December Goal Update!

This year K-State gave us the week between Christmas and New Year's off, so Happy Holidays to us! Seeing how I completed most of my yearly tasks in November I didn't have a whole lot of motivation for this month. So I relaxed, enjoyed the Christmas decorations, went to the gym and spent couch time with my Purl. The house is a little bit of a wreck but that might be a sign of a good holiday. 

Next post is 2021 goals! I had to make them a little more challenging, I don't need to be coasting into every December. LOL 

2020 Goals 

Read 12 Books: DONE SEPT.  2020 13/12 

After starting a couple of books and never finishing them I did finish a book this month. I read Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno Garcia. It was a clever piece of fiction that had some juicy twists and turns. It was what I needed after trying to be good and read some non fiction. Every once in awhile you just need a haunted house story. It is what it is!  

Knit 4 Things (and no new yarn!): DONE Oct. 2020 9/4

I ended up making one more hat this month for my niece's Christmas. her school color is purple and I knit up my favorite pattern for her! I was afraid it would be too big but I actually could have made it just a touch larger. She takes after the rest of us and has a big noggin. 

Make 2 Quilts :DONE May 2020

Run 600 Miles:  DONE NOV 2020 668

Dec. 2020 727

I ran 59 miles this month! I expected my mileage to fall off but it never got really cold like it usually does. I didn't do long weekend runs but I was able to run 3-4 times a week. I also kept up with my gym classes. So I ended the year with 727 miles! That is 127 miles over my 2020 goal. I'll take it! 

 

Save 2,000 Dollars: DONE April 2020 

I was able to save 108 dollars this month. I looked back at 2019 and I only saved 50 last December. I was a little disappointed with this number because I had purchased all of my Christmas gifts in November but then the microwave broke. So, I had to allocate funds to a new microwave. When I think about that, I'm glad I was able to save as much as I did. Now all I need is a new fridge to have all new appliances in my kitchen! 

I ended the year saving 3,500 dollars! 1,500 over my goal! 

5 House Projects: In 2021 this will be money projects. A few things for the house and a few other things that I've been needing to take care of. 

Put in a ceiling light in living room:  Done May 
Put in a ceiling light in my bedroom office
Get a new stove: Done Feb
Remove a scraggly tree Done September 
Plant two new trees  Done October 

Almost 200 more miles than last year and 30 seconds faster on pace! Whew! 

I need to get longer arms so I can get all of Daryl in the picture next year! 

2020 Christmas

 It has been over for a couple of days, but the Christmas hangover is starting to clear. I'm wearing my new slippers and ready to blog it out. What a great holiday to end the year. Food (check), Presents (check), Family (check) and remembering to put out the trash(). So you can't have everything! 

Christmas morning the boys got to open their presents form me and Santa. I think the favorites was the Gravy Cat Man merch for Alex and the Muck Boots for Daryl. I got a Mom mug from Alex and a Dunder Mifflin hat from Daryl, so my Christmas was fantastic! My present to me was an amazing Shark vacuum that I've wanted for years. Buy the expensive vacuum people, it's worth every penny! 

Then the Stiles and Browns joined us for more celebrating. It was so much fun that I will just let the pictures speak for themselves. It has been a year since we have been together and I missed all of their faces! Another Christmas in the books, next post will be New Year goals! I can't wait! 

The original gang! 

The Dino hand puppets were also a hit! 

Gravy Cat Man! 

Check out those boots! 

I love my mug, Grandma Rosie helped him go get it! <3

This is fitting since we watched The Office a lot this year! 

Henry is going to be taller than me next year! 

Why don't people dress for dinner anymore?

I was so proud of how Purl handled all the company! 

My buddy Charlie! 

A Christmasy Weekend

 It's been hard to pin point why Christmas has snuck up on me this year. But looking through old blogs I realized we are missing big things that put me in the spirit. The big one is school programs. I love seeing the kids at school with all their friends, dressed for the holiday. There is usually a work Christmas party and a few friends parties. So this weekend we elevated the Holiday Spirit! 

On Friday, we popped pop corn, made hot chocolate and headed out to Lake Shawnee for Winter Wonderland. It is always great and this year was no different. We took the long way home and looked at lights on the way back. 

Today, we broke into our gingerbread train kit. I was kinda expecting it to fail, but we followed the directions and it stood! The boys did a really good job and they ate it the minute after I took pictures. 

This week the first medical professionals in Topeka received the new Covid vaccine. I watched it happen on Facebook live and I let out a sigh of relief I didn't even know I was holding in. If we can get through Christmas and New Years hopefully we will all be back together for the 4th of July! What an independence day it will be! 

Meerpohl Express!

I made the engine :-) 

I think ours turned out better than the box!

 

It's Been 12 years!

 I know people are busy, but I haven't gotten one card for my Blogaversary today. LOL! Meerpohl Manor had it's first post 12 years ago (http://meerpohlmanor.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-first-blog.html). It is officially the longest relationship I've ever had.....LOL! 

I haven't had much to post about lately. The boys are on remote school, so they never leave the house. With it getting dark so soon, I don't want to leave either! We did do a thing over the past two days. We made gingerbread cookies. I realize this doesn't take the average joe two days but when the recipe needs you to chill the dough, you are just asking for me to forget about the project! 

Alex helped roll and cut out the cookies. We all frosted! It was a lot of fun and yes, they taste as good as they look. I'm the kinda mom that makes Christmas cookies with her kids, that's new! 

I hope you all are doing well out there, in so many ways, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! 

Here's to 12 more years of documenting this crazy family of mine! 

I think they turned out great! 

Daryl frosted one cookie, ate it
frosted another, ate it....you get the picture!

Alex also made cupcakes this week, he would bake every day!

I did a self portrait of me yelling. It's my baking aura.