Grateful 2023

Thank you Lord for the gift of life, the blessings and the time with family and friends. I am grateful for everything and understand that trials come along the way to make one stronger. It's also a way to appreciate and be thankful for what you have. 

2023 was another difficult year. Losing Mom meant I really need to find my footing and be completely independent. I started to learn this when we lost Dad back in 2011. I remember Mom would always say, "What will you do when I'm gone" when I was just a child. She wanted me to learn to be independent at a young age. 

Now that I am an orphan, I'm grateful I had my parents growing up. They left me when I was good and ready. They were very strict when I was growing up. I would probably not have the discipline to have done well if not for that. So I am truly appreciative of the time I had with them. 

The new year will be a transition. We will be working on my childhood home. I haven't even made a dent in sorting the boxes. Mom left a lot of stuff. It took me the whole month of December just to sort through her bead collection. She had taught kids how to make rosaries, so she had a lot of supplies. I haven't even started with her sewing supplies. It will probably take me half a year to finish going through everything. 

And, I have completed the challenge to complete one second video everyday! Here's a summary of my December 2023!

Let's all have fun in 2024!

#BeKind #StaySafe

The Highs and Lows of 2023

The year has been one of the most devastating years of my life. I lost my Mom and I just had to cope with my grief through the rest of the year. The state of my health has also been challenging. Worse off, I was hospitalized for 3 weeks last month. 

Some of my friends said it hasn't been a good year for them too. I always remind myself that God only gives us trials that we can bear. The day before He took Mom home with Him, I had prayed in earnest for something I have been praying for over a decade now. God finally answered the prayer the day before my Dad's birthday. It helped ease the pain of losing my Mom. 

I wouldn't put 2023 as a bad year. We all go through highs and lows each year. I put goals for different aspects of my life so I could feel more productive and useful. Adjusting to retired but disabled life has been difficult for me, so having goals helped make me feel useful and needed. Here's how I broke it down:

Make Our Home Beautiful (https://aileenapolo.blogspot.com/2023/01/home-on-mondays-make-our-home-beautiful.html)

We made a lot of progress with fixing and organizing our home. We had the electrical and plumbing issues fixed. Kitchen was overhauled. Garden is not muddy anymore and plumbing has been improved. We're down to a handful of boxes which I'll finish sorting today. We've sent more than 50 boxes of items for donation. Also hope to clear the sala before 2024 comes knocking in 24 hours (haha)

Craft the Year Away (https://aileenapolo.blogspot.com/2023/01/creative-happy-tuesdays-craft-year-away.html)

I probably finished half of the projects I wanted to do. I take time whenever I work on my projects since I want to enjoy every stitch I make. I enjoyed making the cat series the most. I also enjoyed the challenge of turning scrap fabric into something useful. Will prioritize those I wasn't able to make next year. If you want to take a look, I documented what I created on my YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@aileenapolo/videos). 

Wellness, Stability and Stamina (https://aileenapolo.blogspot.com/2023/01/wellness-wednesdays-my-wellness-goals.html)

I set wellness goals for the year to ensure I took care of myself better. The most important thing I did was to change doctors and hospital. I felt I needed a change because they were forcing me to have surgery. My doctors in Singapore warned that it would be very risky for me to do any procedure. I knew I really needed to change when the medtech staff doing my CT scan freaked out over my results. Changing doctors helped a lot and despite being confined for 3 weeks I feel I'm becoming more stable and my stamina is increasing. Ahh, and I finally got my PWD card (hooray!).

Bucket List (https://aileenapolo.blogspot.com/2023/01/2023-bucket-list.html)

I made my 2023 bucket list attainable. I was able to do 70% of it, the others have to wait (more like pass the approval of my boys). We were able to enjoy traveling twice without any incident and I hope we can do that next year again. Just need to avoid the flu season and ensure I'm strong and stable when we get to travel again. I hope to resume though in-person grocery and dine at interesting food places. 

Ambitious Gardening Goals (https://aileenapolo.blogspot.com/2023/01/plantita-saturdays-my-ambitious.html)

I'm still not successful with my veggie garden. It's hard! It's been really challenging since one really needs to be consistent with it. Plus it didn't help when I got hospitalized since the watering and care had to be delegated to the boys. I've been more successful with ornamental plants. I bravely re-potted the plants Mom gave me and they're all thriving. I hope to do better with gardening next year. 

I'm still thinking about what I'll do next year. I haven't really thought about making goals yet since I'm a month behind everything (haha). I'll probably continue blogging everyday since it's part of my therapy, plus it helps me to keep active and productive. 

Let's all hope and pray for a better year next year!

#BeKind #StaySafe