Monday On My Mind

The problem with taking the week after Christmas off (although I did pop in on Thursday and Friday) is that you miss blogging about all those end of the year things. The reflections and thoughts. The challenges made and missed. So today, in the interest of staying current while also moving ahead, I’m going to do a little recap.

1. First, I’m showing you my Instagram Top 9. That’s it up there. My most popular picture was the one of Dale right after he got home from the hospital, asleep on the couch with Jackie’s giraffe. His storm trooper boot ranked high, as well, as did lobster rolls on his birthday. It was quite a year and I must say I’m very glad the photo of all 4 of our kids together made the top nine because that was definitely a highlight of 2020 for me despite the reason for the gathering.
2. Second, I’m telling you that I listened to 18,048 minutes of music on Spotify. Is that a lot? It seems like a lot to me but I don’t really have anything to compare it to. The song I listened to the most was The Weight by The Band. That didn’t surprise me, it’s a favorite of mine and Dale’s. Also in the top 5: Perfect by Ed Sheeran, Wagon Wheel by Old Crow Medicine Show, February Seven by The Avett Brothers, and Coal Miner’s Daughter by Loretta Lynn. The last song on the list was How Far I’ll Go from Moana. I’d like to blame Jackie for that one but it’s all me. It’s an eclectic list with everything from Beyonce to Coldplay to Lady Gaga to Dolly Parton. It’s also heavily influenced by the amount of music I listen to when I’m with Dale. I’m going to make a point to expand our musical horizons this year if I can.
3. Finally, I’m sharing that I met my Good Reads challenge and finished 75 books in 2020. I made it by the skin of my teeth this time, finishing book #75 on New Year’s Eve Day. Whew! I’ve blogged about books all year and I’ll update you on the ones I’ve finished since my last update, but for a quick recap, those 75 books equaled 23,249 pages. The shortest book was Grief Is the Thing With Feathers by Max Porter at 114 pages and the longest was Cape Cod by William Martin at 713 pages. The average number of pages per book was 309. You can see all the stats and titles I read by clicking on My Year In Books

Hmmm. A list of 3 things. Maybe I should have saved this for Thursday? Too late, it’s done and I don’t have the gumption after so many days off to come up with a different topic for today.

Happy first Monday in 2021, friends!