Daily Music Photodumping

019.

by Rachel-Rebecka

Happy 2025! If you’re reading this, I hope you had a wonderful time ringing in the new year. 🙂

My holiday season was nice and quiet. I didn’t get to take much time off from work, but thankfully things at the office were quiet as well. Here are a few shots from Christmas morning:

Santa Baby.
Santa Baby.
Autumn and her new JJ.
More toys to look at.
Sisters.
Sisters in front of the tree.

I made an excellent dinner, which was a big hit with everyone. Charlie helped me out a lot with the cooking this year, and I have to say we make a pretty good team in the kitchen. I’m getting to the point now where I’m getting pretty good at just making the stuffing and whatnot just by memory. I didn’t have to keep digging the recipe cards out of Mom’s big recipe box, which is always a bonus.

I’m excited for next Christmas because I will have hopefully gone through all of the decorations Mom had in storage and I can decorate more this year.

Things have been pretty busy around here. Work has been chaotic, with my boss being primarily in the ER now and also now doing the hospitalist sets. Thankfully I’ve always got work to do, though. February is going to be a big month of catch-up for me, cleaning up files and whatnot, and I’m looking forward to it. Have to make that bank. 🙂

This weekend, I am going to start going through my mom’s books. It’s been almost 3 years now, and it’s been long enough. I’ve decided that I’m going to start in the hallway, and clear out what’s in the hallway first, and then move on to the living room. These two areas shouldn’t take too long and will be a good starting point. My sister has said that she’ll come to help, so fingers crossed for that. I’ll take all the help I can get because my mother’s book collection is extensive and it’s taking up room that we could otherwise utilize. I hate to say that because I love books and am a book lover, but one thing that I have come to realize over the last few years, especially since Mom passed, is that it’s just too much. There is a line, and Mom crossed that line several times and it’s just too much. I’m at the point where I look at even my collection of books and I think that I’ve crossed the line a bit.

2025 is going to be spent getting the house in order. That was my goal the last 2 years in a row, but now that things are more settled and I’ve got a mobile toddler instead of a baby on my hip, things will be easier to get done. Honestly, I’m looking forward to it.

Another goal I have for this year is to continue with my bariatric journey. I only have one more thing to complete for my program referral, which is my CPAP titration, which I am currently in the middle of. I’m going to work on meal planning/prepping and continuing with my nutrition studies. Once the diet is figured out, I can focus on the fitness aspect. I upgraded my Body Groove membership to Lifetime, and there is a lot of different programs on there to work through. Once I get my stamina up, I can think about entering a gym atmosphere. Charlie has said that he’ll help me, and we’ll do it together. I’m forever grateful for his support.

Here is the first of my musical discoveries this year, Kælan Mikla. I am only still on X because of the Gothic Music Videos account, which helps me discover absolute gems. This is my favourite of the songs I’ve listened to so far:

Haunting and lovely, right? Icelandic is such a beautiful language. It makes me miss when Phil and I used to listen to Sigur Rós all the time in high school (and I still do on occasion – Ágætis byrjun is still one of my favourite albums of all time).

Daily

018.

by Rachel-Rebecka

My Spotify Wrapped for this year. No surprises at all, really.

Life has been busy as fuck lately. The last two months have been full of medical appointments and classes for my bariatric program, and when I wasn’t doing that, working on school work, working, or being a mom, I was trying to sleep. Trying, being the keyword, LOL. With all the testing I’ve been doing, not only am I diabetic (thanks Mom), I have severe sleep apnea. I’m waiting for an available machine to proceed with the next phase of my sleep study, which is a CPAP titration. Hopefully, I won’t be waiting for too long, but with Yuletide in two weeks, who knows? My doctor, my dietician and I are making a pretty intense plan to get my diabetes under control. I’m already on a diet and medication, and I just had repeat blood work done, so we’ll see how I’m doing at my next appointment. I know I have already lost a few pounds.

I am so excited for Yule. I’m going to be cramming a lot of joy and activities in the next two weeks. I am determined to enjoy myself this year, regardless of what is going on in the “real world.” This weekend, I am finishing my decorating and cleaning, and then I’m going to do some baking. I need to get the last ingredients for Yuletide dinner and the materials to start wrapping presents. I was so happy listening to my Bing Crosby and Burl Ives earlier, that I burned my knuckle making dinner.

I’m planning to post some of the things that I’m doing. I also have a couple of book reviews that I’m working on, so those will probably go up in the new year when I have a little time to sit down and get my notes together. I have promised myself that I’m going to use this space more in the new year. I know that I always say that, but I am bound and determined to do it this year because I am feeling better, and I have a lot happening that I want to talk about.

Oh! And update to my previous post about the book club meeting with the DGC. It went really, really well and I’m glad that I did it. Depending on what I read this year, I might volunteer myself again.

Latest ear worm:

Daily

017.

by Rachel-Rebecka

I couldn’t find my notebooks. 🙁

I’m going to keep digging, though. They couldn’t have gotten far.

This month has been a bit crazy. Between my course, work, and being a Mom, I haven’t had much room to breathe. I’m not sure if I’m sick, but I’ve been feeling out of sorts, and I’ve been experiencing a weird set of symptoms for the last couple of weeks. Knowing me, it’s probably just fatigue. I have a three-day weekend, so I hope to rest a bit. I have a lot to do around the house, but I’m not going to push myself too hard.

If the rain slows down, I’m hoping to get outside a do a little work in the yard. There is a patch of thistles that have just absolutely exploded this last month and they need to go. Charlie said he’d lend me a pair of his work gloves to rip them out of the ground and I’m kind of looking forward to it. Get some of that ol’ aggression out, you know, LOL.

I volunteered myself to host the October “Witch Stack” book club in DCG. I don’t know why I did… I guess getting into the spirit of getting my little rump out of my comfort zone. At least I can speak about the book I chose, and I think I can speak on the material with some confidence. I chose “The Morrigan” by Courtney Webber. I need to reread the book and make some notes… maybe consult my Raven’s Retreat journal and see if there’s anything I can supplement the notes with. My anxiety is already at work, trying to get me to back out, and list all of the reasons why I should. I’m determined to see this through. Even if it turns out to be me just blubbering at the camera, or giving the deer-in-headlights look, at least I will be able to say that I tried.

I really need to get to bed. It’s Friday tomorrow, my dudes.

LOL. Good night.