Tag Archives: 2025

Resolutions I Can Keep

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With the new year officially here, I’m still seeing a lot of folks talk about their resolutions. As I said earlier this week, I have monthly goals but no real resolutions.

I was thinking about this last night and decided to come up with a list I might be able to work with in 2025. Here it is! And yes, some of it is kind of ridiculous.

Fold clothes as soon as they come out of the dryer (and remove them from the dryer as soon as they’re done).

Take a lunch break of some kind. Every day.

Breathe fresh air for as long as possible. Every day.

Stop buying new pajamas because I promise I don’t really need more.

Read at bedtime.

Stop watching news that is designed to inflame rather than inform.

Come up with a better last minute dinner than breakfast. Really, how many eggs can I eat just because I’m too lazy to microwave a vegetable?

Always, always, always keep a book handy.

Convince my shamrock plant to survive this winter.

Stop stuffing pots and pans into a small cupboard like it’s a magic portal to another land where there’s space for all the crap I don’t use.

Leave rooms where I do not belong.

Talk to every cat, chipmunk, squirrel, bird, deer, lizard, toad, frog, opossum, mole, vole, raccoon, groundhog, bat, and cow that I see. And not feel foolish doing it.

These seem like manageable resolutions!

Have a great Sunday, friends! We are expecting some actual winter weather today so I’m happy to spend today relaxing and maybe even working on one or two of these resolutions. Enjoy!

2025 Is Here: Make It Yours

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Today we turn the calendar to January 2025. For many of us, it’s the end of our holiday vacation and we’re headed back to work tomorrow. I’ve had a nice, long, not at all fun vacation but the pain from my dental surgery is mostly gone and I’m grateful.

Today, I start my January No Spend Challenge and couldn’t be more excited for the personal growth and good things that will come from this. I have referred to this a lot lately and will talk about it in depth tomorrow if you’re interested. 

This month I will also begin planning my 2025 adventures. After all, having something to look forward to is a key to happiness and having adventures to anticipate is one of the happiest things in my world. Some of those adventures will be close to home and others a little further flung. I did less than normal in 2024 and I’m sure that’s partly due to a lack of planning. I won’t make that mistake again. 

Today I will start working on my January goals. I set new goals every month and they tend to be related to a theme. Mine are mostly connected to my No Spend Month and help to support that endeavor. 

But first, I will spend much of today relaxing and reading. I struggled to read last year but seem to have gotten my groove back in the last few days. Here’s hoping that can translate to lots of reading for all of 2025! I have a backlog of good books collected last year so I need to get busy. 

Friends, today is the first day of the rest of your life. Whether you spend it reading or adventuring or just muddling through, I hope you make it a good one. You get just one life to live. For some, that’s almost too much to endure while it’s not nearly enough for others. Let’s pack our days with the things that bring us the most joy, peace and fulfillment. Let’s not waste a single moment on things that don’t matter. No one arrives at the Pearly Gates complaining that they should have worked more or spent more time arguing with their family over what they heard on the news that day. 

This life, this day, this moment – it’s your adventure. Make it fun. Make it a great year.

The Last Day Of An Old Year

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Welcome to the last day of 2024. It’s hard to believe we have found our way through another twelve months and to the end of the line on our annual calendars.

I remember a time that 2025 sounded like such a distant, almost futuristic year. Now it’s so close we can almost touch it and I’m feeling a little cheated. WHERE is my Rosie the Robot?

My cleaning, laundry and cooking won’t take care of themselves! 

This year passed so quickly and I honestly don’t know where the time went. I traveled less, hiked less and read less than normal. But my travels did take me to interesting places. I journeyed on a train, supported many independent bookstores, and learned lots. I saw the Northern Lights from my own yard in southern Ohio.

I watched a plane fly high overhead as I stood at the grave of Wilbur and Orville Wright who gave us the fine gift of flight. Wonder what they would think of how their invention has moved people and society across all these years?

Actress Mary Steenburgen moved me deeply when she told the Ohio School Boards Association about her passion for books and reading. A classic Pizza Hut location transported me back to my childhood. A few days later, a walk amongst the cherry blossoms along the Athens Bike Path took me back to my college days at Ohio University when I was young and learning was exciting.

Hikes were rare this year thanks to a sprained ankle, knee problem, bronchitis and, most recently, emergency dental surgery. But the hikes we did get in were good ones and we found a gorgeous old trail that the tourists haven’t discovered yet.

Along the way, there was beautiful music and art and kind volunteers who offered lessons and aid on topics ranging from Monet to trolley cars and from the Liberty Bell to books galore.

We said farewell to my brother Fritz – a German Shepherd we brought home as a pup who infused much joy and excitement into my parents’ home. He had suffered greatly in his old age, making it impossible for him to go on and cruel to make him do so.

In other words, there was sadness,  adventure, the extraordinary and the mundane. That’s life. And, thankfully, life does go on if we are fortunate to wake again for another day. 

I’m not at all excited for the new year. In fact, I view it with some distrust and disdain. My own mental and physical health need to take priority this year and that means less news, more hikes and less tv in favor of more books and creative pursuits. It’s time to start planning some adventures. After all, one important key to happiness is having something to look forward to.

Tomorrow is a new day. It’s the first day of a brand new year. I hope to spend this day at home and doing as I please. I’ll go to bed early with a book and hopefully wake up on January 1, 2025 prepared to face the new year!