Amber Can Read : December 2020 Edition

I know you have all on the edge of your seats wondering if I hit my Goodreads goal for 2020. Drum roll, please.

I did not. 

I made it to 77 books, which put me slightly above halfway to my goal of 150 books for the year. I had so much trouble getting into reading and focusing, so instead of being frustrated about falling short, I'm going to be happy that I still read as many books as I did! 

This year, I decided to go for 150 books as my goal, which is the exact same as last year. I feel better about this year though, even if we still are quarantined/locked down for a good part of it. I can't wait to dive into this year of reading and crush this goal!

But first, let's look at what I read in December!

Disclaimer: 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 will take you to a Goodreads link for the book. Last thing - if you want to be friends on Goodreads, add me! 

Books read in December: 6

Books read in 2020: 77

1. More Myself by Alicia Keys

I've made it no secret that I enjoy celebrity memoirs, and I like her music (okay, I'm a surface fan; I like her music that I've heard on the radio), so I thought I would enjoy this one. At the beginning, I did. It was inspiring to read about how the daughter of a single mother worked hard, used her talent, and got signed for her first record deal. However, I liked her less and less as the book dragged on, and by the end, I was rolling my eyes and just skimming through it. I think what flipped the switch was when she started talking about her concept (borrowed from Oprah) of the resounding yes, making space in her life after tours/recording/events to have time alone with her family, her charitable work, etc. I'm all for confidence and being proud of who you are, but it read like a #humblebrag (only without the humble). It's absolutely wonderful that you can take the time off between your tours to be with your family and experience the peace of being at home. I'm so incredibly glad that you're able to only say yes to the events that nourish your soul. It's not that I don't think this is realistic for actual people; I think there's an opportunity for all of to do some variation of this. I think it's just the way that she puts it into words and presents it as "this is what I do, and if you don't like it, then tough on you." There's a part where she goes into the whole #nomakeup movement that evidently she was instrumental in starting, then another part where she talks about wearing makeup while being a judge on The Voice. Don't worry though - when another judge said that he thought she didn't wear makeup, she made sure to let him know that she does "whatever the f she wants to." Cool, cool. 

I didn't mean to go on such a rant about this book, but I think reading it in 2020 when life was exceedingly difficult for a number of people (including my family at times) just made me super salty. When you're having day-to-day issues, it's hard to cheer for someone who devotes time talking about how she and her husband like to give each other extravagant gifts and outdo each other every birthday. Wonderful. Meanwhile, I'll continue to keep my grocery order under $100 this week because, you know, we live in the actual world.

Recommended for: Anyone who is a huge fan of hers and won't care about all of the stuff I've complained about above, anyone who has low blood pressure and needs to raise theirs by reading about the struggles she has endured (particularly if you've just finished paying utility bills or something similar).

2. The Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward

I didn't like this one at all. I wanted to. There was one character (Cord) who I liked the most, and I was interested in his sister Reagan's sub-story, but that was about it. I found this book scattered, and I thought it was difficult to really care about any of the characters (except Cord). The only reason I finished it was because I wanted to see if there would be a good resolution to the events, but even that let me down. This book also had such an unsatisfying and abrupt ending. I was so mad, but since I finished it after Will was asleep, I couldn't even share how annoyed I was! I'm sure he's sad he missed that...

Recommended for: No one, unless you like disappointment and books about whiny families where the issues never fully get resolved. 

3. The End of October by Lawrence Wright

 

This felt like a couple of books mushed together. It was about an infectious disease scientist trying to contain a worldwide pandemic (seems a little familiar), but it was also about how his family was affected by it, a political scandal, a submarine, something about an old colleague of his, maybe 10 or 12 other sub-stories too, I don't know. It felt like too much disjointed content trying to fit together. Plus, I don't know the author's background, but he either is really good at research or has a history in some of this stuff because the writing was so boring at times, I can only assume he has written academic, peer-researched papers about these things. I didn't quit this one only because I wanted to see what would happen to the scientist and his family. I should've just looked it up online because it was such a blah book that wasted my time.

Recommended for: Fans of sci-fi-ish type stories who can handle boring and technical writing, people who can keep up with multiple plotlines better than I can.

4. Stranger in the Lake by Kimberly Belle

Lest you think my December was full of literary losers, this book has come to provide a little hope! This was the story of a woman who found a body floating under the deck in a lake near her home. After her husband finds out, he disappears for a few days, leaving her to try to solve the mystery of who the woman was. If that wasn't enough, it turns out that this is the second body that has been found in that lake; the first one belonged to her husband's first wife. This was a good mystery that showed how far people would go to protect their friendships and relationships. And honestly, I was just so excited to finally like a book this month!

Recommended for: Mystery fans, people who think lakes are disgusting and want another reason to stay out of them

5. Fly Guy Presents: Monster Trucks by Tedd Arnold

I got this one in a Book Fair preview pack during my school librarian days. I read it on Christmas Eve so I could give it to our younger nephew on Christmas (not as a gift - just as a book that Aunt Amber thought he'd find interesting!). I had never read any Fly Guy books, but I know that they're popular. This is a non-fiction title that gives information about a certain topic (obviously monster trucks in this case). It was quick and informative. Thanks to this book, I was able to recognize that our nephew got the "Gravedigger" truck for Christmas. See, reading does help you learn...

Recommended for: Kids or adults who want to be cool and learn to recognize popular monster trucks so they can briefly impress their nephews on Christmas day...

6. The Cousins by Karen McManus

I've read her other books (One of Us is Lying and One of Us is Next) and while this one wasn't bad, it didn't capture me as much as the other two did. Maybe it's because this was set in a new place with different characters than the other two. Three cousins are summoned by their grandmother to spend a summer working at her resort. All of their parents encourage them to go since their grandmother disowned all of them years earlier via a letter and refused to have any contact with them. When the cousins get to the island where the resort is, their grandmother immediately leaves. Things just get weirder from there because of course they do!

Recommended for: Anyone who isn't close to their family and thinks that they need to change that, mystery fans

Didn't finish 

1. Notes from an Apocalypse by Mark O'Connell

This was on my library eBook's app under the "It's your lucky day" section, which I assume means that it's a popular title and it was my lucky day that it was available for checkout. Otherwise, they're pranking me because I did not feel like it was my lucky day to start reading this one. I got a couple of pages in and determined that it could be someone else's lucky day...

2. Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh

I was so excited about this one. I loved her Hyperbole and a Half comics and the subsequent book, but I just could not get into this one. I don't know if I just wasn't in the right head space for it or what, but I slogged through a good bit of it before deciding to return it early and be done with it. Have any of you read it? Should I go back and give it another try?

This month's favorite book: Definitely Stranger in the Lake because not only did it break my streak of crappy books but it was also just an enjoyable read!

This month's least favorite book: More Myself hands down. I mean, look at that rant. I think we all could've guessed this one...

Read any good books lately? Let me know in the comments!

Linking up with Steph and Jana!

10 on the 10th : January 2021

Or should I say 10 on the second Monday of the month? Ha! 

I love blog series' like this, but I almost always forget to join in. Not this year! I'm a little late, but I'm still hopping in. Better late than never, right? 

My memories range from mundane to huge, but these were the first 10 things that popped in my head, so here we go!

10 Memories from 2020:

Leaving the library world

I worked in public libraries for almost 2 years and academic libraries for nearly 12 years. Back in July 2019, I decided to transition to a school library. I knew it would be a challenge, but I was ready for a change, especially considering Char will be starting school this fall (cue my tears...), and I thought it would be nice to be in a school with her. 

Well, that didn't quite work out for me...

I have the utmost respect for anyone who works in K-12 education, but it is definitely not for me! I tried to make it work, using online resources and getting help from other librarians in the county, but it just didn't pan out. After meetings with administration and a long talk with Will, I decided to resign. Then, when the pandemic hit, I looked for remote jobs. I had a couple of false starts, but now I'm in a role that I enjoy! 

Tornadoes, Derechos, and a Bombing

Nashville and Middle Tennessee had a rough year. On March 3, there was a huge, deadly tornado that hit our area. It caused a lot of property damage, and some of it is still apparent, such as my old middle school that is still in shambles. Entire neighborhoods in our area were basically wiped out. We were extremely fortunate because we only experienced a power outage and debris in our yard. 

Two months later, we experienced a derecho, which is not a weather term that I was familiar with before it happened. Again, we were fortunate to only experience a power outage (my parents' outage lasted for around 4 days), but it was yet another blow to the area.

On Christmas Day, Nashville experienced a bombing. I was in Char's bed with her that morning because I was trying to get her to rest a little more after a late night on Christmas Eve. Around 6:30 AM, I heard a loud booming noise, and I had a brief thought that it was thunder or a garbage truck, but then I realized that it wasn't either of those things. I didn't think anything about it until we were at Will's family's house later that day, and they were talking about the bombing. We had a lot of phone, Internet, and TV issues during Christmas and the day after, plus we had a copycat person in our county a couple of days later, but all told, we were extremely lucky to not have experienced anything more serious.

Let's see how 2021 will shape up for Nashville and Middle Tennessee.

New glasses and haircuts

Now, on to something a little less heavy/serious. In 2020, Char and I both got new glasses and haircuts. I actually got two haircuts last year - one in a salon in March and one from my grandma (who is a retired beautician) in October when I absolutely had to have a hair change...and then almost instantly regretted it. Ha!

These weren't big occurrences, but they were some mundane memories from last year that have stuck with me!

 

Last gathering with friends

My mom and I have a mutual friend that we have a group text with and get together with at least three or four times a year. We try to base it around our birthdays and Christmas, but we also just get together randomly sometimes, and it's almost always at Panera! Last March we decided to get together at our regular Panera location. It was right at the beginning of the Covid situation, so people had started social distancing a little bit, but there weren't regulations in place, people weren't wearing masks, etc. We didn't realize that this would be the last time we would all get together during the year! We still talk via text every day, and we had a virtual get-together, but I will be glad when it's safe enough to see each other in person again! Will better be prepared for me to be gone for a while when that day comes! 

Our first pandemic birthdays

Will and Koopa's birthdays are at the end of March (on the exact same day actually!), so their birthdays happened right when the quarantine/lockdown situation started last year. We don't usually do anything for Will's birthday besides having dinner with his mom and stepfather, but that was off the table in 2020 since there was so much we didn't know about Covid (I mean, there's still a lot we don't know but now we're a little more used to things...). Both Will's mom and stepdad and my parents decided to do drop by birthday gifts for Will and left things on our front porch. It was different than normal, but it was nice to see them briefly and to get to celebrate him. Koopa's birthday was just normal, but it's still worth mentioning lol. 

Char's birthday/birthday party

Char turned 4 last year, and before...everything...my mom and I had been looking at birthday party venues. We had settled on one we thought would be fun, and then, well, you know the rest of the story! Since we had been around my parents and brother (and none of us were working outside of the home at the time, thanks to furloughs and closures), we felt comfortable having a small party at my parents' house for her. She was a little crabby that day, but she was excited to celebrate. The best moment was when she opened up the Barbie Dream House that she had been asking for! My dad had already put it together for her, but my mom wanted her to have something to unwrap, so the box was full of paper. When she opened the box and saw what it was, she was so excited. She said, "let's put this together," and then she started opening the box. She was so confused and a little sad that the box was empty until her Pop Pop and uncle brought the fully put-together dream house into the living room! 

I don't know what her birthday is going to look like this year. For some reason, since I was pregnant with her, I have wanted to take her on a carriage ride for her 5th birthday. Will and I also talked about taking her to the Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant downtown too. Unfortunately, the restaurant is located on Second Avenue where the Nashville Christmas day bombing occurred, and we don't know if carriage rides are even a thing with the pandemic. Sigh. I'm sure that we'll find a special way to celebrate her, even if it's not a big party to make up for last year. Her birthday is in April, so we'll see what happens between now and then! 

 

Animal Crossing

 My husband likes to watch video game streamers on Twitch, and back in the spring, they were all about Animal Crossing. I had played Animal Crossing many years ago (I can't even remember what platform it was on...maybe the Nintendo DS?), so I knew how much fun it was. After Will had watched some streamers for a while, he decided he wanted to try it also. He was furloughed from his job, and I wasn't working at the time, so we both had long stretches of time to play on our devices. 

[I have to give him a shout out here because he got me the game and a Switch Lite for his birthday. I don't know how I managed that, but I now expect presents on his birthday every year!]

We weren't the only ones who lost ourselves in the game during that weird stretch of spring and early summer when everything was still so unknown (The disease hates sunshine! It'll go away by Memorial Day! It'll disappear one day!). We built our little villages and traded items. We had real-life discussions about strategies and plans in the game. We were super into it! Then, Will had to go back to work, and even though I tried to keep up his game, and he checked into it at night, it had lost a little bit of magic. He hasn't touched his game since last summer. I was a little more consistent, but I haven't played since Thanksgiving. I know I'll go back to it, but it probably won't be the same as that little time frame when we were super into it! 

A new kitten

Somehow my aunt and dad conspired together in order to get Char a new kitten! Because our dog is a little wild, the kitten had to live at my mom and dad's house, so that's why my dad was involved! When my aunt and grandma delivered it to my parents' house, Char was thrilled! She kept telling them thank you for the kitty and petting it. We asked her what she wanted to name it, and she kept going back to the name Machena. We have no idea where that came from, but it has stuck, along with the nickname Cheni! When we got Cheni, we thought it was a girl, but my parents were surprised to find out that she is a he! Oops!! Cheni is a sweet and patient kitten who is entertaining and can (mostly) handle Char's energy when she is with him. I've never been a big cat person, but I have a soft spot in my heart for him!

  

Elections, politics, and social justice

I don't need to say much here! 2020 was a year for my husband and I to discover where we stand politically and with different social justice topics. I'm happy to say that we see eye-to-eye on these things and have been having great discussions about them! It was also a year to discover who in our families we could have disagreements with...and who just decided we weren't worth it. It's rough to lose connections with people, but I am a liberal who believes Black Lives Matter and that the soon-to-be president will bring unity and healing to our nation. I also believe that liberals and conservatives do have a lot in common, but the conservative voices of reason are being drowned out by the conspiracy theory fools who shout over everyone else. I think we'll get back to a good middle ground, but it's going to take some work on both sides! 

                                                   

Christmas excitement!

Let's end this on a lighter note! This was the first year that Char was really into Christmas, and it was so much fun! My mom and I had Christmas countdowns on our phones for her to see, plus we had advent calendars to help her count down the days. My parents watch her while Will and I work (I'll never be able to express enough gratitude for this!!), and she somehow finagled her way into opening multiple presents before Christmas even arrived! Stinker! 

Seeing Christmas through her eyes was so fun and exciting! It ended a really crappy year on a high note for us, and it allowed us to all get caught up in the magic and excitement of Christmas again! It was so sad to take down our decorations and tree, especially since one of Char's "jobs" every day was to turn on the lights on the tree. Oh well. Only around 10 more months until we can decorate again! 😉

 

  

And there you have it! 10 memories from a topsy-turvy year! Although 2021 is shaping up to be another bizarre year, I feel like I'm in a better place mentally and will handle things a little more easily than I did last year. Here's to a happy 2021 for us all! 

I missed the linkup, but check out Leslie's site for her post and those who linked up in time!

Currently : January 2021

 

Beginning: To get into a daily routine. I definitely have a lot of work to do, but there are certain things that I'm beginning to do each day around the same time. I have a problem with sticking to routines, so this is a big step for me! 
 

Feeling: Optimistic about things! My husband and I have had some great discussions lately about our goals and the direction we want our lives to go, and it feels nice to be working on these things together. Also, I know there's been a lot of grumbling about the amount of the stimulus checks, but I'm feeling good about the progress they're going to help us make on our debt free journey! 

Organizing: Our living room and our family notebook. Okay, I have to actually put the family notebook together, so I guess I'm just organizing the contents that are going to be in it! Right now, I'm planning to have medical information about the three of us (and our pup!), home maintenance info (like noting that we got to buy a new water heater last year), and car maintenance info. I have few other ideas too, but if you have a family or home notebook, I'd be interested in hearing what you included in yours!

Resolving: To work on a few goals each month in order to make small changes, instead of having my usual "IMMEDIATELY CHANGE EVERYTHING" mentality. So far, so good!

Wondering: How this year is going to shape up. My husband and I were talking about the idea of a national lockdown last night, and we were curious about whether or not that's something that the new administration will mandate. I'm okay with that and anything else that helps us get these pandemic numbers under control!

Wondering if this will be my look for the rest of 2021...

Your turn! Have any answers to these prompts? Leave a comment below or your blog link so I can check them out! Linking up with Anne.

Sentence A Day : December 2020

WE MADE IT THROUGH 2020!!!

Sorry, but that felt like an all caps situation! 2020 had some good moments, and it helped us face some things and make some decisions that will help our family in the long run, but wow, am I glad for a new year! Let's take a last look back at December 2020 (AKA the most wonderful time of the yearrrrr) before we shut the book on that year for good!

1 - Our heat wouldn't turn off, and it was sweltering in here; thankful that Will's stepdad has HVAC skills and fixed us up! 

2 - Char and I spent about 20 minutes driving around and looking at Christmas lights and decorations tonight; we both love them! 

3 - We were watching Wheel of Fortune tonight, and Char just said that Pat Sajak was Joe Biden! 😂

4 - Today was so rainy and gray that I just wanted to nap all day!

5 - Things do not feel good right now. 

6 - A trip to pick up our grocery order is the most excitement we've had in a while!

7 - We finally put up our tiny Christmas tree!

8 - My parents got us pizza for dinner on the condition that we picked theirs up too - can't refuse a good offer like that!

9 - Bruce Springsteen's live version of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" is horrible. Yep, I said it. 

10 - Char wanted to wear lipstick today and only let me put it on her top lip, but I forgot to take a picture!

11 - I can't believe we only have two more weeks until Christmas; I feel so unprepared!!

12 - We went to a Christmas scavenger hunt event at a shopping center today, and it was kind of underwhelming, but Char had fun!

13 - Never mind being ready for Christmas since Char is fascinated by the cheap stamp and knockoff slime she got in her scavenger hunt bag yesterday! 😂

14 - I won a $25 gift card for tagging the shopping center in an Instagram post on Saturday!!

15 - A certain little girl climbed on the hearth tonight so she could feel her stocking better; a certain mom couldn't quit laughing since she has always done similar things with her Christmas stockings...

16 - Our dog thinks he's a person sometimes...

17 - Love finding new people to watch on YouTube! (The Organized Money, in case you're curious)

18 - Going to Target a week before Christmas is a fool's errand. 

19 - I don't remember what we did today, but I'm sure it involved a grocery pickup!

20 - Lazy Sunday at home gearing up for the next couple of weeks!

21 - More driving around and looking at Christmas lights with Char tonight!

22 - I spotted a pretty clever lights display tonight during my drive with Char...

23 - I had to go pick up a work laptop today from company headquarters around an hour away, then we went to Will's sister's house to see his dad and stepmom while they were in town; that's more driving and social interaction than we've had in a long time! 

24 - Slower Christmas Eve than usual since my extended family's gatherings were cancelled, and that was okay with us after yesterday's adventures!

25 - Merry Christmas from a very excited little girl!

26 - A day at home playing with new Christmas toys (and our new fancy coffee machine) was just what all of us needed!

27 - A little uneasy today since some fool in our county (located near Nashville) decided to replicate the recording from the Christmas morning bombing, but thankfully it was just a random idiot who was shut down by local law enforcement. 

28 - Last Monday of the year!

29 - I haven't had to work during this week for a long time, so I forgot how it feels to use my brain between Christmas and New Year's Eve...haha

30 - My dad and brother brought over the gift my parents got us - a new freezer!! I never would've thought that I would be so excited about a new freezer! 

31 - We made it to the end of 2020; a new calendar/planner/date doesn't necessarily mean that everything will be instantly fixed, but it has to mean brighter days are ahead. Happy New Year! 

And that's December...and 2020...all wrapped up! Did you track your month? Leave your blog link on Leslie's linkup (using the button below) so I can see how your December was! 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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!