2026 OneThing #32 - Quarterly Review - April / May / June

Right off, I'll say that I've not been super successful with this . . . since it's August 11 when I'm writing a quarterly review! I try really hard to not be "too busy" for things. Life is more pleasant with some down time and a slower pace. But here's what those three months looked like:

 April's verse was Ephesians 2:8-9 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast."

 

I feel pretty good about the stuff I got done in April. Nothing major or momentous, but productive. I was subbing and doing other life stuff as well.

 

 

 

May's verse was the same as April! Apparently, I forgot to select a new one. Or perhaps I decided I really needed that message. Or perhaps I didn't read it / say it as I sat in my studio. That's problematic.

 

Although I got my May "OneThing" items done, it seemed like too little, too late. NONE of my freesia bloomed. I planted so many of those dang bulbs and I LOVE freesia flowers. Pooh.

 

What else did I do in May? Subbed, puttered, . . . it's gone now.

 

 

 

 

June's verse was Philippians 4:4 "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!"

 

It was another good month, but not an extremely productive month. I did succeed in four of the five tasks. (I still haven't bought tickets to go see the Obama Center.)

 

I remember feeling pretty good about the Health Care Savings Plan money and finding a new home for my father-in-law's music. Praise God for the things I was able to do in the second quarter of the year.

 

I'm typing this at the lake. Being here is just another home. I hope it becomes our primary / only home soon. But July and August (so far) have been busy. I need to be more deliberate about how I spend my time.  

 

  

2026 OneThing #31 - Prep for Pahl Picnic (fail)

I'm really on a roll . . . of not successfully getting my OneThing done. I thoroughly enjoyed the picnic with my cousins, but I did not spend time preparing for it. My Pahl family notes, photos, etc. are not extensive, but it would be nice to share. It surprised me to realize / remember that my cousins are older than we four "Somers" kids (Not sure about Chris and Tom - they are about the same age). They have memories and stories of grandma and grandpa that I don't! I didn't realize that the "shack" to the south of our house on Aldrich (long since torn down) was the Pahl home before the "big" farmhouse was built! Jane told me that.

 

Here's a picture that Raymond sent to us four:

 

Front row: me, Barb (Kevin's), Jane, Ann, Louise, Julie, Tom

 

"Middle" row: Raymond, Linda (Mark's), Kathy (Chris's)

 

Back row: Louie, Kevin, David, Bob, Mark, Chris

 

 

Or in order of eyes: Louie, Jeanne, Barb, Kevin, Jane, David, Ann, Bob, Raymond, Louise, Mark, Linda, Chris, Julie, Kathy, Tom 

 

I did get other things done during the week. Specifically with family genealogy, we visited with Louie's cousin Chynne and now I have four more boxes of LaMoore history and photos. There's some really neat stuff, but it's a lot! Stacie has offered to help go through it. My basement is more full, not less.

 

One of my Pahl cousins commented that it was unusual for all eight of them to be in attendance. Many have lost spouses . . . Marilyn (Raymond's), Steve (Jane's), Chuck (Julie's ex), Becky (David's), Nan (Tom's) . . . and I'm not really sure about Bob. I feel as though I don't know my cousins very well! Next summer, I hope to be more on the ball. I had also forgotten that I missed the 2025 picnic. I don't remember why, but it's a priority for me moving forward.

 

Oh! At the quilt retreat that Ann won (A Place to Sew in DeSoto, Wisconsin), I put together the fleece pieces for a baby blanket / decrease my fleece. This past week, I snipped the seams for a finished baby blanket for Del and Jeff's new grandson Leon. Yay! I didn't take pictures of the finished blanket, but here are the "layout" pictures:

 

2026 OneThing #30 - Try Chair Yoga

This one isn't a huge success . . . because I've tried one fifteen minute thing one day. And I've been intending to start doing this for a long time! When I took my father-in-law to the exercise class at his assisted living facility in September, I thought I would get into doing a workout at home. Ha! Over two weeks ago, my youngest son's father-in-law shared a couple of YouTube links with me that he uses. (These exercises have helped him lose 18 pounds!) 

 

And finally, last week, I tried one. I was surprised and pleased at how it felt like an actual workout. And that was it. Once. So far. I'm blogging on Tuesday instead of Sunday. 

 

I've thought about doing the chair yoga instead of my morning journaling. I apparently struggle with priorities. Here are the two links he shared with me (I've tried the first one):

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttX60COiU4E&list=PLHiXDbUkO4Kw

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26t2WVY9ITo&list=PLHiXDbUkO4Kw&index=2

 

The first one is more geared to women; the second to men. They both have percentage done bars and countdowns. Now I just need the motivation and determination to do morning exercises! Health is wealth.  

2026 OneThing#29 - I Was Busy

First, I made "Akina playlist on my phone" my OneThing. Then I realized that I didn't want to pirate the songs OR buy all the music. I figured I could just play the Christian music already on my phone in a pinch. (Which worked out fine because the wifi was better this year AND other people had the newer, more popular songs on their phones.)

 

Then I made "Finish reading Radium Girls" my OneThing because I figured I'd have a little down time for reading throughout the week. Well . . . that didn't happen.

 

I came home from Grand Marais on Sunday, July 19. I left for Akina camp near Pillager, MN, on Monday. I got home from camp on Saturday, July 25 and left for a quilt retreat the next day. I had my packing for all three trips mostly done before I left for GM on Friday, July 17.

 

Camp was excellent, but kept me very, very busy. The kids were dynamic but I don't have permission to share pictures of their faces. I can share a picture that Lonna took of some of their tie-dyed shirts hanging out to dry.

 

According to my step tracker, I got the following steps at camp:

Monday - 10,735 (my drive day / planning / no kids)

Tuesday - 20,029

Wednesday - 22,225

Thursday - 15,952

Friday - 15,048

Saturday - 13,824

 

So . . . yeah. I was tired. Helping with the tie-dyed shirts was fun. I learned a lot. I'm still not terribly good at it, but this was better than my first attempt. I was with Sara for our small group of girls. What a blessing! And the Amazing Race challenges were especially good this year.

 

I am writing this on the Wednesday after my busy week! And I've already changed my OneThing for this week twice . . . because I'm mostly just trying to catch up with things. 

 

2026 OneThing #28 - Pick House Paint Color

I'm really glad I set this as my one thing because it was both easy and difficult and now it's done. Our house currently has cedar siding on the front and a yellowish color on the rest of the masonite. Here's a (not current) pic:

 

You can't really see the yellowish color, but it will show up in the background of my next pic.

 

I had initially thought we would hire someone to replace the siding (with vinyl?) but my thrifty DIY husband said he would paint it.  So I made a list of all the things, including pressure washing, replacing boards that are rotted, taping plastic over the windows, etc. Number one on my list was picking a color. 

 

I've been grabbing paint swatches from different stores. I started with a rust red / maroon and some greens (mostly forest green). I strongly dislike beige and grey. Personal preference. I had several conversations with people like Delavon, Alex, Louise, Kathy, . . . and did some reading online. After talking it over with Louie and deciding that my goals include both selling this house in the next few years AND enjoying it while I'm here, I've picked a color!

 

 I chose the top left "mint" (my opinion) green:

 

This is the final set of paint chips at the store. I liked mint green, caramel, and pale yellow.

This is what the paint chips looked like on the side of the garage. I didn't take everyone's advice, but I like the one I picked! (Bottom one in this picture.) It's Behr "Green Bank" and Louie is okay with it.

 

I figure whoever buys the house can do whatever they want - replace the siding, repaint, whatever. I don't care about "trendy" colors. I just want to make forward progress.

 

Having this decision made feels good. I'm not sure when we'll get around to painting, but at least we have the color and type of paint chosen. On to the next thing! 

Frustrating Observations and the Creep of AI

I happened to remark that my blog posts seem to be getting more and more readers. I wondered who is starting to read my blatherings . . . and our middle son who was visiting said, "AI." 

 

Oh. Of course. The "spiders" of early internet have developed into monsters of seeking input to spew out their own machine "learning" of content. Ew. I know some people rave about the wonders of artificial intelligence; others say it has its place. I personally despise how we rely more and more on it as a society. I'd rather be less reliant on technology (she says as she types on her laptop which is connected to the internet . . . ).

 

Oh well. It's not as though I'm blogging for any specific human audience. It's mostly for my own gratification. Still, it was nice to think that some humans somewhere were reading my content . . .  

2026 OneThing #27 - Visit Shirley

It may seem like an odd choice for my "OneThing," but sometimes I get too focused on my to-do lists to the detriment of more important things like relationships. As we spend more time at the lake (bliss!), it's too easy to be selfish with our slow time. But being here means we're much closer to many members of the Mohr family. We're not the best at getting together and socializing! But we do try. So I set this as my goal for the week.

 

Louie was waffling (mostly because he really wants to get work done on getting electricity to the pole barn and he was already working MTW) but I was blunt: if you ARE coming with me, I'll go visit on Thursday or Friday. If you're NOT coming with me, I'll go while you're working. Once I asked for a yes or no, he was in. I texted her daughter Susan about the visit, but didn't contact Shirley! (My social graces are a work in progress . . . )

 

We went and surprised her and had a lovely visit! I think she looks fabulous for being 89 years old. She is very happy being in assisted living and was a delight to chat with. She misses Grant (of course), but loves having visitors. She talked about her thirteen grandchildren and thirteen great-grandchildren. What a blessing. I'm really, really glad we got to visit. 

 

After our visit with Shirley, we had a lovely dinner with Louie's cousin Jim and his daughter Terri. I love the Mohr family so much! 

 

This was a good choice for my One Thing and I'm glad it was a success.