2025: A Year in Review
Dec. 31st, 2025 08:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archer1. Bought the Hummingbird Cottage.
2. Resolved to read a book from my TBR shelf each month. Happy to say I have kept this resolution! Also kept the sister resolution to read purchased books in a timely manner rather than add them to the TBR shelf to languish.
3. Moved into the Hummingbird Cottage.
4. Started work on my garden. This was not wholly successful - the already established mint has unfortunately completely gotten away from me - but I did manage to grow a nice array of herbs, and at least planted two cherry tomato plants, which I think got a little too much shade to flourish as they should. A beginning at least!
5. Learned how to cross stitch and completed MANY cross stitches. (Bsky thread with photos of my cross stitches.) Highlights include the Halloween cat, the fat red bird, and the unfinished trio of Puss in Boots. I have completed Puss Putting on Cape and Puss Putting on Boots but not yet Puss in Full Regalia with Plumed Hat… Then I needed some emergency Christmas presents so I ended up giving them all away and will need to begin the Puss in Boots trio all over again.
6. Finished the Newbery project! This has been either seven or twenty-five years in the making, depending how you’re counting.
7. Roasted a duck.
8. Made marshmallows! A friend sent me homemade marshmallows over a decade ago, and I’ve been chasing that homemade marshmallow high ever since.
9. All Christmas Book Advent, during which I read nothing but Christmas books during the advent season. Successful AGAINST MY WILL, as I attempted to break my vow on December 24, only to discover that the book with which I intended to break my vow started on Christmas Eve. Have considered this challenge for years so glad that I gave it a go, but have established to my own satisfaction that All Christmas Books is Too Many Christmas Books for me.
10. Picture Book Advent! In which I checked out 24 Christmas picture books from the library, wrapped them up under the tree, and opened one to read each day. I enjoyed this so much that I intend to make it a yearly tradition. Already planning to cross-stitch little Advent tags numbering 1 to 24.
2. Resolved to read a book from my TBR shelf each month. Happy to say I have kept this resolution! Also kept the sister resolution to read purchased books in a timely manner rather than add them to the TBR shelf to languish.
3. Moved into the Hummingbird Cottage.
4. Started work on my garden. This was not wholly successful - the already established mint has unfortunately completely gotten away from me - but I did manage to grow a nice array of herbs, and at least planted two cherry tomato plants, which I think got a little too much shade to flourish as they should. A beginning at least!
5. Learned how to cross stitch and completed MANY cross stitches. (Bsky thread with photos of my cross stitches.) Highlights include the Halloween cat, the fat red bird, and the unfinished trio of Puss in Boots. I have completed Puss Putting on Cape and Puss Putting on Boots but not yet Puss in Full Regalia with Plumed Hat… Then I needed some emergency Christmas presents so I ended up giving them all away and will need to begin the Puss in Boots trio all over again.
6. Finished the Newbery project! This has been either seven or twenty-five years in the making, depending how you’re counting.
7. Roasted a duck.
8. Made marshmallows! A friend sent me homemade marshmallows over a decade ago, and I’ve been chasing that homemade marshmallow high ever since.
9. All Christmas Book Advent, during which I read nothing but Christmas books during the advent season. Successful AGAINST MY WILL, as I attempted to break my vow on December 24, only to discover that the book with which I intended to break my vow started on Christmas Eve. Have considered this challenge for years so glad that I gave it a go, but have established to my own satisfaction that All Christmas Books is Too Many Christmas Books for me.
10. Picture Book Advent! In which I checked out 24 Christmas picture books from the library, wrapped them up under the tree, and opened one to read each day. I enjoyed this so much that I intend to make it a yearly tradition. Already planning to cross-stitch little Advent tags numbering 1 to 24.
