Currently : November 2024

I used to love joining another Currently linkup each month, but I discovered after I stopped blogging for a while that the one I used to join doesn't happen anymore. I was excited to find a new Currently linkup to join! 

Loving : The attempts at cooler weather. I'm a summer girl, and I love warm weather, but at a certain point, temperatures in the 80s get a little old, especially when you're sweating on Halloween because you wanted to wear the cute thin sweatshirt you got before you pack away your Halloween clothes for another year. I'm ready for crisp weather, but this week, we're still having highs in the mid-70s, so I guess I'll love and appreciate the cooler-ish weather and the much-needed rain we're supposed to have. 

Looking forward to : Thanksgiving Break! Listen, these kids at work have been wound up since the Tuesday before Halloween. I know this happens every year, but I'm feeling it extra hard this year for some reason and am so ready for a week off!

Smelling : Pumpkin stuff...for just a little bit longer. I have a very weird and specific schedule when it comes to pumpkin flavored and pumpkin scented items. I'm usually ready to flip the switch to Peppermint and Peppermint Mocha by November 1, but this year since I have some pumpkin scented items left that I want to use up, I'll smell that pumpkin-y fresh smell just a little bit longer than usual. 

Preparing for : Christmas shopping by trying to tighten up our budget and Christmas decorating by cleaning and decluttering. It's a coin toss for which one I'll be more successful at! 

Thankful for : My family! I'm always so thankful for how supportive and loving they are, especially when I come home crabby from work or am not myself. 

Linking up with Jenn! 

Currently : July 2022

It's my birthday month! This one will be a semi-big one too since I'll be turning 39! I can't believe it because mentally I feel like I'm about 12! Stay tuned for my before 40 goals that I've been brainstorming...

Enjoying : Charli's summer sleep schedule! She seems to take after me with her night owl ways, which I love right now, but in a few weeks, I will not enjoy at all!!

Having : Trouble keeping up with everything happening in this country and in life. Between the big events and news stories and just life stuff, I'm worn out. It's a lot. We are not made to live in this chronic state of stress and fear and shock, and I'm worried about what's going to happen when we all hit our collective wall. Okay, onto something lighter...

Hoping : Our flowers and pumpkins bloom! I don't really have a green thumb, so my track record with flowers/plants isn't the best. So far they look good, but we'll see! 

Picking : Books for the Erin 17.0 book challenge that started on July 1. I'm just fashionably late to this one.

Using : Things in our house. That's a little vague, so let me clarify. I had a thought a few months ago that I constantly buy things and then wait for the "perfect" opportunity to use them, and I don't know why. If it's something I really like, I can buy another one if I use it up, wear it out, etc. If it's something I don't like, then I can give it away or throw it out, and I'll know not to buy it anymore. I have a tendency to act like things are precious or made of gold, when in reality, 99.9% of what I own can be easily replaced/repurchased by doing a couple of Internet searches (or close duplicates of those items, at the very least). So, I'm not saving craft supplies like I'm waiting for some craft apocalypse where nothing is sold anywhere ever again. I'm coloring in the coloring book that Will bought me in March 2020 when he ventured into a store at the beginning of the pandemic. And, if it's something that I'm on the fence about, I'm putting it in a consignment sale, on marketplace, or in a donation bag. If it sells, then it's off to a better home. If I don't miss it when it's in the donation bag, then it's off to a better home. I have a long way to go, but this is helping my decluttering process also. Obviously, I have stronger feelings about this than I realized since I wrote a novella about it...

What are you currently up to? Use these prompts or tell me what's going on in your life right now!

Linking up with Anne

Currently : June 2022

It seems like June snuck up on us because it was just the beginning of May, like, yesterday! Time really does fly, and even though I haven't participated since September 2021, it's time to jump into another edition of Currently! 

Celebrating : Getting through Kindergarten! I don't know how families with more than one child, especially more than one in school, do it! Teacher Appreciation Week hit during the same time as a new consignment sale that Mom and I participated in, so there were a few days in May that I questioned my sanity! We made it though, and now it's time to celebrate with lots of family time and sleeping in a little bit! 

Giving : Our budget another look...we are so bad about sticking to it and working on our financial goals, so I'm going through it again to see where our weak spots are and why we have trouble. Wish me luck! 

Taking : A data analytics course. I have been interested in the idea of it for a while, so I'm taking a free course to learn more and see if this is a career option I want to explore since I've felt kind of lost over the last couple of years, career-wise (well, okay, I've felt kind of lost about a lot of other things too but one thing at a time, right?!?).

Trying : To figure out what all we're doing with Charli this summer! We want her to take swim lessons (but I may have waited too late to find some because they all seem to be booked up), and then there's summer reading activities at all of the libraries in our county, a couple of different classes at the local park, plus cheap movies. Phew! We also want to explore our area a little more. Mom, Charli, and I went to Cheekwood on Sunday, and we had a ton of fun but didn't have time to see everything! Plus, the zoo has a nighttime lights thing this summer that seems super fun. I'm worn out just typing all of this, and I won't even get to participate in everything with her!

Wearing : Comfy dresses or leggings and oversized shirts. Living that remote work life! ;)

Linking up with Anne! 

Currently : September 2021

Hi again. I haven't posted since February, and coincidentally, it was my February Currently post. 

It's been a really tough year. My dad died at the end of March after a really short sickness, and it has changed basically everything for us. We live about a mile from my mom and dad's house, and Charli has stayed with them since she was born. It has been a huge loss for all of us, and until recently, I had no desire to read anything, write anything, or do anything. Lately though, I've started thinking about how I want my life to look and how we really aren't guaranteed time on this planet (and I've started writing about that more on Medium). I miss writing here and having a reason to be creative and work on my writing skills. Plus, this blog (and the 8,000 other ones I've gone through) help tell a story of who I am and what is going on in my life. So, here I am again, and I'm starting off with a light post about what I'm currently up to.

Beginning : Goal-setting and the process of shaping my life into what I dream of it being - not just what I feel like I "have to" do. 

Ending : Consignment sale tagging. We have a pretty big local sale twice a year. Mom and I participated once as sellers, but we paid for someone to do the tagging for us. This time, we decided that we would do the tags, and wow, do we have a lot of stuff! I'm almost finished entering, printing, and pinning everything, and I'll be glad not to be surrounded by piles of clothes and bags after we drop this stuff off in a few days!

Just a small pile of clothes...

Loving : My family. No further explanation necessary!

Picking : Up our groceries. With the variant surge, Charli's kindergarten (!) schedule wiping us all out, plus a hundred other little things, I've decided to have us go back to doing grocery pickups. I'd much rather shop on my phone on my couch than go up and down each aisle while avoiding getting close to people!    

Posting : I made a posting schedule for this blog, my debt free blog, my Medium page, and Instagram account (I love participating in photo challenges!), so September is shaping up to be a month of posting many things in many places. I welcome the distraction and structure. 

Linking up with Anne!

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!

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!