Hello, 2023. It’s Me, Jennibee.

Hello again, my friends.

I’m another year older and, hopefully, another year wiser. As per usual, time has flown in the blink of an eye. I’m now trying to remember all the good, bad, and wonderful things that have happened in this last year.

Although I can’t give a complete recap of my life, I can give a few updates for those of you who need a sneak peak.

Here’s What Happened

For consistency’s sake, I figured I would keep the same format as last year’s New Year’s Post. It makes it easier to see what I managed (or failed) to achieve.

Major Events

Although I wouldn’t say these events changed my life significantly, these events were memorable enough for me to note:

I Finally Caught Covid.

Well, it happened. I suppose Covid was inevitable at this point. I have stayed on top of all my boosters. But once my daughter started school, I caught one sickness after another and my immune system took a hit. First I caught stomach flu, then I caught Covid. I followed Covid with a nasty cold that lasted for several weeks. I’m feeling okay, for the present, and I’m hoping that this year will bring fewer illnesses.

I’m in the Clear for Cancer.

In 2021, one of my biggest stressors was an enlarged lymph node. I had it checked for cancer and was cancer free. However, doctor was concerned about its size and had me come in multiple times to check its progress. At the end of 2022, he finally gave me the thumbs up that everything was looking okay and that I wouldn’t have to come in again unless it became uncomfortable during an illness. I’ve been sick several times in the last few months and saw no visible swelling of my lymph nodes, so I am officially in the clear.

I Paid Off My Credit Card.

I finally did it. Ever since Lily was born, our credit card debt has been a constant problem that we’ve been whittling away at. After our latest tax return, we managed to pay off our credit card – and it was a wonderful feeling for about one month.

I Vacationed at Disneyland.

Did I mention that I paid off my credit card? It’s kind of laughable how short lived that experience was. We decided that we could handle a trip to Disneyland with our daughter, and it was delightful. We splurged and indulged. Our family even visited Lego Land and the beach as well.

But, trips like that cost a lot of money. Not long after the trip, our dog Frankie needed dental work, my husband needed a new desk, and then a new computer. Then our car needed new tires, our cat needed dental work, my phone needed replacement, and before I knew it, the credit card debt piled up back to where it was several years ago. Looks like I have the same old goal to pay off debts this year.

New Things I Tried

New hobbies give my life the little extra spice and pizazz that give me energy and keep me going. I pursued a lot of my same interests from last year, but I also added a few more projects to my ever-growing pile of things to do:

I Made Macarons.

As promised last year, I made macarons. I tried multiple times to varying degrees of success. I have not, however, mastered their making. My oven is finicky, at best, and I struggled to find the correct temperature and baking time to ensure beautiful cookies every time. I either overbaked or under baked them, but they still tasted delicious. More macarons are definitely in my future – I want to master the basics and then play around with different frostings and flavors.

I Made Preschool Printables.

This was a project that I started and then I never had time to finish. I managed to make a set of pages for the numbers 1 through 3, but then my daughter graduated preschool and started kindergarten and my schedule changed to accommodate hers. I do plan to keep going with these printables, but it will take a while. Maybe if I have another child, he or she may enjoy them in the future.

I Made Doughnuts.

This hobby came out of a desire to use up my sourdough discard. I thought doughnuts would be fun, so I added another DASH product to my inventory. No, this is not a paid promotion. Their products are simply fun and easy to use. I thoroughly loved the results, and I’ll be sharing some of the new doughnut recipes that I created this year.

I Made Yogurt.

In my attempt to lose weight and eat healthier, I’ve been making a lot of smoothies and parfaits. But after a while, I realized that I was spending a lot of money on yogurt, and a lot of my favorite yogurts had a great deal of sugar and added ingredients that were making my so-called “healthy” recipes less healthy than I had originally thought. So, I figured I would attempt to make my own – and now I’m never going back to store-bought yogurt. Homemade yogurt is just too tasty and too versatile.

What Will Happen Next?

Here’s the part where I use my psychic abilities to predict my upcoming year. It’s all guesswork and conjecture, of course, but it’s fun to think about nonetheless:

I’m Going to Make an eBook.

Alright, this was one of my failed goals from last year. I thought I would make an ebook of my preschool printables, and I still might. And I thought I would put together all my bread recipes from my bread blog, but I still haven’t hit the 50 recipe mark like I thought I would. Turns out some recipes take me longer than 2 weeks to perfect – go figure. I still want to make an eBook this year if I can, but I’m not going to stress about it if it doesn’t happen.

I’m Going to Try Hydroponics.

This was a hobby that I only loosely envisioned for when I had a bigger house that I could do more prepping for. I liked the idea of having a big indoor garden that I could keep in a basement and grow veggies with year round. But I don’t have a basement, and while I’d love to upgrade our house, the housing market is awful, so I didn’t think this hobby would happen so soon. However, my parents gave me a small hydroponics plant growing machine that could fit on my dresser, so I’m going to use it to start tomatoes for my garden this year from my bedroom. If the tomatoes are successful, I’ll try growing strawberries after that.

I’m Going to Play Games.

I know this is a silly goal to put here – after all, I play games anyway. But this year, I want to stress less and zen out more, and one of my go-to relaxing hobbies is to play video games. This year, I have a lot of fun games to look forward to including Hogwarts Legacy*, Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and Final Fantasy 7 Part 2.

What Are Your Plans This Year?

I love hearing what my friends, family, and readers are up to – it seems like I always have new things to catch up on. If you have some fun plans for this year, let me know in the comments below.

*As an Amazon associate, I share affiliate links from time to time. Purchases result in a small commission that helps keep my site running. My opinions are my own, however, and I do not get paid for recommending specific products.