Weekly Recap 1

First of all, I think my "word of the year" or motto for 2016 will be:

“Reject Apathy”.

I wrote this down on the 29th of December and the phrase has been with me ever since. It originally came from an Our Daily Bread devotional. I think this will be my “word of the year” or motto for 2016. On the other hand, when I see, read or think this phrase, I also think “survive” or “survival”. You know, some days, it is all I can do to just survive. So, maybe 2016 will have two separate words for me. Ha!

"Survive"

My previous words of the year were:

2011 – Do
2012 – Finish
2013 – Anew (Afresh)
2014 – Focus
2015 – Persevere [Endure] [Pursue]

2016 – "Reject Apathy" or Survive [Survival]

At this moment, I cannot decide which one to pick. So, I am going to use both.

source: B.C. Comic Strip on GoComics.com

Honestly, I do not think I will have a new "New Year" resolution list. I will just keep on keeping on what I have been doing in the past. I still do a #finishyear list started years ago. I carry it over to the New Year.

Instead, I think I will just have a weekly recap post. This effort will probably die just like the rest of my efforts do. Ha! But hey, I am going to try. At the very least, I am hoping to have at least one post a week if not more. There were periods of time on my blog where I was gone for months and this worried a few of my friends.

Anyway, this post will cover everything from the 1st of January through the 9th of January. So, slightly more than a week. From hereon, the weekly recaps will cover Sundays through Saturdays. And, the posts may cover anything or nothing. It will be whatever I decide. Ha!

• Town Squares

  We went visiting town squares and did some antiquing on our vacation which was December 19 through January 3rd. In case you do not know it, I adore town squares. There is something about old towns that makes me happy. I love it when Dan decides to drive through an old town square even if we do not stop. I just love viewing the old courthouses and the buildings in the square. I have been taking selfies at courthouses whenever we deliberately stop and roam. I thought they would be proof that we were at those places! Ha! And besides, the pictures will be kind of like a picture journal of town squares.

  Anyway, we went to Lockhart and New Braunfels on January 2nd. Lockhart had a fairly healthy town square that I loved. If only the weather was more cooperative! It was raining and miserably cold. I have been to New Braunfels before and their "square" is extremely unusual. A gazebo in the middle of a oval roundabout with the courthouse on the outer edge. I would return to both towns again.

  We often stop at antique stores and I was delighted to have found not one; but, six lane mini chests on this trip! Getting six chests let alone one is a very unusual thing to do. We also found an upchucked nightstand (or end table) for $36. We will be fixing it up and re-purposing the item.

  FYI: I plan to blog about our vacation. At least, the loot I ended up with on our vacation! Ha! :-)

• RV Supersale Show

  We are shopping around for a camper and trying to decide which one we would love to have and get. We do have a budget and it is not all there yet. Most likely, we will buy a gently used one because that is the best way to go within our budget. But, it does not hurt to attend these shows and get a first hand look at the campers we may be interested in. There were three campers that we liked. Now, it is a matter of research and looking at other models/brands. We had fun and it was a good "date" if you want to call it a date. Ha!

• Sickness
  • I was sick from January 3rd (evening) through the 6th. I started to recover on the 7th. I am not sure what caused me to crash other than two out-of-town trips (three days at Christmas and the day trip I mentioned above) along with eating food that I do not usually eat including on New Year's Eve with some gluten free food that I never tried before. I did try to stay gluten free while out and about; but, it can be so dang hard! Anyway, I crashed with a terrible headache, body ache and stomach troubles. And, from then on, I slowly but surely recovered with bouts of stomach issues. So, because of this, most of my week was wasted.

  • An incident landed me in the local urgent care just after midnight January 9th. I woke up with my left eye screaming in pain from something - most likely a speck of dust. We tried flushing the eye which was successful in the past; but, it did not help this time around. Dan looked and could not find a thing. Because I was in extreme pain, he / we made the decision to to get me into local urgent care which is open 24/7. They put drops in my eye which deadened the pain and gave me immediate relief. I was still feeling like something was scratching my eye; but, pain killers helped me cope. They could not find anything and flushed the eye out. The doctor mentioned a variety of possibilities including an ulcer and we found that one unbelievable.

    Dan and I talked when we got up in the morning and we both think I must have been rubbing the eye in my sleep scratching the eye causing the pain. I still had aches and the eye area was puffy that morning; but, it was a heck of a lot better. I have medicated eye drops and if I still have issues, I will be seeing an ophthalmologist.

• DIY, Quilting and / or Crafts
  • I framed the five 100 blocks that I won through a recent blog hop by Quiltmaker.
  • I decided to join 2016 Finish-A-Long: Quarter 1 and I will be blogging my list soon to officially join the "party".
• Books

  I managed to start and finish Revenge of the Witch {The Last Apprentice / Wardstone Chronicles #1) while sick. I gave it a 3 (out of 5) on Goodreads. Maybe I am spoilt by all the good books I have read in both child- and adult- hood that makes me think this is not the best writing for young adults. Do not get me wrong. It was a good story with a good plot line and whatnot; but, I think it could have been better. Maybe the author improved with the second book? I will know when I read that one. Yes, I have it. I actually have Seventh Son which contains Books 1 and 2 of the series. By the way, the book is young adult fantasy.