Currently : February 2021

Loving : My little family! My husband is amazing, and we make such a good team! Our daughter is sweet, silly, funny, and hands-down the best kid I've ever met...even when she has her fiery tempered moments! We also have the most ferocious guard dog who is not at all scared of things like garbage bags and earmuffs. I'm so thankful to have this little family to call mine! 

Reading : Nothing at the moment, but I need to choose my C and D books for the Read the Alphabet Challenge, as well as get cranking so I can reach my goal of reading 13 books this month! 

Remembering : How different February 2020 was. I was still a school librarian, and we hadn't experienced any quarantine/lockdowns at that point. I love working at home now, but I do miss going places on a whim. Will and I talked about it Friday night while Char was at my mom and dad's house for a sleepover. We had date night in the car at Sonic, and we talked about how much we missed having options like going to the movies or to a sit-down restaurant. However, we are doing our part to be safe and responsible during this time, and we know that those things will be options again eventually! I wonder what I will be remembering in February 2022...

Sharing : Daily pictures on Instagram! I follow a daily photo prompt from The Idea Room, and so far, I haven't missed any in 2021!

Wishlisting : Mom & Me shirts for Char and me! There's a website called Sparkle in Pink, and they have the cutest matching mother and daughter shirts! I haven't ordered anything yet, but their prices seem pretty reasonable, plus they have bigger sizes that will fit me, so that's a plus (literally...hahaha). I know we don't really go anywhere, but I still want get us a matching set before she decides that it's the most embarrassing thing ever! Plus, eventually we'll be out and about again, right? I just can't decide what to get for our first order! If anyone has ordered clothes from this site, I'd love to hear your feedback! 

Linking up with Anne! 

Sentence A Day : January 2021

Now that we're in a new month, it's time to recap January, a sentence (or two) at a time! I'm trying something new for this recap and linking the blog posts I published in brackets at the end of the sentence on the days they were published. Let me know if you like it, or if it's just annoying self-promotion...or both! 

1 - Happy 2021! We went to Target today to get a couple of things with gift cards, then Mom bought us coffee, and gave Char Christmas money from my grandma!

2 - Char's Christmas money from yesterday was enough to buy her a Paw Patrol toy that she didn't get for Christmas but HAD TO HAVE so back to Target we went; also, lots of fussing from her today, so I hope she isn't getting sick!

3 - Will and Char went to his mom and stepdad's house today, and I stayed home and barely did anything...oops!

4 - First Monday of the new year; let's go! [Monthly Goals : January 2021]

5 - Welcome back, This Is Us! [Sentence A Day : December 2020]

6 - What a day. (But on a positive note - happy birthday to my dad!) [Currently : January 2021]

7 - In an effort to distract myself from...everything, I spent most of the night reading, and it was wonderful!

8 - Ugh, insomnia yet again...

9 - We did quite a bit of grocery shopping today, and now our Christmas freezer is full!

10 - Thankful for my husband painting the wall of my little corner of the basement so I look more official on camera during meetings, plus thankful to Char for helping me make a quiche for breakfast this week!

11 - My parents took Char to her annual cleft surgery follow-up, and the doctor said no nose surgery!!! We're so relieved!!! (This is definitely worth an extra sentence!) [10 on the 10th : January 2021]

12 - Surprise meeting at work and extra projects have my brain feeling tired! [Amber Can Read : December 2020 Edition]

13 - Whew, sometimes I wonder how our daughter's teenage years are going to be...

14 - Manicure and pedicure for the little girl tonight! 

15 - Dollar Tree had some really cute things for our tiered tray (that I need to take pictures of)!

16 - Picked up Char from her sleepover, got lunch, then spent a lazy afternoon at home; why are couch naps on Saturday afternoons so good?!?

17 - Neither football team I chose won today; I think I should stop choosing teams...

18 - I took a walk at lunch today, and wow, I definitely have some work to do!!

19 - Another walk and more sore legs; I miss the days when I was in shape! 

20 - Welcome President Biden and Vice-President Harris; despite our political differences, I hope we can all agree on how amazing it is to finally have a woman in a high-ranking office!!

21 - New projects at work are kind of fun but taxing to the brain!

22 - I forced Koopa to take selfies with me, and it was entertaining!

23 - Ran a couple of errands today, including getting Char some Wendy's since she had been asking for food from there all day!

24 - Sunday at home relaxing and planning for the week!

They were supervising Will to make sure he took the trash out correctly...

25 - Rainy, blah Mondays make me so tired!!

26 - Just a regular old Tuesday in these parts.

27 - Helped out sorting at the warehouse for work today, and wow am I exhausted and out of shape!!!

28 - I am so sore today; I need to move around more often!

29 - I felt so unmotivated and unable to focus today; good thing it's Friday!

30 - Rainy, blah Saturdays also make me tired!

31 - Lazy Sunday at home to wrap up the end of January!

How was your January? Are you glad to be in a new year, or does it feel like month 13 of 2020? 

Linking up with Leslie!

Monthly Goals : February 2021

Happy February! It's a new month, so it's time to revisit my January goals and set some new ones for February! 

First, let's see how I did with my January goals. If you don't remember them, I'll recap them here. If you want to read more about them, check out my post. 

My five goals for January were:

1. Read 13 books - Done! Look for a recap of allll of the books on the 9th.

2. Deep clean/declutter living room - Nope! I picked up a little bit, but I didn't do anything near what I wanted to do in there. 

3. Finish putting away Christmas decorations/items - Done! Plus, we even got some Valentine's Day decorations out. Look at us!

4. Lose 4-5 pounds - HUGE FAIL!! Not only did I fail on losing weight, but I actually gained weight this month! Ugh! We ate waaaay too much fast food and had too much coffee shop coffee, so I know that contributed. This was not a good start to my weight loss journey!

5. Determine where we stand financially - Half credit for this one. I still don't have the exact amount of debt we owe figured out, but we have made a budget and got everything caught up, which was a nice feeling!

January progress 2.5 out of 5 goals. Not perfect but some beats none, right? Onto February's goals!

February 2021 goals:

1. Read 13 books 

This one will be a repeating goal and hopefully an easy win each month!

2. Deep clean/declutter dining room

I have a plan to do a room or area of the house each month this year, and February's room is the dining room. Since our dining room is fairly small, it shouldn't take long, and I should be able to revisit the living room, which I'm making goal 3...

3. Deep clean/declutter living room

Bringing this one from January. Ugh.

4. Lose 4-5 pounds

This one is a repeating goal too. Unfortunately losing 5 pounds will put me exactly where I started in January since I gained 5 pounds total last month. I really need to figure out my plan of attack for this one!

5. Blog calendar/clean up

I've written on here and on my old Wordpress blog about how I messed up the Wordpress blog and lost some content. I want to get all of the Wordpress stuff back here, which will be tedious but good when it's finished. I also need to finish filling out my blog post calendar for this one and my other blog so I will publish more consistently. I may not finish the clean up process this month, but I'd at least like to get it started!

6. Finish setting up my planner/goals/vision board

During the last couple of weeks of December, I was good about getting my planner set up, making a neat goals tracker for my planner, and gathering things for a vision board. Then, in January, I just sort of fizzled out before getting any of those things completed. I'd like to get them done before February is finished!

One extra goal this month, but that's okay (especially since it's from last month anyway...ha). I'm ready to make this month even more successful than last month!

How did you do with your January goals? Have you made your February goals yet? Let me know so I can cheer you on!