Word for the year: Focus

 Five days into the New Year and I finally decided on a one word intention for the year.  Focus.

I need to focus on many different things and my list is in my head...perhaps I will share it in detail someday. 

For now I am focusing on going through my photo files...I have so much to do...but I have to start before it gets so out of control that it will be impossible.  Going through the photo files will help me with another project on my list...update the Grands photo albums.  A Grandma with a camera has its advantages.  I gave Paige a flash drive of her wedding photos...so I can cross that off my list. 

You can see we still have a bit of snow.  It has turned bitterly cold.  The high yesterday was -1F or -18C eh.  And it was windy...someone described it as teeth breaking, snot freezing cold.  I cannot argue with that.

We had a quiet day yesterday...I made vegetable beef soup.  Some was frozen for quick meals during the Winter.  As I write this on Saturday evening Jen and Far Guy are watching Sioux Hockey, Andy is of town for a Robotics tournament and Sadie makes the rounds from person to person for attention.   I am going to focus on my crochet project unless I get distracted by the puzzle. 

Far Side

One word intention

 I do not do resolutions.  I will attempt a one word intention.  Flow as go with the flow...don't cause ripples and don't try to go upstream...meander along at my own pace.  If that is slow flow...so be it. 

This was a sculpture on Main Street in Park Rapids, someone repurposed just a few tools.   I have no idea what the name of this one is...I would call it "A fish out of water"

I have a couple of goals for the New Year.  

#1 To update the grands photo albums with the photos I took of them in 2023. 

#2 Make a hard cover book out of the blog that I wrote about my husbands paternal grandparents. 

#3 To organize all my Mother's photos that are scanned and put them on flash drives for my siblings. 

#4 To back up the photos on my computer...which means going through all the folders month by month sorting many before they go on flash drives. 

All are big projects but good ones to work on over the Winter. 

Lately my crocheting and embroidery are going in spurts and twists and turns with no finishes. 

Oh well I must go with the flow:)

Far Side

Nudge?

 I usually pick a one word intention to be my focus for the New Year...well now the buzz word is nudge...pick a nudge word?  Well alrighty then. 

Discover that is my nudge word.  I am discovering that I like one word intention better than nudge word. 

I discovered that I had an intention back in 2016 ( perhaps blogging is a double edged sword) that was forgotten.  I intended to print out photos of the grands...well it is a project that I am going forward with this winter.  In the process I am discovering that I have beautiful/handsome grands that I am re discovering as they grow up before my camera lens. 

When Far Guy asked me what I wanted for Christmas I replied "Five photo albums all in different colors."  The Grands picked their colors...Savannah Green, Maddie Purple, Noah Black, Adam Red and that left Paige with Blue.  Paige was not here at Christmas because her elderly kitty Bailey was very sick.  She reports that Bailey is much better after some antibiotics. 

Paige and Bailey in 2009 when Paige was ten years old and Bailey was four years old. 

I have already discovered that Far Guy and I are too old to welcome in the New Year at midnight...as we didn't make it past 11 PM...Far Guy said "It is the New Year somewhere." 

Far Side

Just "be"

 I have decided that my word for 2022 is be...just plain old be.  Be happy, be sad, be in the moment what ever that may be.  Be kind and patient if you can be, if not be bitchy... above all else be a good advocate. 

Far Guy is a bit better, I spent the afternoon with him until I fell asleep in a chair and he sent me home.  He is still getting IV antibiotics and steroids. 

We are having a blizzard but the roads were good in town.

Proof of life

He has a very large private room in the farthest part of the hospital.  It took me longer to walk from his room to my vehicle than it took me to drive home.  Hopefully we can get him home one day soon. 

Far Side

Happy New Year 2021!

 Ack this is the year I will be 70 if I live that long...who woulda thunk it?  I never thought I would live past the age of 50.  When I changed the age on my yearly calendar from 69 to 70 I winced, rolled my eyes and sighed. 

I usually have a one word intention for the entire year...not a resolution. Some of the former words were kindness, exercise, explore, ongoing, time, relax and one year it was laugh, smile,hug and dance four words that I could use right at midnight and be done for the whole year.

I had lots of different words in mind this year...safe is the word I chose.  I want to feel safe going out in the big bad covid world sometime this year. Safe to hug my family, gather safely with those I love. Safely hug and kiss those beautiful Great Grandbabies.  Safe to pick out my own fruit at the grocery store, safe to wander the yarn and thrift shops, safe to go out to dinner with friends. 

  If I cannot enjoy those activities then I choose to be safe at home for as long as it takes. 

Some good news:

 I got an email saying what the electrical bill was...it was so low I figured it was wrong...so I went online to check things out. 

There was a note on our electrical bill.  "2020 was a great year for Itasca Mantrap Coop Electrical Association.  We know others did not have such a great year and we understand the hardship many faced amidst Covid-19.  This month you will see a credit on your bill.  This is the Co-op's way to give back to membership after a tough year."

How nice is that! There was an $85 credit on our account!  A good way to start off the year! 

We finally finished the puzzle.  It is missing a piece...we are hopeful that we will find it someplace in the house...my theory is that Dracula ( the robotic vacume) spun it off into some corner...and the piece is waiting to be discovered. 

Happy New Year! 

We had a safe New Years Eve...we stayed at home. 

Far Side

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!  2020 is here.

My husband turns 70 years old this year and I am not far behind him at age 69 this year.   I am not only the Far Side of  Fifty but the Far Side of Sixty also.  Uffda...Uffda

We had a quiet New Years Eve at home doing what we usually do in the evenings, Far Guy watches music videos and I watch TV and crochet/knit or read blogs.  We have intermittent conversation...I talk to myself when he has his head phones on.   Sometimes he lifts a ear phone from his ear and says "Were you talking to me?"  I always deny it...talking to myself works for me.

I have been thinking about my one word intention for 2020.  Last year my word was relax.  Previous years words were kindness, exercise, explore, and ongoing.   I bucked the system one year it was laugh, smile, hug and dance all things that could be accomplished a minute after midnight because I was tired of non attainable resolutions.

So... after much ado...I decided on time.  Time goes so fast and I need to manage my time better.  Time to finish projects I am good at, time to give up on old projects that I am struggling with,  time to organize and reduce, reuse and recycle.

Yesterday on New Years Eve we has sunshine!  It nearly blinded us!  It was a good moral booster even if it was barely above zero.

We have no big plans for New Years Day...we will watch a parade and relax.
Far Side

Word for 2019

I usually chose a word for the New Year.  A one word intention NOT a resolution.

Previous years words have been; kindness (giving all the dumb shits in the world a break), exercise (Ha!), laugh, smile, hug and dance my four words one year that I could complete a minute after midnight and be done for the entire year, ongoing, and the last one I can recall explore.

I was having a fight with myself…what to choose this year discover, explore and relax were high on my list…then I scratched explore cause I have had that word before.  Then I was left with two…what to do… what to do.  I procrastinated far too long with a decision.

I am pretty sure my word for 2019 will be relax.  Relaxing to me is photography, woodcarving, craft projects…so there will be more relaxing in 2019.

Snowmen

I added a big snowman to the little snowmen by the front door.  Seems a perfect decoration for this time of year.

 

I could have glitzed it up but I like it simple.

I am pondering on my one word intention for this new year.  I have not decided yet…discover…explore…relax.   I like them all.

Happy 2018

I am not sure what the New Year will bring. ( My crystal ball is all foggy) I have finally decided on my one word intention for 2018.

I thought about lots of different words…none seemed just right.  Persue…persist…get on with it (that was three words)…

I kept coming back to one word…last year my word was ongoing…as I had many ongoing projects.  WELL I still have some of those projects and will probably add to them sometime soon….make a list and check it thrice…

My word for 2018 is EXPLORE.  That may seem adventurous to you…in my world not so much.

I need to explore all the nooks and crannies in this house and clean them out…get rid of what we don’t need.  We have way too much stuff for two people…the 19 years we have lived in this house we have just kept accumulating “stuff”.

I want to explore several new hobbies…learn something new.   I know I don’t need more hobbies…but I have one project I really want to accomplish….it has been 31 years in the making…more on that some other day.

I want to explore a few different places in Minnesota…nothing too far away.

I want to explore more family history.  I want to see the church my Great Grandfather helped to build in Annandale Minnesota.  I want to photograph my Great Great Grandmothers/Grandfathers Graves…I want to search for their obituaries.

I want to explore more area cemeteries and continue volunteer work with Find A Grave.

I need to explore more settings on my camera.  I need to make more time for that golden hour in the morning and just before sunset to take more photos.

I need to explore a few more antique shops…for Forgotten Photos…I have no shortage at the moment but some day I might…this may seem counter productive…but it is a passion of mine that I am not willing to give up at the moment.

With all that exploring…I might need to explore my eyelids every afternoon to make sure they have no holes in them.

What would be your one word intention for 2018?  Do you have one?

Here is a greeting from 1912.

Happy New Year!

Kinda Like Christmas and Kindness

Even though the trees have been put back in their coffins till next year it still looks like Christmas every time you look outside.

Inside only the Nativity sets remain..today they will be retired to their boxes.  When the big tall tree went into the coffin..all the Shiny Brites didn’t fit. So off they went into the trunk. I will forget they are in there..so I wrote myself a note..saying “More can be found in the trunk!”and I threw that in the coffin.

I have been considering some thoughts to take into the New Year..some one word intentions..I think I have settled on “kindness.”  I will TRY to be kinder and more sensitive to other peoples needs. There are lots of dumb shits out there in the world..I should be kinder to them.

I thought about adding “eavesdropping” to the one word intention list..  Far Guy thought that if he was talking to someone on the phone and I was in the same room ..that I would know not only what he said but what the other person said too.  Like I am Wonder Woman with superior hearing.   Nope..eavesdropping did not make my list.  IF he thinks that I am going to eavesdrop on all his phone calls then he is nuts..oops..guess I should be kinder..he might be mistaken.

I thought about adding “patience”  and “communication”  to the list. Then I realized those are already things I try to practice everyday, but perhaps some other people I know would benefit from them..just a kind little idea of mine to share:)

2009 In Review

This is a big day..it is one of those "Blue Moons" ..that's what it is called when we have two full moons in the same month. The next time it happens will be December 31, 2028 and I will either be deader than a door nail or 87 that year. There will be a minor lunar eclipse in Europe..lucky ducks. I hope to bust out the tripod and get some full moon shots..hope it isn't below zero..or overcast this evening.

Last year I wrote about intentions instead of resolutions.. Quote " How about some one word intentions ..Like mine! Laugh, Smile, Hug, and Dance. Easy to remember, easy to do, I can have that accomplished a few seconds after midnight, and be free the rest of the year. Easy..peasy!"--Far Side December 30, 2008.

This year I will add a word to my intentions..exercise.  This one may just require a bit of a commitment beyond the few minutes after midnight.  I am bound and determined to have firm fat,
Lets do a check up: 2008 in plain type    2009 In BOLD

The children are all employed, and reasonably healthy. Trica our oldest daughter still struggles with Pancreatitis. Ditto..Trica is still struggling..she might just be a tad more cranky too. She has pancretitis from a Gall Bladder surgery years ago.

We still struggle with Doctors and Far Guys Trigeminal Neuralgia. We are comfortable with Dr. P. he seems adequate. There are no miracle cures..Trigeminal Neuralgia is a rare disorder that you must just learn to live with...easy for me to say..Far Guy is the one with continual pain.

No new Grand-babies..No divorces..a few deaths (two cousins and a very dear friend) This year five friends died.. Rhonda, Jim, Sam, Charles and Pat. Two family members, my Uncle Delbert, and my cousins fiancee.

Paige stole her sisters new kitty for a photo.

No new pets, and no pet deaths. In 2009 Madison got a new kitten that she named Ziggy. Trica found a new home for her Pomeranian Daphne or "Daffy". Daffy now gets to be the Queen of her castle and no longer has to tremble in fear and hide under the couch to escape her terrorist companion Dakota who had a stroke a number of years ago and has an ongoing thyroid problem and is just not right in the head. I miss Daffy..she loved me. When they all lived with us..she was my constant companion.

Daffy

Biggest Adjustment..Far Guy's Trigeminal Neuralgia and how it affects our day to day life. Ditto..we must always be flexible.... it just may not be a good day, or a good week.

Biggest Change..Closing the Greenhouse business, a very wise decision. I miss it, but I am getting over it. Well I am way over this one..this years biggest changes..lifestyle..healthier eating..more exercise.

Biggest Frustration.. Doctors that don't know their butt from a hole in the ground, and the phone ringing. Ditto.. and gaining weight because I quit a nasty habit..that I enjoyed..but now my metabolism is all out of whack.  For now and since July I have been an ex-smoker.  It ain't easy..it has been one of the hardest things I have ever done in my entire life.  I have however curbed the desire to lick every ash tray I see..and those smokers outside freezing their skinny butts off..I envy them..perhaps I will get over that with time..old habits die hard..I began to smoke as a teenager..that was well over forty years ago.  My daughter said "Mom we would rather have you alive and healthy looking and a little fat, than dead and skinny."  

Happiest Moment..a very nostalgic Ferris Wheel Ride last August with Far Guy. Playing a little "kissy face" stopped at the top! I had to think on this for quite some time.. I had many happiest moments this year and if I had to pin it down to just one moment it would be watching Chance and Far Guy on the lake shore of Lake Superior..watching Chance run between us.

Happy New Year Everyone! :)