2022 Year in Books

 

I typically set a small goal to read a few books a year.  Honestly, I generally set it pretty low - like 6 books a year...that is one book every 2 months.  I always feel pretty accomplished if I meet that goal and I find myself quite surprised with several ladies on the 2Peas Refugees board state they read like 120, 180 or over 200 books.  I honestly don't know how people have time to read that many books...do they read super fast?  Do they have a job?  I don't see how anyone that works full-time, outside of the home, would have time to read 200 books unless they just work and read.  Maybe their books are very small - like 50 or 100 page books?  I don't know.  I can't even fathom reading that many books, when I am lucky to read 6.

Well, in 2021, I completed 11 books so I thought...why not make a goal of 12 books for 2022 - one book a month on average.  I surprised myself though and actually completed 23 books.

Now to many people, 23 books may sound pathetic but to me - WOWZER!!  I can't believe I finished 23 books, almost twice my goal.  I'm still keeping my goal at 12 for 2023.  

Fave book of the year...this was tough because I really liked several.  I guess my top 3 books were (in no particular order)

Enough Already by Valerie Bertinelli
Rock, Paper, Scissors by Alice Feeney
A Day Like This by Kelley McNeil

Probably my least favorite book was Broken Horses by Brandi Carlisle.  While it wasn't a bad book, it really didn't talk all that much about her personal life/feelings/emotions and came across to me as more of a "look who I know" and "look how successful I am" - sorry, but that was just my take of it.  I was lucky enough to see Brandi Carlisle in concert this past September and she gave an incredible show...so much energy and the crowd was wild and loved every minute.  But her book, to me at least, just came off kind of "braggy" for lack of a better word.

I always pick a "Classic" book to read every year and one year's selection was "Breakfast at Tiffany's".  It was quite a bit different from the movie.  I really liked the character of Holly Golightly in the movie version, but in the book...she really wasn't a very likable person...she is selfish, self-absorbed and abandons people.  After reading the book, I wondered why it was even turned into a movie...guess it is a good thing they changed some major things to make the movie enjoyable.  I am glad I read the book but still not sure why it gets all the accolades that it does. I also read "Little House in the Big Woods" I actually think I read this once, many, many years ago, but I can't say for sure.  

I'm not sure what "Classic" book I will read  next year.  Hmmm..

 

November 2022 Recap

 So...here I am updating my long ignored blog.  Let's check in on my 2022 Goals for the year...

1) Daily Bible Reading/Prayer - I'm a little behind.  Not too far, but a little...I am sure I will be completed before the year is up and I plan on reading the Bible all the way through again next year!

2) Weight Loss/Eat Healthier/Exercise - Just ok.  I haven't really lost any weight but I haven't gained any..my eating habits could be healthier and my exercise habits NEED a lot of work.

3) Watercolor - well...nothing to report...instead of water coloring, I've been coloring, coloring...like in Adult coloring books...doubt I will get any watercolors done before the year is up but hey, it can be a goal for next year, right?

 

 

4) Crochet/Knit - Haven't quite had the mojo lately.  I do have a prayer shawl that is about 75% finished and an afghan in progress...but haven't had the energy lately at the end of the day to dedicate to it.

5)  Personal Journaling - Just ok...I did journal this morning and journal about weekly, but I want to push hard and journal a little each day.

6) House Projects - EXCELLENT!!!  I got 2 major projects done, that I have been putting off for a long, long, long time.  It felt so good to get them completed.  There is still a little bit to do on those 3 major projects but they are 95% completed.

7) Scrapbooking/Project Life - EXCELLENT!!  I placed my order for my recipe pages that have been completed so far and  put then in a book...I have managed to stay up-to-date on my daily photos and I am really enjoying it.  I am SUPER excited because a particular layout that I have been wanting in the Project Life app since it was first launched in 2014 was finally added in the the last update and that is going to be my main design for next year - switching it up from "Design A", which I have used since Day 1 to Pack 15 #1, which is what I used for my very first Project 365 in 2008 (paper version, way before the app came to be).  I have been asking for this design for years and I am super happy that it was finally added....it isn't much different from Design A that you see in all my Project Life pages posted here, but it is what I want - can't wait to start using that one!

8) Genealogy - good but a bit slow - just not a lot of time to work on it lately.  I did find a lot of family photos recently and decided that would be a "retirement" project...looking forward to going through them all and updating.

So, overall, I'm feeling pretty good.  Other than water color painting, I've made quite a bit of progress on all of my goals so far this year...some more than others, but still..they are steps ahead and going my way.  I'm already starting to think on next year's goals...some will have the same theme.

 

 

Sep - Oct 2022 Project Life

 I hadn't realized that I have been ignoring my blog...not that anyone has really been sitting on pins and needles waiting for updates 😁

So...here are my Project Life pages for September and October..you can click on the photo to enlarge

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July - August 2022 Project Life

 I'm a little late posting, but here are my July - August photo a day pages.

Click on the photos to enlarge

 

 

 

 

 

 

July - August 2022 Recap

 It's been a little while since I've checked in.  I've been quite busy with work and other things in my life.

So...here are  how things are going

1) Daily Bible Reading/Prayer - I'm a little behind.  I went to the beach for a week and took a break from EVERYTHING...I mean EVERYTHING.  All I did was sit on the beach all day, literally from sun-up to sun-down and chatted with one of my besties!! We had a great week.  Hope to get caught up on my Bible reading by the end of this week.

2) Weight Loss/Eat Healthier/Exercise - Pretty good, but could be better. I did get a little exercise in at the beach but not as much as I would have liked...it is really challenging living with Lymphedema and your legs feel like they each weigh about 30 pounds...my eating habits are just ok, but my meals certainly should include more fresh fruits and veggies.  However, I am making a commitment starting October 1st and I have a plan in place.  I am setting myself a 1 year goal and I feel pretty confident about it.

3) Watercolor - boo hoo!! Still no painting time

4) Crochet/Knit - Due to work and the hot weather and my beach trip...no crochet or knitting recently.

5)  Personal Journaling - Pretty good - still not doing this daily but generally a couple of times a week.

6) House Projects - Got one big project accomplished...tree trimming...that has needed doing for about 2  years...got lots of limbs that were closed to the house cut down in addition to some recent dead limbs that were hanging onto the tree after recent summer storms. 

7) Scrapbooking/Project Life - A+ - I am still current with my Project Life pages.  I pretty much keep up with it daily.  I even recently completed several recipe pages (which has been something I wanted to do for a long time) and placed an order.  The Project Life app is about to be updated with some  new templates, but also new pricing for the prints so I thought I would go ahead and order my the completed recipe pages before the price goes up.  I should be receiving the prints this week. 

8) Genealogy - pretty good - as you saw from an earlier post, I knew I had Mayflower ancestors but I never laid it all out before so it is easily tracked.  I've done that now. 

Overall, feeling pretty good...I still would like to do some water color painting...maybe this weekend - who knows?!  I'm getting my house pressure washed as I type this so that is one house project that will be done.  I have a dental and doctor appointment this week so that goes along with my healthier life style plan.  I do plan to talk to my doctor about my energy level...which right now...is practically zip.  

I'll post the Project Life/Scrapbook pages tomorrow for July and August.

Product Review - Trader Joe's Gnocchi

 In general, I love Gnocci...it can be difficult to find good Gnocchi and the best is always at a good Italian resturant.  But I have had good luck with Trader Joe products and an employee there mentioned that this was her favorite thing they sold so I decided to give it a try.

Trader Joe's Gnocchi al Gorgonzola.

This is Gnocchi with a creamy Gorgonzola cheese sauce.  

It is SUPER easy to cook..you just put it in a microwave safe bowl and cook for 4 minutes (I stirred about half way through and again when done).

Each bag has 3 servings but I managed to get 4 out of it because it is a pretty generous sized bag. Not bad for $2.99.

My thoughts...it was good.  The sauce was very good.  The Gnocchi was a little bit dense and chewy to me though.  It also seemed to be missing something so I added a bit of Italian seasoning to it, which helped but still seemed like something was missing.

 Later, I found that someone took it and doctored it up a bit by adding some spinach and nuts.

Would I buy again...hmmm...I'm a little on the fence.  While it had a pretty good taste, the gnocchi texture wasn't quite right - just a bit too chewy for me.  I might give it another try by adding some different ingredients to it to boost it up a little but I won't be in a rush to purchase it again.

Mayflower Heritage - Thomas Rogers

 I was watching "Who Do You Think You Are?" and it highlighted Allison Janney's ancestors, one in particular was Stephen Hopkins, who had a rather interesting story, but ultimately arrived on the Mayflower.  I, too, am a Mayflower decedent.  I have done quite a bit of research once I found a connection just to be sure I truly was a decedent.  

My ancestor on the Mayflower was Thomas Rogers (my 11th great-grandfather), who also was joined on the Mayflower by his eldest son, Joseph Rogers.  I am not descended from Joseph, but rather another of Thomas' son, John Rogers.  John Rogers, arrived in Plymouth in 1628, which is 8 years after the Mayflower [Source Colonial Families of the USA 1607-1775].

Sadly, Thomas. who was about 48, died soon after arrival (as did many settlers) in January or February of 1621.  Therefore, his portion of the promised land was granted to his surviving Mayflower son, Joseph, who was about 17 at the time.  

On 6 April 1640, “Joseph Rogers and John Rogers, his brother,” were granted fifty acres of upland each at the North River. [Source:The Pilgrim Migration: Immigrants to Plymouth Colony 1620-1633].

Although born Northhamptonshire, England, Thomas was living in Leiden, Holland at the time he immigrated.  He was a Lieden separatist (Protestant Christian who separated from the Church of England).  His wife, Alice Cosford never made the journey to the new land and she died in 1622 at the age of 49 in Leiden, Holland.

Thomas was a signatory to the Mayflower Compact.  Even though Joseph was on board as well, at 17, he was too young to sign the Mayflower Compact. 

I have much more information on Thomas Rogers that I will share in a separate post (since this one is more about my connection)

Below is a chart that show all of my ancestors that followed.  The names in yellow are the Mayflower Descendants.  

When you think of all those generations and all they survived (traveling on ships, Revolutionary War, Civil War, and other things) - it is kind of a miracle that I was even born.  Isn't that the case for all of us...imagine all that our ancestors went through and because of them...we are here!  

Funny Friday - Sign of the Times

 I didn't learn shorthand and was never in a Steno Pool but I do remember those.  When I was young and watched "The Beverly Hillbillies", I remember that Miss Jane and the other secretaries in the Steno Pool would use shorthand.

I did, however, use an IBM Selectric.  In fact, it is what I use to learn to type.  It was so cool to me to use an electric typewriter with that cool round ball instead of a manual typewriter.  I loved it!

Typing class was a class I looked forward to everyday.  It was fun.  I am sure they no longer teach typing or keyboarding in high school.  Today's kids get to miss out on that fun class since they now grow up typing.  

THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPED OVER THE LAZY DOG 
(If you know, you know) 😄

June 2022

June and July are busy months for me, especially July.  Hopefully, this time next year, I will be retired and I can actually have a real summer!

 Because I've been busy, my blog has been neglected a bit.  Not that I have a ton of readers sitting on the edge of their seats or anything just dying to know how my goals are progressing - ha ha!

So how are the goals going?

1) Daily Bible Reading/Prayer - Fantastic....as of yesterday, I have read 200 straight days!! I'm not Catholic but I have chosen to read the 7 books that are in the Catholic Bible that are not in the Protestant Bible.  Side note:  Martin Luther decided to follow the newer Palestinian canon, which includes only books originally composed in Hebrew or for which a Hebrew text was available in the late first century A.D. Therefore, 7 books were removed. The King James version follows Luther on this matter.

2) Weight Loss/Eat Healthier/Exercise - Just okay. I am maintaining my weight but not losing but I haven't been really doing what I need to lose weight.  I know it sounds like an excuse and part of it is...but it has been too freaking hot to exercise! Plus, I have been so busy with work!  I know I could exercise in the early hours of the morning, which is what I was doing before I started slacking.  This is really something I will focus on in the upcoming weeks.

3) Watercolor - again, no time to paint recently.  I have ideas swirling around in my head though.

4) Crochet/Knit - Not much crochet/knit time in June...still have a prayer shawl and afghan that I am working on.

5)  Personal Journaling - Pretty good - I'm not writing daily but I am about every 2-3 days so that is an improvement.

6) House Projects - Nothing new in June...again, several ideas swirling around in my head but need more time and money to accomplish them.

7) Scrapbooking/Project Life - very good.  I am up to date with my weekly layouts.  I do want to catch up my "cat" book for the year - maybe this weekend I will be able to do that.

8) Genealogy - Good but again, just very busy.  I haven't had a lot of time to work on it.

So how do I feel? OK - I am most excited that I have kept up with my Bible reading because normally I have stopped by mid-March/early April. But I need to work on thing like better health and house projects.

Here are my Project Life/Scrapbook pages for June - click on photos to enlarge.

 

 

May 2022 Project Life

 Here are my Project Life pages for May 2022

I noticed I used very similar pictures in weeks 20, 21 & 22.  They were all taken different days, guess it shows that my kitty cats are creatures of  habit and apparently I am too, since I keep taking pictures of them - ha ha!

Click on the photos to enlarge

May 2022 Recap

Monthly check in time!

 How are the 2022 goals coming along?  Let's see....

1) Daily Bible Reading/Prayer - Fantastic....I have read the Bible for 158 days!!  God is so good!!

2) Weight Loss/Eat Healthier/Exercise - Pretty good, but could be better.  I lost 3 more pounds last month..I know, not a lot, but hey, the scale is down and not up so even a one pound lose is better than a one pound gain.  I'm happy with a loss.  (Darn those Trader Joe's Peanut Butter Cups - could have lost more).   Exercise...I've been so, so, so, so busy with work, but that isn't an excuse (well, maybe a little).  I had planned to start getting up early and going back to the gym this week but my boss is on vacation and therefore I do get up early but have a lot of work that has to be completed by 7 am - current plan is to start back this Saturday.

3) Watercolor - no painting so far this year...that is okay though.

4) Crochet/Knit - Almost finished with a prayer shawl for church...started a new afghan and loving the pattern for that - easy pattern but not boring - stay tuned.

5)  Personal Journaling - Hmm...not too good there.  I "think" about journaling..I "think" about what I am going to write and want to write about but I haven't been putting pen to paper lately.

6) House Projects - I got a couple of things done and managed to maintain other things...going good so far.

7) Scrapbooking/Project Life - A+ - I am still current with my Project Life pages (will post the May pages - possibly tomorrow) but I have completed LOTS of recipe pages.  I'm excited to finally be getting all of my "tried and true" recipes together and to have one book.  I have a few more to document before I print them out.

8) Genealogy - Good!  I updated a lot of people on my family tree last month and I even located an old photo of my uncle and his family when he was about 4 years old.  He is no longer with us, but I sent the photo to my aunt and cousins and they were blown away.  My aunt immediately recognized everyone of the siblings.  He had 15 siblings!!  They were not all in the photo because by then some were married and some hadn't been born yet, but can you imagine having 16 kids !! Yikes!

So how do I feel? Pretty good.  I do wish I had done a little painting and I do wish I had exercised a bit more in May but I'm really chuffed that I am current with my Bible Reading and Project Life pages.

How was your May ?

Product Review - Trader Joe's Chicken Soup Dumplings

I love soup dumplings...but let's admit it, they are time consuming to make.  Also, you typically need a bamboo steamer to steam them.  While I have a bamboo steamer, for exactly that reason, I would love an easier and faster way to make soup dumplings....enter Trader Joe's

I found these Chicken Soup Dumplings in their freezer section.  There are 6 in a box for $3.29 and there is one serving in a box - which is plenty.  It has 250 calories and 7 grams of fat...so for a whole serving, that is not bad diet wise or price wise.  

They are called Chicken "Soup Dumplings" not "Chicken Soup" Dumplings - does that make sense?  In other words...they are Soup Dumplings (also known as Xiao Long Bao) filled with chicken...not chicken soup inside a dumpling. 

You have to be careful eating a soup dumpling.  You put it on the spoon, take a bite and drink out the soup and then eat the dumpling.  That is challenging for me.  What I typically do, is put them in a bowl, cut them in half and eat the soup and dumplings together.  

So...here is how they are packaged

And here is what they look like when you open the box

6 cute and perfectly sized frozen dumplings.  The best part...they come in a steamer package.  So all you do is cut off one corner and pop it in them microwave for 2 minutes.  

Then they come out...looking almost like they looked when they went in...but just not frozen

 I typically eat soup dumplings with some kind of soy/vinegar sauce but I wanted to taste the true flavors of these and not have them masked by anything else.

Photo Courtesy of Two Cousins Haul It All 

Verdict: Delicious and filling.  They are a great light supper, especially after a long day when you don't feel like cooking, but you want some good comfort food. 

Product Review - Trader Joe's Peanut Butter Cups

Danger...Danger...Will Robinson!!!  These Trader Joe's mini Peanut Butter Cups are SO GOOD!  

They come in Dark Chocolate and Milk Chocolate.  I'm more of a Milk Chocolate kind of girl so got a container to give them a try...I won't be buying these again.  Not because they are bad, but because they are AMAZING and I could eat them all day long.  

If you have good self-control, help yourself to these next time you go to Trader Joe's.  If you find peanut butter cups challenging to resist - don't buy these...you will become addicted to them.  Seriously!

Note: Container says the serving size is 3 pieces and there are 13 servings - so roughly 40 in a container.

Product Review - Trader Joe's Almond Croissants

I made a recent trip to Trader Joe's for a particular product and ended up picking up a few things.  The employee at the check out commented on every purchase I had made (except for one) and said "Oh, you picked all my favorites" and proceeded to tell me why she liked each item and even how to prepare some of them.  She was super friendly!!

So...I decided to do a product review on some of them.

First up...Almond Croissants.

Now...I have had the Chocolate Croissants before and they taste so similar to the ones I have had at the French Bake Shop in Las Vegas. I had never seen the Almond version before so decided to give them a try.

It is really cool how these bake up.  You lay them out the night before (or at least 9 hours before you plan on eating them) and you let them rise overnight.  Here they are from the frozen state. They look puny and flat and you you might be thinking - "uh...I'm not to sure about this"

 But after letting them sit overnight - you wake up to THIS - they double in size!!

 

It is impressive to see how much they rise.

The packages says to bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.  My experience with the chocolate ones told me to go with 20 minutes and I am glad I knew that.  They were just the right amount of brown.

They have sliced almonds on top and some kind of almond (maybe marzipan) filling (which seeped out a little bit while baking).

Verdict! Very easy to bake, impressive looking, but a just a little bit on the sweet side for me.  I would get them again, especially if I were to have overnight guests.