HELLO DECEMBER!

Good morning and let's give a warm welcome to December - yes, a warm welcome!  Fall has been unusually chilly, but I'm still hoping we don't have too cold of a winter.  I don't really care for being cold...or too hot.  Somewhere in the middle is where I like to be.  Unfortunately, I can't always have it my way, but thank goodness for sweaters and hot chocolate!

I know.  I've been terrible at this posting thing, but at least I can say that I've been keeping up with blogging at least monthly whereas before, I hardly even had much of a blog at all.  Hey!  I have an excuse you know - I've been adjusting to a new job and my schedule has been crazy hectic with all the training and certifications that are needed for my job.  The holidays are busy enough by themselves, aren't they?

Speaking of which, here are a couple of post Thanksgiving pictures...

Yes, I know - I ate like a pig and I'm also aware that big ol' piece of turkey fat is extremely bad.

Here were all the leftovers that Jay's parents sent home with us...

All in all, it was a pretty good Thanksgiving.  I managed to get off from work even though I was suppose to be on the schedule for it.  I'm trying to get either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day off for Christmas as I'm currently on the schedule for those two days as well as New Years Eve and New Years Day.  It would be nice to have at least one day off for the holidays to spend with family seeing as how I'm currently on the schedule for all the holidays in December.  So, I guess we'll see...

I'm feeling a little bit better with my whole chest pain situation.  I had a doctor's appointment on the 28th of last month and the doctor said that my heart and lungs look good from a structural standpoint...whatever that's suppose to mean.  So I guess everything looks pretty good is what I'm guessing.  He just wants me to take Prilosec daily for my acid reflux and there is a chance that I might have to go for a upper GI endoscopy if I'm still struggling with it in a couple of months.

I'm trying to get a lot more things in order over the next couple of months.  This month, we have to focus making it through Jay being laid off for three weeks in December.  I'm also going to work on getting this house organized to our liking.  We've been here for about 7 months and this house is a complete and utter mess - it's not like we didn't have an excuse...it's been hectic between buying the house, learning all our new bills, me changing jobs, and both getting our new cars.  However, there is no excuse anymore as things are becoming more and more routine and our schedules are starting to balance out better.  Besides, it's the end of the year - it's a good thing to get rid of all the junk hanging around and bring in the New Year on a fresh, clean start.

With that being said, I've already worked on quite a few things this year that quite honestly, I wasn't planning on working on.  I honestly didn't have much hope or expectation for this year at all, but since I'm doing so well at making positive changes, I want to keep it up.  What are five things that you want to improve in the upcoming year 2018?

Here are my 5 things...

1. Improve my relationship with Jay

2. Improve the quality of care/professionalism for my individuals at my job

3. Work on spending less and saving more

4. Work on healthier eating habits and begin exercising 

5. Get my spare room set up to gain my own personal space

Lastly, going back to December and even more so, it being winter - what do you look forward to when it comes to winter?

I look forward to wearing cute boots, comfy sweaters and scarfs, how the trees change pretty shades of burnt orange and crimson red, hot cocoa, and the sweet smell of pines and spices.  I tend to cook/bake more in the winter as well - I think it's all about those comfort foods when it comes to winter as well as making a homemade chicken noodle soup - nothing is better than that... ;)