Hello, There 2023

No reflections on 2022 here, but thank you for sharing my journey.  And, hello, there 2023.

Let’s do this, shall we?

Resolutions

Do you make resolutions?  Neither do I.  What’s the point?  If something needs to be fixed or changed, why wait for a new year.  Am I right?

So let’s not crowd the gym for a week and then give up.  What do you say?

That sounds a bit harsh, but I’ve watched this play out for literally more than 30 years.

But that’s not to say this isn’t a good time to set some realistic goals or make some plans.

Scheduling

Do you use your tech device for scheduling or do you still use an old fashioned planner?  My answer is, “yes.”  Because I use both.  Actually all three.  My laptop calendar, my phone calendar and a planner.

Hopefully nothing will fall through the cracks!

DIY Planner

Recently I saw a DIY planner made from a simple dollar store notebook.  I loved the suggestion because it is so easy to customize to personal goals, large enough to fit everything and if needed, a page can be ripped out and started over.

Purchasing a planner is always a chore in the New Year because I want something small enough for my desk top, but large enough to fit in my notes.

Now, this isn’t a really pretty solution, but I am doing a trial run.

One of my biggest struggles is getting birthday greetings out in time for those that fall early in a month.

This idea lets me corral all the birthdays and/or other events at the beginning of the month.  Then I duplicate the entry on the exact date.

Use Pencil

Maybe this is OCD talking, but nothing makes me crazier than cross outs.  Using a pencil allows me to erase any changes.  Notice I did not say “mistakes.”  Ha!

Plus it gives me an opportunity to sharpen brand new Number 2s.  Which is a crazy love of mine.

Simple things, right?

Color Code

Remember when I used to work for a living?  Can you believe that was a whole year ago?!

Anyway, when my schedule would get so crazy full with travel, remote meetings, in-person meetings, deadlines, etc. I started color coding my Outlook calendar entries.

My days are not as crazy, but I find color coding is still really useful for me.  Appointments are green, birthdays are purple, social gatherings are yellow and so on.

On a side note, Outlook and Google mail no longer work together so I can no longer use Outlook for my email and I miss it like crazy.  Luckily the calendar still works.  The best I’ve found.

After-Christmas Shopping

Not being a fan of crowds, after-Christmas shopping is something I avoid.  However, a trip to Target this week looked like a cyclone had hit the store.  Tons of workers were busy cleaning things up and stocking for Valentine’s Day. 

But.  I still found a couple of super-duper marked-down Christmas items.  Mainly for cats.  Did you know there are Christmas-themed cat gifts?  Well, you do now.  They have crazy expensive gift packaging, but marked down, they are worth it.

And.  Then. I saw a scratcher pad delivery van.  I cannot even tell you how cute it is.  And Roxy has been driving it quite a bit.

Not even Christmas, but I’d say in the winter category, beautiful candles were marked down to $1.80.  Yep.  I have been spending between $20-30 on candles lately.  You can bet I picked up a few of these!

Score.

Happy New Year

The new year always brings out the optimist in me.  We don’t have any upcoming plans for the year, but I will be here sharing them with you as they arise.

Many, many blessings to you and yours for 2023.