A blog about family, food and fun!
At the end of September, faced with a mountain of books I had not read in almost a decade, I decided to start sorting through my books and reread any of those that I was unsure of keeping. I originally created this list of ten […]
When I created my post about rereading books kept in storage for too many years I wasn’t sure whether I would actually have time to read the books on my list. My post “Rereading Books Before I Give Them Away Part 1” was an attempt […]
In honor of my 6 year Blogiversary coming up at the end of March I thought I would share a little bit about what is going on in the Oscoey world. First, the most exciting thing, is we are opening up a retail store called Oscoey Shop which you can find linked below and here. This has been a long time coming and will feature artwork, nature photography, puzzles, cross stitch designs and more to fit in with the Oscoey lifestyle. At Oscoey we believe in practicing self-care daily, working on financial independence, spending time in nature, growing our own food (even if it’s just a pot of herbs on the windowsill), and eating good food. We have a deep love for family and doing quiet things together. Art is always happening at the Oscoey house!
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I started my goal of practicing self-care every day at the beginning of 2023 after spending the last few years losing myself in the corporate world and with the pressure to succeed at the “right” thing. Quitting my job in 2022 after a family emergency was the best thing I could have done for myself. I am slowly recovering from the burnout of working 50+ hours a week plus taking care of kids full-time during Covid and the intensity of our schedule that happened when the kids returned to school.
Family has always come first for me and after a year of self-reflection I have discovered that I can’t be my best self if I am pulled in too many directions. Working for a company at a high intensity job left me with nothing to give at the end of the day and many sacrifices were made, including with my health. Over the last year I have focused on eating better, getting my sleep, cutting back on coffee, spending more quality time with my kids and doing something every day to take care of myself and relax. It has really helped!
Although I did go back to school last September and I am super busy with that I have way better control over my schedule and if I need to take a day (or a week) and just rest I can. All of my classes are online and most of them are self-paced so I am able to work on assignments when time allows. Winter quarter was pretty intense for me because my kids don’t have a lot of school the first 6 weeks of the year, everyone always gets sick at some point during that time, and I had some family stuff going on in February so most of my school work was squished into the last four weeks of the quarter. I was able to set up a schedule for my assignments and weekly goals on what needed to be done and this worked for me. Everything was completed on time and I got decent grades in my classes too so I am pretty happy with how the quarter turned out.
Most of my self-care goals this year revolve around finishing some of my stitching WIPs, reading those books I forgot to finish, exercising and working through all of the puzzles I bought at the start of the year for my focus on puzzles. I am still really excited to work on all of these! For January I was able to work on some puzzles with my “If Fish Could Walk” New Year’s start that can be found here. For February I focused on my stitching finishing one of my freebies and made great progress on both my Alphabet Zoo and my Computer Wizard pieces. March was all about finishing up my quarter and getting my shop up and running. I plan on getting back into the swing of things with my puzzles for April. I am still working on “The Craft Cupboard” which can be found here.
I am really excited for the next year of blogging. Spring is here and I will start posting more gardening posts as I get plants in the ground and my flowers start to bloom. We are also going to be spending more time out in the woods this year and I will be doing regular shop updates throughout the summer so look for those as well.
My YouTube channel will continue to feature grocery hauls and shop updates on a regular basis. I have paused on my weekly Fridge and Freezer Recaps for now but I will film every time I do a pantry or fridge clean out.
I wanted to thank those of you that have supported my blog over the years. A lot has changed since I first started writing and I have not been very consistent but I still love doing it and will keep it up for as long as I can. For now, check out the shop, my YouTube channel and look out for garden content coming soon!!!
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