Feeling Empowered

I just finished Old Fashioned on Purpose by Jill Winger. I love this book! I love that she talks about old fashion habits, routines, and ways of living that can slow down life and make it more satisfying. As I was reading it, I decided to follow her advice about my garden. I had been planning to try to find a way to put part of it in the back yard and some in the front yard because I thought it would be weird to have my front yard covered in fruits and vegetables. She suggested that people living in neighborhoods could tear out their grass and just make it a garden. I don't have an HOA, so this is actually a possibility for me. I have already started to ready the front yard for this. When my neighbor asked what I was doing in the yard, I told him my plans. He seemed to actually like the idea. I can't wait to get this idea really going!

I am also going to work on cultivate a community. In the book, she talks about ways to do this. I have wanted to host dinners more often (I haven't done it since my friend who did it a lot moved). I think I can do it on a small scale periodically. I am currently thinking maybe I'll see if I can get something put together for Memorial Day. I have also been talking about putting together a knitting/crocheting circle for a few years. I even had a plan almost in place with someone at church. We just didn't have a place to do it because my dogs are crazy and she was living with her parents. Now, I know I can reserve a room at the library. (I don't know why I didn't know this sooner. Sean literally did it with his D&D club the summer after he graduated.) I don't know how to recruit people for it, but I want to get it done. 

In the final chapter, she makes the point that if you are considering to doing something, think about it instinctively. When you think about it, do you really hate the idea of doing it or are you just scared because it is something new? I have been considering learning to fix sewing machines and starting a business from my home doing that. I know there is a market for it in my area because the only shop I know of in town has closed. That means people need to either learn how to do it themselves, or they have to drive at least 30 minutes to have it done. I have been diagnosing and fixing mine and Noels machines for a while and have gotten fairly good at cleaning and oiling them as needed. I would love to learn more and really be able to fix machines. Making some money on the side would be an added bonus. I just need to find the classes to learn it which I know can be found online.  

Reading in 2026

One of my goals for the year is to read more books than I have in the past few years now that I don't have assigned reading for school anymore. For many people, reading 24 books in a year is not that hard to do. For me, it is a challenge because I don't know if I have done it when not reading children's books (which I am also reading for my part-time job). I am a bit of a slow reader, but I savor what I'm reading and don't see that changing any time soon. 

One way that I am doing this is by reading at least one nonfiction book each month. So far, this is going really well. I read 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in January, Atomic Habits in February, and I am currently reading Old Fashioned on Purpose which should be done by the end of the month without a problem. These books have definitely added to my knowledge and helped me make some positive changes in my life. 

I have also joined a book club through my local library to help me expand my reading into other genres, keep me accountable with my reading goals, and help me socialize. So far, this book club is helping in all of those ways. Both books we have read so far pushed me a bit outside of my comfort zone. The first book was Then She Was Gone. The story telling was decent in this book but reading about a teenager being tortured and killed gave me nightmares. The next book was The Rose Code. This was a very long book, but I really liked reading the historical aspects of it. I googled parts of the story more than once to see if it was real or fiction and was elated when they were real. When I found out that the main location in the book was not only real but became a museum, I told my husband we need to find a way to go to England to see it. The book we are reading now is Clytemnestra. All I know about it is that it is Mythological fiction. I'm dreading it a bit because I'm not really a fan of mythology, but I will make myself read it all of the way through by next month's meeting (we meet on the third Thursday of each month). I have told myself that I will read each book assigned no matter what for at least a year. If at the end of the year, I decide the book club is not for me, I will just stop going. There are plenty of people on the wait list willing to take my spot if I decide to walk away. Until then, I will enjoy expanding my horizons, learning about subjects I know very little about, and talking to a group of ladies who I would probably not have met in any other way. 

A funny thing has happened as I have worked on reading more along with my other goals for the year. I have been on my phone less, watched TV less, and enjoyed life more. It is amazing how much of life can be enjoyed when I'm not constantly bombarded by the news! I also feel like I am learning more about myself and the world by simply experiencing what it has to offer. I am excited to see how things change as I make these simple adjustments in my life that add up to significant changes in the long run. 

Magic Money

I have accrued more debt than I want to admit since the pandemic. It's not as much as some people have confessed to, but it is more than I am comfortable having. This debt doesn't count the car or house. It also doesn't include Chad's student loans. (Chad and I have been paying car payments and his student loans through an account that only pulls money from his paychecks for most of our marriage, and that will continue for the foreseeable future.) I am talking about credit cards in only my name. Cards that have been used to pay for trips, clothing, Noel's dental work, and who knows what else. At the beginning of the year, I finally opened my eyes to what I had been doing and calculated how much I owed and how much I paid in just minimum payments. I was shocked! I knew that we would be doing better financially if I hadn't done this, so I prayed for a way to attack this debt. 

During one of my shifts at the temple last month, I took advantage of the quiet moments to pray for guidance. The thought that I had broken something with this debt was dominating my thoughts. As I sat in relative silence, the thought that I should work for my bishop came to my mind. I knew he had started a business teaching kids magic after school and during the summer, but I didn't think he would hire someone for this. I thought that I was crazy for even considering this. I told myself that maybe I should work for his sister who owns a pickleball facility, but I didn't really want to have to drive that far to just make a bit of money to pay off debt. I tried to put it out of my mind and think of other part-time jobs that I could work around my full-time job and the work I do in the temple. (I don't get paid to work in the temple.) A week after I felt prompted to ask the bishop for a job, he and his wife both posted that he was hiring for after school clubs. I knew this was a sign that I needed to do this. I applied right away and was hired the next day. 

Now, I get to learn and teach magic to elementary school kids. It is so much fun! It doesn't even feel like a job! I couldn't have asked for a better way to pay off bills and work in the public. I can't believe I am so lucky to have this job!

Next Steps

Chad and I have written our mission statement as a couple. We are going to be working towards being prepared. I know it is a scouting thing, but it fits in with our goals as a couple and helps calm our fears. We are going to go back to our homesteading goals we started work on 2 years ago. We know that our yard is not big enough to do it all, but it is big enough to get a good start as we pay off our debt and work towards getter jobs or the possibility of owning our own business. 

After watching several YouTube videos, we made a garden plan and bought some seed for a few items that we learned needed to be planted in January inside because they have a longer germination time. We will also be clearing out some of our backyard for raised garden beds over the next few months and deciding what we will be starting as seed and what we will buy as starters. All I know is that I do not see a time of me ever trying to plant tomatoes from seeds again. I was really successful with the starter I got last year and am hoping to duplicate that result this year. As we wait for our garden, we will be buying extra canned fruit and vegetables to build up our storage. 

I am also going to finish some of the unpaper towels that I started a few years ago. I like the group that I made 2 years ago, and I don't know why I stopped midway in the batch I was making that had a towel on one side and fleece on the other side. They will be completed soon. To go with that, I am also working on making some hot pads to replace my old, ratty sets and an apron to match. When I finish all of that, we will see if I still feel like sewing. Unlike my daughter, I don't always love sewing. 

Of course, bread making will always be a cooler weather hobby for both Chad and me. We are currently working on baking twice what we need for the week so we can freeze some to have in the summer when it is too hot to bake. 

Lastly, we were given a 10-gallon water drum a few years ago when a friend of ours was moving. We will be filling that when the temperatures get warm enough that we feel comfortable hooking the hose up to the house. Then, we will look into other options for water storage. 

Things are getting scarier and more uncertain. Every day the news is filled with horrifying images and stories. The only way to combat the fear is to prepare for the worst. This is our start of that preparation. 

French and Ukelele Learning Update

Learning French again is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I am working in a workbook I bought from Amazon after Christmas. It is set up to help people learn in 30 days, but I have to do it a bit differently because of my schedule. I am working on French 2 days a week for now. Once I get into the swing of things with one of my commitments, I will hopefully be able to work on it at least 3 days a week. Right now, it is kicking my butt, though. It's a bit discouraging to know that I used to know this stuff and not be able to access that information in my brain any longer. I know that the lessons I am doing were spanned over about a week when I was in school, and now I am trying to cram it into one evening. I'm doing it, but I have to go back sometimes because I know I didn't learn everything I needed to the first time. Thankfully, I unlocked some bonus materials by finishing the first chapter and will be able to practice with some recordings and flash cards. I think this workbook is going to take me at least the first quarter of the year to get through. Then, I will decide where to go from there. My plan is to get to the point where I can read the Book of Mormon in French. 

I knew learning the Ukelele would be hard. I have learned a few songs a while back when I got my ukelele (when Sean was still in school), but that has been too long. I am starting all over on this subject, too. Chad gave me a book for Christmas to help with this goal. Most of it has been how to pick one out and how to tune it. I read it, but I already have one and have the app to help me tune it. I have also been reading a book about the history of the ukelele from the library that I have to finish this weekend so I can return it. I am working on this two nights a week as well and may need to add another day, too. A few nights ago, I finally got to the chapter about chords and learned the first one. Today, I veered off my plan a bit and found the YouTube videos I was learning from back in 2021 or 2022 and spent about an hour learning "You are My Sunshine" and "Riptide." I still need to get better at my strumming and the G cord to move on to the next lesson, but I know I can do this. My goal is to have at least 6 songs that I can play well and have memorized. 

January 2026 Bullet Journal and Planner

 

I had way too much fun making my bullet journal spreads for January, but I had fun making them. I basically spent New Year's Eve on them. For the most part, I decided to go with a general winter theme. I have one page that is still winter themed but doesn't use the same materials. I love the way it turned out, but I wish it matched the others a bit better. I have been tracking with them since the first. I've already missed some tasks, but I never said I was perfect. I am better at working towards my goals when I do this in combination with my day planner, though. 

I used my day planner as a to do list of sorts. I have found that using a standard day planner to write down my daily tasks helps me to keep track of what I have and haven't done as well as motivates me to do it. Now that we aren't watching as much TV, I am finding more and more time to get things done and feel like I have really accomplished something with my days. I'm not going to copy my planner pages into this blog each week. It will basically look the same each week up to our trip at the month. 

Goodbye 2025, Hello 2026

I definitely saw some big ups and downs in 2025. Mentally, it was a tough year for me mentally. I struggled with a lot of what was on the news. At times, it felt like it couldn't get worse. Then, something else happened. I also struggled with my cousin's death more than I thought I would. I didn't even know him and couldn't even remember the last time I saw him in person. Eventually, I realized it brought back memories of when my mom would lay in my bed crying telling me it would be easier if she would just run her car into a tree and end it all. (It was one of these interactions in which I learned that her telling this to professionals was the cause of her being admitted to mental hospitals multiple times.) Trying to work through my feelings of my suicidal mom and her eventual death in a different way than ever before has been a whole new experience. 

It wasn't completely a horrible year, though. I had may good experiences as well. I went on my first cruise with one of best friends. This trip included many first such as my first time in Florida, first time really seeing the ocean, first time in the Bahamas, and my first time snorkeling over the coral reef. I hope to be able to experience something like this again. I also finally graduated from BYU Idaho after 10 years of taking online classes. It was a long journey, but I am glad I kept with it. (I am so thankful to be married to a man that supports me in my efforts to improve myself.) Chad and I also took a trip to Colorado Springs for our anniversary and another one to Grand Junction in which we hiked Rifle Falls and went to the Grand Junction Temple open house. 

I am determined to make 2026 a good year. I can't do anything about newsworthy events. I don't see the awfulness calming down anytime soon. I can control what I do, though (hopefully). Chad and I are going to visit our friends in Florida for our anniversary this year, and we will go camping over the summer. We are also going to make a better effort to do our Come, Follow Me studies regularly. Personally, I will be working on relearning French, learning to play the ukelele, cleaning and organizing the house, and get back to running. 

Learning New Things

Last week, I watched a YouTube video about developing a personal curriculum. The idea is that people are meant to continually learn throughout our lives. We don't have to follow a curriculum set by a school and pay the money required to do so. We can learn about anything from the resources provided by the library and online. After watching this, I got so excited that I sent the link to my husband and my sister. Chad texted me back a little while later asking me what I wanted to learn and when I wanted to get started. I decided that I want to relearn French and finally learn how to play the ukelele. 

I learned French in middle school and high school. I knew enough that my friend and I used to speak to each other in French when we didn't want my boyfriend (her friend) to know what we were talking about. They were simple conversations, but it was fun at the time. I wouldn't say I was fluent, but I was on my way there. Since then, I have not used French at all except a few phrases here and there. Because of this, I have lost almost all of the knowledge that I had in this subject. It is one of my biggest regrets. I am determined to relearn as much as I can over the next year. 

Me wanting to learn to play the Ukelele came about in a slightly odd way. In 2021, Chad and I were on our way to church, listening to the radio, when John Tesch chimed in with his "Intelligence for Your Life" segment. This one was about the power of music. I don't remember everything he said, but I do remember that he said the ukelele was the easiest instrument to learn. For Mother's Day that year, I asked for a purple ukelele and got one. I learned to play a few songs that summer, but I haven't played it since. I am going to learn more about it and learn more songs this year. Maybe I can be as musical as my kids. Who knows? 

Of course, we will continue the learning paths we have been on for the last few years. We have a concrete plan for our spiritual learning together. It is the actual curriculum provided by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, "Come, Follow Me." We have worked on it off and on separately and together every year since it started. We have committed with each other to study it each night we are home. I think this will elevate our spiritual study and bring us closer together. We, also, will continue to read our ever-growing pile of lifestyle/self-help books/biographies. Our interests haven't changed. We just want to have more directed learning. 

I'm excited to get started on learning and relearning skills that I have wanted to work on for a while. This coming year will be my year to do so!