Good Morning and welcome to 2020!!!

For the last 10+ years (I’ve been blogging since 2007!) I have written a New Year’s Day post. And every year I have the same New Year’s resolution – remember to write the current year’s date on all correspondence and checks. I aim high!

A new decade is upon us and once again I think… WTH did the time go? It seems like just yesterday I was programming for the (non-existent) Y2K meltdown. My how time flies.

I want to start off with a short recap of what happened in 2019 to the Ann’s Entitled Life household, and what we have going on in 2020. After all, no matter how “commercial” blogging appears to be today – and make no mistake about it, it is extremely commercial these days, I still consider this blog to be my personal diary. I write it so that in five years I can remember “Oh yeah, we took THAT trip” or “Hubby made THAT recipe” – notice I wrote, “hubby made”? For those unfamiliar with this blog my husband does most of the cooking. He’s an excellent cook. I bake and make cocktails, he cooks!

Soooo with that in mind:

Last year was a better year than 2018 (which was pretty grim).

I have wanted to travel for a number of years now. Due to Mr. Max’s health issues, traveling wasn’t possible for nearly five years without taking him along. 2019 was the start of fulfilling the travel-bug:

In January we went on a Panama Canal cruise. I took over 600 photos on that cruise, as I was going to do a big write-up about the locks. I was out on the “secret deck” at 6 am with a bird-eye view. Annnnnd then I could not find the photos. I blamed hubby for not uploading them correctly to his computer and resigned myself to not doing the post. Wellllllllll guess what I found mislabeled in my photo albums yesterday? (Honestly, YESTERDAY!)

I had always wanted to see the Panama Canal. My mother told me before we left that it was like the Welland Canal. And darn it, it was. This was also the first cruise we ever took Dramamine on. It was rough sailing. We missed one of our ports due to weather conditions (the captain felt it was unsafe to dock). On an excursion we overhead a lady saying that this was her 28th cruise and the worth sea conditions she ever encountered. I guess it was bound to happen! (It was our eighth cruise.)

We drove down to Ft. Lauderdale for the cruise as we decided to spend some time exploring Florida afterward. We had never done the west coast of Florida, so off we went through Alligator Alley (which was cool although I’d never want to break down there), on to Naples ($$), up to Ft Meyer (er, Sanibel Island is pretty), up to St Petersburg (we LOVED it!), and over to our old stomping grounds in St. Augustine.

On the drive home, we stopped in Savannah. All those years we had a condo in St. Augustine and never once did we stop in Savannah! This was another place I had always wanted to visit. And now, I have.

After that, Hubby and I spent some time around the house with typical household duties, and he planned a 6-week trip to Italy.

We have now been home since mid-October and the holidays whizzed by!

We are soon off to Australia and New Zealand. This is a trip Hubby and I have chatted about for many years. We always knew we would do New Zealand via a cruise… they drive on the wrong side of the road and the stops are fairly close, so, we decided to use the cruise ship as a floating hotel room. Hubby has several days of Hobbits planned, he wanted to do a Zena excursion (insert eye roll) but found out there was nothing commercial to be had. I think he’s pretty disappointed.

Our Australia time is mostly in Sydney, and then a cruise to the Great Barrier Reef. This should be interesting with all the smoke and fires.

After we return home from Australia, we turn around in a week and head out to Spain. We have also have a side trip tentatively planned to Morroco when Sonny-boy and his SO join us.

Also planned for this year is a Noric Fjord cruise (and some time somewhere beforehand… not quite nailed it down yet although the cruise is booked), as well as a Canadian Leaf-Pepping tour in the fall.

And after that, hubby and I will have a fight about getting more dogs. I am still not over Max – although I might be as the second year without him comes to a close – and truly do not want a puppy at my age. I also have a few more trips I’d like to take that are not short (including Antarctica and Eygpt), and leaving a dog for a month is not a great idea, in my opinion.

Busy, busy, busy is the name of the 2020 game for us!

As far as the blog goes? I finally broke up with Facebook. It was a long time coming, but when everything is ‘spend this, spend that,’ to get seen on Facebook and since I am mostly sharing crafts and recipes that do not pay for themselves (I recently called this blog my money pit, and it is a pretty apt description), Facebook is not worth the effort.

Oh, occasionally I drop a link to Facebook, however, the content is simply not scheduled out like it used to be (none of the blogs you follow have an organic Facebook page… it is all planned and scheduled).

I gave up on Instagram too. It is owned by Facebook, and I can see where that is headed. ‘Nuff said.

I started up on Twitter again. I just cannot quit Twitter, the sewer that it is. My Twitter account is all hearts and roses and unicorns, however. Pro tip: stay out of Political-Twitter. It ain’t for the weak of heart.

So, that leaves me with Pinterest and my newsletter. And, I am fine with that. I like the newsletter the best because it is chatty, and people send me email responses! Pinterest? My account is a top 10,000 Pinterest account, so I am tied at the hip to it. We never sold our Pinterest stock either, so I have a vested interest (literally!) in seeing it succeed.

That’s about it for now. I want to thank you all for reading Ann’s Entitled Life. I wouldn’t mind if you all commented more. I love interacting with people who read Ann’s Entitled Life. I’d like to get to know you all too. So please feel free to comment on the blog!!

• Follow Ann’s Entitled Life on Pinterest
• Subscribe to the Ann’s Entitled Life Newsletter

And I can always be reached through the contact me page or by emailing me directly!

Do you have any New Year plans? Resolutions? Goals? Ideas?

I wish you all a very happy, healthy, fabulous New Year. May 2020 bring much success, happiness, and fulfillment for you and yours!

• If you enjoyed this post, be sure to sign up for the Ann’s Entitled Life weekly newsletter, and never miss another article!

Good Morning and welcome to 2019!!!

For the last ten years (geez that means I have been blogging for 11 years now!) I have written a New Year’s Day post filled with blog updates, new series ideas, and what to expect in the upcoming year, first on my old blog, and continuing the tradition on Ann’s Entitled Life.

And every year I have the same New Year’s resolution – remember to write the current year’s date on all correspondence and checks. Apparently, I like attainable goals. Well, at least I am consistent!

While this is normally a recap of blog-life and what Ann’s Entitled Life is going to look forward to, I would be remiss in not my recapping my personal life in 2018 and all its changes – as that is going to have a major impact on my 2019 blogging-life.

As many of you know, we had a little doggie that was very ill for many years. Mr. Max passed away in November of 2018. We did everything we possibly could to prolong his life while making certain that even though he was ill, he had a good quality of life. He was a rabies titer which meant he could no longer fly on planes, and he could not go to Canada. Anywhere hubby and I traveled together traveled, Mr. Max needed to come with us, and it had to be by car within the continental United States.

Hubby and I took a trip to Europe in 2015 approximately 10 months after Max was diagnosed with GME. It did not go well with him and his dog sitter (she had watched him many, many times for us prior to his diagnosis). She basically told us “no more” when we picked him up.

That disaster grounded us and Hubby and I did not take a trip together without Max until this past October when we flew to Las Vegas to settle his Mother’s house. Hubby’s Mom passed away in September. Hubby was also his Mom’s power of attorney. He was responsible for her health care and making certain that her day to day needs were met, and her bills were paid.

We now find ourselves in a place where we are retired, have no children at home, no grandchildren on the horizon (#@!&^ Sonny-boy), no longer have a second residence, and Hubby is working to disinvest himself from most of his rental properties.

Hubby and I have few real commitments at the moment.

With that in mind, we have decided to travel. The idea is to take those long overseas vacations that we have put off – many of them on our bucket list – and travel for chunks of time before we decide on whether or not to get another dog(s).

Maybe by the time we are done traveling Sonny-boy will finally decide to marry and have children!? One can only hope.

Anyhooooo… that will mean more travel content on this blog, a category I have long allowed to languish.

Our first trip is to the Panama Canal. I had booked this trip before we were even married 13 years ago, but due to extenuating circumstances, we had to cancel. When the ability to travel outside the United States came back to us that was the first trip we booked!

We are not doing the full transit as Mexico held little appeal at the moment (ironically Sonny-boy is headed to Cancun in February), and decided to travel to and from Ft. Lauderdale. As long as we were doing that, we decided to spend some time road tripping in Florida in February, and then on the way home stop in Savannah for five days.

In the fall, we have 6 weeks in Italy scheduled. Well, we have our flights. We will spend some time in Nice, France first, visiting Hubby’s aunt and uncle. Since I love the French Riviera, and his aunt and uncle are wonderful, I was all for that!

We still have not mapped out all our destinations in Italy, no doubt some may overlap with our last trip there, but I am also hoping to spend some time in Venice, Hubby wants to explore his roots in Sicily, and my SIL is going to join us for one week somewhere in Italy, so it should be fun!

In January and February of 2020, we are already booked for our trip of a lifetime: Australia and New Zealand! We are working out how to get there. We decided a cruise was the best way to see New Zealand and tacked on another cruise in Australia although we will be in Sydney for several days before sailing.

Why does “how” we get there matter? Well, we can fly from NYC (1 stop, 22-24 hours), from LA (direct, about 20 hours), hop from Buffalo to Hawaii to Fiji to Sydney, or book a world ticket and stop in Egypt or Greece on the way home.

Lots of choices to make, lots of places to see!

In the fall of 2020, we are looking at Eastern Europe for a month or so. I have not been to Poland or the Czech Republic since there were guard dogs and razor wire surrounding the borders, and the Czech Republic was Czechoslovakia. My family tells me it has changed just a weeeee bit.

Why does any of this matter? Well, last year I swore I was going to take some time to revamp the blog for the way readers read blogs these days (ie, they don’t). I did not make those changes. I couldn’t. I do not think it is in me to just sell-sell-sell. I want to write, I want to help people, I want to fill a need or answer a question. I like to connect with people who read my blog.

I am basically disgusted with Facebook (a time-suck with no return, so it is going to be dialed back a lot), IG (I hate it), and G+ is going away in April (I used to love it, but 2-3 updates ago it became almost unusable, so I am not sorry to see it close). That leaves my blogging time to create content, write my newsletter, and play on Pinterest.

I desperately want to get back to Ann’s Entitled Life being my diary, and not a business. But, I need it to be a business so the IRS doesn’t get mad at me, and so I can pay the blogging bills (my server alone is almost $700 a month!), however, I do so love writing chatty posts and interacting with all of you. It is a real dilemma.

I am hopeful that the travel and garden content can soothe my need to write and the crafts and recipes can continue to pay the bills. We shall see.

That’s about it for now. I want to thank you all for reading Ann’s Entitled Life. I wouldn’t mind if you all commented a bit (ok a lot) more. I love interacting with people who read Ann’s Entitled Life. I’d like to get to know you all too. So please feel free to comment on the blog!!

• Follow Ann’s Entitled Life on Pinterest
• Subscribe to the Ann’s Entitled Life Newsletter

And I can always be reached through the contact me page or by emailing me directly!

Do you have any New Year plans? Resolutions? Goals? Ideas?

I wish you all a very Happy, Healthy, Fulfilling New Year. May 2019 be a year of much happiness and joy for you and yours!

• If you enjoyed this post, be sure to sign up for the Ann’s Entitled Life weekly newsletter, and never miss another article!

Wishing you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving Day with safe travels, and lots of stuffing, gravy and pumpkin pie.

This year we are off to my brother and SIL’s house for Thanksgiving. It is her favorite holiday, and she does a marvelous job of hosting all of us. My only contribution is to bring a sweet potato casserole! I love years like this.

I hope you and yours have a wonderful Thanksgiving day!

Over the River and Through the Wood

by Lydia Maria Child (1844)

Over the river, and through the wood,
to Grandfather’s house we go;
the horse knows the way
to carry the sleigh
through the white and drifted snow.

Over the river, and through the wood,
to Grandfather’s house away!
We would not stop
for doll or top,
for ’tis Thanksgiving Day.

Over the river, and through the wood—
oh, how the wind does blow!
It stings the toes
and bites the nose,
as over the ground we go.

Over the river, and through the wood,
with a clear blue winter sky.
The dogs do bark
and the children hark,
as we go jingling by.

Over the river, and through the wood,
to have a first-rate play.
Hear the bells ring,
“Ting a ling ding!”
Hurray for Thanksgiving Day!

Over the river, and through the wood—
no matter for winds that blow;
or if we get
the sleigh upset
into a bank of snow.

Over the river, and through the wood,
to see little John and Ann;
we will kiss them all,
and play snowball
and stay as long as we can.

Over the river, and through the wood,
trot fast my dapple gray!
Spring over the ground
like a hunting-hound!
For ’tis Thanksgiving Day.

Over the river, and through the wood
and straight through the barnyard gate.
We seem to go
extremely slow—
it is so hard to wait!

Over the river, and through the wood—
old Jowler hears our bells;
he shakes his paw
with a loud bow-wow,
and thus the news he tells.

Over the river, and through the wood—
when Grandmother sees us come,
she will say, “O, dear,
the children are here,
bring pie for everyone.”

Over the river, and through the wood—
now Grandmother’s cap I spy!
Hurrah for the fun!
Is the pudding done?
Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!

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