Where did 2023 go? We brought the year in at a mountain resort. For 2024, we’ll stay in as we settle into the new home and recover from the cooties.

A lot has happened since that trip. We applied for (and finally received) a disaster loan from the state. The transport company delivered our house to the mountain, but not without a bit of drama. The contractors dragged their feet until I was ready to snap. Then, we had to fight for the temporary occupancy certificate. That didn’t happen until the first week of December. After getting the certificate, we started moving boxes and furniture into their new homes in the house. Three weeks of carrying, moving, and sorting through boxes wore us out. It has been exhausting. The Friday before Christmas, I hired a moving company to finish moving out of the units. Now, we have a different monumental task before us, but it’s all here, so we don’t have to run all over two cities to get stuff to sift through. We will need to schlep it up the stairs, though.

While getting the new home up the mountain, set in place, and complete was the highlight of the year, we had other events of note. We took our 25th motorcycle trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. But, because the house sucked so much of our attention, we didn’t get out for other vacations.

My personal accomplishment was finding a writing group with which to share my stories. Right now, I’m reading my manuscript and getting the constructive feedback I need to make it better. I’m working on ways to tease more character introduction into my #SundayWriting posts. I’ve even thought of a way to tease my novel and introduce the various characters without giving away spoilers. This ‘story within a story’ rolling around in my head will fill in some of the characters’ backstories and stuff I cut from the original draft. I’ve already created a place from which to tell these tales.

As I look forward to the New Year, I’m excited about the changes I’d like to bring to my page. It will be nice to focus on anything besides #WildfireRecovery for a change. I plan to post updates as we #RebuildTheDream, but not every week. No doubt our progress will be steady, but slow. We have a LOT of stuff to sort through, so it will take us some time.

I want to get back to drawing, coloring, and working on my pastels. I miss exercising that part of my creativity. Of course, I need to get that area set up sooner than later. Who knows? Maybe I’ll spend more time practicing and be able to move from my sketch pad to canvas. I’ll let you know how that goes.

I have a lot of ideas, which I always do. It’ll be interesting to see what sticks to the wall.

From our home to yours, First Reader and I wish you all a happy, safe, prosperous New Year.