10 on the 10th: January 2024!

Here’s the weather report for this week. I woke up on Sunday to a couple of inches of snow on the ground. Nigel had hurt his calf or ankle; it changes places. 🤦Our very good neighbors are recovering from a bout of Covid so I shoveled our driveway as well as theirs. Needless to say, both men protested, but there’s just no stopping me at times. At the time, the weather forecast was calling for additional snow through Wednesday. As usual, the weather report was wrong, and the snow was gone by the end of the day. We’ve had a little more but mainly rain. Next week, the temperatures are to be absolutely frigid. My feeling always is, if it’s going to be cold, we might as well have lots of snow!

Well, Christmas has come and gone. We had a taco themed meal, and no one complained. Almost all the leftovers went home with the kids. I finally made Christmas cookies. Last week, my oldest granddaughter came over and we made “holiday” cookies as she pulled out cookie cutters for all the holidays. Today, I made a new recipe. My mom always made date nut pinwheels. I’ve made them a couple of times, but I don’t like the rolling and cutting part. These were, basically, oatmeal cookies filled with a date mixture. I have never tried any date cookies. I don’t need to discover I like them! Nigel says they’re as good as my sugar cookies. Jack waited patiently for any scraps that might have fallen (there weren’t). Anyway, I do hope you’ll play along with this month’s 10 on the 10th! Please either link up your post (and any others you’d like), comment, or email me your answers.

Without further ado…

  • In my journey toward a healthier life, I would like to learn more about yoga.  Nigel and I have begun doing chair yoga.  I thought it would be a walk in the park.  By the end of a couple of them, I am sweating!  My Frankenfoot almost always goes into spasms as its muscles are messed up so badly.
  • This is the year I hope to leave disappointment, anger, and resentment behind me.  I thought I had a big adventure on the horizon, but I discovered the plan had changed.  I was disappointed, angry, humiliated, and extremely hurt by the entire thing.  I’m trying really hard to realize my anger and bitterness are hurting me and no one else. 
  • This might very well be a cheat, but I’m using it!  I’m in the midst of creating a mini-retreat for the women of our church.  I suppose we would welcome guys to it, but none have ever asked to come.  The theme is time, and, of course, I have a huge list of songs that have to do with time.  I also have to create a booklet for participants.  I write both (my presentation and the booklet) at the same time so I keep things cohesive. I think I’m going to ask my youngest to put together a “mix tape” of those songs. 
  • Do you suppose this will be the year I actually finish a knitted sweater?  I’m counting on it.  Jodie and I are going to knit “virtually.”  Maybe she can give me some pointers so I can figure out how to finish a couple of them.
  • I’m fairly proficient at most needle arts, but I’d love to learn how to weave.  I’ve even got plans for a small loom.  The problem always is what do you do with everything you create! 
  • Going back to my WOTY, I’d love to travel (Journey) somewhere other than Indiana, Kentucky, or Ohio.  It’s been so long since I’ve actually gone anywhere exciting.  COVID definitely wrecked my retirement plans. But, at least, I’m alive.
  • I’m hoping to create a flower garden of some kind in our backyard.  We don’t have a lot of real estate there, but the hump has lots of bare spots.  I kind of like the clean lines of it, but I also miss planting seeds and experiencing the joy of seeing plants poke through the soil.
  • I want to learn how to make Instagram reels like my friend, Irene, Loving Life in Colour, does.  They are so fun, and she tells me they aren’t that difficult.
  • My youngest has been after me to take a stained glass class.  I’ve always been interested in it, but, like I said in #5, what do you do with everything.  I really am intrigued by the idea, though.
Nothing quite this elaborate, though!
  • In my journey to use up lots of yarn, I think I’m going to try to make one of the Christmas stockings designed by Arne and Carlos.  I’ve been steadily using up yarn with scrapghans, but I could always buy more in the right colors!

Wrap it up, Marsha!

One of these months, I’m going to write my answers and then come up with the questions! As always, I had to really think to come up with my ten things. I counted and actually have 10 this time! I will admit I am not one to make plans months out. Maybe, I need to start adding things to my calendar so I actually do them. I should have made that one of my points, right? So, can we talk? Are you a planner? Do you already have your gardens planned for the year? Or, do you fly by the seat of your pants (like me)? Please leave me a comment or two, and we can talk. I promise to answer as soon as possible.

Where you can find me:

Linking up with Nancy’s Fashion Style,  Fine-Whatever, Is This Mutton, Shelbee on the Edge, Chez Mireile, The Grey Brunette, and Away from the Blue as well as Deb’s World and A Fresh Cup of Coffee. I also link up with This Blonde’s Shopping Bag, Doused in Pink, I do deClaire, Mummabstylish, and Style Splash. Please check out these wonderful ladies and their blogs! I also am a co-host for Ageless Style on the third Thursday of the month and Songful Style on the last Monday of the month. I co-host Traffic Jam Weekend every Thursday with Melynda, Lisa, and Sue. I also host Final Fridays on the last Friday of the month as well as 10 on the 10th on the 10th of the month! I do hope you’ll check out all of these blogs and link parties!

Don’t have a blog?

Don’t worry! You can always leave all or some of your answers in the comments! If you don’t want to do that, you might discover a new blog! Blog friends, if you’d rather not participate, please share this party with others so we have lots of links!

And, now, it’s your turn!

Please link up your favorite 10 on the 10th posts as well as baking, cooking, decorating, fashion, DIY! If there’s a category I’ve left out and it’s family friendly, please feel free to include it! Please do visit some of the links! If you don’t have a blog, here is your chance to find a new one! You can also drop all or some of your answers in the comments!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

25 Comments

  1. Hi Marsha, letting go of anger and bitterness is difficult although if you do yoga that could help. I’m sorry your plans didn’t come to fruition but life may have other interesting and exciting plans for you. Take care and I love your mini retreat that you are planning. Time was my WOTY last year and it was a helpful guide. Your list of 10 things are all doable and now you’ve inspired me to maybe write my 10. thanks for sharing and hosting the 10 on the 10th link up. x

    • Thanks, Sue! We are enjoying the yoga so far. I would rather go to a studio for classes, but Mike wouldn’t do that. So, I’m content to do them here at home with him. I have been making good progress on my mini retreat, and I’d better because I think it’s in March! I do hope you’ll join us for 10 on the 10th any month you want!

  2. Oo I hope you do plan a grand new adventure!

    Your mini-retreat sounds lovely! My church does not do them and I was looking around to see if we had any women’s retreats around here that I could go to maybe in the spring. If not, I might just go on a weekend trip alone, to read and reflect and relax.

    I would like to learn how to make reels too. I am not good at them. LOL

    • Thanks, Erin! I am really hoping to get Mike to Michigan this summer. Our church started doing them about five or six years ago, but they were kind of expensive to buy all the materials. I volunteered to do the first one (A Mad Hatter’s Tea) which would have been in the spring of 2020! We finally did it in 2022. Last year, we did something about sparkling. I invite you to come, but I know it would be difficult. Maybe, I could email you the booklet once the retreat is over?

      So many people are so good at those reels. I figure I should be able to do it, but I get so nervous which is weird because I have absolutely no problem talking to a group of 50 or 60 people.

  3. At the beginning of 2020 I had hoped to travel more out of the country. Those plans certainly got blocked by many things since then!

    • Oh, Dara, I hear you. We had been right on the brink of planning a cruise and decided against it at the last minute. It would have been the fall of 2020.

      Thanks, Dara, for coming by!

  4. I’m running behind this month but hope to write my 10 things soon!! Your mini retreat sounds great – I hope you will tell us more about it!

    • Lisa, feel free to write your 10 things whenever. The link party won’t close until next Wednesday. I am making lots of progress on the presentation. I’m always worried I’ll be called out for the fraud I am! The women attending know the Bible so much better than I do.

      Thanks!

  5. “I’m trying really hard to realize my anger and bitterness are hurting me and no one else.” This is a lesson I am trying to learn too.

    Those cookies sound really delicious. I am not a fan of raisins, but I’d be willing to try dates.

    A mix tape of those songs sounds like so much fun! That would really add to the study!

    I would love to have a flower garden as well. Our backyard should be all flowers. I know we could do it if we just put our minds to it but we seem to get distracted easily in this family.

    Also, I am a half-planner and half pantser – in life and writing. Sometimes I plan and sometimes I just figure it out as I go. I should probably plan more actually. Haahaha!

    • Thanks, Lisa! I get to this point where I’m feeling fine about the situation, and then, something stirs up those feelings again. And, yeah, I’m the only one who is being hurt by my feelings.

      Mike loves the cookies so much I have to warn him not to eat too many as they are oatmeal cookies, after all! And, I don’t like raisins, either. I used to add them to my oatmeal cookies thinking I wouldn’t eat them…I just poked them out and ate the cookie part.

      If anyone can create a mix tape for me, it’s my youngest son. I just need to gather up the songs and have him create it.

      I really am thinking I’ll add wildflowers to our hump because I love the way that photo I used looks.

      Planning is my nemesis. I had to do so much of it when I was teaching. After almost 12 years of retirement, the idea of planning just doesn’t play into my life. I started writing down appointments and such and felt quite accomplished. I have never been one to carry around a calendar or anything like that. We must be related!

  6. Enjoyed your ’10 on the 10th’ roundup! Excited for more monthly highlights.

    Candice x

    theblogsocial.com

  7. Wait, I need to see that stocking pattern. I used to have a book, but I think i leant it out and never got it back. I KNOW I didn’t purge it.
    I’m so looking forward to our knitting fun,
    XOOX
    Jodie

    • I think it’s in my craft folder in my email so I’ll have to print it out. Do you think we’ll get much knitting done?

  8. Pingback:10 things I want to learn or accomplish this year - Kita Bryant

  9. That mini retreat sounds glorious and so needed I miss doing things like that and fellowshipping with others. I am so not crafty but wish I had learned some type of craft to do on the side. My mom could knit, sew, cross stitch and everything. It skipped me and went to my daughter because she is crafty.

    • Well, you’re certainly welcome to come to Indiana in March! It’s amazing how much we find we need that interaction, isn’t it! Thanks so much, Kita!

  10. Oh, now I wish I’d added Instagram Reels to my list too. I see so many creative ones and I’m like why can’t I do that??

    How fun that you’re creating a retreat for the ladies at your church. Having music to go along with the lessons sounds like so much fun.

    • Hahaha!! And, yet there’s a part of me that really doesn’t want to do that because I’d really rather blog than do Instagram!

      This will be my third retreat…I really need to just sit down and finish it instead of visiting it for a bit and then going away from it.

      Thanks, Daenel!

  11. Hi Marsha, thanks for mentioning my blog and linking up with Twenty-Six Lists! I’ve linked up here too but I never counted how many items are on my list! haha Your plans and dreams sound like fun, and quite manageable. The time-themed retreat sounds like a winner – I hope it’s fun and meaningful for all who attend!

    • You’re welcome, Kym! Oh, don’t worry about numbers. I think last month or the one before, I only had nine which confused so many people!

      I’m hoping my retreat goes well. I need to finish it first…eeek!

  12. Marsha, this was such a fun prompt to start the year. I love that you and Nigel are giving yoga a try! I swear it has helped me in countless ways. I stick mostly with yin yoga which is way gentler and easier than other types of yoga. And remember to always adjust any of the poses if they are hurting you. We do not have to and should not push our bodies to the breaking point like many of us do when we are younger. We only get one body and I have learned to take the utmost care of mine! I love that you and Jodie are doing some virtual knitting. How fun is that! And I hear you about where to put all the stuff you create. My stuff is going to the flea market upon completion!

    Shelbee

    • Thanks, Shelbee! We warm up with Adrienne’s chair yoga and then move onto one of two others. I want to get yoga mats so we can move on to doing other practices. I do have to adjust sometimes because my left hip goes into spasms sometimes. But, I can already tell I’ve gained a bit of stretch that wasn’t there before. Well, I can’t really knit and talk so I crochet. Jodie, though, can knit fast! I have thought about selling stuff, but I don’t work that fast!

  13. A very nice there. Thanks for sharing it.