I know I sound like a broken record, but with the speed that time is moving I don’t want to forget to pause and remember things that have happened. I started doing the monthly recaps last year, mostly for myself to look back on. I want to do my best to keep doing them monthly, but I want to use it as a time to reflect on the moments that brought me joy or positive changes.
This January has definitely been a game changer for me. I have been doing a lot of personal reflection; “what brings me joy”, has been my main focus. At the very start of the year, I finally decided to get the ball rolling on rebranding my etsy shop. It’s something I had been thinking about for a couple of years, but I just couldn’t bring myself to “bite the bullet”. This year I decided that I can at least try, it may or may not work out, but what if it does? I keep imagining the possibilities of having more income coming in, the traveling we would be able to do more of being one of my main drives.
Things I did to get the ball rolling:
- Hired a graphic designer and got my logo made
- Created custom business cards and stickers
- Ordered packaging supplies and a new printer
- Changed my etsy shop name and appearance
- Changed my blog to match
- Ordered a custom logo stamp
- Have a P.O. box on stand-by for when I am ready to start shipping
- Rearranged a space in our home for me to do my work in
- Refinished a desk that I found for free in our neighborhood and then ordered and built a storage cabinet to hold all of my supplies
I feel like I am making really good progress. I am hoping to have things up and going by Summer, if not sooner. We will see!
Other highlights this month were…
~Isla’s 5th birthday! We invited friends and family to a bounce house party place. Isla wanted a princess peach party, but we had a difficult time finding strictly just princess peach things, so we wound up just doing a Super Mario theme. She was happy about it. She also really really wanted the barbie cake.
~We did some vacation planning and I am so excited about it! Every year we try to go somewhere new. After last year’s spontaneous extended trip, we decided we really like the roadtrip life and are planning another! I can’t wait!
~I finished reading The Redhead of Auschwitz, I highly recommend!!! I cannot fathom living through everything Rosie did. It is absolutely heartbreaking.
~Wylan finished up basketball season with practice 2 days a week and games on Saturdays. He wants to do soccer next. Isla just started taking ballet and tap this month, she loves it!
~All 3 kids had dentist appointments, all at the same time. Immediately following that, we had Isla’s orthopedic appointment for her foot. She has a bone in her foot (cuneiform) that is a little “abnormal” and gives her pain and an abnormal gait sometimes. So she has to wear custom shoe inserts. I was proud of myself for maintaining my patience all day, especially at the hospital when the kids needed to run their energy out while we waited.
~I got an email for 2 weeks free on ancestry again. So of course, I was on an ancestry binge for the course of 2 weeks. I was able to find some of my mom’s relatives, my stepdad’s relatives, and even sat down with Chris’ family looking at their family photos and inputting some of them into the ancestry database. I love looking into family history! I could spend forever doing it.
~I decided my wardrobe needed a do-over. I hardly wear what is in my closet as it either doesn’t fit my always changing body or doesn’t match my lifestyle anymore. I took to ThredUp to find some new clothes. You can get 10$ off if you use my link 😉 THREDUP. I am aiming for a more capsule style wardrobe that can be used in all seasons. I also wound up finding some items at a local thrift store. Some really great finds and can’t beat the prices!
~Chris and I finally had a date night to ourselves! I am trying to make these a monthly priority this year. We had received a gift card for Christmas to a new restaurant, Timber Wood Fire Bistro. I made the reservation, employed my mom to babysit 😅, and we went.
~We had a mini vacation at the Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City. I think it is something that is becoming a January tradition. This time it was our 5, my sister and her son, and my brother’s party of 5.
~It may be a few months away, but I also started pre-planning for Harrison’s 3rd birthday! I enjoy planning and making invitations. He has decided on a monster truck theme this year. I haven’t decided if I want to go through with an actual party or not yet though. The Monster Jam show is actually happening around his birthday and we did get tickets for that.
I think it’s important for everyone to reflect and try to give focus on what brought you joy. Also think about what areas in your life need to change in order for you to feel more joy than negative feelings. Of course you can’t have the good without the bad, that’s just how life goes. But if we spend more time on the good than the bad, then maybe we will be able to reclaim our sanity just a little bit more.
Books:
- [FINISHED] The Redhead of Auschwitz by Nechama Birnbaum
- [READING] Liar Temptress Soldier Spy by Karen Abott
- [PURCHASED] The Betrayal of Anne Frank by Rosemary Sullivan
Movies:
- Encanto
- Eternals
- Jungle Cruise
- X-Men First Class
- X- Men Origins Wolverine
- Hotel Transylvania: Transformania
- Don’t Look Up
- After We Fell
- After We Collided
💗🌈jenn
Reclaiming My Sanity 