Category: Books

Reflection and planning for the fourth quarter: Aries Full Moon Goals

So the moon will be entering its next full moon cycle for the year tonight. This means that there is only an day left in September and then we’re sprinting into the fourth and final quarter of 2023.

I will be more than happy to see the end of this year…and if I could find a time machine—I’d jump ahead a few years to say 2026 or 2028.

So the moon will be moving through the Aries constellation—which means that astrologically we’re ‘starting a new year’ since Aries is the start of the Zodiac calendar. It is the time to reassess, redesign, toss, and make new goals if one is inclined.

So what are some of the questions we can reflect on during this time? They include:

Have I been hotheaded, selfish, or argumentative this month?

Have I been going too fast or been impulsive this month?

Have I been brash, blunt, or too competitive?

Have I ignored other people’s finer sensibilties?

Have I had enough fun?

So before answering the questions, I do need to point out that September is basically over, and these questions can be answered in one of two ways: 1) reflecting back on the month of September, or 2) how one want to behave during the Aries phase (which is the first two weeks of October). So as usual I’m going to number the questions 1 to 5 as I answer them.

  1. I would have to say that I’ve managed not to lose my temper, get into any arguments (at least any that are worth remembering having), and I haven’t been acting selfish. September (while it is my birth month), is now just another month I’d rather avoid if possible. I was joking with someone that I was only going to acknowledge half the year, and was debating on how often that would mean I’d have a birthday.
  2. Have I been impulsive during the month of September? Well—yes, if I take into account how many e-books I’ve bought. I probably should keep the phone on airplane mode for majority of the day to ensure that I’m not spending time on social media; also should download another time management app that would ‘block’ my access from different sites (namely Facebook). Have I been going too fast during the month of September? No. I probably have been going a little too slow again. While I have the science/health/med blog/website up and going—I haven’t gotten a blog post up or started any projects to highlight in the portfolio section of the site. The goals for October are not to spend excess money (only order what is absolutely necessary and no new books [other than what’s already been pre-ordered]), and to have at least one if not two blog posts up on the new site, and drafts of at least three different pieces for the portfolio done. 
  3. No, I don’t think I’ve been brash, blunt, or too competitive this past month. I may start being a little more blunt around certain topics (especially education and basic civil rights), but that is a topic for another day. I’m only going to try to be competitive with myself—and only the person I was yesterday.
  4. Well I’m still self-isolating for the most part, and therefore majority of my interactions with people are virtual. I’m working on being more empathetic while at the same time drawing and maintaining my boundaries on certain topics/areas of life.
  5. What is this word fun? The past year has been nothing short of a dumpster fire and we’re going to be stuck dealing with the damn SARS-CoV2 virus thanks to all the idiots back in 2020 that didn’t want to stay at home any longer, and all the idiots that refused to wear masks, social distance, and get their damn vaccines and/or booster shots. While I may have caught COVID—luckily it’s been extremely mild (though it could also still be allergies—need to purchase an in-home test to determine for certain). Therefore, I’m slowly trying to ‘reintroduce’ fun into my day-to-day routine. Fun for me can mean anything from working on my needlepoint project, to sitting outside with the dogs, to making cookies or brownies.

Aries is moves through my sixth house (or my daily work and health zone). This house is where we can sit and reflect on who we are (both in terms of professional/work and personal/health) and decide to work on those aspects that we don’t like.

It’s that time of year (for the second time) to sit and reflect on various things—the good, the bad, and the silly. Figure out where we’re stalling, and then try to develop a plan to start pushing the needle forward again (instead of having it spin around in a circle).

Health wise—I’m still procrastinating on developing a weekly schedule for fitness. I have most of my dumb bells in the family room (the 14-lb and 20-lb weights are still in my bedroom), the exercise bike is in the living room, and I technically have the room to roll out the yoga mat. 

My excuse has been centered more or less around our youngest pup and the fact that if you’re on the ground—he thinks it is playtime (and he plays rather rough—but then again he’s only about seven or eight months old). The excuse for the bike—nothing to watch and I get bored after only a minute or two; and the dogs try to attack the pedals. 

Needless to say—I need to ‘schedule’ the thirty minutes or so for a bike ride, pop on a movie (or pull one up on Amazon video) and get my workout in. Also—can pop in a workout DVD (I do have a handful that I could work out to again), and see how they handle me trying to do a workout in the front of the house.

Nutrition wise—I’m trying to get more protein in each day (starting to mix protein powder in with plain Greek yogurt, chia seeds, and fruit), drink more water, and cut back on the processed foods (mostly the sweets and chips).

Career wise—I’m pivoting to freelance science/health/medical communications. Why—to help improve the science/health/medical literacy in the global community. There is so much mis- and dis- information out there on various things, that if we’re going to try to colonize another planet—we need people who understand these topics.

I’m still working on developing a schedule that will work for life (health/wellness, career(s), personal/professional growth, and crafts/hobbies), and determining different ways of handling the procrastination bug when it bites (which it does on a fairly regular basis). So time and project management skills are still on the ‘improvement’ list of habits.

The Aries full moon is arriving just before the start of the final quarter of 2023. Therefore, my goals for this full moon are going to revolve around getting things going for both the final quarter of the year—and the next year or two. 

The goals of the Aries full moon will then include:

  1. Setting up the October calendar, fourth quarter BINGO card, and the October BINGO card
  2. Devise (and then test) an intentional movement schedule that includes weight lifting, walking, cardio (exercise bike, dance parties, and shadow boxing), yoga, and so forth.
  3. Have at least two mini-book reviews written and posted on various sites
  4. Work through at least part of a personal/professional e-course
  5. Continue reading (and finishing) at least one non-fiction book that I’ve started.

The motto for the final quarter of 2023: ‘Progress over Perfection’.

What is a personal/professional goal that you’re going to work towards achieving this quarter?

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The nanny and tattoo artist: Review of Happily Ever Never

Welcome back to Colorado and the next generation of Montgomerys.

What I love about Carrie Ann Ryan’s series is that secondary characters are never overlooked. Usually one or two couples get their happily ever afters via novellas.

Happily Ever Never is one of those stories, and is May and Leo’s story.

Both May and Leo were first introduced in Bittersweet Promises (the first of the Montgomery Ink Legacy series).

Leo is a tattoo artist at Montgomery Ink Legacy (the tattoo shop run by Lief, Nick, Sebastian and Lake).

We first met May on her one and only blind date with Lief, and then she became the nanny to Brooke’s son Luke in Bittersweet Promises.

May had made a promise to her father—to keep looking until she found her happily-ever-after.

She made a deal with family members—every other blind date—they’d chose her date.

She feels she’s become the ‘queen’ of first dates…as no one sparks enough interest for a second date.

She then decides to swear off dating after a specially horrendous one results in her car getting totaled.

Leo has a crush on May…but doesn’t want to potentially mess up the dynamics of all their little groups…and foolishly listens to the other guys.

Which results in him managing to mess things up for awhile…

To find out how Leo fixes things…and how many ‘first’ dates they go on…pick up a copy of Happily Ever Never today.

Happily Ever Never is a five out five star read, and I love the glimpses into lives of all the Montgomerys…looking forward to the series continuing.

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The first stepping-stones of getting back into a routine

So, we’re going to be having a blue moon on Wednesday, August 30th. This means that during the month of August there were two full moons. In addition to being the blue moon, it will also be a super moon (meaning it will look slightly larger than normal, because it is at its closest orbital point to Earth). Depending on what site you go with (and where you are in the world), this blue super moon will either be back in Aquarius or it will have moved into Pisces.

But before looking ahead to the blue moon (and moving through Pisces), I need to look back at the goals I set for the Aquarius full moon and see how I did with each of them.

So I only set a few goals for the Aquarius full moon…in part because I’m just starting to get back into a routine, and because I’ve realized in the past—setting more than four usually means I only get possibly half of them done (or semi-met) before the next full moon (or even the midway point of the new moon).

So what goals did I set for the Aquarius full moon? They included:

A large open-ended goal of working on my time and project management skills. Since I left that ‘open-ended’, I made some specific mini-goals:

Finish reading: It’s Okay that You’re Not Okay by Megan Devine & Oracle Cards 101 by Sunny Johnson

Unplug for at least 90% of one (or more) weekends (knowing that I will possibly give in and check social media on the phone)..

Start creating content for both blogs and various other social media sites as well.

Continue working on my very large abstract needlepoint project

So how did I do with the more specific mini-goals?

In terms of reading:

Well I finished reading Oracle Cards 101 by Sunny Johnson.

This book was basically an introduction to what oracle cards are used for, and the biggest takeaway message I got from it was to not always rely on the guidebook for guidance in terms of interpretation of the cards.

This is something that I’m slowly working on…as I will be the first to admit that I usually open up the guidebook to see what it has to say for each card. This is in part due to just randomly pulling cards at the end of the day (I’m never quite sure if I actually have a question in mind when I’m pulling cards), and other times I’ll continue flipping through cards until I get to one that I hadn’t pulled recently. 

I also realize that I do need to downsize the number of oracle card decks that I own, and that way I’d be using decks more often (currently I can cycle through a different deck each month and not have to use the same deck for at least fifteen if not sixteen months)—so yeah, few decks of cards are key here. I’ll be posting a more consist review of the book during September.

I’m still reading ‘It’s okay that you’re not okay’ by Megan Devine. I’m almost two-thirds of the way through this book, and will possibly finish it before the end of August, or at the very latest early September.

Though I did finish reading another non-fiction book: ‘Survivors: the plants and animals that time forgot’ by Richard Foley. I’m thinking of posting the review of this book on the science/health blog come late September or possibly early October (once I have the blog/website up and running).

Unplugging/staying off social media & the phone:

I did unplug for least 80-to-90% of the time over the weekends. I haven’t been participating in any social Saturday events on LinkedIn for quite awhile, but I usually checked social media briefly in the morning and evenings on the computer; and I still need to work on controlling the ‘doom scrolling’ on the phone during the weekend.

Crafting update:

I’m making progress on my large abstract needlepoint project—hoping to have it done by Thanksgiving (since I’m only putting in about thirty minutes a day on it).

In terms of content creation….

Well, I have an rough outline for topics for the science/health blog that I will hopefully be getting up and running by mid to late September.

I have some ideas for other types of content to put on the portfolio page (to highlight what I can create)…just haven’t lined up what exactly I want on the page.

I know the types of content I want to create (blog posts, infographics, posters, slide decks, and other educational type pieces; in addition depending on the topic, I may also consider mini reviews, abstracts, data analysis type pieces as well)—I just need to put them on to the calendar in terms of research, drafts/edits, and final posted project.

In terms of content for the creative blog—I have a list of bird pages that are ready to be posted, I just need to write the corresponding blog post for them…and then I have about another eighty to eighty-five birds to research.

I’m also going to start trying to do a book review a week (or biweekly to start), since I enjoy reading fiction so much; the non-fiction book reviews will be divided between the two sites depending on the topic of the book—the more science based books on the science/health blog, and everything else on this one.

In terms of other social media sites…I know that I will be using LinkedIn (and possibly YouTube) for the science/health/medical blog, and I’m still in the drafting stages for content for LinkedIn (especially after pausing two series that I had started last fall). I may add in Instagram (but will probably start a new account)…

In terms of social media sites for this blog…I have Facebook (just haven’t really posted on the page for the blog), my personal Instagram account (again may start a new account), Pinterest, GoodReads, and BookBub.

I need to come up with a schedule and ideas for Pinterest and the Facebook page…GoodReads and BookBub will see me posting whenever I do a book review (so hopefully I’ll be posting to those sites at least once a week), and they may see posts from the science/health/medical nonfiction books as well.

Instagram will be used…but a new account started…so stay tuned to for whenever I change the handle….there have been some problems in the background…needless to say I haven’t done changes yet—only because I need to schedule the time to set up a new one.

Launching a YouTube channel (and then a potential podcast) is probably a good year or so off…in part because I need to save money to buy a decent microphone and all that jazz…but also because I will need to figure out how to merge the content types into a video/podcast style of content…so yeah—there is quite a bit of work to be done for this one.

Recap of my progress:

Overall…I would say that I managed to probably hit 80% of the goals. I read two non-fiction books (and am slightly over halfway through with the second one I stated I would read). I did unplug on the weekends—but still ‘doom scrolled’ on the phone, and broke down at the end of each day to check email and social media (briefly…but I still did it). Total unplugging is something that I’m still working on.

Progress is being made on the needlepoint project—not as much as I had done during June, but that is because I’m also slowly starting to focus on other things as well (so, yea progress in other areas of life)…and if I can focus thirty minutes or so each night, I may get it finished by Thanksgiving.

Two non-fiction books have been read, while probably another dozen or so have been bought and added to the list (which is up to roughly 442 books—I say roughly since I think there are some historical fiction books that are on the list, so if that’s the case…there are probably about 430 non-fiction books on the list).

I’m actually going to be trying to schedule more time for doing research for the various topics for the science/health/medical blog…but also doing some for the creative/hobby blog at the same time. In other words—when I get slightly bored doing research for the science/health blog, I may look up something for this blog.

So—that’s my recap of my goals for the Pisces full moon—I managed to do each (though possibly not 100% for unplugging and content creation). I’m looking at those as stepping stones, and realizing that I need to make note of when I start getting back onto social media (when I’m trying to unplug) and see if it’s because I’m bored or whatever.

Now, it’s time to look forward to the blue moon—making goals, and also putting aside time to journal, have a brain dumping session, and try to get all ideas into one central notebook (instead of being scattered among a dozen different notebooks and journals).

So tell me, how did you do with your Aquarius Full Moon Goals?

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Review of ‘Stay Here with Me’–East Wilder Meets His Match

Welcome back to the Wilder Retreat and Winery, located within the Hill Country of Texas.

Stay Here with Me is East’s and Lark’s story, and takes place shortly after Coming Home to Us (Elijah’s & Maddie’s story).

Lark is an award-winning singer-songwriter, and a good friend of Bethany (Everett’s fiancée). 

She’s currently working on songs for her latest album…problem—she promised never to write about him…and he seems to be all she can think about.

She’s shared a night (or two) of passion with East previously, and they always seem to be like oil-and-water outside of the bedroom…

East still struggles with issues related to his time in the service…

Lark decides to head to Wilder Retreat & Winery to spend some time with Bethany, and to try to get some songs written…

She’s also asked to help with getting their new spa up and going….East is helping to oversee the construction…and Lark’s parents have their own spa…and Lark worked there as a teenager…

While they may not get along in public…they agreed to be ‘enemies-with-benefits’, as they can’t seem to keep their hands off each other…

East’s issues come to a head as a former teammate booked some time at the resort with his family, and another shows up ‘uninvited’…

How does he handle them?

How long does it take for him to realize that he’s fallen head over heels for Lark? How long for Lark to realize the same thing?

The answers lie within the pages of Stay Here with Me…along with a Wilder wedding, and the usual cheese, wine, and other Wilder shenanigans.

The ‘enemies-to-lovers’, ‘oil and water’, romances are some of my favorite—because they prove that there is someone out there for everyone—even a grumpy Wilder male. All it takes is a little risk, a lot of love, and a good amount of chocolate, wine, and cheese.

Stay Here with Me is now available everywhere, and is a great place to jump in to meet the Wilder family, and all their friends (and even a few ‘enemies’).

It’s a five out of five star read, and I’m eagerly awaiting Elliot’s story…though I don’t know if I can then actually pick a favorite Wilder brother or not.

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Finding his way: Review of Coming Home for Us

Welcome back to Texas, and the Wilder brothers.

Coming Home to Us is Elijah’s and Maddie’s story, and takes place a couple of years after The Path to You (Everett’s & Bethany’s story).

Wait…wasn’t Elijah dating Joy?

Yes…and to understand things—one should read at least the last few chapters of The Path to You…

Anyway, let’s jump a few years…

Maddie is thinking of leaving Wilder Retreat & Winery for a ‘new’ start with a different company…

But before she breaks it to the Wilders…they surprise her with the offer of partnership within Wilder Retreat & Winery…

While asking for time to think on the offer, she and Elijah head off for a brief business trip trying to schedule the first festival at Wilder Retreat & Winery.

On the way back, there is a downpour that delays them…and forces them to share a hotel room.

She just broke up with her boyfriend, and Elijah is still dealing with his issues.

They share a night, and decide to try to be couple (along with staying friends).

There are bumps in the road…flower girls arguing at a wedding, and roll down a hill.

Then comes the flash flooding, a brief ‘swim’ in a swollen river, and a massive fight.

But…

There is nothing like ‘brotherly love’ Wilder style to get Elijah to see things straight.

Want to see exactly how Elijah and Maddie work things out?

Want to go to a good old fashion barbecue?

Want to catch up with the rest of the Wilder family?

Then grab your copy of Coming Home to Us—it’s a five star read, and does require a few tissues as well.

I loved seeing Elijah coming back to the ‘living’, and Maddie getting her happily-ever-after. I’m sure they’ll still have bumps in the road—after all, Elijah is a Wilder…and a stubborn one at that.

Still need to stories for the last two Wilder brothers (East and Elliot) before I can even start to decide which Wilder brother is my favorite.

So, grab a nice cold drink, some chips and dip (or cheese), and settle in with some friends…

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At First Meet: A blend of friends, travel & cheese

Welcome back to the Montgomery Ink world and the children of the original Montgomery Ink families….

At First Meet is Lake and Nick’s story…

It takes place several months after the end of Bittersweet Promises (Lief & Brooke’s story)…

Lake Montgomery is still recovering from a previous bad relationship, when she gets an invite to the ‘Elite 40 Under 40’ retreat in New York…feels like she needs the ‘plus one’…

Nick, is a family friend and co-owner of Montgomery Ink Legacy tattoo parlor along with Leif, Lake, and Sebastian…and he offers to go along as her ‘plus one’…

They head out to New York, with the assumption that they’ll have connecting rooms—but separate beds….

Well, things don’t go as planned….they end up with a single room and bed…

So, what happens when they both admit to having feelings for the other??

They sure a night of passion before heading back to Colorado…claiming the night hasn’t changed their friendship…but things are ‘awkward’ for awhile—especially when it seems that Lake has a ‘secret’ admirer as well.

Can they make a go with a real (everyone knows) relationship?

What happens when Lake’s ex pops back into the picture?

Answers to those and more, plus cheese (of course) are in the pages of ‘At First Meet’…in addition—have some tissues handy…

I’m loving seeing how the next generation of Montgomerys have grown up; in addition to having a reason to go back and binge read all of the earlier Montgomery Ink series and spin-offs.

At First Meet is a five out of five star read, and highly recommended. Plus—if you’ve never read a previous book, it is a perfect place to jump in and meet some new friends…

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Second-chance Romance: Everett & Bethany’s chance…Review of The Path to You

Welcome back to Texas, and the Wilder brothers.

The Path to You is Everett’s and Bethany’s story.

Bethany was briefly introduced in ‘Always the One for Me’ as a guest at one of the weddings held at Wilder Resorts.

Everett has the feeling that he’s met Bethany before…but that ‘couldn’t have happened’…he’s just a Wilder and she’s a movie star.

Now, Bethany is back at the resort hiding out after her current relationship crashes and burns.

She confronts Everett—and they both get some startling news…

Him—they had met before and shared a wonderful weekend together…

Her—he suffered a traumatic brain injury overseas, that resulted in loss of memory of basically anything that occurred within a few months prior to his injury—including their time together.

Can they now make a run at being a couple…or will Bethany’s stalker get in the way…

The answers and more can be found within the pages of ‘The Path to You’.

I absolutely loved Everett’s and Bethany’s story, and can’t wait for the stories for the last three Wilder brothers—therefore, I’m going to have to wait until I’ve read all of them before I can chose my absolute favorite story.

If you like growly, slightly grumpy heroes and heroines that can also save the day—I suggest picking up a copy of The Path to You (or really any of Carrie Ann Ryan’s books).

The Path to You is a five out of five star, and highly recommended read.

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Acknowledging where growth is need: Review of Cancer Goals

So the moon is transitioning into its second full moon phase of 2023 tomorrow—moving into Leo, and that means before looking ahead to the Leo full moon and hopefully setting a set of reasonable goals—it’s time to look back at the goals I set for the Cancer full moon and see how I did with them.

What were the goals that I set for the Leo full moon? They included:

  1. Continuing with my nightly meditations and oracle card drawings, and trying to work in at least one morning meditation sesssion
  2. Draft a three-to-five year plan (with breakdowns-yearly/quarterly/monthly/biweekly/daily)
  3. Finish at least one more non-fiction book
  4. Start working through (or watch) at least part of another personal/professional development e-course

So how did I do with each of them?

In terms of meditation:

I’ve been fairly consistent with meditating at least a few minutes every night—and usually would finish listening to the meditation while doing an oracle card drawing. 

I haven’t been that good at trying to do morning meditation sessions—something to work on this year—cause I need all the little moments of zen I can grab.

In terms of non-fiction reading this year:

I’ve finished ‘Creativity: A Short & Cheerful Guide’ by John Cleese, and am probably about halfway through ‘Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman’ by Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson.

It’s been one of those years so far (and we’re only on February 3rd) where I’m falling back on favorite series to read or playing mindless games on the kindle (somewhat bad habits for avoiding various tasks that I need to be doing).

In terms of personal/professional e-courses:

I did watch a couple of short courses on skillshare during the full moon period and they were:

The Art of Planning, Master Time Management, and Increase Productivity

Planning a life you love: Creating, organizing, and utilizing a agenda

I just need to actually start utilizing information from both short courses—and that ties in with the next goal:

Drafting a three-to-five year plan:

Well—right now my main goal is to get through each day without having a breakdown. I haven’t been nearly as productive as I need to be…I avoid being on the computer most of the day for the past week or so—enjoying the digital detox—but at the same time feeling a little ‘guilty’ that I wasn’t doing any work.

So—this goal wasn’t accomplished, and will be worked into future new/full moon goals. In addition—I really need to try to figure out where I would like to settle within a few years (I’m willing to do possibly one more big move)—cause, I’m getting tired of being in this particular state.

So there it is: sixty percent of the Leo full moon goals accomplished: nightly meditation & oracle card drawings; working through an e-course, and continuing to read a non-fiction book. 

Fleshing out long-term goals has always fallen slightly short of being completed—mainly because I either throw everything down on to paper for every category of life—or I’m not realistic in the time frame for accomplishing said goal. Something to work on this year.

But progress is being made–especially when I can acknowledge where some of my time ‘wasters’ are….

Therefore I know that I need to remove the games from the phone and kindle..find a good time management app to download onto the computer (to help keep me off social media)–and also to be totally realistic in the timeframes that I initially come up with for the three-to-five year plan. Some goals may be accomplished quicker than others…and there may be some major setbacks as well…just have to remember to breath in and breath out.

How did the Leo full moon treat you?

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November in Review: planning and looking ahead to 2023 & beyond

So, we’re in December…that means there are only 31 days, roughly four and half weeks, or 744 hours left in 2022. That means, I now really need to get serious about planning out things for 2023…because it will be here before we know it (or are possibly willing to accept it).

I’m still feeling massively tired and burnt out on life, and while I would love for the year (and decade) to be over—I’m also not ready for the good-byes that will go along with them.

I’d hoped that November would be a little mellower than the past three months—and it was, and at the same time it wasn’t; if possible it was an even tie for September in terms of being a mess.

Still dealing with the ongoing family medical issue—and the outcome is still up in the air. Then there is the fun of elderly animals…probably having to put one cat and dog down within the next few months (cat due to health issues, that I currently can’t afford to treat; and the dog due to old age and pain).

The only cool thing I can say about the news is Mauna Loa erupting this week. It’s been well over a decade since I’ve been to the big island of Hawai’i—and when I went, I only visited Kilauea (since it was within the main part of the Volcano National Park).

While I wouldn’t want to be living on a island with an active volcano—I think it’d be cool to see it erupt (from a safe distance)—cause while I did see Kilauea erupt—it wasn’t as cool looking as pictures have been lately for Mauna Loa or even when Kilauea erupted a few years ago.

Still staying off the news for the most part—mainly because of my current mental health state. Though if everyone would just grab a snickers bar and take like a three-month timeout, I think that would help things settle down.

By this time next year, I won’t be surprised if I’m diagnosed with moderate cases of depression, anxiety, and PTSD.

Elections were earlier this month, and hopefully Democrats can hold their slim majority in the senate, and knock heads together in the house to get things done. Sorry if that seems ‘violent’—I’m tired of seeing mass shootings in the news, and basic human rights being attacked basically every damn day.

In terms of the total number of cases of the virus within the US, when I published ‘October in Review’ on November 1st, I noted that we had reached a little over 99.3 million cases and now as of December 1st —we have reached just a little over 100.6 million cases (an increase of a little over 1.3 million cases). So, numbers are staying ‘steady’—though I’d like to see the number actually start going down again. But there are the various omicron subs-strains running amok.

So—please, wear a mask, wash your hands, practice social distancing, and get boosted when needed.

I finally got around to getting my booster shot this past month—and other than a sore arm (for about four days), I didn’t have any other side effect of getting the booster. Flu shot is on semi-hold, only because it looks like I potentially have to schedule a doctor’s appointment to get it—and I don’t want to do that right now.

Still trying to keep the mental health on an even keel—therefore, I’m still trying to lean more into my strengths and values: knowledge, creativity, curiosity, spirituality, evolution/transformation (values), learner, intellection, input, achiever, and deliberative (strengths).

So before setting goals for December, its time to look back at the goals I set for November and see how I did with each of them. The goals for November included:

  1. 120-150K steps
  2. At least one partial walk at Boomer Lake, and at least five-to-ten minutes of intentional movement each day
  3. Finishing at least one of the many non-fiction books that I’ve started
  4. Read at least two-to-four fiction books
  5. Commit to the no spend days/no spend week/limited spending challenge (aiming for at least 22 days)
  6. Time outdoors, meditation/sitting quietly, daily oracle card drawings, daily gratitude journal entries
  7. Craft time
  8. Work through at least part of one personal/professional development e-course
  9. Getting the second blog up and running
  10. Writing, writing, and writing

So how did I do with each of them?

120-150K steps:

I fell short of my minimum step goal of 120,000 steps. I managed to get 116,503 steps this past month. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts throughout the years—I’m an extremely fair weather person, so in order to be outside doing some type of workout I need it to be ‘just right’. We’re heading into winter, though with climate change, the temperatures have been doing a yoyo the past few weeks.

At least one partial walk at Boomer Lake, and at least five-to-ten minutes of intentional movement each day:

There was no walk at Boomer Lake during November. The reason—having to play ‘phone tag’ with medical staff in regards to the on-going family medical issue. I probably could have done a brief walk up there—but I did other chores instead.

I know I’ve probably moved around at least five minutes a day—but I have yet to write down what the intentional movements have been. (Need to get better at this)

Finish at least one non-fiction book:

I finally managed to finish reading INNERCISE: The New Science to Unlock Your Brain’s Hidden Power by John Assaraf. I just need to go back and do some of the exercises within the book (especially those that revolve around setting goals, and putting together routines).

Read at least two-to-four fiction books:

There were six new fiction books read during November, and six re-reads:

The new books:

  1. Someone to Hold (Wild Widows #2) by Marie Force
  2. Always Mine (Honey Mountain #1) by Laura Pavlov
  3. Ever Mine (Honey Mountain #2) by Laura Pavlov
  4. Make You Mine (Honey Mountain #3) by Laura Pavlov
  5. Simply Mine (Honey Mountain #4) by Laura Pavlov
  6. The Path to You (Wilder Brothers #3) by Carrie Ann Ryan

The re-reads included:

  1. Alpha Turned by K.B. Alan
  2. Protect & Defend by Francesca Hawley
  3. Hot & Badgered (Honey Badger Chronicles #1) by Shelly Laurenston
  4. In a Badgered Way (Honey Badger Chronicles #2) by Shelly Laurenston
  5. Badger to the Bone (Honey Badger Chronicles #3) by Shelly Laurenston
  6. Breaking Badger (Honey Badger Chronicles #4) by Shelly Laurenston

No spend challenges:

Well, I did okay with the no spend challenge—managed 17 days (so a little over half the month)…spending money unfortunately is my coping mechanism for stressful situations (and the past several months has been a roller coaster of stress)…but I’m going to work on improving this both in December and then in 2023.

Meditation/sitting quietly, oracle cards, gratitude (aka mental/spiritual health):

Time outdoors is again becoming limited to basically evenings (and when I need to fill bird feeders) due to it being winter.

Meditation and sitting quietly at night (or actually anytime during the day) is something I’ve been fairly good at doing.

I’ve also been on top of doing daily oracle card drawings (I think there may have been one day I didn’t—but I’d done a double the day before), and doing daily gratitude journal entries.

Craft time:

I finished the one abstract science cross-stitch project, and had decided to use buttons to tie off the fabric in the back.

Latest abstract cross-stitch project

I’m currently working on a second abstract cross-stitch project and should be done with that one hopefully before the end of the year.

Working through part of a personal/professional e-course:

I’ve started watching the e-course: Master Business Writing & Editing on Udemy. I’ve watched the first three videos (so about 15 minutes of the three hour course). It looks to be a good course—so, aiming to finish this plus the 15 errors in scientific writing & how to fix them (an two hour course) during December.

Getting the second blog/website up and running:

One of the bigger goals for December

Writing, writing, and writing:

While I’ve gotten quite a bit of writing done during November (kept up with the three ‘series’ that I do on LinkedIn each week; plus the various posts on the creative blog), there is room for improvement.

I know that I need to get the second blog up and running—plus I need to decide on the various social media platforms for each blog, and get a tentative content calendar planned and actually stick with it…goal for December and 2023.

So, other than not getting any work done on the new blog/website—I managed a little on all other goals (while totally meeting at least the reading goals). As I’d mentioned in my #thoughtfulthursday post on LinkedIn today—I’ve been allowing myself to fall into the pits of ‘fear of failure’ and ‘fear of opinions of others’ this year—which has sidetracked, and sidelined my progress on numerous fronts.

Taking today out of the equation—there are thirty days left in the month. I know that I probably won’t be super productive this month (holidays and the on-going family medical drama), but I need to start setting things up so that I can hit the ground running in the New Year.

That means measuring things in the bedroom and rearranging furniture—to hopefully create an ‘office’ space that I actually feel comfortable working in, in addition to creating a portable working space in the living/dining room area (elderly dog likes to be in the same room—and has trouble navigating areas that lack area rugs).

It means getting in the different bullet journals and getting the tracking sheets set up for at least the first several months (besides the ones I did for 2022, introduce some new ones for 2023).

It will mean actually taking the time each day (morning and night) to plan and then reflect on how I did each day. It will also mean creating content calendars and trying to stick with them.

I’ll be spending some time during the next month or so deciding on what other social media channels I want to be active on for each blog…some might overlap (Instagram, Medium, and possibly having a Facebook page for each of them), but others will be specific for one or the other.

Therefore, I’ll still be working on improving my time and project management skills as well throughout the month of December.

The goals then for December will include:

  1. 120-155K steps
  2. Partial walk at Boomer Lake, and intentional movements daily
  3. Finish at least one non-fiction book
  4. Commit to the no-spend challenges
  5. Read at least two-to-four fiction books
  6. Mental/spiritual health (meditation, daily oracle card drawings, daily gratitude journal entries)
  7. Craft time
  8. Get the second blog up and running
  9. Work through at least one module of a personal/professional development course
  10. Writing, writing, and writing
  11. Set up the ‘master’ goal list for 2023; and start the ‘master’ blueprint plan for 2023-2028

The December goals are basically the same as what I’ve set for September, October, and November—with the addition of setting up the ‘master’ goals or plan for 2023 to 2028. What I need to do in terms of that ‘goal’ is start with the five year goals, and work my way backwards. That way hopefully each year I’ll be working towards those ‘larger’ and loftier goals.

As I mentioned the only goal that I didn’t really touch was getting the second blog/website up and running. I have an idea of what I want to write for my about me page (helps that I got my functional resume finished), and hopefully will have at least one blog post in addition to various pages ‘live’ by New Years Eve.

All I can try to do is devise a schedule/plan that will hopefully be able to bear the brunt of whatever happens during 2023…that will be a large focus this coming month.

Becoming more consistent will really let me lean into my strengths and values: learning/knowledge, creativity, curiosity, spirituality, evolution/growth, and intellection.

In addition—they all give me great practice at time and project management as I’m aiming for at least 85% overall completion (I’m fully acknowledging that I may not hit the step goal, and that I may also not have that much time outside—but I can work towards all the other ones).

Time/project management goes hand in hand with consistency and productivity. I’m going to be making more use of airtable (for content/project management—it’s a calendar and spreadsheet in one space), an old fashion timer, and pen/paper to manage my time and projects.

Curious to know what is your favorite time, project, or productivity tracker/manager?

Namaste….

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To summarize the Aries Full Moon Goals: Progress not Perfection

So the moon will be entering its next full moon cycle for the year tomorrow night—which means that I should look back at the goals that I had set for the Aries full moon.

So what were my goals for the Aries full moon?

Well, they included:

  1. Making a list of things I would enjoy doing in terms of intentional movement–and then trying to devise a schedule.
  2. Have at least two mini-book reviews written and published on various sites
  3. Work through at least part of a personal/professional development course
  4. Continue reading (and possibly finishing) at least one non-fiction book that I’ve started

So how did I do with each of them?

List of things I enjoy doing in terms of intentional movement:

Those things include:

  1. Walking (nature walks, taking Chaos for a walk, walks with friends, and ‘window’ shopping)
  2. Weight lifting (as long as I stay away from lunges and push-ups)
  3. Cardio (can be a DVD workout, impromptu solo dance parties, riding my bike, kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding, and ebing outside)
  4. Yoga, Pilates, and stretching

Have I designed a schedule yet? Nope—this is in large part due to both the ongoing family medical issue and then dealing with the pets (most want to be in the same room all the time—and trying to lift weights when you have cats and dogs wanting in your personal space—not fun or easy).

Two mini-book reviews written and published on various sites:

The two books that I’ve gotten around to writing mini-book reviews over were:

  1. Bittersweet Promises (Montgomery Ink Legacy #1) by Carrie Ann Ryan
  2. Always the One for Me (Wilder Brothers #2) by Carrie Ann Ryan

I’m hoping to finish reading Hunted in Darkness and getting that book review posted by the end of the weekend.

Watch/work through at least one module of a personal/professional development e-course:

I managed to watch a couple of short courses on Skillshare and they were:

  1. 3X your productivity with this weekly planning guide
  2. Content Calendar made easy: Save time and develop a personal brand
  3. Blogging rituals and routines: 10 secrets for increased blogging productivity.

I briefly reviewed each of the courses in my ‘October in Review‘ post.

Finish at least one non-fiction book:

Well, I’ve started a couple more non-fiction books—but haven’t finished any of them yet. As I mentioned in my ‘October in Review’ post—I go in cycles when it comes to reading non-fiction.

The best way to illustrate what I mean—oscillation waves, these waves can vary in both height and width:

That is how I view my reading cycles (regardless if it’s non-fiction or fiction).

Currently my non-fiction trend is more of the top—it’s taking more time to finish a book, and then I start numerous books, and it’s a ‘uphill’ battle to finish one (or more).

Whereas my fiction reading trend (and non-fiction trends in certain months)—resembles the bottom oscillation wave, I can read several books within a short period and have no problems moving on to another book (or going back and re-reading books).

So—I know that I need to try to decrease the ‘height’ of the non-fiction oscillation wave to have it match the height of the non-fiction oscillation wave over the next few weeks/months.

Well—I managed to accomplish about seventy percent of my goals for the Aries full moon. The only one that I didn’t get ‘accomplished’ was the non-fiction reading—which based on how October went, I wasn’t shocked to see that I didn’t accomplish it.

Seventy percent works well with the motto that I’m using for the final quarter of 2022—‘Progress over Perfection’.

Sometimes it is difficult to catch all the little negative stories/thoughts that run through our heads—so when I don’t catch them right away, it means I’ve accidentally let the inner critic/imposter syndrome out to play.

But, I’m getting better at catching them…I think they only ‘played’ for a few days during the Aries full moon.

So now, I’m going to celebrate this win—and then look ahead to the Taurus full moon.

How did you do with your personal/professional goals last month?

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