Thursday 13: My First One in 2026

1.     As usual, a cat picture seems like a good way to start this Thursday 13.  This is a picture of my sister’s cat, Flitwick, that I took when we were there for Christmas.

 

2.    Speaking of starting things, we started 2026 off by attending a party our friends Dennis and James hosted on New Year’s Day.  They have two adorable Great Danes who think they’re lap dogs.  This picture is of Magnus.

 

3.    It would be nice if there’s any truth to the idea that what you do on January 1^st sets the tone for your year.  We had a great time at the party, met a lot of nice people, spent time with adorable and sweet pets, and enjoyed some delicious food.  Continuing that theme would make it a good year! 

4.    Another fun start to the year was doing an escape room for the first time.  We went with our friends Jen and Chuck.  The one we did was Clue themed (we had to figure out who, in what room, and what the weapon was, and we had an hour to do it). 

 

5.    It was the first time Nick and I did an escape room, and it was so much fun.  I definitely want to do one again! 

6.    I’ve set my reading goals for the year on The Storygraph.  

7.    My 2026 reading goal is 52 books, which is basically a book per week.  It seems reasonable.  I didn’t quite make it last year, but I think I would have if I hadn’t worked so much overtime in December.

 

8.    I’m technically one book behind already, but I’m very close to finishing a book and an audiobook, so I’m fairly sure I’ll catch up over the weekend. 

9.    Of those 52 books, I’ve set the goal for 26 of them to be audiobooks.  We have a backlog of purchased audiobooks we haven’t listened to yet, and there are so many available through the Libby app.  Since I have so many available and can listen to them while I do other things (I listened to an audiobook while I worked in the yard on Monday), it seems crazy not to make use of them. 

 

10. I’ve also set the goal for 12 of the 52 books to be non-fiction.  I mostly read fiction, and I don’t think that will ever change, but I would like to branch out and read a little more non-fiction.  Twelve a year is basically one a month, which seems like a good goal. 

 

11. If you’re on The Storygraph and want to be friends, my super-creative username is dlzecher. 

12. We downloaded camera pictures right before we left for my sister’s for Christmas, and I came across this one of Caroline that I like.  I think it shows off how pretty her face is. 

13. One more cat picture seems like a great way to end this.  Theodore has started tucking himself into bed sometimes, and it’s absolutely adorable. 

Breadsticks, Birthdays, and Fall Weather

Since I missed posting a Thursday 13 last week, I’m doing a list post today. 

We’ll start with a picture of Caroline tucked into bed.  The cats tend to get a little more cuddly when it starts to cool down.

We’re supposed to have warmer weather for the first part of this week, but we’ve had a few days that have felt very much like fall.  It’s the perfect weather for reading in the hammock.

We had perfect weather and beautiful blue skies over the weekend, so we went and walked at a park that’s just far enough from home that we usually only go on the weekends.  It was so nice to spend time outside and enjoy the perfect weather.

We had some work done on the HVAC system.  Fortunately, it was minor.  Yay!  We’ve used the same company for years, and we had the same technician who came out last year when so many things got zapped with lighting.  He loved Duke and spent some time petting him and even rigged up a temporary cooling solution so Duke wouldn’t get too hot.  He remembered Duke and asked where his three-legged buddy was when he came in the house.  In some ways, it was really sad to explain that Duke had died.  But, it was also really sweet that someone who met Duke over a year ago still remembered him and asked about him.  It was a reminder of just how many people that Duke made happy. 

Two of my coworkers had birthdays this month.  I usually decorate people’s offices for their birthdays.  My boss was one of the birthday people, and he likes to tease me about my pink office, so I opted to decorate his office with a lot of pink. 

I’ve still been giving the neighbors’ chickens snacks.  The free-range chickens followed me back and forth while I was carrying in groceries and waited outside the door in between trips to the car. 

I gave the chickens leftover breadsticks one day, which they loved.  The next day, I gave them rice cakes, which they’ve happily eaten before.  Apparently, though, they thought the breadsticks would/should become a regular thing because they were very unenthusiastic about the rice cakes the day after the breadsticks.   They’ve since resigned themselves to not getting breadsticks every day and are back to eating whatever I give them.

I’ll leave you with this picture of Howard and Frankie cuddled up together.  They’re so precious.

What have you been up to lately? 

Quarterly Goals - Last Quarter of 2019

I think tracking my goals by quarter has been helpful, so I’m doing it again this quarter.   It’s weird that this year is almost over!  It’s also the last chance to meet yearly goals, so there’s some pressure to aim high.

Charlie

I don’t really have any pictures to go with this post, and as you know by now, that means I share some random cat pictures.  I always have cat pictures! 

Here are my fourth quarter, or October - December, 2019 goals:

Home:

Actually take the ThredUp box to the post office!  It has been sitting in the living room for entirely too long.  I’m definitely not aiming high with this one.  The box really needs to go.

I need to go through my clothes again, and get rid of things I don’t wear, which probably means another ThredUp box.  I think some of my sweaters will be too big to wear this year, and I have at least one summer dress that was too big when I tried to wear it last week. 

In continuing with the theme of boxing things up (and hopefully taking said boxes to the post office!), I’d like to get another box of books/movies/CDs shipped off to Decluttr.  We seem to constantly acquire new books, which isn’t a problem as long as we also part with some. 

Mortimer

My night stand tends to stay somewhat cluttered, so I’d like to tame that clutter this quarter.  At the moment, one wrong move sends the leaning tower of books, magazines, and notebooks toppling.  I’d like to eliminate that problem.

We’re still working on general organizing, getting rid of clutter, and implementing better storage systems, but I’m not setting any other specific goals for this quarter. 

Health:

I still need to lose more weight.  I stayed at the same weight last quarter which makes me nervous for how I’ll do this quarter with the holidays, and all of the holiday treats, coming up.  Last quarter I didn’t set any specific weight loss goals, so I am going to set a specific goal this quarter to see if that helps.  My weight goal for this quarter is to lose nine pounds.  That would put me at a certain threshold I’d be really happy to reach.

On the exercise front, I’m a little lost.  Here’s my dilemma:

Mortimer

I love, love, love swimming.  The gym we go to has an indoor pool, so in theory, swimming is an option year round.  The gym also has a 100 Mile Swim Club.  You track your laps/miles, and when you reach 100 miles, you get a 100 Mile Swim Club t-shirt.  I want that t-shirt!  There’s no time limit, and they say it takes most people over a year.   I have a very long way to go.  My trouble in setting a swimming goal this quarter is that during the colder weather I’ll have to take the time to dry my hair after I swim.  I know that sounds really dumb, but during the week swimming for 45 minutes to an hour, then getting a shower and drying my hair can put us getting home kind of late for a weeknight.  It’s easier during the warmer weather because I just leave with wet hair and let it dry on its own.  Going outside with dripping wet hair when it’s 30 degrees does not sound at all pleasant!  The gym closes at 4:00 on Friday, which means I can’t go because of work.  It’s also closed on Saturday, so Sunday is the only weekend day available.

Charlie

My other exercise of choice is the treadmill.  I’ve been trying, off and on, to do a Couch to 5K program.  I’m much, much closer to couch than 5K!  On treadmill days I also have the goal of using the arm weight machines.  I’d like to increase my weights on the machines.  I’m still at the lowest weight on one of them, so I’d to at least move up a weight on that one by the end of the quarter. 

I don’t think it’s realistic to set a big swimming goal and a 5K goal, but I’m not sure how to split it up either.  Any suggestions? 

This is new for me since we just joined the gym in March.  The goals I’m leaning toward at the moment are to consistently go to the gym at least three days a week, hopefully four days a week, but a minimum of three.  I think Sunday may end up being my only regular swimming day.  If that’s the case, my goal is to get up to a mile and a half at a time, which would be 54 laps.  The Couch to 5K program is a six week program, at three days a week, so if I do only swim one day a week that means I should be able to complete the program. 

Honestly, this feels very daunting, and not as focused as it probably should be, but it’s something I’m figuring out as I go.  I’d love any suggestions anyone has for narrowing it down, or how you manage your exercise goals. 

My much more straightforward exercise goal is to get my daily step average up to 10,000.  According to my tracker my daily average as of today is 9,827 steps.  I think I should be able to get that up to 10,000 by the end of the year. 

Environment:

One goal is to definitely keep being diligent about composting, and not getting lazy and tossing compostable things in the trash.  It’s a little more of a challenge for me during the colder weather since it does involve going out into the cold. 

Caroline

Additionally on the compost front, I have the goal of not composting things that should have been used in the first place.  The compost bin is for things like veggie scraps and tea bags, not bunches of celery that I neglected to use in a timely manner.  Obviously composting spoiled produce is a little better than just throwing it in the trash, but it’s far from ideal.  My goal this quarter is to get better about using up food before it goes bad, weather that means freezing it, changing up what I may have planned to cook, or getting a little more creative in the kitchen. 

The other, bigger, goal is to reduce the amount of plastic waste we generate.  My goal for this quarter is to stop using the plastic produce bags.  I bought reusable produce bags, and I’ve used them twice in three months.  I almost never remember to bring them with me.  So my goal for this quarter is to switch exclusively to them for produce, and not to use any of the plastic produce bags the stores provide. 

Personal/Miscellaneous:

I still feel like the human version of a fixer upper house! 

My goodreads goal for the year is 52 books, and I’m currently six books behind schedule.  I would love to actually meet that goal.  I think it’s possible, especially if I watch less TV. 

I’m also setting the goal of reading more non-fiction.  I think fiction will always be my favorite, but I think I would definitely benefit from reading some non-fiction.  My non-fiction goal for this quarter is to read three non-fiction books, basically one per month. 

Since this quarter includes November, there’s also the question of participating in NaNoWriMo.  I’ve signed up off and on over the past six years, and never even come close to the 50,000 word goal.  Earlier this year, I had no intention of even going through the motions of signing up this year.  Lately, though, I’ve had an idea that I want to try out. 

Realistically, I know the chances of writing 50,000 words in November are extremely low.  Basically nonexistent.  But, there’s something about the sense of hope and optimism at the beginning of November with that goal in place.  So my goal is to sign up, and get as many words written as I can.  I know it’s not the most ambitious, or even specific, goal, but it’s one that makes me happy.  Something is better than nothing, right?

I’m hoping to make much better crochet progress this quarter since I’ve finally been shown some things in person.  Aunt Diana suggested granny squares as a good way to learn.  I’ve also read that dish cloths are a good place to start.  My plan is to practice the stitches some more, then look at patterns for granny squares and dish cloths to figure out which one seems more doable.  My goal is to complete at least one this quarter. 

Howard

Blogging:

This year has been my worst blogging year ever.  I don’t think that’s likely to change in just three months, but I would like to improve it.  I love blogging, and I really don’t know why it’s one of the first things I let go when things get busy.  My goal this quarter is to post at least twice a week. 

I’d also like to post at least one video this quarter.  It’s something I’ve never done, but have wanted to try for a while. 

So what about you?  Are you working on any specific goals this quarter?  Are you really pushing yourself to accomplish something by the end of the year?  How do you determine which goals to really focus on? 

Book Lovers Day

Books!  And a Joey photobomb.

According to Holiday Insights, there are actually two different dates for Books Lovers Day.  I love books, so the idea of two separate Book Lovers Days makes me really happy, and it seems like a great day to talk about the amazing Friends of the Library Book Sale we went to recently.

The Friends of the Library have a few book sales throughout the year.  There’s a separate building (I guess they don’t want people trying to buy books off of the library shelves), and they have a great selection of books.  The sales usually run a few weeks or weekends in a row, and everything is more and more discounted as the sale goes on.  It’s well organized, and there’s a huge selection.  It’s kind of a book lover’s paradise.

This year they did something a little different.  The last Saturday in October was the Monster Book Sale, or as I like to call it, a dream come true.  It was $5.00 per adult.  Not $5.00 per bag, box, or X number of books. $5.00 for all of the books you wanted to take with you.  You walked in, paid your $5.00, got your hand stamped, and then had the privilege of taking all of the books you wanted.  If you filled a box, they wrote your name on it, stashed it behind a counter, and handed you another box.

Nick and I both love books, and we have a small house.  We have lots of books, pretty much everywhere.  But we decided that the Monster Sale was an opportunity not to be missed.  Unlimited books was more temptation than we could resist, and it supported the library.  We decided to go, and limit ourselves to one box each.

I think the one box limit lasted about 45 minutes.  Maybe.  We read completely different things; I’m pretty much all about fiction, cookbooks, and the occasional biography.  Nick is all about non-fiction.  He actually loves getting his hands on text books.  So we split up as soon as we were stamped and in the door.  Somehow, we usually mange to finish up at about the same time, and both come wandering out of our sections at about the same time, and run into each other.  I’m not sure how, but it works.

We both wandered out with our first box completely full, and we hadn’t even looked at everything, so we agreed to two boxes each.  We actually stuck to the two boxes each limit.  The boxes were packed full, and incredibly heavy, but we did leave with “only” four boxes between the two of us.

It was so much fun.  I put books I might not normally have bought in my boxes to try.  Everyone seemed to be recommending books, and there was a lot of “if you like this, you’ll love that” going on.  At one point I was part of a group of women all just putting books in each other’s boxes.  I can’t wait to try some of the newly recommended authors.

So what about you?  Are you a book lover?  Have you lost control buying books?  Have you read anything good lately?

2014 Historical Romance Reading Challenge

I didn’t read much at all in 2013.  I’m not entirely sure what happened, but I just didn’t do much reading.  I didn’t ever come close to meeting my goodreads reading goal.  I really don’t want another year of not reading much, so I’m signing up for the 2014 Historical Romance Reading Challenge being hosted by Anna at Herding Cats & Burning Soup.

It sounds like fun.  I used to read historical romances almost exclusively, but then just kind of drifted away from them.  I miss them a little bit.  What better way to get back into reading them than by participating in a challenge?

You can read more about the challenge here, but here’s what counts:

• Every historical romance you read and review in 2014
• Any time period prior to 1920 qualifies.
• They can be historical paranormal, historical erotica, m/m, f/f, etc.
• All historical romances over 100 pages in length--audio, ebook, print
• Re-reads, cross overs from other challenges

Level One is 12 historical romances.  Level Two is 18 historical romances.  I’m trying to decide which level to try for, but am currently thinking about a 1.5, with 15 historical romances, and I’m currently looking for some recommendations.  Any favorite historical romance novels or authors you think I should try?

What Are You Reading?

Today is Day Six of the 30-Day Photo Challenge I’m participating in, and the topic is “Books”.  This is an easy one!  Here’s a picture of my currently reading/about to be read books. 

The cookbook, Bought, Borrowed & Stolen, is the one we’re currently using in the Cookbook Book Club.  I’m undecided on whether or not I like it yet.  There’s a lot in it about various places the author has traveled, and the food there, so I’m looking forward to reading that.  I did learn that many of the recipes call for ingredients that aren’t very easy to find locally, so I’ve promised myself to choose a recipe long before we meet next month so I have time to 

find everything we need for it.

Moon Women was a book recommended on goodreads that wasn’t available at the local library, but I found it at the thrift store last week.  I’m very excited about reading it, but the other two are library books (that there’s a waiting list for), so I feel like I need to read them first.  I just can’t decide which one to start first.  They have similar (very high) ratings on goodreads, so that’s not helping me make a decision.  Have any of you read either of them?

I really hope I love at least one of them.  It seems like the last few books I’ve read have only been okay, so I’d like to read a great one.  That seems to be the nature of reading, though; spells of finding great books, and spells of only finding okay books.

So what are you reading right now?  Is it great, or just okay?