An Imperfect Christian Mom's COVID 19 Diary #16 & Final

 

Here we are at the end of 2020. Hasn't it been a long road to get here? 

Our celebrations will look different. Who would ever think Times Square would be a ghost town on New Year's Eve? 

Our lives have been forever changed by this pandemic. By this time of the year, we all know someone who has or had COVID. Maybe we had COVID. Perhaps we have lost someone we love to COVID. 

Paul (hubby), Harry (father-in-law), & Steve (brother-in-law)

Some of us lost our jobs or closed our businesses. As I drove down Route 20 the other day, I saw a public auction sign in front of one of my favorite town restaurants on the water whose owners had to close down. How difficult that must have been for them. 

After one of the most contentious elections in my lifetime, claims of fraud, lawsuits, and even an expected challenge of the Electoral College results will define the most recent election cycle; leaving the American people the big losers in a political power struggle that has waged for decades. It seems forever ago that the politicians, who spend more time squabbling with each other than serving their constituents, stood shoulder to shoulder and sang "God Bless America." Oh, that they may find the desire to work together that they felt after the attacks on September 11, 2001. 

As we close the door on 2020, I ask you to join me in praying for this country and for people across the world. Let us pray that the leaders across the globe work toward peace. Let us pray love and kindness will reign in the new year. Let us pray we all lead with a servant's heart and help each other in times of need. Let us pray for health and happiness and healing. 

Wishing you a blessed New Year!

Task it Tuesday - Dec 29

Originally created by The Geeky Blogger, Task it Tuesday is a weekly meme to help you--and me--get things done. The challenge is to post a task or list of tasks you want to complete before next Tuesday. These tasks can help you with your blogging life, reading life, personal or professional life.

This is my last Task it Tuesday. I hope you have enjoyed following along as I did my best to balance my professional and personal lives. Sometimes I succeeded. Other times I failed. Either way, I am happy for the journey. 

Here is what last week looked like:

• Daily Bible reading--Five days
• Walking five days--Three days
• Market new edition of A Christmas Kindness--Ongoing
• Send out family and friends holiday cards--Nope
• Blog at Christian Children's Authors and 4RV Reading, Writing, & Art News--Done
• Look into a new publisher for my GAP books--moving to January 2021
• Look into getting a small dumpster--moving to January 2021
• Put up the last tree and put out my Santa and angel collections--Done
• Bake something special--Cinnamon rolls
• Wrap remaining gifts--Done
• Play a board game with the kids--Not yet
• Read, write, or both--I read some

For my last to-do list of 2020, I am making a few changes that may take multiple weeks.

• Daily Bible reading at 7 am
• Walking five days
• Reconsider author website and add an editing page
• Update my Sphere of Influence mailing list
• Design a new real estate logo 
• Research new publisher for my GAP books
• Study for my MA Real Estate Broker's test
• Complete my NC Real Estate Post-licensing education
• Update my real estate leads spreadsheet
• Schedule one week off and order a dumpster to complete cleaning the house

I am sure I will think of more as I set my goals for 2021 (not that they aren't brewing in my head already), but this is a good start.

Thanks for your loyal readership. I hope you will check out my other blogs.

Mailbox Monday - Dec 28

 

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

Happy last Monday of 2020! This will be the last Mailbox Monday I will post here. Next week, this meme will move over to my primary blog, The Book Connection. I am sad I can't keep both blogs populated, but work is only going to get more hectic the next few years, so I am trying to be kind to myself and reduce what I can. 

I hope you had a blessed Christmas. Ours was nice, but different. My father-in-law was always a source of laughter. We missed that this year. Sometimes, I find it hard to believe he's gone. My mother-in-law is holding her own, which is a true blessing considering the dementia and cardiac issues.

This year, I found five of the top ten books I wanted under the Christmas tree or on my Kindle.

My son surprised me with this Civil War title. 

I also snagged this Kindle freebie right before Christmas.

Thank you to all the loyal readers who joined me each Monday here to discover what new books arrived or to learn a bit about my life. I hope you'll visit my other blogs:

The Book Connection

The Children's and Teens' Book Connection

I also blog twice a month at my publisher's blog and once every few months at Christian Children's Authors.

Only God knows what the future brings. I am praying for health and happiness for us in 2021. God bless you all!!!

Task it Tuesday - Dec 22

Originally created by The Geeky Blogger, Task it Tuesday is a weekly meme to help you--and me--get things done. The challenge is to post a task or list of tasks you want to complete before next Tuesday. These tasks can help you with your blogging life, reading life, personal or professional life.

How quickly the year is passing. It has been quite a year. I hope you have been able to count some blessings along the way. My hope is after tomorrow, I will be taking a few days off to spend time with my kids. Despite all of us being home, we don't always have a chance to do things like play games or sit down to supper together. 

Here is what my to-do list looks like:

• Daily Bible reading
• Walking five days
• Market new edition of A Christmas Kindness
• Send out family and friends holiday cards
• Blog at Christian Children's Authors and 4RV Reading, Writing, & Art News
• Look into a new publisher for my GAP books--moving to January 2021
• Look into getting a small dumpster--moving to January 2021
• Put up the last tree and put out my Santa and angel collections
• Bake something special
• Wrap remaining gifts
• Play a board game with the kids
• Read, write, or both

This may be my last post before Christmas, so I want to wish all of you a blessed holiday.

Mailbox Monday - Dec 21

 

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

Happy Monday! I hope you had a nice weekend. I didn't get as much accomplished as I would have liked, but I should be done with work this week by 2 pm on Tuesday. Say a little prayer that happens. I would love to get the last tree upstairs and decorated and do a bit of cleaning. I'm not too stressed since it will only be the kids and us, but it feels so much better when the house is clean during the holidays. Then I feel like I can relax a bit.

One great thing that happened this weekend is my wedding and engagement rings got resized. I weigh more than I did 20 years ago, so I haven't been able to wear my rings in years. I've never felt right about not wearing them, but the jeweler is a good ride away, so I never seemed to have the time to take care of it. I'm thrilled to have them back. 

My physical mailbox contained no books--except the ones I bought as gifts for others. I did, however, grab this Kindle freebie.

Maybe I will read it between Christmas and New Year's. 

I hope your week goes well and that your stress levels are low. Merry Christmas!

Looking Forward into 2021

 

Though I am not ready to finalize all my 2021 goals yet, I can say with certainty that I will stop populating An Imperfect Christian Mom at the end of the year. The next couple of years in real estate will be busy ones considering my increased responsibilities with the Realtor board, so I need to find ways to make everything work best for me.

Over the last few years, I've slowly reduced my blogs. Starting in 2021, you can find me at the following:

• The Book Connection 
• The Children's and Teens' Book Connection
• Christian Children's Authors (posting Christmas Eve, but don't have a 2021 schedule yet)
• 4RV Reading, Writing, & Art News (post on second & fourth Wednesdays)

Mailbox Monday will move to The Book Connection. I am discontinuing Task it Tuesday. 

Though I am sad my blogging time is decreasing, I am thankful for continued real estate success and for the ability to still enjoy what blogging I can manage. 

Task it Tuesday - Dec 15

Originally created by The Geeky Blogger, Task it Tuesday is a weekly meme to help you--and me--get things done. The challenge is to post a task or list of tasks you want to complete before next Tuesday. These tasks can help you with your blogging life, reading life, personal or professional life.

Well, it has been a fun December so far. We have had some unseasonably warm days and some snow. We are expecting a huge storm this week, so I might get a day off. I have had two closings, shot a real estate commercial, earned my C2EX endorsement from the National Association of Realtors, and am studying for my broker's test. Here is what is on tap for this week:

• Daily Bible reading
• Walking five days
• Meeting Wednesday
• Board meeting Thursday evening
• Market new edition of A Christmas Kindness
• Send out family and friends holiday cards
• Look into a new publisher for my GAP books--moving to January 2021
• Look into getting a small dumpster--moving to January 2021
• Take Sunday off
• Decorate the rest of the house
• Bake something special
• Finish editing latest project
• Wrap a few gifts

That's it for me. What does your list look like this week? Hope it is productive.

Mailbox Monday - Dec 14

 

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

Welcome to Monday. I hope you had a nice weekend. I visited clients on Saturday and dropped off my latest book, A Christmas Kindness (Second Edition) to her. I am always grateful when someone asks for a copy of any of my books. 

On Sunday, I filmed a commercial for my real estate business. I felt well prepared, so that helped.

I also recorded a video to fundraise for a non-profit organization where I sit on the board of directors. Rick's Place offers grief support for children, teens, and their families. We had to cancel our major fundraisers this year because of the pandemic. 

As far as books go, my physical mailbox was empty, but I downloaded two free books for my Kindle.

I hope you've gotten most of your holiday chores completed. Three of our trees are up. The third one still needs lights and decorations. The fourth one will go up this week. I haven't found the girls' stockings yet, so I better get on that. 

Wishing you a blessed week. 

Task it Tuesday - Dec 7

Originally created by The Geeky Blogger, Task it Tuesday is a weekly meme to help you--and me--get things done. The challenge is to post a task or list of tasks you want to complete before next Tuesday. These tasks can help you with your blogging life, reading life, personal or professional life.

Hope you are having a nice December so far. Mine has been more hectic than planned, but that's okay. I love what I do. I have blocked off days around Christmas instead. Here is what is on my list for this week:

• Daily Bible reading
• Walking five days
• Meetings Wednesday, and Friday
• Webinars Tuesday and Thursday
• Market new edition of A Christmas Kindness
• Read A Christmas Carol Murder
• Send out client holiday cards--DONE
• Send out family and friends holiday cards
• Look into a new publisher for my GAP books--moving to January 2021
• Look into getting a small dumpster--moving to January 2021
• Meet with clients Tuesday and Saturday
• Take Sunday off
• Decorate the rest of the house
• Bake something special
• Record video for Rick's Place

What would you like to accomplish this week?

Mailbox Monday - Dec 6

 

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

Happy Monday! Welcome to December. Hope you had a nice weekend. Mine was a busy one with a closing on Friday, a new listing hitting the market on Saturday, and cleaning up a bit at home on Sunday. Bible study discussed the Advent message of hope, which was nice. 

On the book front, I received these two books in the mail.

Then I ordered this one off Amazon using some promotional credits I earned.

That's it from me this week. Hope you had a great mailbox. Please share if you have time.