Goodbye 2025...

Posting here has been sporadic this year (okay, for a few years now), but this year in particular it seems I haven't written about some of the most important things that have happened.  Not that most of what's in this post is all that important, but I thought a round-up, especially of things I've photographed, but never posted about would be appropriate.

I promise January is the most wordy month.  I hope you enjoy the pictures.

January brought some new healthy habits:

Not through resolutions, but through external (which became internal) motivations.

I'll spare you the storytelling (leaving some humorous moments on the cutting floor), and get to the main points.  After experiencing a few random episodes of tachycardia between I think...  September of 2024 and January of 2025, and after having an echo cardiogram, and an EKG, my GP ordered a heart monitor for me to wear for a week in late January. 

It's a nifty little thing that sticks (somewhat) discretely to one's chest, monitoring every heart beat and sending a report via a cell phone to the monitoring company.  My instructions were to press a button on the accompanying cell phone any time I felt like my heart was beating rapidly for no obvious reason.

While it was a small, easy-to-wear device, I have to say I found it very stressful - not knowing exactly how the information being collected was going to be interpreted.  And even now I don't consider it to have been in any way helpful in understanding what was causing the tachycardia. But on a good note, I came through all the tests and wearing this little monitor with nothing worrisome showing up.  

Also, in January, since I was doing all these heart related things, I had a Coronary Artery Calcium score done, and while it did show some evidence of calcified plaque, I felt like my score was much better than I deserve.  

Now... because of all the above, during the time from about October to January I was researching the topic of heart disease, which included educating myself about cholesterol, metabolic disease and insulin resistance - and how all those things are involved in the development of arterial plaque.  By late January, while wearing that heart monitor, I became highly motivated to make serious changes in how I eat. I won't go into it deeply, but significantly cutting out refined carbs and sugars since the end of January, has appeared to bring to an end to the tachycardia.   When I've mentioned it at different doctor visits, they concur that these things may have very well been the culprit.  I'm thrilled that simply eating healthier (evidently) made the tachycardia go away, and that there were no obvious issues that needed tending to.

And while I've indulged just a tad over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, I'm pleased to still be maintaining a much healthier way of eating.  And feeling better for it.

February brought dozens of cardinals to our yard during a snowy spell.

March brought an early spring with early budding trees!

...the local cemetery remaining a favorite place to walk.

April saw lovely blooms from an Amaryllis my neighbor had propagated and gave to me a few weeks earlier.

May brought the perfect amount of strawberries, as hoped for.

And finally some dry days to plant a garden.  We had a LOT of rain last spring.

June gave us a daughter-in-law.

This is a woefully inadequate mention of something that makes us exceedingly glad, but the happy couple married in a unique and private ceremony with friends attending, and we celebrated a month later with extended family.

July had me in this funny contraption for taking measurements for new glasses.  I had some trust issues over it, but amazingly, it worked!

August saw Greg in the hospital for a scheduled heart catheterization and stent.

Before stenting - LAD was 80% blocked:

After stent - LAD is wide open

Again, so much more could be said, but it's not really my story to tell.  I'm just glad Greg finally got in to see a cardiologist after much much too long of "feeling tired".

August also saw this little guy eating all of my cherry tomatoes:

September brought my sister (who last year moved from Florida to Louisville) and my niece to our place for a visit.

And saw me canning and freezing produce from the garden, and otherwise.

I can only estimate what I put up from what is still in the pantry and freezer, but this is pretty close:

Green Beans: 55 pints, and 2 quarts

Sweet Pickle Relish:  25 jars (some half pints, some 4 oz.)

Dill Pickles:  18 pints

Sweet Corn (frozen)  20 ziploc bags with 8oz each of corn 

And this doesn't even account for what was eaten and given away fresh.

For a garden that didn't seem very ambitious when I planted it, it produced quite a bit.  

Actually, for a garden that was really only half a vegetable garden due to all the sunflowers I planted, it produced very decently.  I've made a note to self that I don't need nearly this many sunflowers next year, and they need to be more strategically planted so as to not shade lower growing plants.

By the end of September, swallowtail caterpillars were feasting on the dill:

October  finally brought cool enough weather to shut the garden down.

November held autumn's most beautiful colors

Enjoying a drive to visit a friend in Brown County

and, while leaves were still turning and falling, November brought our first snow!

December brought frigid weather early on.

But by Christmas, it was almost balmy.

I learned that having a cracked lens cover 

on my phone makes for some artsy pictures.

I have no New Year's Eve photos, but we ended the year today eating chili and playing games with long-time friends, and getting home shortly after nightfall.

2025 was a very good year overall, but it went insanely fast.  We spend our youth wishing we were older, and our last decades wishing we could slow time down.  Since we can do neither, it is good to simply be grateful for whatever time we have here.    

I hope you have a blessed and prosperous (in all the ways that truly matter) 2026!

Goodbye 2019! Goodbye Stuff!

As 2019 comes to a close, I can't help but be a bit reflective as I anticipate a new year starting tomorrow.  In November of last year I took on the challenge to complete the 30-Day Minimalism Game.  Below is a video explaining how it's played: 

It was a success - not just in getting rid of at least 500 things, but in getting me freer about letting go of even more stuff.  I now know I want less.  

Well, that's all well and good to say, but culling through a lifetime of stuff isn't exactly easy. And unless a person is willing to be ruthless, I'm presently of the opinion that it's best to be a tad measured and methodical about it.   It took us 39+ years to accumulate all our stuff.  So what if it takes three or four, or more years to clear our home and lives of so much of it?  Don't tell hubs I said that.  Hopefully he's not reading this.

Here's the thing (and it's a big thing), one of our goals is to move into a one-story home - hopefully sooner rather than later.  We're fine with waiting until the right home presents itself, but in the meantime we're trying to be focused on getting this house ready to put on the market.  That means painting and recarpeting where needed, but cosmetically, that's about it.  Our kitchen needs a serious overhaul, but we ain't doin' it.  'nuff said on that.  The main thing we truly need to do to be ready to move is to get rid of stuff.  Not only to make this home look better to potential buyers, but so that we can fit what we're keeping inside that (probably smaller) next home we hope to move into.

Sure, it would be great if we didn't have to downsize our square footage, but that probably isn't realistic considering a one story home of the square footage we're accustomed to would have a significantly larger footprint on the landscape than our present tri-level home does. And truthfully...  while two full baths and two half baths were great while raising three boys, I'm ready to move into something that doesn't need as much upkeep.  So...  as we think about the future, stuff just needs to go.  And you know what?  Even if we didn't need to downsize, I now know I want less stuff.  But I said that already, didn't I?

Here's the rub...   I'm very much a process person.  I'm all about process.  In just about every area in my life.  I want to know how things work, why they work, how someone thought of a thing in the first place.  I want to know why people do the things they do.  Even if understanding these things is beyond me, I'm curious enough to slow down and ponder something for a bit.  So, you can imagine, as I sort through things, I want to recall memories, I want to consider why I kept a thing in the first place.  And inevitably, I get distracted.

Hubs, on the other hand, isn't what I'd call a process person.  About much, anyway...  And, as you can possibly imagine, being on opposite ends of the process/product continuum, can cause a lot of conflict.  In retirement, there seems to be a little more patience on both our parts toward the other, but our general personalities haven't (and won't) change.

That said, the 30-Day Minimalism Game actually helped me in my processing.  It didn't change me into being less about the process, but it helped me get through some of my processing more quickly.  It made me more efficient.  And I experienced the euphoria of letting go and getting free.  I like to think I got some clarity that will carry me forward.

I'm hoping to move forward here - writing and sharing about downsizing, minimalizing, getting clarity about stuff, getting clarity about letting go of stuff.   I'm not sure what that will look like.  I don't know if I'll post once a week, or once a month about it, but I do know I want to share what I'm learning and experiencing.  So stay tuned!  😉

Sunday posts (for the time being, at least) will continue to be Year of Project posts - where I share what I'm creating and anything related to that part of my life.  And scattered throughout a month I may randomly write posts about the process (and, hopefully, results) of downsizing.  Or I may find a rhythm to regularly sharing about it.  We'll see.  

Either way, I plan to share what I come across that is helpful to me in downsizing and minimalizing this year.  Tips and inspiration for working through getting rid of stuff, and figuring out what motivates me.  I expect to link to others' blog posts, books, articles  - anything that helps me and inspires me.  I already know of one person who's using January to downsize. 😃  I'll link to her blog tomorrow and I look forward to finding inspiration from her in the next month.

If you're downsizing or decluttering too, it would be great to hear from you.  If you're a blogger and downsizing, I'd very much like to follow your journey.   

Come join me, or just follow along.  I'll take the company and encouragement any way it comes!

Nearing year's end...

I can't believe Christmas has come and gone already!  If you celebrate, I hope it was a good one for you.  

 

In all honesty, the last few months I've fought off not feeling well, discouragement about not feeling well, anxiety about insurance, frustration over miscommunications with some of the staff in my doctor's office, and sometimes just downright poor communication.  To say I wasn't in the mood for Christmas is an understatement.  I had days where I just wanted to skip Christmas and the year to be over already.

In the end, Christmas was pretty simple, but when all was said and done I think I enjoyed it more this year than I have in a long time.  We played lots of games, ate simple foods, and I pretty much had the philosophy that if it didn't really need doing, it didn't get done.  And that was okay!  I think I learned some things about keeping what's truly important a priority when spending time with family and friends.  At the end of the day what makes me happy is to know I enjoyed and loved these people.   And that they loved me.

And, as if that isn't enough, I'm happy to say I managed to crochet some small gifts with the new yarn I got in last weekend, and that makes me feel so good.  :^)

Adeline Fingerless Mitts:

 

and a Double Shell Headband:

The yarn used in both projects is Willow Wash Heather.  It's a soft non-pilling acrylic that just grows softer with washing.  While the color is lovely, I confess these pictures show it a little brighter than it truly is.  This color is called Mulberry Heather and it has purple flecks spun into the deep red yarn  It is a beautiful color and I wish I had ordered more. 

And now... it may be a lofty goal with only 4 days left, but I'm going to strive to finish the Arrowhead Blanket before the end of the year.  I'd love to start the new year with a clean slate.  So many new crochet ideas and projects have been inspiring me.  Nothing like starting some fresh new projects at the beginning of a new year.  :^)

To see what other Yoppers are up to this week, visit our thread on Ravelry by clicking on the graphic below:

 

 

 

Happy New Year!