A Time For Everything

Screen grab courtesy WFAA.com Weather / 01/23/26.

January ended with a BRRRRRR--and yes in all caps!

But we survived and during those cold January mornings, I wrote and wrote and wrote.

Remember that goal to complete A Certain Kind of Man?  Well, I'd started on revisions in earnest in November and the universe has been blessing me with time. I completed the first draft on January 27th--a full four days before my deadline. The manuscript came in at 39,015K words. I'm chuffed. And hoping to add another six during revisions, but that's probably pushing it.

While I let the manuscript rest, I switched tasks and started working on creating Pinterest pins for both the Etsy store and my publishing/books. My research has said that Pinterest can help me increase sales in both entities. So I'm gonna give it go--but I need to stockpile pins before I start the process of adding pins to my Etsy Pinterest account. I have yet to create a Pinterest account for the books, but I'll get there eventually. A time for everything, eh?

Once I finish this next read-through, it'll be time to decide what book gets my attention next. I'm leaning toward Book Six, Game Misconduct, of the hockey series just because I want that series to get completed. But, to be honest, the characters and the plot are barely speaking to me. I'll have to noodle around with ideas a bit more when the time comes.

In other news--I'm reading again finally. I probably read four books in January. I'm well on my way reaching my goal of 12 books in 12 months--and with plenty of time to spare.

And, with a few dietary changes (better choices mostly), I've lost half the weight I'd planned for the whole. I'll keep going with the plan and rejoice in however many pounds I can lose. I've added some additional activity to my days / routine, so that ought to help as well.

I learned that my Chinese astrological sign is an Earth Monkey! And when I ran a comparison against my top-ten Clifton Personality Strengths--they were in pretty decent alignment. Then I added my standard US astrological sign (Gemini) into the mix, and according to ChatGPT, things remain pretty congruent. I found that very interesting.

And as this is late getting posted--I'll sign off now.

Have a super month.

Image courtesy IMGBIN.com.

Hello and Happy New Year!

I hope you're well.

I'm well and looking forward to 2026.

First though--the visit with my son was wonderful. And here is the recreated picture, as promised*:

*Darling Daughter didn't want to do the kissing of the cheeks, so we just went with this. And I'm lucky I got this at all, to be honest. DD is not a fan of having her picture taken.

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And now, let's dive right into the annual tradition of Fresh Start Goals.

As we determined a couple of months ago, I failed to come up with Fresh Start Goals for 2025. In hindsight, that was probably for the best. The first half of last year was full to brim with events that don't happen on a regular basis. Those goals would have just fallen by the wayside in a heap. The second half calmed down a bit, but once I'm off track, it's a challenge to get back on it.

But all of that is behind me. It's a brand new year, and life has reached a new state of normal. I spent some time contemplating what I want to accomplish in 2026, as well as revisiting my goals from 2021 through 2024. To be honest, my goals haven't changed much in probably a decade. :0)

After taking all sorts of things into consideration, I decided what I want to focus on this year. And here, without further ado, are my Fresh Start Goals for 2026:

• Finish and Publish another Book ~ on the table is A Certain Kind of Man, technically Book 7 of the Ten Rigs series, and Game Misconduct, Book Six of the Face Off For Love series. A Certain Kind of Man is at 32K words now and Game Misconduct is a brand new book that I'm a chapter or so into. Since A Certain Kind of Man has so many more words, I'm going to finish and publish this one first. I'll spend some time on Game Misconduct as well, so that it'll be ready for finishing and publishing as quickly as possible after A Certain Kind of Man goes out into the world.
• SMART Goal: this one is easy--finish and publish A Certain Kind of Man by 06/17/2026.
• Self Care ~ this encompasses exercise and healthy eating as well things like coloring my hair or doing home foot care. I also plan to get back to walking Rascal. Self care includes taking time out to craft (on my own or with my girls) as I've neglected those hobbies for some time. Self care will also include more reading. I didn't read as much in 2025 as I have in years past and there are soooo many good books out there waiting for me to discover them.
• SMART Goal: lose twenty pounds at 5 pounds a quarter; complete my "seeds" cross stitch sampler; read 12 books I've never read before; walk Rascal 2-3 times a week
• House Care ~ some of you long time followers probably know of my love-hate relationship with housekeeping. I really want to find a routine that allows me to keep up with the house. But house care will also encompass yard work as well as a home- or yard- improvement project or two.
• SMART Goal: come up with that routine by the end of March
• Reduce Debt ~ this has been an on-going endeavor for a few years. Getting money from mom's estate after she passed was a great jump start for this, but due to 2025's crazy first half, we moved backwards a little but just a little). My plan is to really curtail the spending once again as well as prefund as much as possible (road trips specifically) and get a few of 2024's and 2025's expenditures completely refunded.
• SMART: Reduce the balance on a specific credit card by $300 per quarter come heck or high water. (And yes, I have a specific card targeted); no spending on anything other than true necessities
• Letters to Grandma ~ 2025 was another challenge to my efforts in this department. My dear grandma will be NINETY-NINE years old in August, so being diligent with this task is more important than ever.
• SMART: a letter in the mail every six weeks; I sent her was a Christmas card on 11/28/25 and just dropped a regular letter in the mail last week

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And that's that my dear readers!

catch you next month.