Offshoot of the List - The Etsy Store - Beta!

Holy Crud that was harder than I expected to do in a month. I had a lot to learn in a short amount of time, but I got it done. Adventures In Life is up and running! Right now I have my friend Meg testing on delivery time to make sure that is true to what is promised and testing that everything is hooked up correctly. My goal is by end of February to have over 50 designs up, to feel confident in everything and to go full hog.

But I did it! And that feels pretty awesome. Went live on January 31st.

Completed! #125 - Read 100 Books in a Year

I did cut it close, I have to say. But I did do it. 105 books in total. And for 2024 I am making it 105 books. It feels good to have accomplished this one. I love to read and I love my books. And it has inspired me to do something a bit crazy.

I am going to start an ETSY STORE!!!

I am going to start with just mugs and I am going to sell mugs with phrases and quotes from authors, books and famous people who have written and maybe I will branch out from there. I am going to give myself until January 31st to get it set up. But I I’m going to do it!

Why not? What’s the worst that happens? It fails? So what. I have made a bigger ass out of myself than that before so pish posh. Life is for adventuring and I might as well try. And there are too many wonderful words that can help people get through the day, and horrible meetings, to not at least give it a go.

In Process #79 - Learn to use my camera

I am taking a Michigan State Coursera course on photography so I can better use my camera. I want to be able to take better photos. My photos can be okay, but they are not solid.

Sometimes I can get framing and flow, but not always.

Or use lighting effectively to help tell the story, but I can get WAY better. And if I want to expand my skills with photoshop, which I am also taking a certification in at the moment, I have to also get better at photography. Photoshop can only help so far with the picture. Otherwise I might as well just create in Photoshop.

In Process - #66 - Speak Easy Convo with Wela in Spanish

Duolingo and Spanish Lessons

I have been bad as of late. Like horribly bad. Like not just fell of the wagon but rolled down the hill, into the river, through the woods, down the pasture, into the pond, through the wheat field, into the manager, onto the hay and took a nap.

I need to get at this. I need to recommit. So as of today. Spanish lessons with my teacher every Wednesday. Duolingo every morning and evening. No excuses. Recommitting. Any day I miss, I put $5 into the donation jar.

In Process - #62 - Sing in Front of People

I started this a bit of go and ended up needing to cancel due to my weird schedule but I need to give a solid shout out. For a while, I was taking lessons from a wonderful gentleman named Alex Stokes. Though there are people in my life who could probably give me singing lessons, frankly I am not confident as a singer by any stretch. So the idea of any of these people having to put up with my voice, even if I am paying them, felt cruel.

Now, I know what you are thinking, Diane, if your voice is that horrid, then why would do that to a stranger? Ah, that is part of the issue. I know my voice is technically not THAT bad. I have issues. I fully acknowledge that. Anyway, Alex was great. He was lovely, really helped me to gave some confidence and work on stretching back open my vocal range. If interested - https://stylemindlessons.com/

In Process - #4 Family Cookbook

Been gathering recipes from the family and from friends. Part of the issue is simply time. There is so much to do. Part of it is not just the cooking but also editing and photos and then photo-editing. It is a great excuse to learn new skills which I love, don’t get me wrong. But it is a lot.

Given that, I might hire out on this one. I am going to give myself to July to noodle on this one and then consider hiring.

There is a certain young lady I know that would be solid at this sort of thing and I know would certainly help. I am a bit of a control freak for sure, but it would be lovely to have this ready to go for Christmas and the only way this is going to happen is if I get my behind in gear for sure.

In Process #39 - Run a 10 Minute Mile with no Knee Pain

Morning Walks Habit and Nose Breathing

I have been trying to get in the habit of walking every morning for at least 2 miles daily and focusing on breathing purely through my nose. I am not focused on speed but on consistency and on belly breathing and keeping my mouth closed. Since right now I am working on getting more flexibility in my joints so my knee doesn’t have to over compensate I know I have time and I want to make sure I have this as a comfort response.

The biggest issue I have had on running is that quite often I will cut it because of work. Yet it is one of the best things to help me deal with work. So I want to focus on building it in to be such a muscle memory that it is not an issue. This is always hard because I am stereotypical ADHD in that way. Habits are hard. I can do something for years and then not do it for a day and then I’m done. So I am purposely trying to make this not a “habit” but a comfort response. I have been twirling my hair since I was 1 year old. I have never been able to break it. I cut my hair into a pixie. When it grew back, so did the twirling. I want running to be that. It’s good for me physically and mentally. So I am trying to build it into my life like that so it becomes twirling hair level.

It might sound silly, but I need something like this. Portable, easy, solo. It’s the right move.

In Process #39 and # 42 - Run a 10 Mile with no knee pain & Do the Splits

I signed up for Stretchlab and have been working with a person to address the issues that are actually causing my knee pain. The issues are more around my hips, ankles and calves aka everything BUT my knees. but it is working.

What is funny is that in the short time that this has been going on the amount of flexibility that is coming back is also amazing. The muscle memory is there as well. And that is uplifting. It gives me a lot of hope that it won’t be that hard to get a lot of things I “used to do” back. And the fact that I hurt my wrists that have unfortunately prevented aspects such as weight training might be useful because by first focusing on my flexibility, I might be able to have an easier time keeping my flexibility while I build muscle back up instead of trying to get flexibility back after it has tightened through strengthening.

I am really excited!!!