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My spring break: The good, the bad, the mundane

May 2, 2017 by Jana 17 Comments

So my spring break turned into a 2 week break. I almost made it a third but you know. I missed it around here.

I have a couple of pretty heavy content posts planned over the next couple of weeks (but don’t forget Show Us Your Books next Tuesday, May 10!) so I figured that for now, we’ll recap what happened over my break (hint: nothing too exciting).

The Good

Went to the dentist and had no cavities!
I can do push-ups on my toes now
I’ve gone down a full pants size
My little sister got engaged!
Got a free trial of Hulu for The Handmaid’s Tale and discovered that season 1 of Fargo is on there, too #win
Celebrated my 13th wedding anniversary
Won an Amazon dot and an Amazon gift card

The Bad

The sushi making class the husband and I were supposed to take for our anniversary was canceled
Finished none of the projects I’d planned to
My depression is kicking my ass (more about that on Thursday)

The Rest

Read 5 books, put some on hold but still managing to keep the library list under control
Watched the newest season of Bosch in its entirety. In one day #beastmode
Finally bought the child a new bed
Ate my body weight in M&Ms #vitaminM
Learned the hard way not to wear my Converse with no socks on a 3 mile walk (why a 3 mile walk? See above about the M&Ms)
Possibly adopting a third dog. Long story short, my neighbors have a dog they take shitty care of, asked us if we would take him, we said yes but they had to split the cost of neutering, they disappeared, we mourned not getting him and moved on, they reappeared and asked us again, and now we’re not 100% sure what to do. If I had to guess, by June we’ll have a new addition
T minus 11 days to the child’s cheer competition in Disney World. It’s been all cheer, all the time. Looking forward to a break from that

I think that’s the highlights. I probably missed something but most likely it’s nothing earth shattering. And rereading this list, I realize my life is incredibly boring but I think boring is necessary sometimes.

So tell me. What’s happened with you since I’ve been gone?

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This week in: Traveling, Baking, Celebrating, and more

January 30, 2015 by Jana 17 Comments

I’d start off this week’s recap by mentioning the snow, or lack thereof, but that seems like it’s all been done to death this week so instead, let’s just jump right in and see what happened This Week in Jana’s Life.

This week in reading…Still working through The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace. When that’s done, I’ll move on to All the Bright Places because my library actually has one copy!!! In other news, I’ve checked out The Goldfinch for the 9204723th time and I still have yet to read it. I think I need to surrender the fantasy on this one.

This week in being an adult…I made an appointment with a GI doctor to deal with some issues that have been plaguing me for a long, long time. Longer than I should admit. But I put on my big girl panties and made the appointment. It means I have to postpone my haircut but hell, that’s waited long enough. What’s a few more days?

This week in travel planning…In addition to our big trip to Disney in April, I’m planning some short day trips to get me through the spring. Living in Delaware doesn’t have many advantages outside of tax free shopping but one perk is the proximity to 4 major cities (plus the beach). In less than 2 hours, I can get to Philly, Baltimore, DC, and NYC. I’m actually taking advantage of this in the upcoming months.

This week in celebrating…We’re headed to Long Island on Saturday to celebrate my dad’s birthday (1/28) and my nephew’s (2/1). Plus, I get to see my grandmother who is finally moving back up to NY from Florida! There might also be a surprise addition if time permits. Stay tuned on Instagram for that. (It’s not a new pet. Although I want one because I want all the dogs).

This week in TV watching…Guys, the final season of Parks and Rec is both awesome and making me so sad. I don’t watch many comedies besides this one, Mom, and Big Bang and I can’t not have any on my viewing schedule. Suggestions?

This week in being annoyed by Buzzfeed…Hey, Buzzfeed! Enough with the Harry Potter shit. Also Friends. We get it. You like it. But enough already.

This week in wishing I had more money…I found out Rush and Billy Joel will be performing in Philly this summer. They’re two of my favorites and I’ve seen them before but they’re old and I don’t know how much longer they’ll be around so I feel like I need to go see them now except I really can’t afford to.

This week in writing…My book is getting there! I’ve managed to condense two half started stories into one longer one and I’m working through making it a little more cohesive. Once that’s done, I can work on the second half which is mostly mapped out in my head. When this draft is done, I’m going to need proofreaders and people who are willing to give me honest feedback, even if it hurts my feelings (trust when I say nothing you can say to me will be worse than I say to myself). Anyone interested?

This week in laughing…If you follow me on Instagram, you saw the picture of my daughter’s math homework and you know why this is funny:

This week in baking…Nadine gave her recipe for peanut butter cookies. Because peanut butter is basically one of the best foods ever, and because I mentioned this recipe to her, here’s a recipe for peanut butter cheesecake balls (I can’t remember where I found it originally):

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Balls

Ingredients

1/2 cup peanut butter (I suggest using regular creamy, or the fake natural stuff from Skippy or Jif or whatever brand you prefer. The actual natural peanut butter doesn’t work right in recipes)
8 oz. cream cheese (full fat, of course)
2 tbsp sugar
Chocolate chips (I don’t measure these. I just dump a whole bunch in until I decide it’s enough)

Directions

Mix together peanut butter, cream cheese, and sugar. I found using a hand mixer did a fine job. Probably too much for a regular spoon. This stuff is thick.
Add in the chocolate chips.
Refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
Take mixture out of fridge, roll into balls. Put them in the freezer for 15 minutes or so.
Eat.

The original recipe called for them to be coated in melted chocolate but that just seemed like too much effort and way too messy so I skipped that part. Didn’t matter, though, because my family ate them like I’ve been forbidden from ever making them again.

That’s all, folks! Have a great weekend and I’ll see you back here on Monday or Tuesday (still trying to work out a good blogging schedule). Enjoy the Super Bowl! Or the commercials! Or just the food!

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It’s goal time!

May 5, 2014 by Jana 11 Comments

Last month, I decided I would publicly announce some of my monthly goals as a way to hold myself accountable and increase my productivity (as long as it doesn’t interfere with my obsessive RubbiKub playing, of course). It worked too, because I actually finished 4 of the 5 goals I set. We’ll discuss the shame of the 5th as well.

As stating my goals wound up being a good thing for me, I’m trying it again for May. You’ll be able to find those underneath the April recap.

Let’s get to it:

April goal #1: Wallet Watch challenge with Life According to Steph and Luck Fupus. Done! I did well with that, and I’ll share all the hairy details tomorrow in its own post. Let’s just say for now that it felt good to be mindful of my money again and it’s something I really, really needed.

April goal #2: Crochet a potholder. I can’t even begin to describe the nightmare that crocheting is becoming. I have spent hours–literally–watching YouTube videos and practicing rows and stitches and each time, it just gets worse. I thought it was because I had the wrong size crochet hook so I went and bought the size recommended for when you’re beginning and it didn’t help. At all. Because apparently there comes a point when you have to turn the project and I don’t understand that concept. So I get lost after that. I’m beginning to think this is a hopeless endeavor. But I’m not quitting just yet. I’m seeing my mom this weekend and I’m forcing her to help me. If that in person tutorial doesn’t work, we might have to call it on me learning to crochet. For those who are curious, this is what I was able to do:

April goal #3: Make homemade butter. Done! I even wrote a post about it which you should check out in case you missed it. We’ve been using that butter and my daughter even said that she likes it better than the store bought stuff. Have I mentioned how much I love her?

April goal #4: Work on my business. I’m getting there. I spoke extensively with my mastermind group about some strategies for reorganizing some of the aspects of it, including offering more free stuff. I’ve been hard at work putting that together and can’t wait to make the announcement about it. I also realized at what point I’m okay with walking away from the business. That was a huge revelation and I feel much better.

April goal #5: Garden. Also done! I wrote about this one, too, and I’ve even taken a more active role in tending to it. And when I say active, I really mean “pointing out to my husband and daughter what needs to be done and also thankfully there’s been a lot of rain so I didn’t have to water any plants when my husband was away last week and also laughing when the cat thinks the garden is a litter box”.

I’m pleased with how I did on my goals in April. In fact, I felt like this on the last day of the month:

I’m pretty sure I can keep that momentum going for my May goals:

Mentoring stuff. Continue to work on my business, including launching the free content and tweaking the site.
Actually crochet a damn potholder. I don’t care if it’s for an EZ Bake Oven, I’m finishing one. Yarn will not defeat me.
Start brewing beer. In my pioneer project bible, The Modern-Day Pioneer, the author gives a recipe for making your own beer. If the pioneers can do it, I can at least attempt. Hopefully the beer will taste good and not like crap. If not, I’ll just drink my new love, Tweasonale, instead.
Finish a writing project. I have something planned for Townhouse Pioneer readers and it’s been sitting in draft form for about a month. I want to get it written and available for you to read, too. It’ll change your life. Or at least give you something good to read in the bathroom.
Sew a pillowcase. I came across a tutorial for sewing pillowcases and I can totally do this. I also found the 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge and want to participate (inspired in part by Kerry’s Be The Change Challenge) and want to donate a few towards this so I definitely need to get practicing.

Bonus goal: Keep working on my 5K training. I loathe running. I really do. But I loathe wasting time and money even more, which is why I put my gym membership on hold for a few months (my gym is 30 minutes from my house without traffic. It’s exhausting). I decided that running is free (mostly) and I would give it a try because exercising keeps my issues at bay. My husband and I want to run the Run or Dye 5K in July at the Dover Speedway so my fat ass needs to be in some sort of training for that. I downloaded an app to help so I don’t even need to figure out how to train.

Do you set monthly goals? What are some of yours?

My spring break: The good, the bad, the mundane

This week in: Traveling, Baking, Celebrating, and more

It’s goal time!

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