Feeling Content: Journaling Between Holidays

Saturday, Dec 27

It’s been a really nice day. I was awake around 3:30 or 4:00 and my brain was very active. I reordered my To Do List for what was acceptable for me to do today. And went back to sleep. We got up around 7. Had coffee. I did my World Bible School and chatted with a woman who had murdered her mother many years ago out of anger in an argument and she didn’t feel worthy of doing the Bible Study, and not worthy of being loved, but she was trying. I don’t always have such heavy chats in the morning over coffee, but this one was important to let her know that God died for her sins just as much as mine. What a transition – but my heart needed to play Farmville2 following that. To feel the peace of feeding animated goat graphics, meeting an order for a cartooned pilot coming in to get the supplies he wants to take to another village, and running a farm operation while sipping the rest of my coffee and forgetting the hardness of life and what suffering that goes on.

After that George and I worked on the freezer inventory. I had given him some freezer baskets that would hopefully make it easier to locate things. So we took everything out and put the baskets back in and I think it will make it easier. He was intrigued with it I think and didn’t expect that as a gift. I also bought him some polo shirts to wear to church and out to eat. There was a lot of other things too, but I can’t remember them all. He was happy to go through the freezer. I think we have enough meat to get us through til mid-February. So we are going to try to use up what we have. That doesn’t include what’s in the pantry with lots of rice, beans, and canned meats, etc. We are well stocked and I feel blessed. And we DO need to cut back so that we can save up some and be able to meet the monthly budget without getting into investments. The budget – it has been tight with the travels and the shopping expenses and computer and eating out and all the things.

Also today I ordered some things with my Amazon points. I had about $350 to spend. I cut it short of that b/c of taxes but I went over about $16 which was no big deal considering all I got. I will video an Amazon Haul in an upcoming video. So I’ll save it for then. But it’s a very cool order and very telling of the year to come. It got me all excited for the new year and all the new hobbies and things going on that I will be working on and trying to do next year.

I had a very productive day at the computer. After the Amazon order, I worked on planning my week next week. Since we have been really relaxed (well busy but in holiday mode) I did not do much at all on the computer these last few days except a few system changes. Since I now have Word and Excel, I have been “re-creating” my systems and work flow over time. So I worked on that some today. I think I have about finished setting up everything for 2026. You can see my tabs for 2026 YouTube (Analytics, Learning, To Do List for YouTube improvements, planning list and a tab to keep up with any wins). This is where I will track a few things, make comments and devise plans, etc in 2026. It’s much more organized now.

I updated some goals in my Project Spreadsheet and also planned what I would work on this next week. We are in a holiday week and I realize that so I planned some fun stuff to work on during NYE and NYD. I have been working on what to vlog next and so forth.

The “Where We’ve Been” video or (what you missed since we last talked video) is coming Jan 3rd. After that will be the New Year Reset video on the 10th. And then the 17th (hopefully I got the dates right) will be my surprise birthday excursion day episode. I don’t know what George has planned but I know we’ll be going to get my stand mixer that day on my birthday. I have it picked out on Amazon so if it’s not in stock I can order it there. With Mom’s Christmas money and birthday money and his birthday money, I’ll have enough to get it.

I keep hearing gun shots but I think it’s fireworks. They are allowed to shoot them close to NY, but I don’t think it’s allowed after 9 pm. Might be 10 though.

As mentioned, I also worked on Notion some as I moved some things to Excel, but I wanted to make it more of a Dashboard on Notion. I can link to files and I also have some resources on Notion. These lists below take you into a “link” or a page. I have the areas broken down into the PARA method which I started using on the Mac so doing it here too. It is such a clean way to store your files. The photo only captures part of the Dashboard and I’m not finished with it.

I put my Weekly Focus on the top and that is basically all the things broken down by day during the next week as to what I want to accomplish each day. There were no appointments this week, but holidays and so I plugged everything in like it was on a planner. And from there I put it into my iPhone reminder. I don’t dare plug it in until I lay the week out. Then when I get up every day it’ll pop up in my reminder system. And I can do the most important things and weed the rest out and float them til the next day.

But I have my Notion account (my dashboard) now broken down into PARA as follows:

P- Projects (Things that I’m actively working on right now to access quickly)

A – Areas (Things that I just maintain periodically, but not projects – things like Birthdays, Health Numbers, etc.)

R – Resources (It’s just an informational file to look at when I need it)

A- Archives (Things I no longer need but don’t want to get rid of)

And then I began working in Canva for the 2026 Intro. But dinner was ready before I could get it finished.

Everyone has gone to bed but me – even Maddie left to go get in bed. So maybe I should go, but it’s been a great day of being geeky, being organized, and ordering $350 dollars worth of reward money from Amazon. lol Oh yeah the eye lids are definitely heavy.

Monday, December 29

There was no time to post yesterday. We had church at 10 a.m. and then got a few groceries for Mom and us – none of us needed a lot. So that was quick. Mom wanted us to get a hamburger. So we brought Wendy’s to the house. George and I got chili and a small bargain burger, lol. We got chili also for Mom to have dinner with last night so she didn’t have to cook.

We have been planning for our NYE dinner of fondue, which is a tradition if we are home. And we will be this year. I plan to vlog what we are doing as a part of my New Year Reset vlog.

I managed to get a few things done here at the house yesterday afternoon. I filmed the opening segment to the upcoming vlog on Jan 3 and also made a new vlog YT intro for Winter Season. It’s kinda fun to change things about seasonally. I need to also make a new look for the blog and it’s on my list.

So today I’m going to eat a bite of lunch and then do some editing. It will go quickly I think.

We got up this morning and took the dogs out and had just gotten our coffee and Mom called and said her power was out. She wanted George to come over and see if he could flip the switch. The surges keep happening. She started mentioning it before my Aunt and Uncle came. I checked with “Chet” and he said that you should do these three things:

1. Call the power company as it might be an outside problem.
2. Call an electrician because there may also be an inside issue which the power company won’t pay for. But the electrician can check things out.
3. Lastly a repairman should be called for any appliances but not before the above is fixed or you may be having to pay again for appliances as the surges will not be taken care of.

I sent this list to Mom today on a text so it’ would be clear. I also sent a copy to George and also Mom’s sister b/c Mom might listen to her. I’m sure she thinks my advice is trash but it’s really Chet’s, lol. Because truly I know nothing about these things.

She says she is calling the power company – has said that for a few days now. I guess she was waiting for company to leave but if it had been me I’d have been calling someone right away. I’d have called an electrician probably, but now we know to start with the power company because they may have to get their problem sorted first. Or it’ll keep happening, so it has to be addressed in layers.

I’m having a good morning aside from that. Very thankful I did not have to go. I told George to bring her back here if she needs to keep warm but her heat was not off and it was only certain rooms and appliances.

One thing it said not to do was to start flipping switches b/c that can make it worse or short out or cause other issues. So I hope she gets it figured out by making the calls. I hope she makes the call today. Just another reason for assisted living as she no longer wants or feels like caring for a household efficiently anymore but George and I cannot keep up maintenance on two houses, so she will have to decide. If she is staying it will have to be fixed. We already have enough here and we have a problem maintaining as it is. lol

So the rest of today I will finish some laundry, check email, edit, make some homemade chicken soup for tonight, play Farmville2, maybe work a puzzle but probably won’t have time.

More tomorrow.

Tuesday, Dec 30

Oh I’m loving these holiday days off. I know I’m off all the time, but the moods are so good. How do I describe it? I have all the New Year stuff to do and I’m all relaxed. And when I say “New Year Stuff”, most of it is relaxing things I want to do. I’m sure George is feeling the same way.

We are somewhat energized coming out of Christmas, excited about the food scene and the days ahead of retirement. Truly these are the golden years we have looked so forward to and wasn’t sure we’d get to have. We are blessed. However that said, things are tight a bit as we are used to living like we have working incomes. But then life got more expensive – groceries and eating out in particular. We’re more than fine, but we would rather not have to dig into our investments so we can use it sparingly down the road and make sure it lasts. So we are cutting back. It may sound depressing but there is something about pulling together in a goal to accomplish something.

We work well together in pulling off our trips, our holiday dinners, and holiday shopping, the YouTube videos, and just daily life in general and we’ll do so in getting the budget more under control.

We eat out a lot, go over our budget in groceries, buy things on a whim, have plumbing issues, expensive travel and dog boarding at times, and then there are the hobbies and electronic devices and computers to keep up, still paying on the Sleep Number bed which will be over soon (interest free of course), and then there’s the car payment. House will be paid of before too long. My insurance will go up before it goes back down after Cobra. We want to do some travel but we might can sneak in some weekend trips and go separately to TX but of course we’ll want to do our Thanksgiving annual trip if it works out and they are open to us coming. So just a lot we are thinking about going into the new year.

We are quite excited at what all we have in our freezer and realize we are blessed. Thanks to Mom topping it off with Omaha Steaks. And George found a 5 lb prime rib on sale today at Kroger for 30 something? Might have been closer to $40 but still. One person pays that for less than a 1 lb steak in a restaurant.

We are having fondue on NYE and also I think he changed the menu from lamb to prime rib for NYD since he just bought that and it was not frozen. What a deal! Wow. I love prime rib.

My birthday is coming up on the 3rd of JAN and we are excited about that. He’s taking me out. On HIS birthday he also got to go out to eat to TWO places other than where I took him. He’s not mentioned nor asked where my two places are. It’s ok. I don’t HAVE to go have my own pick of a place. Much less twice. And if we are cutting back, this year might be the time to say “ok we are excessive in celebrating our birthdays”. We truly have cut back on eating out over the years since 2020 but let’s just say when we DO go out – we go out big!

Anyway, I got a lot done today. I’m happy about the productivity. I think I’m learning how to slow down but yet get things done. I’m letting myself play Farmville 2 after my morning devo and World Bible School. I’m letting myself stop and read a chapter in a book if I feel called. I’m allowing myself to sit and plan or write if I feel called and let my soul guide the day. I’m still using a TO DO list and still keeping up with the responsibilities and the things that is important to get done personally and for the channel. So it’s just been so good this week. It’s all coming together it feels like.

I’ve been able to get the video edited for Saturday the 3rd, the planning done for the next 2 days of vlogging NYE, NYD, and all the content during that time period. And then Saturday I will vlog the Birthday Excursion. I’m still working on what to cover the rest of January. A few things have popped into mind, but at the same time you know I love to just VLOG, so most of my 2026 will be regular vlogs in which I’ll assign a theme to afterward, but a few will be planned for evergreen content and to tap into potential growth. I should probably set a goal of once a month for that one. And then there is the sponsorships and affiliates to consider once I “hit that button”.

Anyway, I’m just having fun being retired and feeling really content. Have been able to enjoy getting things done including housework. Just really a happy time. I’m always scared to be happy though, because so many times when I’ve been happy something happened to ruin it. So I just always have felt like I need to be on guard. That’s kinda sad isn’t it? I cried when we moved into this house we are in, because it was so perfect. I was afraid it would be taken away or something happen. I guess it’s just a lot of sad things have happened to me. Some things my fault, some not. But living life at times has made it hard to smile, or laugh, or to even feel humor. So I’d like to try to feel those things more, if life will let me. God says to be content in ANY circumstance as He completes the gap to make it all better. So I’m trying and right now things are really feeling good.

And with that, I will post this today, b/c tomorrow, if I have time, I’ll post the Year in Review. It was a big year. Retirement has been so special. I’m so grateful for it. Thank you Lord.

So see you tomorrow hopefully. If not you will know it got too busy on NYE! lol