New Year

We’re in the week between Christmas and New Year’s and it’s always a happy haze of playing, organizing, and planning for the year ahead.

Monday was a fairly normal day around the Zottola Zoo. Jimmy worked, I worked, homeschooled Sadie, and us girls went on a coffee and cake pop date 🙂

We may not be able to go in coffee shops to hang out, but we can still have special time together in the parking lot. These little moments are my favorite ❤

I started a new Bible study on the book of Hebrews and it’s proving to be very enlightening. Hebrews is one of those books that’s deep and sometimes hard for me to grasp everything going on in it, so I’m excited to be learning more.

I met the author of the study when he visited our church for a revival, so it’s kind of neat to know a bit of his personality and see it come through in his writing.

Sadie and I have been doing lots of playing so far this week. She was gifted some really fun toys for Christmas. Not going to lie, I’m having just as much fun as her with all the toys 😉

Homeschool has been happening this week because some sense of normalcy is nice! Yesterday Sadie learned about the letter “J” and painted a jaguar.

Another thing that’s been happening this week for me is learning about essential oils. Ever since the melatonin incident, I’ve been so thankful that what she and Niva got into was a natural product and not something super dangerous.

I want to try and have all of our household products (like cleaning, medication, laundry, etc.) be as non-toxic as possible, so I’m working on learning more about essential oils and the role they can play in that!

Also of note: I ordered my 2021 planner and got it in the mail yesterday! Does anyone else just love a fresh new planner? This will be my second year using this planner. I really like that it has a pocket, tear-out shopping lists, and budgeting pages.

How do you feel about the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day?

Hey hey! How is 2018 treating you so far? I can’t believe it’s Thursday already. Mavis and I are walking four dogs together today and it’s currently 14 degrees (and dropping…!) and snowing here in Pittsburgh.

You better believe I’m going to look like the Michelin Man with all the layers I put on and Mavis will be wearing her winter coat.

I have a minute to blog today, so I thought I’d share how we started out the new year! Actually, I’ll start with New Year’s Eve.

Jimmy and I went to church in the evening and stayed after for a New Year’s Eve fellowship. Everyone brought along food (I brought chili and corn muffins!) and hung out until around 8:30 pm, when we all discussed the past year, the one ahead, and then had a group prayer.

It was a really great way to ring in 2018! Afterwards, Jimmy and I went home and read (I’m still reading and loving this book) on the couch until about 11:00, then went to bed.

Since Jimmy and I both had the day off on New Year’s Day, we were able to sleep in a little and have a slow morning. We took Mavis to Starbucks (puppuccino for her, blonde roast for me, and tuxedo mocha for Jimmy!) and Lowe’s.

Jimmy wanted to grab some recessed lighting supplies for our basement and I wanted to practice therapy work with Mavis! I walked her around Lowes and lots of people pet her, which was a great opportunity to work on her social skills.

I’m continually impressed by how well she does with kids. A toddler grabbed her ears really hard and she simply cried (I thought she would growl, lol) and backed away. Go May May!

In the evening, we headed to Mavis’ fourth adult level 1 training class, which was a fun way to kick off the New Year. We spent an hour working on loose leash walking, the “leave it” command, and meeting other people and dogs politely.

On Tuesday, it was back to “normal life” post-holidays. It’s feeling good to get into somewhat of a routine again!

Living My Full Life

The Time Between

How do you feel about the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day?

How We Started 2018

How did you start 2018?