Show Us Your Books - January

Well, back at the beginning of the year I set myself a challenge to read 12 books this year.  Yeah, pretty low compared to others, but  I fell out of the habit. I rediscovered Goodreads and signed up for the challenge.  Goodreads has been a great help in tracking the books I read.  Hopefully, I will also get some great recommendations based on what I read when my reading list final dwindles down a bit.  To keep track of what I want to read I have been using the library website to keep a running list of things I want to read. The greatest thing with this is it enables me to see what is in at my library, what I can order in from another library, and what books have holds on them. 

Currently, I have been trying to split my reading between one fiction book and one non-fiction book each month.  So without further delay here are the ones that I have read in January:

FICTION:

Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.- Never was intrigued about a book that was banned before until I read the synopsis of this one.  It was a little crazy, but I did enjoy it.  It was also a rather quick read.  After reading it, I can understand why people would want to ban the book.  There were some pretty derogatory comments towards things/people.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman-  I discovered this book from a list that stated what book goes with or was based in your state.  I enjoyed the references to landmarks and the culture of Wisconsin that was in the book.  A little weird compared to my normal reading selections.  There is also a series on Starz based on the book.  It takes the strangeness of the book to a new level.  Needless to say, we will not be finishing the TV series.

The Marriage Lie by Kimberly Belle- First book club book of the year.  I enjoyed it. It was an easy suspense read with some fun twists and turns.  I did not think it would end as it did.  Needless to say the whole book club was like "what?!?" related to the ending.

FICTION SHORT STORIES QUICK READS:

The Sleep Tight Motel by Lisa Unger - Really enjoyed this quick read and did not realize the ending.

The Tangled Wood by Emily Raboteau - Thought the author did a great representation of things that go thru someone's mind and the torture a family vacation can be.

NONFICTION

Yes Please by Amy Poehler - Did not finish this one.  It was just not my cup of tea.  If you are an Amy Poehler fan and want to know how she came to be in her career then it may be for you.

Make Your Bed by William H. McRaven -  Make your bed and you have at least one accomplishment for the day.  A nice little motivational book in which the author relates his time in the Marines on how to succeed in your day to day. 

COOKBOOKS  - Why spend money on them if you are unsure if you love enough recipes to justify the purchase, check them out at your local library.

Thug Kitchen: The Official Cookbook: Eat Like You Give A F*ck by Thug Kitchen, LLC.: This cookbook was hilarious plus had some great recipes in it.  If anything check it out for the quirky antidotes.

Cravings by Chrissy Teigen - This cookbook has now given me what will be our go-to tuna casserole.  Delicious.  Forewarning the recipes are to be a little spicy.

A Feast of Ice and Fire: The Official Game of Thrones Companion Cookbook - Now I didn't grab any recipes out of this one.  It was fun to look at and see the recipes that the authors associated with each of the Game of Thrones regions.  Plus, they would have a time period recipe and then the modern take on the recipe (just in case you weren't down for some weirdness on your plate).


CURRENTLY READING:  "The House of Broken Angels" and "Furiously Happy" plus checking out "The Siracha Cookbook"

Well, January turned out to be a great month for reading now to hope that I can carry the momentum throughout the year.

Linking up with Steph and Jana:

Whats New with you...Life Lately

January oh January...you started out bringing in a snowstorm to our wonderful state of Wisconsin and left on a very frigid note.  I must say that was very cold-hearted of you. Needless to say that with the cold and snow there really wasn't much excitement to report for the month of January just a lot of hanging in the cozy confines of our home.  Here are some things that did manage to happen:

Busy Bee:  Yoga classes started up for me once again after the December break. Also, the library book club was back as well.  The art and craft classes at the library continued.  Weekends were chill and spent at home.

Watched:   With being snuggled up at home, I finally finished season 7 of American Horror Story and Shameless came back to Showtime.  The hubby and I also decided to binge watch the Ted Bundy series on Netflix. Truly amazed at how one very scary individual can escape numerous times.

Planning:  January saw me planning out my fitness plan for the month/months ahead.  The plan is down on paper and I tried out a new fitness planner.  This was later changed to the new one I started to use in February.  More details on this set up to come.

Eating: Fewer sweets.  Sadly, I know that when I want to be healthy, sweets are the first thing to go.  I was eating them way too much during the month of December, like on the daily. Now we shall just focus on keeping it a weekend thing.

Drinking: Lots of coffee.  It's cold here and I like coffee.  Future plan will be to up the water intake though.  The number of times I have shocked myself is insane.

Loving: all the new stickers that I bought.  I bought a ton of stickers from Happy planner for my planners and journals at the beginning of the year.  Oh, how I love my stickers and oh how I know I will no longer be purchasing more until the current supply is depleted.


And that shall be all for the moment. Now let's hope the groundhog was right and we will see and early winter because right now it sure doesn't feel like it.

Linking up with See You in a Porridge:

FORWARD

After all that has past and the progress that has been made, there is only one thing to do and that is keep moving forward in life.  When there is no forward movement one can become stuck in a stagnant pool of water.  While consistency can be nice, it can also become suffocating.  You turn into a robot that goes thru the motions of the day to day. some individuals are happy there with a sense of this what I do and this is what I become, I myself am not.  I believe in trying to move forward experiencing new things places and learning continue to rush down the river and growing as progress is made.

Right now as we are starting February this post is kind of late.  I generally believe in starting my year and thoughts of going forward in Decemeber...moving with the season rather than the number of the year.  For the purpose of this blog post though I will stick with the year thought and bring to you what I see, plan and hope for in what remains of 2019.

Words are powerful. How they are used and what they mean set a tone. Since my intent for the year is to continue to make progress on myself the word I choose for 2019 will be FORWARD.

When I look to my resolution or what I want to accomplish for the year ahead in my goals and habits it is important that each one of these will contribute to core values.  Core values are the base of what makes a person a person and the directions they take.  Core values are generally: Body (health/fitness), Heart (family), Mind (learning, connections), and Soul (community, work). 

This year I also got this animal spirit tarot deck an decided to pull some cards as to what my year looks like, the things to keep in mind and how things will progress. Here is what was in the cards (I have to say they were very fitting of the mood/theme I wanted this year):

Mood Overview: BEAVER: Hard worker, tireless, family first - appears when the task at hand requires long term steady effort time for some selfless service - When in Balance there will be happy meaningful work

Personal Direction Overview: PEACOCK: Inner Beauty Compassion - assimilate all experiences in life does not harbor resentment conflict or past pain within the psyche. Balance confident and kind

Now moving on to setting the goals to accomplish the overall theme/direction for the yeat. The great thing about goals is you can have as many or few as you would like and they can always be changed as time progresses. My tendency is to set the overall goals or accomplishments I would like to see of myself for the year and then also when a season changes set up bucket list items or a vision of what I would like to see happen during that season. We will leave the whole bucket list items for another future post.

Now let's get into the goals/accomplishments that I set for myself this year and if there has been any progress made to date:

HEALTH/FITNESS
Run a 5k
Try a New Fitness Class - Accomplished: Barre and Pilates Class
Better Self Care
Internal Heath

FINANCE
Financial Stability - Focusing on need versus wants
Pay off Hospital Bill

MIND
Read 12 books
Take a class thru the Library

COMMUNITY
Hide Horicon Rocks
Join Friends of the Library - Accomplished: first meeting was in January
Wisconsin Wilds Blog and Instagram

HOUSE
Redo downstairs bathroom
Finish garden wall area
Organize bedroom closet
Maintain photo projects

FUN (SPIRIT)
FInd Horicon Geocaches
Try 3 new restaurants
Explore a new place

To accomplish some of the goals I will need to develop better habits to achieve these goals.  Since this is getting rather lengthy, I will leave the habit conversation for another post.   WIth all this possibility it looks to be a fun year ahead.  A year of moving forward and enjoying the life that I intend to build for myself.  Thanks for taking the time to read thru my intentions for the year.  Hopefully, this has inspired you to set some goals to achieve for the new year or gave you some great ideas....until next time.