As Phineas and Ferb say,
“There’s 104 days of summer vacation
And school comes along just to end it
So the annual problem for our generation
Is finding a good way to spend it.”
I don’t have 104 days off this summer. I have about 70 days off this summer. So, what do I want to accomplish during the summer of 2018?
Finish decluttering my house – My aunt helped me reorganize my kitchen. I’ve also done the hall closet and am currently working on decluttering my bedroom.
Take a class about Inclusion and the Special Education Student. I’ve already signed up for the class. It’s a self-paced class and will help me with the way my career is going. The focus is more on inclusion and less on pull out services for students who have been identified as having some sort of learning disability.
Have my fourth EPIC adventure with Molly. She’s coming to town in 2 ½ weeks. While she is here, we have many fun adventures planned. (Click on the photo below for a link to the photos from one of the 2 adventures we had last year.)
Read at least 5 books if not 10 books. I want to finish reading/ listening to all the Cleo Coyle’s Coffeehouse Mysteries series.
Here are the books I have left to read/ listen. Espresso Shot
Holiday Grind
A Brew to Kill
Dead Cold Brew
Watch all 13 seasons of Grey’s Anatomy. I just finished the third season.
Getting a physical and other preventative care taken care of – Actually was done this week.
Day trips around the area Peace Museum Boonshoft Museum Wegerzyn Metro Park Cox Arboretum Etc . . .
It’s not as adventurous as last year’s summer. This year’s summer vacation will be focusing more on making sure I’m prepared for next school year. My last 2 school years have been tough.
Gluten Free – I have been gluten free for 11 months now!
Book Reading – I have read/ listened to 41 books during 2017. I’m almost done with book number 42 so I may have one more done. Tanya would have been proud of me.
I think I crossed items off of my bucket list. Memories were made with family and friends. My 2017 was definitely the year of the “bucket list.”
So what is my word for 2018? You are going to have to tune in on Thursday to find out.
This year I changed the focus of my blog from recipes to more of a diary.
As I looked at my stats from last year, I noticed one thing. One of the blog posts that got the most hits was a recipe from long ago. During Thanksgiving and Christmas, I get a lot of hits on this simple recipe – honey glazed carrots in the slow cooker.
Today I am going to share my top blog posts from this year. These are the ones that got the most hits. However, I get a lot of likes from the WordPress Reader. However people do not always actually go to the blog post so it does not register as having visitors which is frustrating.
My Recipes that Got the Most Hits
Pressure Cooker Chicken Pot Pie – I posted this recipe about a week before going gluten free. It’s the blog post from this year that got the most hits.
Forgotten Chicken – This is another recipe that I posted before going gluten free.
Diary Type Blog Posts
Gerry Brooks and Findlay Market – Hubby and I went on a date for his birthday to see one of my favorite Youtube stars and then went to a farmer’s market.
Romance, Ghosts, and Mystery – This was a book review about The House on Tradd Street such a good book. In the book, you’ll meet Melanie who has inherited a house. This house comes with a mystery and a ghost.
All Because It was Humid – This is a combination writer’s workshop blog post and travel blog post.
Travel Blog Posts
Port Orleans – French Quarter – While we were down in Walt Disney World in 2016, we visited Port Orleans, one of the moderate resorts. Such a beautiful resorts.
As I said, these are the blog posts with the most hits. I wish I could have a way to track the posts with the most likes.
Most of my likes this year were from my travel blog posts with lots of photographs.
My favorite blog posts to write this year were my travel blog posts. I’m known by the family as being a shutterbug. I love to take photographs especially when I am traveling .
My two recent travel series are the ones from our family’s trip to Folly Beach and my trip to western New York. I also wrote a series about our trip to Orlando, Florida; Holland, Michigan; and Berea, Kentucky this year.
During 2018, I’m going to complete the Folly Beach and Western New York blog posts. I need to also write about my trips to Hershey, PA and Pittsburgh, PA. I may also share photos from our 2016 trip to Niagara Falls. I have only shared bits and pieces about the trip not the whole trip.
Seeing Steven Tyler was the highlight of my trip to Niagara Falls.
I am also going to continue to share menu plans because those attracted a lot of attention. My work is going to have a fitness/ weight loss challenge that runs from January 5 until mid March so I will be sharing my progress with the challenge. It may be on this blog or on My Food Journey. If I do it on My Food Journey, I’ll put a link to the blog posts in the sidebar so you can visit the blog posts.
During 2017, I crushed my Goodreads reading challenge. If you have not heard about the challenge, you basically decide how many books you want to read during the year. You can edit the amount of books during the year to increase or decrease the amount. I believe I started with wanting to read 20 books and then edited it to be 35 books. During 2017, I read/ listened to 41 books which is 117% of my goal. In 2018, I need to share more of the books I have read or listened to through Hoopla.
