Getting Back in the Groove of Blogging

Good Morning, World!!! As I mentioned in my first blog of this year (2023) one of my goals is to blog an average of three times a week. One of those ways is to write my Weekly Plans every Sunday morning. Another way I plan on accomplishing this goal is to write a Weekly Check In every Saturday evening.

There is another way that I plan to get back in the groove of blogging more frequently. The way I plan to do that is to start doing free courses through WordPress’s Blogging University. The first course I plan on taking is Finding Everyday Inspiration which is twenty days. The second course I plan on taking is Developing Your Eye I and is seven days. The third course I plan on taking is Intro to Poetry and it is also seven days. The fourth course I am taking is Developing Your Eye II and it is also seven days. That equals forty-one days straight of blogging.

In all honesty, I hope I can stick to this plan especially since I am working full time once again. I am planning on starting this on Sunday, January 22nd, 2023. I am waiting to do this so I can put it into my calendar as I am working on time management as part of my New Years goals as well as making sure I get more into the swing of things at my new job.

I do not have much more to say or discuss in this particular blog post. I do want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things that you the reader, read my blog. If it was not for you the reader reading my blog, I would not be writing my blog. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. Peace Out, World!!!

Weekly Plans

Sunday

  • Mindfulness Meditation on the Calm App
  • Volunteer at PAWS Cat City
  • Read
  • Art (Paint by number and color)
  • Spend time cuddling with my cat, Billie

Monday

  • Mindfulness Meditation on the Calm App
  • Work
  • Read
  • Art (paint by number)
  • Spend time cuddling with my cat, Billie

Tuesday

  • Mindfulness Meditation on the Calm App
  • Work
  • Read
  • Art (color)
  • Spend time cuddling my cat, Billie

Wednesday

  • Mindfulness Meditation on the Calm App
  • Work
  • Read
  • Art (paint by number)
  • Spend time cuddling my cat Billie

Thursday

  • Mindfulness Meditation on the Calm App
  • Work
  • Read
  • Art (color)
  • Spend time cuddling with my cat, Billie

Friday

  • Mindfulness Meditation on the Calm App
  • Work
  • Read
  • Art (Paint by number)
  • Spend time cuddling with my cat, Billie

Saturday

  • Mindfulness Meditation on the Calm App
  • Clean apartment
  • Read
  • Art (Paint by number and color)
  • Spend time cuddling with my cat, Billie

Weekly Check-In

Hello, World!!! This week has been quite a week. This week started out with starting a New Year, so Happy 2023 everyone. I didn’t do much on New Years Day. I did watch the fireworks shooting off the Space Needle on television. They were okay but I’ve seen better.

On that note this has been quite busy. Mainly, due to starting a new job as a peer specialist (counselor) at a former employer this past Wednesday. I am happy to back at this employ. I am even more thrilled to be on a team that reaches out to the most vulnerable of the vulnerable in my community. My supervisor is awesome and very helpful. I really do think I am going enjoy my new job most days.

As for today, I volunteered at PAWS Cat City late this afternoon into early evening. I really enjoyed it. We only had two cats who are a bonded pair. So mainly my shift consisted of cleaning which I don’t mind doing. I also got to play with the kitties. In fact today is exactly three years since I did my first shift at PAWS Cat City which is why I signed up for a shift today. I do my regular shift tomorrow morning.

I do not have much more to say in this particular blog post. I would like to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciative from my end of thing that you do read my blog. If it wasn’t for you the reader, reading my blog, I would not be writing my blog. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. Peace Out, World!!!

New Years Goals for 2023

Happy New Years, World!!! I realize it has been a while since I last wrote on my blog. I apologize for not keeping you all up to date on things. It is surprising how fast 2022 flew by and how well my mental health did last year especially with how challenging some things were for me. I started last year with having Covid-19 which sucked. I also got laid off from a job I loved which also sucked. The suckiest part of last year was finding out that my mom has stage-3 lung cancer. On that note, I also had some successes. Successes so very small but added up to make 2023 an overall good year.

A good year that was helped by making New Years goals. Goals that get re-evaluated every two to three months. When I also re-evaluate goals I also add goals if I have completed. In fact, I am going to share with you my goals for this year. My goals for this year are

  1. Clean apartment and keep it clean.
  2. Read six books.
  3. Color six pictures and one poster.
  4. Paint two paint by numbers paintings.
  5. Start and complete two workbooks regarding my mental health recovery.
  6. Continue volunteering at PAWS Cat City.
  7. Blog an average of three times a week.

I have more goals than listed but some are a little bit personal to share on the internet. I am grateful to have goals and to work on myself and recovery.

I do not have much more to say in this particular blog post. I would like to thank you for reading my blog. If it wasn’t for you reading my blog, I would not be writing my blog. Again, thank you for reading my blog. Peace Out and Happy New Years, World!!!

The Holidays are Upon Us

Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate Hanukkah. To those who may not be aware, this evening (December 18th) starts the first night of Hanukkah. No, I am not Jewish but I do celebrate it with friends who ask me to. This year I am spending four nights celebrating with friends who have asked me to help with their tradition. The evening of today, December 18th starts Hanukkah and ends the evening of Monday, December 26th.

The Yule are celebrated by Pagans with very many types of traditions. I am not Pagan but this is the holiday I personally prefer to celebrate in my own way. This year Yule starts December 21st and ends January 1st.

The next holiday to be celebrated is Christmas Day which is December 25th. Some in the Christian faith also celebrate it the evening of December 24th. Yes, this is the Christian holiday.

The cool thing I am finding is all three religions will be celebrating the same day which is December 25th. Don’t you all think it is pretty awesome. I know I do. This has me curious so the next time this happens will be in 2024. In the year 2024 I plan to celebrate all three holidays with friends, family and myself.

As far as New Year’s I celebrate that as my own holiday. I spend it with my cat Billie, watching movies and sleeping all day.

I do not have much more to say except I hope there is no snow in Seattle I will tell you more in a later post. Peace Out, World and go celebrate your faith.

Everyday Inspiration, Day 7; Let Social Media Inspire You

When thinking about how social media inspires me, I have mixed emotions about it. I have mixed emotions because not only can social media be inspiring in can be frustrating as well.

Let’s not discuss the frustrating parts of social media and talk about the inspiring parts of it. To me cat stories on social media inspire me. It inspires me to continue to volunteer at PAWS Cat City. It also inspires me to love my cat, Billie more everyday and to make sure he is happy.

Another way social media inspires me is seeing people’s recovery story with whatever they struggle with. I love seeing how people make progress with their recovery. It encourages me to continue on my on recovery path. So, I guess social media can be inspiring.

Everyday Inspiration: Day 5; Hook ‘Em With a Quote

The following quote is by former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

The reason why this is one of my favorite quotes is because I never believed in myself nor my dreams. It wasn’t till I made an active choice to become in active recovery with my mental health challenges that this particular quote hit home for me. I have a future and my future has beauty even when I have some dark days. I love the fact I have dreams and a future ahead of me even when I have some dark days like everyone else. I am glad my dark days are far and few between the good days.

Everyday Inspiration, Day 4; A Story in a Single Image

Good Morning, World!!! Topic is a story in a single image. Sadly, the four images WordPress gave us to be “inspired” by didn’t really inspire me. So, I chose my teddy bear to be inspired by. I have had this teddy bear since the day I was born and I am forty-three years old. I still sleep with Teddy as I call him. He is a priceless heirloom to me and I love him dearly. He has had to be sewed up on several occasions but what do you expect for a teddy bear being forty-three years old.

A Choice to Make Time for New Changes

Good Afternoon, World!!! As the year is quickly coming to an end, I have been thinking about changes I want to make in my life. Some are new changes and some not so new changes that I have been putting off. Changes can be a bit challenging to do even if it is a change you have been wanting and looking forward to.

Let’s start with the changes I desperately been putting off for months. That is cleaning and organizing my apartment. In fact my apartment is a disaster area and needs to be cleaned then organized. When it comes to cleaning my apartment, I tend to put it off. That is why I plan to schedule two to three times a week to clean my apartment. Hopefully it will be done by the end of the year so I can start January on a good note.

Speaking of January, I have awesome news. Yesterday (Monday) I got a call from a future employer offering me a job a Peer Specialist. I, of course accepted it and informed my new employer that I will need to put in notice at my current employer and will be out of town at the end of December. My new employer informed me that would be a “perfect time to start.” In fact my new future employer happens to be an a employer I use to work at. In fact this employer gave me my first job in the mental health field and was able to get my foot in the door at this employer.

As far as my current employer they are sad to see me go but they understand especially since my current employer is only twelve hours a week while my new employer is full time. Of course I will be earning more money an hour at my new employer. I will be making eleven dollars more an hour at my new job than I do at my current job.

Now on to me making new self improvement changes in my life. One think I will be doing sounds a bit nutty and crazy is doing mathematics on my own and not through a college course. The book I am starting out at is Basic Math and Pre Algebra for Dummies. I know it sounds a little silly and nutty but I want to be able to do basic math. I do plan on setting out a schedule when I do math as consistently as possible with a schedule you will retain and learn more.

I know I have mentioned this before but I am going to get into Tarot Cards and journaling. I keep starting up learning about Tarot Cards and then stop for some reason. I really want to get into Tarot because I feel like it will help me guide my life in the right direction and well as help me with my mental health recovery.

Speaking of my mental health recovery, my cat Billie does a wonderful job with helping with my recovery. Not only does he help my recovery, volunteering at PAWS Cat City every week helps with my recovery. I love volunteering at PAWS Cat City and I love my cat Billie even more.

Another way changes are on the way for both my creative side and my recovery is to do some crafting like crossing stitching and latch hook as well as art work such as painting and coloring. I feel like crafting and artwork keep me grounded and help with my recovery. I will also start trying a new type of art for me called diamond art a friend informed me about.

I do not have much more to discuss in this particular blog post. I do want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things that you the reader, read my blog. If it wasn’t for you the reader, reading my blog, I would not be writing my blog. Again thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. Happy Holidays and Peace Out, World!!!

Everyday Inspiration, Day 3; One-Word Inspiration

HOME

The one word I chose for inspiration is the world home. Home can mean many different things to me. Home to me has many different places. The home I am going to discuss is the home I live in. The home I live in is in the City of Seattle. My home has pictures of my family which includes current a past pets. I art work that my brother made me when he as in school as I am eleven years older than him. I also have artwork which include glass-work from friend. My home has posters of favorite musicians posted.

Anyway my home has things in it that my loved ones have given me such as art work, quilts and stuffed animals. In fact one stuffed animal I got when I was born from an uncle. It also has a baby blanket a great aunt made me when I was born.

For me a home isn’t just a place, it’s a place to put old memories it and make new one in as well. Home is also where the heart is. In my case home is where my cat is and I love I can come home to my cat.