❤ ❤ ❤ 14 days to Valentine’s Day! ❤ ❤ ❤

New goals for a new year. What fun! Each year I plan to grow new small habits (or keep old ones) that will shape my year and shape my life.

Sorry for this bit of silliness. We’re housebound under lots of snow.
You have to get your entertainment where you can find it (poor Newton).

My list is still a work in progress, but this is what I have so far.

• Read through the Bible in a year (YouVersion app).
• Read the devotional New Morning Mercies with my sweetie.
• Attend weekly Bible study (with doing) with Linda and Sarah (they live on the property where I live).
• Read 4 spiritual/personal growth books.
  🗸 Leadership and Self-Deception

I’ve started a read-through-the-Bible program on YouVersion. It’s really nice because you click on the assignment and it opens up to the right place. The devotional is awesome. (Paul and I read through it in 2019 and it’s an outstanding book. I’m getting more out of it the second time around.) I expect to have the Bible study with friends over the winter. Summertime is sketchy because folks are playing outside. And I’m looking for four good books. (I finished Leadership and Self-Deception and the title has almost nothing to do with the book. Really. It’s more about how we tend to label people so we have an excuse for our bad attitudes and behavior. Toss in a bit of compassion and forgiveness with your introspection and life can look a lot different and better!)

• focus – intimacy with my husband

This is really too broad a goal. It’s really more of a theme I’m exploring and it’s still in the forming stages. I’ve been significantly influenced by Scott of Heaven Made Marriage and his writings about intimacy as the goal of marriage. It’s so easy in the busyness of life to drift and become strangers. I want to be actively engaged in knowing my husband in all ways. More on this as I explore the concept.

• watch the grandkids
• family night
• coffee with Leslie
• send a card each month?

COVID still has my sweetie and me rather housebound. We don’t go out unless we need to go grocery shopping or have a medical appointment. Thankfully there are people on the property we relate to on a daily basis. We’ll continue to watch the grandkids each Sunday evening to give our son and DIL a break. Saturday family night is a potluck dinner and games. I’m going to try to have coffee every couple of weeks with my friend who has had COVID. She has her own office and a coffee maker, so I can just show up and we’re good to go. :) I’ve also been thinking about sending a card to a friend each month. It’s not much, but it’s a nice way to give a hug with words. I didn’t get it together in January, but I think I can get started in February.

A simple card can be a bright spot in your day.

• Study nutrition and add more veggies to my diet.
• Continue with intermittent fasting (stick with the 6-8 hour eating window).
• Exercise three days a week (including Kegels).
• Rest one day a week.

I’ve been studying rabbit nutrition so I can take good care of my rabbits and God nudged me about my own nutrition. If it’s good for the bunnies, it’s good for me. I’m sticking to the 6-8 hour eating window and I found this really cool book (Stay Fit for Life) that has a number of small exercise routines and it works well for me. (I’d like to exercise five days a week, but I know myself. I won’t do that starting out, so I’m going with three and I’ll grow from there.) The book offers ways to make the exercises easier and harder, so I’ve got room for growth. And, yes, rest.

• website work (The Marriage Bed, The Generous Wife, Dandelion Hill Homestead)
• bookkeeping and office work
• housework

I’m trying to create a sane work schedule. So far not doing so well. I’ve taken an SEO course to work on The Marriage Bed. It will likely take me all year to apply all I’ve learned (rewriting articles and writing new ones). The Generous Wife is a near-daily writing assignment and I am praying about creating some resource pages. Dandelion Hill Homestead is my new playground. :) So, as you can see there is a lot to do and I’m a little concerned about burnout. My bookkeeping and office work is in pretty good shape. I just need to be self-disciplined enough to stay current each week. Housework continues to be a bit challenging. It’s not my favorite thing, but I love order and beauty so it’s a must-do. I’m following the 52 Weeks To An Organized Home plan again this year.

• gardening
• raising rabbits
• art
• quail?

I’ve spent most of January looking through seed catalogs and I just put in a couple of orders. This year our son and his family are joining us in having a garden. We thought it would be nice to share the gardening workload. I’m still enjoying raising rabbits (Pip just had a litter) and we’re experimenting with growing barley fodder for the rabbits (good nutrition and less cost).

Pip had four pink (which will likely have white fur) and two black kits.

I need some art in my life. Not sure what that looks like for 2021, but it may involve colored pencils. Paul and I are doing some research into raising Coturnix quail.

• build onto our house
• plant more trees
• garden trellises?

Paul and I will be working on the house again as soon as we are through mud season this spring. I’ve ordered some willow trees and I’m looking through Pinterest designs for a couple of trellis ideas. My DIL wants to grow peas and they require a structure to grow on.

Well, that’s it for January. (Don’t forget to romance your man on Valentine’s Day! It’s just a couple of weeks away.)

People look at me like I’m a little strange, when I go around talking to squirrels and rabbits and stuff. That’s okay. That’s just okay. Bob Ross

• Prayer Prompt: Ask God to help you to consider small healthy changes in 2021.
• Couples Question: You find a treasure box. What’s in it?
• Club 31 Women: Make Little Changes to Become a Better Woman Preach it, girl!

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Image credit Newton & kits © Lori Byerly, card/envelope © Hans Braxmeier from Pixabay
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