Off to a good start!

How has the beginning of your year been? For me personally, I've had to accept that I can't be nearly as active as I once was. Determined to not waste my days away in front of the TV, I knew I needed some hobbies to keep my mind engaged. 

Goal #1: Read more! I've never been much of a reader, especially with paper books. I decided to follow my husband's example and make more use of my time by listening to audio books. I'm proud to say I listened to 7 books in the month of January! It helped that the first one was during our road trip home, but truthfully this is more books than I've read in two years combined, so.... yay!

Goal #2: Spend less time on TV. I've already shared a lot of puzzle pictures with you, but I've found that working on puzzles while listening to my audiobooks is a great way to spend my time. Not all hobbies go with listening to books because I can find myself not focusing on what's being said. Here are the 3 puzzles I've finished this month.

Dan got me this one for Christmas as a memory of the boys trip he did back while we were living in Colorado. They had a great time visiting Devil's Tower, Badlands, Wind Cave nat'l monument, Wall Drug, Crazy Horse and Mt. Rushmore!

Have you seen my metal sign collection? This puzzle was perfect for me! I even have a few of these!

This puzzle I decided to complete without looking at the box to help! I enjoyed the challenge.

Alex attempted to pick the puzzle up and he was able to hold it long enough for me to take a picture and then even lay it back down on the table!

Goal #3: Church service. It was hard, but in late summer last year I asked to be released from my calling as Primary President while I focus on this shift in my life. I still want to find ways to serve in my church that may not be the way I'm used to. The first way is that I have a letter writing route instead of a physical assignment of sisters that I befriend and serve as needed. I've never had this assignment, and I have 4 sisters in our congregation that I write letters to. It would be awesome to hear back from them and form a friendship, but for now I share some of my life experiences and a spiritual message with them.

The other way I've found to serve in our church is to do family history. I'm particularly good with data entry, so the Indexing program is a great way to help. You look for different projects like WWII discharge records, land transactions or immigration records and you enter in the vital information to a database that becomes searchable for those looking to find connections to their ancestors! I attempt to index a little bit every day so I made a habit tracker in my journal to help motivate.

Goal #4: Learn something new! I saw a quote online that said something to the effect of- be brave enough to fail at something new. The first new thing I tried was with Alex. He wanted to try making a cheesecake and I had never made one either! He found a purely evil recipe that was chock full of oreos! Topped off with a white chocolate ganache and homemade whipped cream, we had quite the adventure making this delicious treat. It was rich and decadent.

The other 'something new' is a hobby I had no idea I'd love as much I do! I asked for a few things for Christmas to start down the path of brush lettering and calligraphy! My sister had already paid for and taken some online courses so she gave me access to those, along with some pens and tracing paper. I quickly fell in love and have been working at it every day (and buying more pens and paper)! I find it quite relaxing and challenging and interesting enough to keep me wanting to learning more. Who knows, maybe it's something I can turn into a business somehow so I can still help earn some money for our family. Here's a few things I've been up to this month with my lettering!

Drills and practices to hone your up and down strokes

Slowly learning how to add flourishes the 'right way'!

Alex has loved my lettering, so I made him a Spiderman quote

I hope to be able to keep my days full of these things to keep me going. I am thankful that we are in a position that I don't have to work and I've been able to let things go so that I can rest and recuperate as needed. I have plenty of days that the fatigue is too much and only a little of these things gets done, but it will always be there the next time to greet me and keep me feeling productive and sharp. What are your goals for this year?