Welcome back!

Here were my goals for the month of November:

1. Complete NaNoWriMo 2021. — Accomplished!
2. Celebrate Grandpa’s 96th birthday! — Accomplished!
3. Celebrate six years of marriage with Al! — Accomplished!
4. Publish at least two Book Reviews. — Did not achieve yet.
5. Celebrate Thanksgiving! — Accomplished!
6. Donate more clothes and unused household items to charity. — Semi-Achieved.
7. Clean off the dining room buffet, and keep it clean. — Semi-Achieved.
8. Transition my wardrobe to fall/winter. — Accomplished!
9. Continue to sell my duplicate and unused American Girl items. — Semi-Achieved.

November flew by. I hit my stride with NaNoWriMo 2021 – It was my best one ever. Look for a Recap post about that coming very soon.

We had a great birthday party for Grandpa’s 96th birthday! My mom outdid herself – Amazing food and delicious key lime cake.

Al and I had a wonderful wedding anniversary. We went to a new restaurant in Suffolk, Amedeo’s, on Sunday night. I also surprised him with a charcuterie board in the shape of a six (6) for six years the following week. It was delicious, and we had leftovers for days. Plus, I was thrilled to support a local business!

Thanksgiving was awesome. I successfully cooked my second turkey. My parents were amazing hosts. And Al’s parents met my Grandpa for the first time! One of the highlights of the day was another Zoom family reunion with several members of my dad’s extended family – Several of his cousins from all over the U.S. (California, Kentucky, Minnesota, Virginia). Can’t wait to do it again soon!

I wrote one Book Review this month: Book Review #97: “The Breach: Devon” (The Guardians Series Book One)

I’m hoping to finish reading several books soon and publish a few more reviews in December.

I’ve donated several American Girl items to charity since it’s been really hard to sell them recently. I’m hoping that I can sell a few things in December as Christmas and other holidays approach.

What about you? Did you have any goals for the month of November?

Come back tomorrow to see my December Goals!

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

Welcome back!

Here are my goals for the month of November!

1. Complete NaNoWriMo 2021.
2. Celebrate Grandpa’s 96th birthday!
3. Celebrate six years of marriage with Al!
4. Publish at least two Book Reviews.
5. Celebrate Thanksgiving!
6. Donate more clothes and unused household items to charity.
7. Clean off the dining room buffet, and keep it clean.
8. Transition my wardrobe to fall/winter.
9. Continue to sell my duplicate and unused American Girl items.

What about you? Do you have any goals for the month of November?

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

Welcome back!

Here are my goals for the month of October:

1. Donate blood.
2. Celebrate Mom’s birthday!
3. Enjoy a good friend’s bachelorette celebration.
4. Mail a long-overdue package to my university sorority sisters.
5. Complete another consignment box for Darby’s Dresses.
6. Prepare for NaNoWriMo 2021.
7. Complete the first pass review of the current version of book 3.
8. Sell or donate all American Girl items that were previously set aside.

What about you? Do you have any goals for the month of October?

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

Welcome back!

Here were my goals for the month of September:

1. Go through all of my American Girl items, and set aside those marked for future sale. —- Accomplished!
2. Schedule donation pick-up for the large bags of clothing and household items that need to leave my office pronto. —- Accomplished!
3. Schedule more time off from work. —- Accomplished!
4. Successfully coordinate my work department move. —- Accomplished!
5. Set additional screen time limits, both at work and at home. —- Semi-Achieved.
6. Make at least one significant editing pass through the printed version of book 2. —- Did not accomplish yet.
7. Continue meal planning. —- Accomplished!
8. Look into getting re-certified in adult and/or pediatric CPR. —- Accomplished!
9. Begin planning for NaNoWriMo 2021. —- Semi-Achieved.
10. Start reviewing the current version of book 3. —- Did not accomplish yet.
11. Look into a business course or something similar to prepare for my launch as an author. —- Accomplished!
12. Keep up my library patronage. —- Accomplished!
13. Prepare to donate blood again in October. —- Accomplished!
14. Restart my regular TBR Recap posts. —- Accomplished!

September was really good and really successful for me in a lot of areas. I’m proud of myself. Mostly with my home office. It’s finally sorted out and clean!!

I’m excited to get re-certified in adult and pediatric CPR. I signed up for a hybrid course through the American Red Cross. I have some virtual learning to do, and then I’ll go to the Red Cross Building in Norfolk at the end of the month for the in-person part. The last time I was certified was almost 20 years ago now, and I know a lot of things have been updated since then.

I need to do some more work regarding my future business and becoming an author, but I’ve had several great conversations recently with people who have had experience with publishing and navigating the business side of writing.

I’m getting really excited for NaNoWriMo 2021. I took last November off for mental health reasons, but I’m re-energized now and ready to write again for 30 days!

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

Welcome back!

Here are my goals for the month of April:

1. Participate in Camp NaNoWriMo, April 2021.
2. Finish the first draft of my second novel.
3. Donate blood.
4. Celebrate Dad’s birthday!
5. Hang at least three items on my office walls.
6. Publish at least one Commentary post.
7. Renew my library card.
8. Publish at least two Book Review posts.
9. Publish my quarterly TBR Recap post.
10. Finish reviewing my friend’s first draft of their novel.

What about you? Do you have any goals for the month of April?

Let me know in the comments!

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

Welcome back!

Here were my goals for the month of March:

1. Prepare for Camp NaNoWriMo, April 2021. —- Accomplished!
2. Continue progress on the 2022 Virginia State Convention. —- Accomplished!
3. Be elected P.E.O. Chapter President for 2021-2022. —- Accomplished!
4. Do finishing work for the P.E.O. Virginia State IPS committee. —- Accomplished!
5. Make sure the living room has no more clutter. —- Did not accomplish yet.
6. Order the remaining curtains! —- Accomplished!
7. Publish two Book Review posts. —- Accomplished!
8. Publish one Commentary post. —- Accomplished!
9. Take my iron supplements and daily vitamins to ensure I can give blood in April. —- Accomplished!
10. Attend a couple fun events via Zoom. —- Accomplished!

I made a lot of progress this month. I’m excited to dive back into my second novel tomorrow!

I have several more Commentary posts in the works, and I’ve been rotating through several different books this month.

Keep your fingers crossed that I can give blood this weekend!

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

Welcome back!

Here were my goals for the month of February:

1. Donate blood. — Did not accomplish yet.
2. Watch the Super Bowl with Al. — Accomplished!
3. Celebrate Valentine’s Day! — Accomplished!
4. Clean out the pantry to donate food to the church food pantry. — Accomplished!
5. Go through all my clothes again for donations. —- Accomplished!
6. Clean off the couch in my office, and keep it clean. —- Did not accomplish yet.
7. Prepare for our taxes. — Accomplished!
8. Fully fund my Roth IRA for the year when I meet with my financial advisor for my annual review. — Accomplished!
9. Publish at least one Book Review. — Accomplished!
10. Publish at least one Commentary post. — Accomplished!
11. Publish at least one Writing Prompt post. —- Accomplished!

I felt a lot more productive this month. I wrote and published more blog posts this month than I have in quite a while. And I have several more new ones in the works!

The Super Bowl was pretty disappointing in terms of the game. Even the commercials weren’t super impressive. However, I did make amazing food for Al and I to eat!

Valentine’s Day was a bit of an adventure this year, since I got my second COVID vaccine on Thursday the 11th. The immune response was fast, faster than I had anticipated. I got the shot at 8:00 a.m., and around 3:00 p.m., my energy went from 100 to zero. I finished working from home, and then attempted to eat dinner. I started having chills, a slight headache, and a low fever. I drank a ton of water and managed to finish one of the small/mini bottles of Gatorade. I’m really glad several people encouraged me to take the next day off from work, because I needed it. I had already slept around 10 hours between Thursday night and Friday morning. I took a long shower on Friday morning, and then slept off and on for another three hours. My dad was nice to bring over Panera chicken soup. I ate about half of it with more water and Gatorade. The only time I got really concerned was when I took my temperature on Friday afternoon. It has risen to 103.1. I looked up the definition of a high fever for my age. I was already considering taking some medicine, and I took an Aleve. My fever started coming down, and broke later that night. By Saturday, I was feeling much better. Valentine’s Day was a bit subdued (because the pandemic is still happening), but I was back to 100 percent. We got takeout. All this to say – I’m grateful I was able to get the vaccine so quickly. I may have felt like I had the flu for 36 hours, but that’s far better than having COVID and being on a ventilator, or worse.

I went through all my clothes in my IKEA drawers and closet, including the three under-bed storage bins that I reorganized last summer. I filled a large leftover shipping box for Darby’s Dresses consignment. The rest is being picked up by the Vietnam Veterans of America tomorrow.

Welcome back! It’s already month #2 of 2021!

Here are my goals for the month of February:

1. Donate blood.
2. Watch the Super Bowl with Al.
3. Celebrate Valentine’s Day!
4. Clean out the pantry to donate food to the church food pantry.
5. Go through all my clothes again for donations.
6. Clean off the couch in my office, and keep it clean.
7. Prepare for our taxes.
8. Fully fund my Roth IRA for the year when I meet with my financial advisor for my annual review.
9. Publish at least one Book Review.
10. Publish at least one Commentary post.
11. Publish at least one Writing Prompt post.

What about you? Do you have any goals for this month? Let me know – I’d love to cheer you on!

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

Welcome back!

Here were my goals for the month of January:

1. Publish at least two Book Reviews. — Did not accomplish yet.
2. Publish my latest TBR Recap post. — Accomplished!
3. Spend at least two hours every weekend on my office. — Did not accomplish yet.
4. Look up at least five new recipes to use in meal planning. — Accomplished!
5. Celebrate Al’s birthday! — Accomplished!
6. Celebrate P.E.O. Founders Day. — Accomplished!
7. Complete the filing project with the filing cabinet in my office. — Did not accomplish yet.

I didn’t have the energy to write the Book Reviews in January, but I’m hoping February will be a different story! Al and I were just talking about getting up 15 minutes earlier in the mornings, to shift back to our “traditional” schedule/routine, so I’m hoping those extra 15 minutes will help me blog a bit more in the mornings before starting work. We’re determined to start it on Monday. He remarked that it was a possible “unpopular opinion,” but I think it’s a good idea. I’m eventually going back into the office full-time, so doing this now will help ease that transition for me. It’s supposed to happen at the end of June / early July, but we shall see.

You can read my latest TBR Recap post here: Getting Personal #236: Seventeenth TBR Recap

My office is still a work in progress. I’m hoping to completely clear off the couch, and keep it clean, in February.

The recipes were the easiest thing that I accomplished this month!

1. Sheet-Pan Chili-Lime Salmon with Sweet Potatoes & Broccoli – This one was a hit. I’m definitely doing this one more than once in 2021. The salmon is a bit expensive, but we found it on sale at Lidl.
2. Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce (See photo below) – This was easily as good, maybe better, than Olive Garden’s. Super easy to make! I poured it over rotini pasta, and it fed us for four nights.
3. Chicken with Curried Mango Sauce (Haven’t made this yet, but it’s on the list)
4. Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos (Haven’t made this yet, but it’s on the list)
5. Crispy Honey Sriracha Chicken Wings (Haven’t made this yet, but it’s on the list)
6. Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas (Mexican Pulled Pork) – Haven’t made this yet, but it’s on the list.
7. Best Chicken Alfredo Roll-Ups (Planning to do this one next week!)
8. Honey Garlic Steak Bites (I think I made this once last year, but I can’t remember, so I’m counting it as new)
9. Hawaiian Roll Ham Sliders – I made this for Al and I and they did not last long. Yummy. I’m making them again this weekend when we watch the Super Bowl.
10. Crispy Baked Shrimp Scampi (Haven’t made this yet, but it’s on the list)

I also watched Baby Driver (2017) for the first time! It was an excellent movie. Edgar Wright is a master.

Al’s birthday was on a Monday this year. We both worked, and then we had steak, shrimp with cocktail sauce, and crab puppies. My mom made amazing key lime cake for him, and I bought a cookie cake. I’ll post the Crab Puppies recipe below. I’ve substituted the Ritz crackers for bread crumbs both times I’ve made it, and I don’t think I’ll change that. My college roommate, Amanda, made that suggestion when I shared the recipe on Facebook.

We had a wonderful P.E.O. Tidewater Reciprocity Founders Day event – Our first virtual one! We had over 50 women join us via Zoom.

I was able to sell several American Girl items that were duplicates through the big doll board/group on Facebook, so that was exciting! I’m slowly reducing that volume, piece by piece.

Did you have any goals for the month of January?

Come back tomorrow to see my February Goals!

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂