand products but these appear to be the knock off of Kodiak brand protein pancakes. They’re also awful.

But everything can be dressed up, right?

Wrong.

I used the mix as a base for the blueberries, some maple syrup, peanut butter, vanilla and just a smidge of stevia. I mixed it well and baked it in a 13×9” cake pan thinking it could be paired with scrambled eggs for breakfasts this week. I knew I couldn’t use it all but figured leftovers could be frozen for another day.

Friends, I’m not convinced that I want to preserve the leftovers. It’s not terrible, exactly. It just doesn’t taste good enough to enjoy.

Honestly, I’m not sold on this notion that protein needs to be added to everything and am especially not sold on the value of so many processed foods in the first place. If I want pancakes, I have a wonderful, easy recipe that uses real ingredients and nothing that can’t be pronounced.

I don’t know what possessed me to try this mix other than blind optimism and a flash of stupidity.

We learn.

So now I have a pan of questionable something-or-other and a desire to pack a bag and point myself south to New Orleans. North to Michigan would be a terrible idea in all this snow.

But, I will stay put and enjoy the solitude of my snow globe world. There are puzzles, books, and kitchen experiments in waiting!