2026 OneThing #1 - Finish Sorting Lou's Papers

I am going to say that this goal is both Achieved! and also In Progress . . . But let me explain.

When my father-in-law lived with us from March 2013 - September 2017, he eventually moved to an apartment in Northfield. He left behind twelve boxes of papers, which I spent a lot of time sorting through. Some papers were shredded, some recycled, some saved for family history / posterity. Records from Asbury United Methodist Church (now Living Spirit), including employees' full data with social security numbers - I brought to the church office. 

Then my sister-in-law emptied her Maple Grove home to move up north and I agreed to take the seven boxes of items she had from her parent's home - mostly photos, yearbooks, cards, etc. I sorted through enough of it to get it down to four boxes which are still sitting in my basement.

Then in August of 2025, we moved Lou into assisted living and his wife into a different apartment. Because his wife will throw out anything she doesn't personally see a need for, I tried to grab all Lou's stuff on his behalf. Then he died on October 3, and all his worldly goods came to us.

Here's what my basement looked like shortly after his death:

There were several boxes on the far side of the pool table. There was a lot of clothing; that and his furniture were the first things I tackled for donation.

I had put some things out in the living room on the day of the funeral for people to choose what they wanted. It was sweet to see how almost everyone selected a shirt of his to keep for themselves.

Now I've made a lot of progress and here's what the pool table looks like:

A lot of the stuff on (and under) the pool table is mine, but the white bins have files of papers for the Mohrs and LaMoores. I have done an initial sort through all Lou's papers (and there were a lot of them!). I am fascinated by some of the historical and personal items. It will take longer to completely finish this, but I feel good about the progress made. I didn't take a picture of the white table because more than 40% of the stuff currently on it will go to family members at Leech Lake this weekend. (I'm setting this to publish shortly after midnight on 1/11/2026.)

I also have a card table full of various office supplies. I anticipate that it will be empty within less than two weeks. I have a quilt retreat next week, so my basement will probably not change much for a while.

2025 OneThing #58 - Rearrange Studio / December Summary / 2025 Wrap-up!

I haven't completely finished my main goal for the week, but I've made tremendous progress. (Technically, the goal was to have a studio rearrange plan, which is done . . .) I remembered to take a "before" picture!

Louie and I had picked up a "new" piece of furniture from a K-Bid auction I won a few weeks ago. I knew I needed to make room for it (and get rid of stuff) before we could put it in here, so it remains in the garage. Here's a pic of it from my auction:

 

The front door panels include two large and this small one, except one of the big ones is missing and the other is broken. It will be easier access if I just use fabric, though, so I'm not fussed about that. I love the drawers! So much storage space!

 

So I hauled much of the loose stuff out of my sewing room and piled it in the guest room and hallway. I donated the old cabinet on Craigslist . . . 

 

I then took a photo, loving the wide open space. I shared it with my siblings with the caption "It's amazing how nice a room can look when you remove most of the crap!"

 

I love my siblings and our group chat . . . 

Then I decided to start sorting my scraps for a scrap quilt and use two of the drawers to hold the loose pieces and the stitched together pieces. It's still in progress and I know I won't keep them this neat and organized, but it's also helping me get rid of fabrics that are not nice for quilts. I'm also putting too small pieces into the ragbag / dog bed container and larger pieces back into my fabric bins. This process helped me get rid of the three-drawer plastic rolling cart.

It was nice to listen to my audiobook and press scraps. As I said, I'm not done but it's coming along! 

 

 Toward the back is the loose pile of scraps with the sewn-together blocks closer. The drawer nearest is the "done" strips with light at left, medium in the middle, and darkest to right. Again, this won't last, but it's a good reset to this scrap issue.

The four brown rubber squares on the floor are the furniture "feet" we bought for my new cabinet. I think I'd rather have it perpendicular to the door (parallel to closet) but then I have to find a new home for my project bins. This angle works well for "traffic flow," but I think it's too much wasted space by the door / closet area and that doesn't make sense.

Anyhow, here's my December calendar and Scripture:

From Matthew 25:35 

"I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in."

When I read these words, I think of Jesus' followers saying, "Lord, when did we . . . ?" and Jesus answering, "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."

2025 has been an interesting year, full of challenges and joys. I've really enjoyed blogging about One Thing each week, but I think the monthly summaries were superfluous. I think in 2026, I won't change much. Just one thing per week and a reflection at the end of the year. I like not setting my "one thing" too far in advance. Sometimes things come up and priorities change. 

I briefly thought about keeping these, but in my desire to declutter, that just seems crazy!

It's one piece of tagboard with both sides used (now in the recycle bin). It was just my physical / visual reminder of this project. I believe I will start with a fresh piece of tagboard for 2026 and set a new weekly goal. I think my first "official" blog entry will be Sunday, January 10. Or perhaps if I finish up the studio rearrange, I'll post that earlier.

Happy New Year, everyone!

2025 OneThing #57 - Prepare gifties for Church Kids

This was fun! I had gifts for the two students we're praying for in a focused way this year, but wanted to prepare little gifts for the two teenagers we prayed for the last two years (and continue to pray for). They have three siblings who I didn't want to leave out, so that was seven bags to prepare. There were four other kiddos I decided to give gifties to, so I prepared eleven bags and one extra just in case. 

 

On Christmas Eve, I was able to hand out all except the two I had originally prepared for! I was able to drop those off at their house today. Blessings galore! There's nothing fancy, just stuff like Chex mix, caramel puff corn chocolate chip cookies, etc. It was fun and a worthy goal for the week! 

 

Today's only Friday and I've finished my one thing! I may get started on next week's goal . . . 

2025 OneThing #56 - Prep for Family Christmas

This was definitely the focus for my week! I didn't get everything done that I had hoped to . . . (no fresh baked cookies for stocking stuffers, etc.) but we had a lovely gathering yesterday!

I love my family so much! I told them that my gift was having all of them over together and that happened. We had a bonus - Olivia! She took our family photos. Here's the "silly" one after my cherished "good" family photo. We told Olivia to go ahead and take it with Titus' butt in frame.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I joke that food is my love language, but it is a way that I try to say "I love you" to my family. We got to eat plenty, play games, read books, and just generally enjoy our family Christmas. On Christmas day, we'll host the Somers family. All of our sons have other plans that day. The extended LaMoore Christmas is in January at Leech Lake, but not all our "kids" can make it to that, either. I absolutely love when we can all get together!

2025 OneThing #55 - Put up Christmas Lights on the Porch - didn't happen

Wow. For two weeks in a row, I've not been successful with the thing I identified as my "One Thing." This is not an encouraging trend . . . So I'll write about what I DID get done.

I put up the oversized outdoor bulbs on the evergreen tree on the east side of our driveway. Louie had asked me to wait until he had trimmed some branches and I did. It's silly to do this, but it makes me happy. I also took down the "spring" lights over our indoor stairwell and put up some Christmas lights. This also makes me happy. But with a day and a half of "home" time, I neglected to put up the Christmas lights on the porch. I will still do it when we get home from the lake! But it got colder and I subbed yesterday. I don't think I'll ask Louie to do the lights up on the garage, etc. It's already mid-December!

I had put our Pack and Play on Craigslist for free and didn't get a single nibble. I brought that, the glassware no one claimed, a four-place mini loaf baking stone, and Lou's old lamp to Hands of Friendship. Getting rid of things continues. 

 

I spent a chunk of one of my home days sitting in front of the fireplace, sorting through Lou's papers. I'm getting closer to the end! I found about a cubic foot of empty cards and envelopes. I joked with Kathy Kendall that I'll have to come visit so she can help me sort and organize them!

2025 OneThing #54 - Draft wills and/or trust - didn't happen

This topic has been on my to-do lists for over a decade. It's frustrating to me that we have not yet gotten our "ducks in a row." Death is part of life and we want to prepare for our children before it's too late. 

We did meet with a paralegal to get more info about trusts. This was a follow-up to the dinner we went to in early November. I have a book from the library about DIY wills with not much info about trusts.

Our current plan is to talk with the boys (as we still refer to our adult sons) to get their take on this. We've heard the adage "pay now" (trust) vs "pay later" (wills). Sigh. I just want to get this done. I wrote my own will (and one for Louie) about a decade ago but didn't get them notarized . . . I keep thinking we'll hunker down and get our paperwork done. And we keep not doing it. I do have my own Health Care Directive!

So, I like to post about something I DID complete, so here it is. We talked about the fact that we last went downhill skiing about a decade ago. It was funny that someone asked us where we found our "retro" ski gear! We originally bought it brand new in the 1980s. Grin.

Once Louie agrees that we can get rid of something, I'm on it! I emailed Play It Again Sports on October 12 and got this response: "Thank you for the message Jeanne....unfortunately the ski equipment you mentioned would be too old for us.  Consider donating it to a thrift shop like Goodwill, Unique, Savers, etc."

 

Well, I know Goodwill doesn't take sporting equipment (that's how I got a new pair of snowshoes a few years ago! A guy in front of me was told they wouldn't take them, so I hopped out of my car and said, "I'll take them!") and I have dropped off a LOT of stuff at Hands of Friendship . . . so I looked on Craigslist for some reason and I found The Ski Guy in Richfield. After some messaging and texting, I was able to drop off FIVE pairs of skis and three pairs of boots. Booyah!

 

My photo angle is weird and makes the boots look larger than the skis. Ah well, on to the next thing.

 

 

OneThing #53 - November summary

It has been a good month! I am so happy that I've gotten back into a more balanced pace of life, with a healthy mix of work, leisure, productivity, and connection. 

 

Since I've blogged all these November weekly goals, I'll just sum up with an upgrade.

 

I had not finished stitching around my letters in my word for the 2025-26 school year. In fact, it's been sitting on my Juki sewing machine since that first week of November. So over the Thanksgiving weekend, I finally finished top stitching the letters down. I decided to add large green buttons for the "holes" in the letters a, b, d, and e. It probably doesn't show up well in the photo, and I'll definitely have to be careful when I get to quilting this, but I like how it looks. I plan to take it with me on my next trip to the lake so I can do some embroidery to make the letters look more like vines.

 

My verse for the month of November was Isaiah 26:3-4 which says, "You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord Himself, is the Rock Eternal."

Even though I read it aloud each time I went into my studio and worked on projects, it doesn't feel memorized yet. I need to exercise my brain and get these Scriptures deep into me!

November felt like a really good month. On to a new adventure!