2024 Goals & 3 Cheese Lasagna with Homemade Marinara Sauce

Halfway through January! I heard someone say that the second Friday in January is everybody’s quit day. I guess most people make resolutions on January 1 but by January 15, they have dropped those goals and are just left holding a bitter, sad bag of disappointment and unrealized expectations.

Wow. How’s that for a dose of reality? Lol.

I chose not to hold that bag this year! I chose to set my goals AFTER January 15! Lol

Here’s some more reality, I’m not actually making resolutions this year. I literally have no idea if I will even get out of bed tomorrow, so setting hard fast resolutions is the easiest way to set myself up for failure. Not gonna do it, not gonna do it. I’m not making a list of what’s in this year and what’s out, I am not setting unrealistic goals of training for a half marathon, or even doing regular yoga. I already do yoga every single day that I feel well enough to do it. I don’t want to read more although I would love to hit 70 books this year after I was so close last year at 67, but I’m not holding myself to it. I’m going to read the books that I want to read, do my reading challenge and if I hit 70… Awesome! If I don’t, I bet you I will still enjoy a lot of really great books this year.

I’m not saying more family time over friend time or in my case more friend time, I made that goal last year, I failed miserably, and I feel guilty about all the people that are important in my life that I didn’t get to spend time with this past year. The only thing I want to hold myself responsible for this year is how I treat myself and how I treat others. Sometimes I can be really horrible to myself. Sometime I can be just awful to the people around me. Especially on those days when I am laying in bed, going through every single action in my life that has brought me to this exact moment. This year, I’m going to be kinder to myself, I’m going to be kinder to others, and I’m going to change my mindset on a few things! Namely, the way I look at my life, photo books and travel!

1. I like the saying, romanticize your life. I have always kind of laughed at self-help books, mantras, and those elaborate vision boards. But over the past few years, I have really begun to see the benefit of having a positive mindset. Why does it always  look like other people are having so much fun and have these amazing lives? They must be faking it! Or is it because they are creating fun amazing lives? Just because you live in a small town, and let’s face it, none of us are rich, lol doesn’t mean your life can’t be fantastical! Your life is what you make it! If you believe you have the best love story of all time, you probably do! Because it’s yours! As a kid, I used to pretend that cameras followed me around lol. I would picture the soundtrack to my road trip and create a montage in my head of me staring out the window, pensive and cute (obviously), while the music played in the background. I described the smells, the temperature, and the sounds blowing past my open window in a open narration of my life. My road trip was the most epic road trip of all time! Because that’s what I created. Live it! Love it! Romanticize it! It’s YOUR life! It’s MY life and I need to start doing that again!
2. When I was a kid, I loved looking at our family photo albums! Nowadays they have beautiful photo books, bound photo books! When HBear was first born, every year, I would create a beautiful album, showcasing all the highlights of our year! I absolutely love these photo books! I have our wedding, Ninja as a first year Dad, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012… And then I stopped. My Mom passed away June 20, 2013. I have been unable to make a photo book since her passing. It seems ridiculous to me that they would ever be a family photo book without her in it and I honestly don’t want any photo books without her in it! But my Kids do. And they deserve it. I loved flipping through my family photo albums  and I want them to be able to go through these books and remember what a loving and filled childhood they had. A childhood when I wasn’t in bed all the time. This year I am going to begin working on our family photo books again.
3. Travel. I am travelling this year! I have NOFX’s final tour in Portland at the end of June and Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour in Toronto in November! To be honest, just putting those two trips out there, ramps up my anxiety like crazy! But I have to do it. Last year we took a quick trip to Spokane and I did it. All the fears I had slipped away with each passing moment of me, doing it! The thought of being in a place that I don’t know is freaking scary! What if I have a flare? What if we book exciting and expensive activities and I am unable to attend? What if I blow all my energy in the first day and have to spend the next three days in bed? What if I don’t think about the consequences and push through… will it start another flare? Will my brain in flight or fight mode create more lesions? I don’t know! And that is scary. However, travel has always been important to me. During the last two years. I have taken advantage of being at home and learning more about my disease and what I can do to help manage it. Now, I have to take what I’ve learned into the real world and apply it! Yeah, I can do that! Lol.

Check out How Was Your Week, Honey? Episode #363: I Will Give You Everything This week we got together to discuss: Chelsea Handler, Black Forest Cake, winter returns, grocery tales, know-it-alls, NFL predictions, SOW, TV shows, and bus trips.

One of my absolute favourite dinners ever is lasagna. When I was a kid, there were 3 meals that I went between for my birthday, dinner, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, ham and scalloped potatoes, or lasagna with crusty bread! Drooling right now! Lasagna is a time sucker though! You need to boil noodles, make the meat sauce, make the cheese layer, cook it, and then let it rest. Sometimes lasagna making can take hours! That’s why I always make 2, so that I won’t have to do it again when I’m craving lasagna the next time! I love lasagna with spinach, I love lasagna with a layer of caramelized onions, I’ve even done lasagna with a layer of garlic scape paste straight from the garden! I’ve done roasted vegetable lasagna, skillet lasagna, lasagna soup, and even a take on a lasagna pasta bake! However, I’ve never done just a cheese lasagna! Until now. This is going up there in my top 3 lasagnas of all time! I ate such a giant piece and then seriously thought about getting seconds! I didn’t because I was so full, but I did wake up and eat a giant piece for breakfast first thing the next day! So freaking good! Also, ridiculously easy! Taking out the whole meat part really saves time! This reminded me of The Olive Garden lasagna, back in the 90’s when it was the best thing I ever tasted! Lol Try this – and let me know what you think! Comment on my Facebook page, send me a message on Instagram, Track me down on X and let me know what you thought, or even comment at the bottom of this page! I truly appreciate all of your enthusiasm for the look of the new blog, and can’t wait to continue to grow and evolve with you! Thank you .