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. 

My Current Nonfiction TBR

This time last year, I had one bag with books in it that I wanted to read. Since then, the list has grown even though I read some of the books I had. I bought a few books with the money I got from my parents for my graduation (one by Kelly Bishop, and one by Eleanor Roosevelt), and I went through the books I already had around the house (mostly books that I had for some class or another and only read certain chapters). As this collection grew, I grew more excited to read them. I got a bit behind on my reading goal for a while because I was so busy with the internship, but I am back on track to succeed by the end of the year. 

You may ask how I decide which book I will read and when. That is a difficult question to answer. I have tried to put the books into a specific order, but it doesn't work for me. I am not always excited to read the next one that was preplanned. I basically read the next book that I'm excited to read and hope to be inspired from it in some way. It's not a perfect system, but it works for the most part. Over the past few months, I have chosen some books because they were short and I needed to catch up to a goal that I made for myself that no one even sees unless they follow me on Good Reads. Those were enjoyable enough, but my heart wasn't in them. The books that I feel inspired to read have brought me joy and made me really think about how I can incorporate the lessons learned into my life. What can I say, the more I read nonfiction, the more inspired I am to make changes here and there. 

In case you are wondering, I do read fiction as well. Most of those books I read on my Kindle because It is less distracting for Chad when he is trying to sleep. This year, most of those books have been books either Chad or I acquired through the years in one way or another that I haven't read yet. I found a new author that I really like this way: Lucinda Berry. There is a good possibility I will go back to the series I was reading last year because I really like it and want to finish it and find the other series by Nancy Warren, but now I know I can look for a book by Lucinda Berry along with a few others that I liked in the past if I need a break from witches and vampires. 

My reading likes and dislikes my change as I go, but one thing remains the same: I will not stop reading as long as I have the ability to do so. 

September 2025 Bullet Journal

I am going to try to do a monthly bullet journal spread. A lot of people who do bullet journals do this, but I haven't tried it yet. I think it could be fun to have a theme for the month and just keep that theme going if I decide to add to it. For now, I have my main September page that I modified from an idea I found on Pinterest. I had fun making a fall theme because I am excited to be going to see the fall colors later this month. I took a picture of the main page before I filled in the boxes because I don't want to broadcast my weight or family birthdays. 

I really want to get back into doing regular exercise. For the last few weeks, I had a goal of 30 or 45 minutes a day, but I wasn't keeping up with it very well. I am hoping having a dedicated tracker will help keep me focused.

With the goal of reading 15 books this year and still needing to finish 6 books to make this happen, I made a page to track the book I just started. I am quite proud of how this one turned out. I didn't copy it from any specific idea that I had seen online, but I may have seen something like it in the past. Either way, I like how it turned out.

The last one I did was inspired by the potty-training charts I used to make for the boys many years ago. I just labeled the page and will put stickers on it anytime I eat a fruit or vegetable. 

I will likely add to this as the month goes on depending on my goals. I'm sure there will be at least one more book to track before the month is over. There could also be one to track my progress in finding a job that I can do with my degree because I don't know how much longer I can stand working in billing. 

January 2025 Bullet Journal

I am determined to make this month more productive than last month. I won't be disobey trying to make Christmas magical for my adult children, and I hopefully won't be so sick that I land in the ER with asthma issues. I will, however, be working daily on my goals. I have made spreads in my bullet journal to do this. 

First, I have a page that lists my goals of the month and has a tracker to mark off the days that I have completed them:

Then, I have my Miracle morning tracker. On the opposite page is my affirmation for the month. 

Next is my "no spend" tracker. I could be more of a low spend type thing, but Chad and I came up with rules that we both agreed on that we feel will lead us in a better financial path. 

My next spread is for cleaning. This of course is the bare minimum. I hope that everyone else will pitch in. We'll see. 

The only other tracker that I am using is one I made last month for the book that I want to finish and implement what I have learned soon. 

I will be keeping track of my hobbies without a tracker, and the conference talks are being marked in the book.