Monthly Goals : January 2021

Hello everyone! I won't go into my "thank goodness we made it through 2020" introduction (partially because I'm going to say it during my December Sentence a Day recap that'll be published tomorrow...ha!). 

I wanted to start out the year on my little online space by talking about my monthly goals. I know it sounds odd, but when I read other bloggers' monthly goal posts, I get inspired/motivated to work on goals of my own. I used to post about my own monthly goals but haven't done so in a while (and I can't find it on my messed up Wordpress blog to know the exact month), so I wanted to jump back into it. Hopefully by posting this, I'll not only inspire someone else to work on their goals, but I'll also give myself a little public "butt kicking" when I have to post my follow up next month and show how productive I have or haven't been!

January 2021 goals:

1. Read 13 books

I want to read 150 books this year. I have a couple of reading challenges I want to participate in (like Lauren and Lindsi's Read the Alphabet Challenge!) that will help me choose books to read this month. I'm already reading Anxious People as my A title! Half a book down - 12.5 more to go this month! 

2. Deep clean/declutter living room

Even though we were home basically 24/7 in 2020, our house is still a disaster area. I think that the uncertainty of 2020, plus our family's personal challenges made me shut down instead of being more productive. However, this year, I'm ready to change that! I've broken our house up into 12 rooms/areas so that I only need to focus on one per month. We'll still do all of the regular cleaning and home maintenance tasks that need to be done, but each month, we will really focus on that month's area and deep clean and declutter it. I decided to start with our living room since that's the first room you see when you come in our house, and I thought it would be nice to have a calm and clean space to come home to. We have a couple of flat surfaces in our living room that are dumping grounds for papers and random junk, so even just clearing those off will make a huge difference! Deep cleaning this space involves things like washing the curtains, cleaning the window tracks, and borrowing a rug cleaner in order to really freshen up the space. Those are things that we aren't doing consistently right now, so even doing them annually from now on will be an improvement.

(If you're a clean and organized person who does those things on a really regular basis, then I'd love to see your cleaning schedule. I probably won't follow it, but I'd like to know what else I need to work on improving!). 

A couple of pictures of our living room from last night. Yes, those are the Christmas decoration bins with things, such as decorations, planner stuff, and a few Christmas presents piled on top of them. Ugh. Also, the second picture is one of the two flat surfaces that is the catch all spot of doom. I know our letter board needs to be changed too. We're a hot mess around here...but not for much longer!

3. Finish putting away Christmas decorations/items

This one is the easiest goal of the month because I'm already almost finished with it! I figured I needed to put at least one guaranteed to finish goal on my list! I took our tree down yesterday (and the area where it was looks so empty and dark now), and all of our decorations are gathered in one spot to be put back into their bins. I see this one being finished this week! Phew!

4. Lose 4-5 pounds

I'm about 100 pounds over the weight I want to be at (and that's about 30 pounds more than the "suggested weight range" that BMI charts so helpfully provide people). I'm about 7 pounds heavier than I was when I gave birth to Char nearly five years ago. It's time for me to get serious about losing weight. However, I want it to be sustainable and realistic for me. I have jumped into restrictive eating plans in the past, and they have not been good for my mental health; obviously they haven't worked either, since I'm heavier than I've ever been! So, my new plan is to be slow, steady, and sustainable. This means that I'm looking at this 100 pound loss over the next couple of years. I may lose more quickly than that, but I'd rather exceed my slow goal than to set something unrealistic and fail spectacularly. 50 pounds in a year puts me needing to lose between 4 and 5 pounds per month or around a pound a week. Yeah, it's not glamorous or exciting like big, quick transformations are, but it's going to be what works for me. Also, I'm totally making a weight loss and rewards chart for my planner (nerd alert) so that I can stay motivated during this long process! I plan to talk about my weight loss plans more here, but I'm waiting to see if there is going to be a Wellness Weekend linkup this year or not so I know when to share!

 

Me in January 2015 (at my post 100 pounds weight loss goal weight) versus August 2019 (one of the most recent full-body pictures I had and probably around 10 pounds lighter than I am now). Also, I am wearing pants in that picture...they're not flattering, but they are there... 😂

5. Determine where we stand financially

I won't talk much about our finances or our debt free journey here since I have another blog dedicated to that, but I will say that we need to figure out what bills we are behind on, how much we are behind on them, and what our updated debt total is. Blah. This goal sucks, but it's a necessary evil. 

There you have it! I have a tendency to make really long to-do lists or think that I can accomplish 600 things in a week, and those thought patterns lead to failure. I'm going to keep my monthly goals between 3 and 7 items in order to make it realistic and manageable for myself. These aren't my only goals each month or for the year, but these are the ones that will help me achieve my bigger goals. For example, with my big goal of reading 150 books this year, I need to read 13 books per month to reach that goal. My goal of deep cleaning and decluttering our entire house can be done by the end of the year if I break it down to one space/area of the house per month. Plus, I can use the same room and area rotation next year to make sure we maintain a neat and clean home. 

Each thing I do monthly is another layer in achieving big goals, plus it helps me break it down into bite-sized pieces, rather than thinking, "I have to deep clean and declutter my whole house in a month, while I lose 50 pounds, and in between reading 150 books." Yeah, that may seem ridiculous to a lot of people, but my brain works that way! Also, you'll probably see some of these goals (like the books to read, decluttering, and weight loss ones) repeated each month. I'll try to mix it up a little with before, during, and after pictures, book reviews, etc, but it might get repetitive to read. Sorry in advance! However, life is repetitive sometimes, so maybe it will be good to see consistency. Possibly...

Do you make monthly goals? Share them with me so I can cheer you on! 

Sentence a Day : November 2020

Welcome, welcome to another Sentence A Day post! I haven't posted one of these since March, although I did attempt to keep up with sentences in October. We see how well that went, don't we?

If you're new to Sentence A Day, it's a sentence (or maybe a couple of sentences in some cases) about each day of your month. I forgot to write sentences some days, so I tried to include some cute pictures to make up for it! Let's dive in and see how November was! 

1 - Dinner with relatives and more cousins to play with (we saw different cousins last night); busy weekend plus the time change means we're exhausted!

2 - Starting a new training program at work this week that I think I'll like better than what I was doing! 

3 - Election Day - that's all I'm going to say.

4 - Managed to drop my entire plate of lunch on the floor, then I cried about it because I'm overtired!

5 - I'm not ashamed to say that I went to bed at 7:30 last night (but I'm still tired today!)

6 - With kids, sometimes you don't know that something you did with them was the last time you were going to do it. 😢

7 - I was not the biggest fan of Biden, but I feel that we need a lot of healing after the last four years, plus finally having a female hold the office of Vice-President is just so overwhelming!

8 - Relaxing day at home was much needed after this week (month, year, everything lol)

9 - Second week of training at work and still moving right along. 

10 - Took a picture of our dog for an Instagram photo challenge, and he is so handsome!

11 - Thank you Veterans for all that you've done for our country!

12 - I spilled coffee on a shirt that says I run on coffee; that seems fitting. 

13 - Today just seemed to draaaaag by. 

14 - Ventured out a few places and regretted it; we wore masks and distanced, but it didn't feel like a good choice!

15 - Checked out a store with my mom that I won a gift card to in an Instagram giveaway, and we weren't too impressed by it!

16 - Dragging today - don't know if it's the weather or just a general feeling of blah-ness.

17 - This Is Us was good tonight but gone until January now...come on!!

18 - Still dragging and meh today; hoping it's just the gray outside and not sickness or anything. 

19 - This week just keeps going and going and going...

20 - Same mood, different day.

21 - So crabby today; this needs to stop!!

22 - Rainy day made for staying home, being lazy, and making muffins!

23 - Forgot to write a sentence today!

24 - Forgot to write a sentence today!

25 - This day seemed to take forever (probably because it's the day before a holiday!)

26 - Thanksgiving at home just relaxing and watching the dog show, Doc McStuffins, and football!

27 - We didn't buy any Christmas gifts today; might be the first time in a while that we haven't!

28 - Did our outdoor decorating today, and it's not much, but we think it's adorable!

29 - Will made nachos tonight that were beyond delicious!! ❤

30 - It snowed all day today, but no accumulation, so no snowball fights yet for Char!

So November's theme evidently was that I was tired and blah all month. Hopefully I'll be more peppy and full of Christmas spirit in December! 

A couple of days late but linking up with Leslie! 

Currently : December 2020

New month, new prompts for the Currently linkup - last one of 2020! Friends, we've almost made it through the slowest, yet fastest, year of our lives! 

Baking : The baker in our house is actually Charlotte! She and my mom make all kinds of creations! Their latest creation was a black cake because the cake mix was super cheap (but not out of date...mom and I think that people just aren't into black cake after Halloween!). Char even told me what they made the glaze out of. Girl loves to bake things and cook! 

Decorating : Our house for Christmas! I feel like that's going to be the most popular answer here! We did our outside stuff last weekend, but we haven't quite finished the inside stuff yet. Every year it's a battle to figure out where to put the tree, so we always drag our feet on that. We've got to do that soon so we can put the ornaments on it, including Char's pick for this year - some kind of character from PJ Masks. 

(Funny story - we pick out a family ornament every year, and a couple of years ago, we had to buy a stuffed hamburger ornament after Char tried to take a bite out of it!! In her defense, it is a good looking burger...).

Our tiny amount of outdoor decorations! We don't have any outside plugs for some reason,
so it's tough to do too much out there! 

Gifting : Char has asked for a yo-yo and a toy train set with train tracks. I didn't know I was raising a child from the 1950s! Ha! I'm not sure what the outcome of either of those requests will be since we were almost finished buying her gifts (based on her 2020 interests...lol), but we'll see what the season will bring!

Hoping : For lots of things. Probably a lot of the same things that most Americans are hoping for this year - pandemic related things, economy related things, getting along as a society related things, and so on. I've got a few more personal hopes tossed in there too, but those will be a one day at a time type thing!

Sending : A housewarming card to an alumna from the university I worked at. She was my student assistant in a class I taught, so I wanted to send her a little congratulatory card since she just bought a house! We don't usually send Christmas cards, but every year I say that next year will be the year we do it. We'll see in 2021, right? 

Have you been up to any of these things? Have any easy baking recipes that I can share with my mom and Char? 😉

Linking up with Anne!

Amber Can Read : October 2020 edition

This should have been the perfect year for reading. We've been ordered to stay home as much as possible. I work from home and have a job that, unlike my last one, does not require any external preparation or work done outside of my Monday-Friday, 8-4:30 hours. I'm not in school, teaching, or doing anything that requires any type of solid commitment. The list goes on and on.

But, 2020.

(I think I'm just going to use that to explain away anything or justify why I haven't been productive in certain areas of my life.)

I had a lofty reading goal this year - 150 books. I started the year pretty strong, but now I've stagnated, and Goodreads tells me that I'm currently around 65 books behind where I should be to reach that goal. I'm not surprised. I've had so much trouble reading and focusing on things. I know I'm not alone, but it's frustrating because I love to read, but I'm falling short on actually doing it. I'm trying to give myself some grace and get back into the swing of things, so I'm joining this linkup for the first time in a while! Maybe this will help me jump back into reading again and knock that snarky little message off of my Goodreads tracker...

Disclosure: If you click on the picture of the book, then it will take you to an Amazon purchase link. If you choose to buy the book from that link, I will earn a few pennies from it. It won't cost you anything extra, so it's a win-win situation! 😉 If you click on the title of the book, it'll take you to a Goodreads link for the book. Last thing - if you want to be friends on Goodreads, add me! 

Number of books read in October: 7 

Number of books read in 2020: 64 

1. Too Much and Never Enough by Mary Trump 

  

I had high hopes for this one. I wanted her to dish some dirt, spill some tea, give up the scoop, etc. Unfortunately, I found it kind of meh. She did reveal some history about the family that I wasn't aware of, but there wasn't a ton of information about Trump himself. She gave good information about how his personality was shaped as a child due to his family, and there were some other interesting parts in the book, but overall I didn't find it as scandalous or controversial as I expected it to be. 

Recommended for: nosy people like me who enjoy reading about public figures (I almost said celebrities, but so help me, I can't call this man a celebrity...). 

2. Melania and Me by Stephanie Winston Wolkoff 

The three Trump-related books that I requested from my libary's eBook app all came in within a day of each other. There's an option to delay holds, but since I'm trying to get back into the reading habit, I went ahead and checked this one out as well. This one was more interesting than Too Much. Wolkoff spent time explaining her relationship with Melania and providing insight into her as a person; well, as much insight as she could. It turns out that Melania is kind of a closed book. Shocking, right? There was a lot of political talk in this since Wolkoff worked in the administration, so I glossed over those parts, but I did enjoy the personal insights.

Recommended for: same as above - nosy people. Also, people who have wondered about the dynamic of POTUS' and FLOTUS' relationship. This book doesn't tell much about it, but it gives a tiny bit of insight into their lives.

3. The Art of Her Deal by Mary Jordan 

The final book of my Trump-related trio! This book focused on Melania's background and how she went from being a fledgling model in Europe to the wife of the 45th president of the United States. There were a couple of themes that came up, such as her being very focused and serious about things, as well as her neglecting people from one stage of her life each time she moved on to the next stage. This book gave me a better picture of how and why their relationship works. 

Recommended for: see above two statements! 

4. The Farm by Joanne Ramos 

Now for a palate cleanser! Ha! I can't decide if I really enjoyed this one or if I'm kind of meh about it. The concept of it seems unique and a little terrifying (check out the description by clicking on the title or image above), but there were a few things that just didn't quite click with me. On the flip side, it did keep my attention and kept me guessing until the end, so there's that. 

Recommended for: those who like "could this actually happen?" type stories or anyone who needs a little bit of fiction after reading three Trump-adjacent books in a row...

5. A Very Punchable Face by Colin Jost 

I'm a lukewarm fan of modern SNL (I'm a lifelong Will Ferrell fan, and I will fight you about it), but I do enjoy the Weekend Update portion of the show. Also, as I mentioned above, I'm a fan of books by and about famous and infamous people. His book was funny enough, and it was interesting to read more about the SNL writing/rehearsal process, but I just kind of made my way through this one without being super invested in it. 

Recommended for: SNL fans, fans of comedians/writers/celebrities, people who read celebrity autobiographies or biographies regardless of the subject (that's me!)

6. Darling Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel 

I think I read about this one on another blogger's post, but I can't remember who it was! I enjoyed this one, so thank you random person! This is a story about a mother and daughter reuniting after the mother is released from prison for aggravated child abuse against her daughter. Phew! This story has some twists and turns that kept me guessing!

Recommended for: mystery fans, fans of complicated family relationships, anyone who likes a good revenge story...

7. The Honey-Don't List by Christina Lauren  

This one was my lightest fiction read for the month, which I needed after those other couple of heavy fiction titles! It tells the story of a couple who have a remodeling television show and a new book coming out...I'm not going to say it reminds me of anyone in particular, but I definitely think it was supposed to be a certain Texas-based couple who have a magazine, books, bakery, silos, etc. Catch my drift? The story is told from the perspectives of the assistants to the man and woman, and I'm sure just by looking at the cover, you can tell that there is going to be some kind of romantic involvement...

Recommended for: fans of light romances, fans of semi-generic "chick lit", people who want to speculate if the people this book seems to be modeled after actually act like the book characters (guess which camp I fall into?!?)

Did not finish:

1. Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker 

I'm not sure where I read about this book, but I received a notification that my library eBook hold was available. The concept of this book was interesting - a family with twelve children and half of them diagnosed with schizophrenia - but I just couldn't get into it. Maybe I'll try it again down the road. 

2. United States of Socialism by Dinesh D'Souza

In the interest of full disclosure, I consider myself a pretty left-leaning liberal. However, I've been trying to seek out viewpoints from "the other side" in order to try to understand where some of their thoughts and rhetoric comes from. When I saw this one available for a fast-track checkout on my library's eBook app, I checked it out. Then, another title I had put on hold became available, and I had already reached my checkout limit, so I returned this one in about half a second to be able to read the one I had actually selected. This is another "maybe eventually" title.

This month's favorite book: This is a tough one because I enjoyed all of the fiction ones pretty equally! I think I'll go with Darling Rose Gold because I didn't figure out the twist in it. They all were good and meh in their own ways though! 

This month's least favorite book: Too Much and Never Enough - it wasn't a bad book, but it just wasn't my favorite this month. 

Have you read any of these books? Tell me what you think about them if you did! 

Linking up with Steph and Jana

10 on the 10th : November 2020

I used to love doing weekly and monthly question posts like this, so I'm glad that my blogger friend Leslie decided to take over 10 on the 10th posts this year. I've got a reading linkup post planned for tomorrow, so I decided to put this one up a day early. I believe this is the only time in my life that I've ever been early for anything! 

1. Will you watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade? Football? Movies?

I *think* that I read that the Thanksgiving Day parade is cancelled this year. We usually had it on our TV, but we didn't really pay attention to it. We actually were always just waiting for the Westminster Dog Show (is this still happening this year?!? Guess I need to check on that now so I have time to whine about it if it's cancelled...). We watch football too. My dad is a huge Dallas Cowboys fan, so it's always fun to see them get stomped play a good game each year. We might watch a movie too. We're having a small discussion in our house about whether I've seen the movie Up or not (I HAVEN'T, DEAR HUSBAND), so we may watch it on Thanksgiving if we haven't before then. 

From Char's first Thanksgiving in 2016!

2. Who does the cooking? Fix anything ahead of time?

Usually my husband and I both do the cooking. We'll each do certain parts of the meal. I think Char will probably want to help this year too! We don't make anything ahead of time since we stay home for Thanksgiving and keep the meal kind of small. 

3. What time do you eat the big meal?

We usually eat in the early afternoon. We'll put the turkey in the oven around mid-morning and let it start cooking, then we'll throw everything else together when the turkey is almost finished. We never have a specific time since we keep things pretty laid-back around here! 

4. Do you set a formal table or keep things more casual? Place cards? Children's table?

We definitely keep things casual around here! Thanksgiving is the one holiday that we have kept strictly to just our household family, so we don't set the table or do anything formal. We don't always even eat at the table on Thanksgiving; it really just depends on what kind of mess our table is on that day! Ha!

5. Is the food placed on the table or served buffet style?

It's served buffet style, and we keep everything in the kitchen. Since there are just 3 of us eating, it's pretty easy just to make all of the plates in the kitchen and then carry them to wherever we're eating!

6. Ham or turkey? What's for dessert?

Turkey!!!!! The first year Will and I were married, he asked for ham for Thanksgiving. I had some kind of sinus bug, and he had to work a half day overtime. So, when he got home, he was exhausted, and I didn't feel well. I remember being so upset that he didn't want to eat the second he got home and that we had to eat "stupid ham instead of turkey," 😂 Now I'd just tell him to make a ham if he wants it because I'm team turkey! Dessert is usually pumpkin pie because that's one of Will's favorite desserts, and I don't really so no to any sweets!

7. Does your family have a Thanksgiving tradition?

I guess our tradition is that we stay home and keep Thanksgiving to our own house. We might start decorating for Christmas, but that's not really a must do for us every Thanksgiving!

8. Yay or nay to leftovers? Favorite leftover recipe?

Yay for me, nay for Will, and it depends on what the food is for Char! Will usually eats one plate of leftovers, and then he's done. I'll eat it for a couple of days before I'm sick of it. However, we've gotten better about not buying/making too much for Thanksgiving, which cuts down on the amount of leftovers we have (and makes it cheaper for us!). I don't really have a favorite leftover recipe that I make, but my mom makes my great-grandmother's turkey hash, and it's really good! I also may try making "The Moist Maker" this year too with this recipe. 

9. What will everyone wear? Dress up or comfy?

Comfy, comfy, comfy!!! Since we stay home, we have no reason to dress up! Plus, if you don't wear elastic band pants, then you're doing Thanksgiving wrong! Ha!!

Don't you wish they had comfy outfits like this for adults?!? From Char's first Thanksgiving, 2016.

10. For what are you most thankful this year?

My family. Hands down. I'm always thankful for them, but this year has been a year for everyone, and it's been crucial to have my family. Love you all! 

My favorite daughter and favorite husband!

Linking up with Leslie! Take a look (tomorrow!) and see how your Thanksgiving compares...and maybe get some new recipes for leftovers!

Currently : November 2020

Welcome to my first linkup on my old/new space! I used to blog at amberiam.com, but thanks to a list of events, including not renewing my domain, not downloading my backup site in time, and letting my site get purchased (hacked? who knows?) by what appears to be someone in China, I'm back here! This space used to be named AmberCanRead, but I updated the name so all of my adoring fans (hahaha) would kind of recognize me! 

Appreciating : My family! I have a great support system who takes care of me when I do things like dropping my entire lunch on the ground! Ha! I'm so grateful for my husband, daughter, dog, parents and in-laws, especially this year! Love all of you! 

Ordering : Groceries online for pickup. Even before the pandemic, I didn't like shopping for groceries, so it's been really nice to order through an app and just go pick them up at a designated time!

Perfecting : Our daily and weekly routines. This year has been full of changes for us, including career changes, so we've had to figure out new daily and weekly routines to suit our new lifestyle. It's all trial and error, and I'm sure it'll change 100 more times before we get it down, but maybe if I say we're perfecting these things, it'll convince me that we're doing okay! 😜

Planning : Things to do in the wintertime. Between the pandemic and flu season, we're going to be indoors and home more than we have been in the past. We want to make sure that we're being careful, so we're planning fun things to do around the house this winter. We're also looking at local parks that we can go to since we can keep our distance from people, plus our winters are usually pretty mild (until around mid-to-late January). Watch us have piles of snow since I said that. Maybe I need to order some snow toys...ha!

Wearing : Lots of leggings, stretchy clothes, and warm clothes! Working at home means wearing whatever is comfortable, and since our basement is feels like a freezer, even in the middle of summer, I'm usually wearing (mismatched) layers, under a shawl, and running a heater! We usually venture out of the house once a week for our grocery pickup and a change of scenery, and I'll wear "actual clothes" then, which always remind me how much I snack during the day now...

How about you? Have you ordered anything fun lately? Have any comfy and warm clothes recommendations? Leave me a comment, or if you published a Currently post, drop your link so I can come visit! 

Linking up with Anne!

Fresh start for fall

Hey.

It's time for me to dust off this ol' blog.

(No, this has nothing to do with the fact that I messed up my Wordpress blog by not renewing the domain and having a weird URL redirect set up that I can't figure out how to undo). 

So, what's changed in my life since 2014*? Not much...just a couple of career changes, moving to another house, celebrating more anniversaries with my husband, keeping our doggo alive, and the little task of raising our daughter, who was born in 2016!

Phew!

I haven't been writing much on the blog that shall not be named. I haven't been super motivated, and like most people this year, I've been in a funk. But, recently I decided that I am in charge of my attitude and shaping my life into what I want it to look like. I make the decisions about what I want to do, who I want to surround myself with, and how I spend my time. Of course, there are things that I must do, and I have to be respectful to my family, but I have to pursue things that make me happy.

Wow. That's a pretty deep and rambling way to say, "I felt like blogging again."

Here are my goals for this space :

1. Clean up/delete/hide old posts - Some of my old posts are just clutter that are taking up space on here. Since I've been reading approximately 17,000 books about clutter lately, I want to unclutter this space.
   
   
2. Figure out what I want to use this space for - I think I want to make this a space for writing random posts about marriage and motherhood, joining linkups, book reviews, and sharing some of my at-home side-hustles. I'm open to suggestions though! 
   
   
3. Make and stick to a posting schedule - Part of being more organized is actually creating a schedule and sticking to it. There are so many content creators who stress the importance of creating a manageable schedule and sticking to it, rather than making big, lofty goals about how often you're going to make something new. I'm so, so, so, so bad about having an all or nothing mindset, so I'll tell myself that if I can't post 8 days a week, I might as well not do it at all. That's ridiculous. Some beats none any day.
   
   
4. Earn a few pennies - There's no shame in wanting to make a little ad revenue. Help a girl out here. Iced coffee and Hatchimals get expensive...
   

If you're still with me, thanks for reading! As I get things more solidified, I'll share my plans here. I know you'll be waiting on pins and needles until then! 

*I haven't published original content on here since 2014, but I'm in the process of bringing my Wordpress posts over here, so it'll look like I've been way more active on here. Fascinating, right?