December Reflections - 2019 Full moons and Selfies

Here are the full moons I was able to capture this year and the selfies I take every month, just to keep a record in one place in case I need to find one.

Do you have a year long project?  I know I like looking back at these so I'll keep doing it.  I also put a smaller version in my planner each month. 

Here's to a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year to us all! 

December Reflections - 2019 - Word of the Year

Every year for the last 6 years I've chosen a Word of the Year to guide me.

2014 - Courage

2015 - Change

2016 - Focus

2017 - Believe

2018 - Create

2019 - Dance

For 2020 I've chosen "Drive."  Here is the picture I'm using to visualize it.  It is from the little scrapbook I made for my sister when I taught her to drive.

I also put a phrase in a locket that I wear so I have a reminder all the time.

Follow One Course Until Successful

Believe in what you feel inside and give your dreams the wings to fly.

I may use the same phrase as under the picture of the car, above, or find another one to put in the locket this year.

If you are interested in choosing a word for the year, I recommend the "Find Your Word" free course from Susannah Conway.  She will send a short email each day for 5 days to help you find "your" word.  It is surprising how often the word comes up during the year, even when I am not particularly thinking about it.  Try it and see!

December Reflections - 2019 - Thank you

The prompt for today is "Thank you for..." and I'd like to take the opportunity to thank you all for reading and commenting on my posts this year.  Between my Blogger site and the WordPress edition I've had over 3000 comments, likes and views and about 200 followers.  Not that the numbers really matter, it just surprises me that so many people not related to me actually take an interest in what I have to say.  In fact, the people who ARE related to me don't even take that much interest - LOL.  

I'd also like to thank:

Linda G. Hill for her fun challenges:  Just Jot It January, The Escapist Coloring Club, One Liner Wednesday and Stream of Consciousness Saturday.  I know that it takes a lot to keep these going strong year after year and I appreciate the opportunity to play along.  

Jim Adams for continuing the Song Lyric Sunday musical roundup.  It is such fun to hear everyone's different picks each week.  

   

Arlee Bird, John Holton and the rest of the A to Z Challenge team.  I'm starting to worry if I'll be able to come up with something fun this year.  I have no clue yet.  

James J. Cudney, IV for his continued support of my blog AND my Etsy Shop.

Susannah Conway for her wonderful prompts in April (April Love - which I actually haven't been doing since I started the A to Z), August Break and December Reflections.  

Mary at Jingle, Jangle, Jungle for the Rocktober Music Fest.  I participated this year for the first time and it was fun. 

I know that it is easier for me to write when I have the prompts and inspiration from these great folks and I know I get more views when I link up with them.  

Thanks again to all of you for visiting me!  Looking forward to more fun next year.  2020 is so much easier to type than 2019 don't you think?  

December Reflections - 2019 - #SLS Crazy

Jim gives us the last prompt of the year, Crazy, to use for Song Lyric Sunday.  Thanks so much, Jim, for continuing to host this fun blog-along (not sure if that's really a word but it is now). 

I'm hoping that not too many people will pick this song.  I thought the artist's name was Gnarles Barkley, but I just learned from Wikipedia today that it is actually two people, Danger Mouse (Brian Joseph Burton) and CeeLo Green.   I love the use of ink blots in the video.  Hope you enjoy.

Crazy

Gnarls Barkley

I remember when
I remember, I remember when I lost my mind
There was something so pleasant about that place
Even your emotions have an echo in so much space

And when you're out there, without care
Yeah I was out of touch
But it wasn't because I didn't know enough
I just knew too much

Does that make me crazy?
Does that make me crazy?
Does that make me crazy?
Possibly

And I hope that you are having the time of your life
But think twice
That's my only advice

Come on now, who do you
Who do you, who do you
Who do you think you are?
Ha ha ha, bless your soul
You really think you're in control?
Well

I think you're crazy
I think you're crazy
I think you're crazy
Just like me

My heroes had the heart
To lose their lives out on a limb
And all I remember, is thinking
I wanna be like them
Mmhmm ever since I was little
Ever since I was little it looked like fun
And it's no coincidence I've come
And I can die when I'm done

But maybe I'm crazy
Maybe you're crazy
Maybe we're crazy
Probably ooh hmm

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Brian Joseph Burton / Gian Pero Reverberi / Gianfranco Reverberi / Thomas Decarlo Callaway

Crazy lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc, Universal Music Publishing Group, Downtown Music Publishing, Songtrust Ave, BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

I learn so many interesting facts about the songs and the artists through the #SLS, don't you?  Makes for a fun Sunday. 

December Reflections - 2019 - #SoCS Edition

Lovely Linda tells us to use the word "Year" in our posts today, any way we like.  I am going to talk about reading goals for the year.  I said a few posts ago that I am not going to make my 40 as I am on 34 with James Cudney's Haunted House Ghost, the signed book I won in his contest!  I'm okay with that and I'm keeping the goal at 40 for 2020.  I love the way Goodreads keeps tally of your reading year for you.  I have added their results to my yearly reading Pinterest board.   

I generally do the PopSugar Reading Challenge every year.  I am also going to add the Modern Mrs. Darcy's Challenge to give me some more options.

But, the most fun I'm going to have is by trying to scratch off as many of these as I can:

This is the scratch off chart I got for Christmas from my daughter.  It is 100 Essential Novels.  I have already scratched off 3, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and 1984 but that's because I just read them in the last few months.  There are others on here I have read before but I'm not going to scratch them until I read them again.  Some of them I've never heard of.  Pretty sure it's going to take me more than one year to read all these.  I know a few of them are long ones.

Pop Charts makes a lot of different scratch off posters like this.  My daughter got one for her sister that was of 100 movies.  I also saw one that I almost got for my husband that was of all the major league ballparks.  Kind of fun to track your progress that way don't you think? 

December Reflections - 2019

I know there are a lot of folks who are taking the rest of the year off from blogging and social media and I have been frequenting it less and less because of the general busy-ness of Christmas and spending time with family.  Still, I have to get my fix occasionally so I may post something on Instagram or Facebook from time to time.  Here's a recap of the last week. 

From the December Reflections prompts: 

Day 17 - I said Hello to...  I skipped this day.  It seems like I can use the same pictures over and over for some of these things (like Benny and the studio).

Day 18 - Favorite Photo of me.  I have posted a few pictures of me in the mirror demonstrating the weight loss this year but beside those, my favorite picture of me was a toss up between these two. 

I think I like the vibrant colors in the first one and that's the one I posted on Instagram with the #Decemberreflections2019 tag but I do like my hat!

Day 19 - Cold - skipped this one too.  I think the day it came up it was a warm one so I just wasn't feeling cold.  Still, I asked for a ski mask for Christmas so I can keep warm on my Benny walks.  I got one too!

Day 20 - Memorable meal in 2019.  I used the dessert we had when we went out for our 35th anniversary back in May.  It was a restaurant similar to the Benihana style but not as good.  Still, the meal was memorable for the occasion and I splurged off of my eating restrictions for the bananas foster!

Day 21 - I said goodbye to a bunch of stuff that we are going to try and sell at a garage sale when the weather is more predictable.  The picture is sideways but I don't feel like taking the time to turn it over. 

Day 22 - Solstice light - skipped this one. 

Day 23 - A secret - Presents under the tree are all about secrets now.

Day 24 - Paper - could have used the wrapping paper all over the house but instead I used a picture of my tower of paper in the studio.  This is just the 12 x 12.  I have all kinds of paper in lots of different sizes.  I believe I mentioned once I am a paper addict.

Day 25 - Today is - Family - The family indulged me in getting a picture in.  I took only two the whole day.  I'm sad about that. 

Day 26 - Delicious - Our dinner last night was delicious but as noted above, I only took two pictures and the food was not one of them!  We had ham, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, asparagus, twice baked cauliflower, cranberry sauce and tortellini - something for everyone.

Up to date for now.  Are you getting things done or taking the rest of the year off?

December Reflections - 2019 - Vision Cards Part 2

As promised, here are the vision cards I made for this year.  I have used basically the same six themes but tweaked them a little bit.  They are the same size as last year, an 8-1/2 x 11 piece of cardstock cut in half. 

Last year I had "Health" but this one is "All About Me" because now that I have lost a significant amount of weight, I know I need to focus on other aspects of my wellbeing.  It is time to do a little more exercise rather than just walking the dog.  I need to get some strengthening in my arms and tighten the core muscles.  I also need to focus on my mental health as well.  Self-care is an important thing that gets overlooked a lot. 

"Money" is now "Show Me The Money."  The goal is to get some of our debt paid down and continue to save for the things we want to do.  Hopefully more work and some attention to non-essential spending will help with that.  Fortunately we on Social Security got a raise!   

"Connect" is now "Making Connections" and I think it continues to be important to keep the connections with friends and family as a top priority.  Sometimes I get so caught up in the work that I don't take time to be with the family.  As an introvert, social gatherings are hard for me and I need to try and get over that a little.  

"Home" is "The Old Homestead" and again, we can't afford much but we do need a new fridge and could use a fence around the front yard so Benny can go outside sometimes and play.  I'm still holding out for my fire pit in the backyard too!  I love cacti as a garden because they don't need much care and can be really interesting.  

"Go Places" is now "Experiences" because the focus will be on new experiences in familiar places.  The beach is free and so are things like walking across the Golden Gate or just getting in the car and driving to the City to do touristy activities or down to Carmel and Monterey.  Even Yosemite can be relatively inexpensive.  Gotta get out there.  

Last but not least, "Craft" is now "My Crafty Business."  I loved the word Phoblographer because that encompasses a lot of things.  The goal chart is to help me get more specific with the direction I want to take my business in.  Plus, as part of the self-care, I have a lot of personal projects that I want to work on, not just to be sold.  The kids each have an album that is seriously behind and my concert album is certainly not up to date.  Those things are important too.  

If you are interested in making your own vision cards, I highly recommend the class by Jamie Ridler.   If you'd like to see some of my past years, here are the links:

2014, 2015, 2016 are in one post.

2017 and 2018

Again, one of the main reasons that I like doing these cards is to take the pressure off of having failed an attempt at a "resolution."  As you can see, some of the things that I wanted in 2014 are things I still want but there has been a lot accomplished in each area as well.  I know that Jamie makes 10 or 12 cards but I think six is about all I can handle, at least for now.  So what do you think?  What would your vision cards be about?  Love to hear your ideas.

December Reflections - 2019 - Vision Cards Part 1

It's time to make the vision cards for 2020.  I use vision cards instead of making New Year's Resolutions because we all know that resolutions don't always get resolved.  Instead I take different areas of my life that I'd like to work on and make collages to help identify goals.  I've been making these since about 2014 when I heard about it from Jamie Ridler.  She has an excellent course on making them if you are interested.  Anyway, before I get to next year, I like to take one last look at the ones I made this year and see how much I have accomplished for each area.

I called this one "Go Places" and it is probably the one that got the least attention this year.  Except for the concerts and our annual Boulder Creek mini vacation we really didn't go anywhere.  We didn't even go to Reno which is something we've done every year for the last four or five years.  I had in mind that we would just do local fun things but money was really tight and so we didn't.



The Health card was very different.  I managed to lose 55 pounds from March to December and that actually is a 70 pound loss from what was my highest weight.  In addition, I am off all the medication I was taking for diabetes and my blood pressure is normal. 








Money is such a tricky thing and some of it is not in my control.  Unfortunately we had a reversal of finances between having to spend money on the studio and a lack of expected income on my part.  I have starting increasing my transcription by taking on work that is not strictly medical in nature and hopefully that will help in 2020.  Asking the Universe to help with the craft business a bit as well. 

Connecting with friends and family was a little more successful.  We did have a few dinners out and got to take a boat cruise around the San Francisco Bay with friends.  I did visit my sister more and talked with her by phone a lot as we went through the process of moving my mom out of her apartment.  Also got to have breakfast a couple of times with my best friend who lives quite a distance away.  Hubby and I also started some counseling to help with our connection with each other.  Even though we've been married for 35 years, I was starting to feel disconnected. 


As far as my Crafty life goes, the studio was the biggest accomplishment.  I love it and have been able to make some videos and start experimenting with different techniques.  I am using a lot more of my supplies than I had been because everything is more organized and accessible.  I participated in four Holiday Boutiques too.  I also did a purge and got rid of some things that I will not use. 





Finally, we have Home.  Again, the biggest thing here was getting the backyard down to bare bones and building the studio.  I did do some deep cleaning to some parts of the house and we went to a flea market where hubby actually sold some of his tools and made some space in the garage.  I have a ton of things that I was going to sell in a garage sale but the year got away from me and now the weather is too unpredictable so that will have to wait until the spring.  We also got our Benny dog and that has made a big change in our home. 


So that's the update on the vision cards I made for 2019.  All in all I think I did pretty well and even though some areas got more attention than others, I feel a lot better about things than if I had just made some New Year's Resolutions that I didn't keep.  Also, by doing it this way I have some actual record of what was done every year since I write it on the back of each card.

Tomorrow I'll show you the ones I made for 2020.  Bet you can't wait.