2019 Books

I didn’t read as many books in 2019 as I have in recent years and I believe there are a few logical and understandable reasons why.

1. I read the whole Bible. Arguably 66 books, which would bring my total to 88. But let’s not get carried away on technicalities. It counts as one big book that occupied a majority of my prime reading time, 5-7AM.
2. I worked more. I doubled by hours at the Y and as we head into 2020 I’m going to double my hours again (yup, full time job, here I come!). I also switched jobs so I no longer had the luxury of reading at work while I waited on members to need things. It’s fine, I love it.
3. I watched seasons 1-4 of Outlander twice and seasons 1 & 2 three times. I also watched The Witcher, season 1, in about 2 days.  I know.
4. I started watching Grey’s Anatomy. I picked up just after George died because that was the last thing I remembered. In my defense, I’ve been using GA as an emotional crutch to avoid dealing with my own very real emotions regarding the official loss of my SAHM status (aka: essentially having days every week to do whatever I want) and the fact that my Grandpa’s health is declining, he’s been put in a nursing home, and my Grandma is alone to deal with it all. It’s just not the way it should be but crying about the death and heartbreak of fictional characters is an outlet I can deal with. True confession: i spent almost an entire Saturday in the basement with the lights off drinking beer at 2PM and binging almost 4 episodes in a row. Drew took the kids shopping to let me wallow.
5. We sold our house and bought a new one. There was a lot to do and there still is and I’m not the queen of getting it done, but I did do a lot, so there’s that.

THE BOOKS
1. If I Fix You, Abigail Johnson (I don’t remember this at all)
2. Eliza and Her Monsters, Francesca Zappia (enjoyable)
3. I’ll Give You the Sun, Jandy Nelson (A re-read, a favorite).
4. The Sky is Everywhere (Same as #3)
5. Circe, Madeline Miller
6. Tiger Lily, Jodi Lynn Anderson (Re-read, a favorite)
7. Truest, Jackie Lea Sommers
8. Dare to Lead, Brene Brown (GO READ IT NOW)
9. Mom Truths, Cat & Nat
10. Remind Me, Samantha Chase
11. Redeeming Love, Francine Rivers (Good, but this took me a looonnng time to get through)
12. Daisy Jones & the Six, Taylor Jenkins Reid
13. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid (The better of the two, imho)
14. Parenting, Paul David Tripp (GREAT!)
15. Inspired, Rachel Held Evans (I think my favorite of the year)
16. Women of the Word, Jen Wilken (highly recommend)
17. King of Scars, Leigh Bardugo
18. All Our Broken Pieces, LD Crichton
19. Wicked Lovely, Melissa Marr (enjoyable, but no desire to read the rest of the series)
20. Miracles and Other Reasonable Things, Sarah Bessey (This prompted me to buy her other books, it’s so very good).
21. The Bible

**I started a number of books that I never finished, mostly on my Kindle app, but most noteably, The Ninth House, by Leigh Bardugo. I love the Six of Crows books (I mean, really, I have a tshirt), The Grishaverse series, and King of Scars but LB’s newest book was too dark and too much for me.

Headed into 2020 I’m going to attempt the #ReadMyBooks challenge by Jessica Turner and finish all the books I have that I’ve never read or never finished. There are some real good ones in my stack that I have no good reason for not finishing. Mostly non-fiction so I’m sure to emerge from the end of this year a better Christian, parent, leader, and person. Haha. We’ll see. And do not fret, I gave The Ninth House away so I’m under no obligation to finish it.

**I would like to defend myself (to what, myself? I don’t know that anyone knows I still occasionally spew shit on here so I’m talking to myself, right?) in regards to the amount of TV I watched this year. With the exception of that one day in the basement with Meredith Grey, I almost never ever sit down and watch TV. I watched almost the entirety of the Outlander series as was currently available and The Witcher while standing in my kitchen doing dishes or cooking and/or standing in the bathroom curling my hair. I realize I am unable to fully grasp the cinematic brilliance of said shows this way, but, it is what it is.

Goodbye 2019

January 1, 2020

I don’t know what I was getting on here to even say. I guess just to record the goals I had for 2019. I had some lofty goals and we did them. Others will just roll over.

All in all, 2019 was a pretty good year. The whole mess with my Grandpa around Christmas is a bit of a down but I mostly just choose not to talk about it at all. Anyway, about those goals…

Pay off Amazon CC
Pay off Old Navy CC
Emergency Fund  We actually saved it, spent it, saved it, spent it, and saved it again.
Read the Bible  I did it! The whole thing!
Re-read some of my favorite books  I read a bunch of my favorites, but not all of them
Read all of the non-fiction on my “Too Read” shelf – haha, not even close
Get a full time job Technically I don’t start until Jan 7 but I did  sign the paper work in 2019
Buy a new house
Sell the old house
Attend an Enneagram seminar
Don’t use credit cards, ever  We did it. It’s doable
DEBT FREE  Our biggest accomplishment, by far. Not done by ourselves, but done.
Find a hobby
Group Exercise certification
Throw a bunch of stuff away – I did, but there’s still so much more
Be happy with my body Meh, happier than I was. Always striving to be better.
Write more
Find a cause
Cross Stitch
Take the kids camping
Paint the front stairs/garage
Be a better wife
Play more
Get a puppy
Veggies most
Increase mobility
Talk less
Be aware of facial expressions

I’d like to think I’ll be back later to write up some reflections on it all but I’m just not ready yet and if I know one thing, I know the likelihood of this actually happening is about 20%.