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Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.
To be honest with all of you, the cold, dark days of winter are something I struggle with due to the winter blues.
When I was a kid, I loved building snowmen and going sledding during the winter. This isn’t something I’ve done much if at all as an adult, but maybe I should someday after getting warmer and more water-resistant outerwear.
These are the sorts of activities I more routinely enjoy during the winter:
- Watching documentaries with nature-themed ones at the top of my list. Yes, this includes penguins.
- Doing puzzles and games (sudoku, jigsaw puzzles, solitaire, and the like).
- Reading much more, especially if I’m recovering from a cold or other illness and must rest.
- Working ahead on blog posts and other writing stuff.*
- Taking outdoor walks on milder days (e.g. temperatures above 0 C or 32 Fahrenheit)
- Taking indoor walks at the mall on cold, snowy, and/or blustery days.
- Baking and cooking, especially warm and nourishing food like chili or spaghetti.
- Drinking herbal tea and dairy-free hot chocolate.
- Exercising at home with yoga, dance, kickboxing or other workouts.
- Jokingly asking my spouse if they want to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year.**
- Deep cleaning my home when the weather warms up a tad and I can open the windows briefly.
- Rewatching favorite films and tv shows. The two tribble episodes from Star Trek are close to the top of my list for rewatches!
- Watching new episodes of modern shows like Call the Midwife or The Handmaid’s Tale.
- Catching up gradually on the countless older shows I need to finish like Blackish.
- Attending free bookish events either virtually or in-person at the library***
- Visiting coffee shops. To be fair, I do this one all year round.
- Occasionally visiting local museums if the weather holds. Some museums here even have free nights or other good deals if you’re flexible about when you go!
*I schedule some posts months in advance, especially if I know a certain week or month is going to be busy beforehand.
*We prefer to save our special dates nights for other times of the year when restaurants aren’t packed with people. Servers have time to give us more attention that way if needed, and we are also less likely to wait in a long line in the freezing cold or be told they’re out of what we were hoping to order.
**Aren’t libraries the best?
I look forward to seeing what we all have in common!
Here are my goals for 2025. Yes, I’m recycling some of the ones from last year. Might as well keep plugging away at them.
If we’re talking about AI as in LLMs (large language models like ChatGPT), I am wholeheartedly opposed to the use of them for the following reasons:
Long and Short Reviews has released the list of topics for their seventh year of Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge posts. (Can you believe it has been around for long already? I feel like I just heard about it yesterday).
1. Quiet Reading and Writing Time
