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I’m linking this post to Sunday Post, Mailbox Monday, and It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

A new month, a new year, and a lot to digest. Let’s dig in.

This past year was probably one of my most challenging yet. I thought the crazy anxiety I had in 2020 was bad, but I’d almost rather have that then the health issues I went through this last year. I won’t get into specifics, but let’s just say that I’ve been struggling a lot both mentally and physically. However, the last stint at the ER resulted in them drawing 20 vials of blood to test. So, I’m hoping that I can get some answers, and relief soon.

With everything considered, I haven’t been reading as much as I would like. I just don’t have the drive or the concentration for it. There are a lot of good sounding books out there, but I just can’t seem to sit down to read them. I suppose if we are making resolutions, to read more would be one of them.

We found out that we will be staying in Japan longer than we originally thought we would be. So, the last couple of weeks have been this weird nesting period for me. I’m not used to living in the same house for so long that I have decided to start my own garden, and put actual work into the house to make it my own.

To go along with that, I’ve decided to go into school to become a clinical pet nutritionist and to open up my own fresh pet food business while we are in Japan. There are very limited fresh options for pet food. It’s either kibble or canned food. I’ve been making my own pets food since arriving on island, and never once thought that other people might be interested in it until recently. So, this year will bring some new challenges for me while I navigate running my own business.

I’m not one to make resolutions. I feel like they are a something that you feel obligated to make, and that you very rarely keep. However, this year I am striving to get my health on track, be kinder to myself, and focus on my own self-care.

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I’m linking this post to Sunday Post, Mailbox Monday, and It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Uh… whoops! *Looks around in guilt* I had planned to take a small break, but nothing this long. I’ve been going through a lot of stuff mentally, emotionally, and physically. The major one was severe depression. I just started to lose interest in everything; friendships, my plants, animal care, my youtube channel, self care, reading. I just felt down a hole into a really dark place and it has taken me a long time to slowly dig my way back out. I’m still inching my way back up to the top, but I’m starting to feel like myself again.

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I’m linking this post to Sunday Post, Mailbox Monday, and It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

I hope everyone rang in the new year with good terms!

I’m excited for what 2023 will bring. This past year I went on quite a few vacations to check out mainland Japan. We were able to go to Tokyo and Kyoto before Japans borders opened up to tourist travel. So it was nice to get to see some pretty populated areas before tourism started back up. With that being said, I am happy for the businesses to have tourism back. While I might be selfish in wanting to not have to deal with massive crowds, I know that the economy has been hurting and it’s been sad to see places no longer open because of it all.

Unfortunately, due to a lot of big surgery costs towards the end of the previous year and the beginning of 2022, I had to slow way down on cat rescue and TNR. The local government stopped giving out TNR vouchers this year, and I was having to pay out of pocket. So, while it’s been sad to not be able to go out and save as many cats as possible, it has allowed me to spend time working with the ones I can help. I have had our two TNR neighborhood cats in the house since the beginning of the year, which has been a challenge. I never planned on bringing them in, but we got new neighbors who immediately reported them to Animal Control. So, I pulled them in until AC finished their patrols. However, by the time they finished, new cats had moved into the area and I was no longer able to release the boys outside. While they LOVE it in the house, one of them immediately attacks my cats when he sees them. So, we have had to build a makeshift door leading to the upstairs level to keep them separate. Aside from the boys I was able to rescue and find homes for a baby kitten that was darting through traffic, a TNR cat that has cancer and needed her eye removed, and another TNR cat that had been beat up with infections multiple times and then was bit by a snake. She was clearly not outdoor savvy and I was able to find her a home before the holidays. So, while I haven’t been as active in the cat community as I was the previous year, I suppose I have still been doing quite a bit.

This year I also started my Youtube channel to share all the various fun things that Japan has to offer. I share footage from trips, and when we are home, I go out and compile interesting foods and drinks to try on camera. It’s been a way to not only show my friends and family the various facets of Japan, but it’s also going to be my video journal that I can look back on years down the road.

As far as to what this year holds… we are planning some more trips, and I definitely plan to keep up on my reading. Since signing up for Kindle Unlimited, I have found that I’m reading more books because I have access to more. So, I think it’s safe to say I my reading mojo is back!

While I did enjoy the vast majority of the books I read this year, I realized while compiling this list that I didn’t have any 5 star favorites.

Have you read any of the books below?

What was your favorite read from 2022?

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Human Remains
Vol #1
by Peter Milligan (Author), Adrian F. Wassel (Editor), Sally Cantirino (Illustrator), Dearbhla Kelly (Colorist), Andworld Design (Letterer)
Publisher: Vault Comics
Publication: Sept. 27, 2022
Genre: Horror Comic

Alien meets A Quiet Place in this science fiction tale of terror for fans of Josh Malerman’s Bird Box and Tim Lebbon’s The Silence about a post-apocalyptic world in which monsters hunt the things that make us human – where feeling is a dangerous thing.

Live. Laugh. Love. Scream.

DIE.

Dax and Bisa love each other. But in this new and terrifying world, love is dangerous. Feeling anything is dangerous. Love. Hate. Joy. Fear. Any of these in strong doses will bring a swift death. Earth has a new and terrible invader—monsters that smell the scent of emotion, salivate over the prey, and hunt the very feelings that make us human. A shocking tale of pent-up emotions and forced composure in the face of unspeakable horror…from one of the most celebrated writers in comics, Peter Milligan (X-Force, Enigma, Shade the Changing Man, Hellblazer) and breakout horror artist Sally Cantirino (I Walk With Monsters, The Final Girls).

Collects the entire eight-issue series.

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I’m linking this post to Sunday Post, Mailbox Monday, and It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Whoops. I missed a couple of months there. I don’t know about you guys, but time is slipping away from me.

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Life is currently crazy. I had planned to try to keep up with blogging right up until we left, but that hasn’t worked out. Not only am I not reading, but there’s just no time to do anything that isn’t related to the move. In April, my mom flew out to CA and then helped us load all the shell babies in the vehicle and then drove across the country to NY. If you follow me on Instagram, then you saw how that trip went. Basically, that massive rain/tornado storm that swept through the southern US up to the east… yeah, we drove through that. One morning, after staying up until midnight trying to get out of the storm, my husband woke us up telling us we needed to move and get on the road ASAP. He kept talking about wanting to beat the rain that was coming in. I should have known something was up when I went to check out and EVERYONE was turning in their room keys and saying they were trying to get out of the area. It wasn’t until a couple hours later that my husband fessed up that his phone got a tornado warning alert and he was trying not to panic me and my mom. Which would have totally happened because I am terrified of tornadoes. Aside from the craptastic weather, the road trip was fun. We got to see the Grand Canyon, have some delicious creole food in New Orleans, I got to see Villalobos, and even spotted Kanini heading to work.

Once we got to NY it was pretty much GO GO GO! I had three separate enclosures to set up. I’m eternally grateful to everyone who helped out. My uncle built Hailey (my tortoise) a massive tortoise table. My best friend and husband helped me build the hermit crab enclosure. Not to mention my mom willingly took on a tortoise, hermit crabs, fish, and isopods for the next handful of years while we are in Okinawa.

As I type this, the movers haven’t come yet. Once they arrive, my computer will be gone and I won’t see it for a couple months. However, if you want to keep up to date on my adventures during this move, check out my Instagram. I will be updating everyone via the stories section. 🙂

For Review

I’m linking this post to Sunday Post, Stacking the Shelves, and It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Thank goodness January is over! I was starting to worry that the government wasn’t ever going to open back up. I don’t think people realized just how many lives were impacted by the shutdown. It wasn’t just your typical government jobs in D.C. (which seemed to be what most people thought of when they thought of a government shutdown), but people all over the world were affected by it. Not only that, but some of the visitors that came to our national park did not treat it with any respect. It was absolute chaos up there and given the shutdown, I, and my fellow coworkers, were unable to do anything but sit at home and stew over everything happening to our beloved park. It was a rough month for sure. I’m just glad to finally be back at work. I don’t even want to think about what might happen in a couple of weeks.

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