Happy New Year!
No, I didn't get a dog. 😉
I'm just filling in for Zoe...she's been puppy-sitting for my brother this week, but she had a New Year's party to go to last night.
So I'm just temporarily minding a puppy.
And enjoying river views.
Thanks for sticking around here through my year of upheaval; it means a lot to me.
For many years now, the calendar has turned over and I have thought to myself, "Well, that sure was a hard year. Glad that one's over. Hopefully this next one will be better."
And things kept not being better.
But this year, I really do think things will be better for me.
(Time will tell if that thought is based in fact or just in my relentless optimism. 😉 )
Whether you've had some years like me, or you've just been enjoying a string of happy years, I hope that 2023 is full of joy and growth for you.
And regardless of what 2023 holds, we can know that there will always, always be things to be grateful for. Joys are always mixed in with sorrows, and we can hunt for the joys together.
Happy New Year, friends!
And a most happy new year to you!
Thank you for curating this website and welcoming us all.
Your posts and people's comments mean a great deal to me.
Happy New Year to you and your readers! I thank you for being a positive force in this world. I look forward to your posts that bring authenticity, wisdom, joy (amidst challenges and occasional sadness) and perseverance. The community you have built is a never-ending source of support, knowledge and diversity that brings me happiness. Thank you.
Happy New Year, Kristen & Children and the wonderful readers of this site! Long time silent reader here from 2009.
Blessings to everyone ❤️
Happy New Year!
I think the hardest part of what you are going through is taking the first step, and you’ve done that. Not saying there won’t still be hard days, but you are moving forward and I think things will continue to look up.
Happy new year! We had a hard year with lots of health issues. I too am hoping for a year with better health, growth and many joyful moments. Despite the hard times, there were many things in 2022 I am grateful for. Many blessings to all!
Happy New Year to you, Kristen, and all the readers here as well!
I had been eager to be done with 2022, saying it was a bad year, it stunk, etc...but then I began to remember that it was not all bad for me, many good things happened as well. Life is like that, ups and downs, joy and frustration, laughter and pain. I'm not a Pollyanna, but I want to make sure I do recognize and appreciate the good things that happen, and not let the negative overwhelm me. I wish the same for everyone who reads this.
A very happy new year Kristen, girls, other family, and readers!
And the pup is truly adorable!
Happy New Year! Wishing you and your girls lots of happiness!
And a Happy New Year in return to Kristen, her children, her extended family, and the entire Frugal Girl gang. I think that Kristen's openness about her own difficulties makes it easier for the rest of us to be open about ours, and to provide support to each other. Fingers crossed for better times ahead for all of us.
Also, that puppy is a darling! Reminds me of a dog named Wags we had when I was small.
Happy New Year to you, Kristen, and to everyone else!
Happy New Year to you as well, Kristin. Thank you for sharing your life with us, more than just unicorns and butterflies. It gives people like me the validation to share our own trials and tribulations. I'm grateful for anywhere I can talk openly about my cancer journey because I don't have that in many places. So thank you.
2023 is already better than 2022 for you! Just look at you go! I'm a lot like you in the eternal optimist category of people and I know it drives some of my family nuts but hey, I'm happy with me. And really, that's all that matters....
My 2023 goal is to still be here for New Year's Day 2024. I don't feel like dying in an odd numbered year, lol!
In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson -
“Write it on your heart
that every day is the best day in the year.
He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day
who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.
Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt crept in.
Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely, with too high a spirit
to be cumbered with your old nonsense.
This new day is too dear,
with its hopes and invitations,
to waste a moment on the yesterdays.”
xoxoxo to all my FG friends and supporters,
Leann
@Leann, EEk, Kristen with an e! Sorry!
@Leann, What a great poem; thanks for sharing that (and your story) with us all - joining in the happy new year wishes for FG family and friends (& gratitude for this welcoming place to share trials, joys, and frugal wins : )!
@Leann, reading this made me tear up. Thank you for sharing. Wishing you the gift of health for 2023.
@Leann,
I very much appreciate the poem, thanks, it’s a great reminder to not ruminate.
I don't know why the first of the year doesn't start on the winter solstice. Oh well. Bunch of old men arguing and not making any sense I reckon.
@Tiana, Romans. It was considered auspicious for consuls to be changed on the kalends of Janus, the god of doorways. "Kalends" being the first day of any month and incidentally the word "calendar" comes from it. So Januarius it is!
also, there were many other festivals occurring around the solstice like Saturnalia.
Happy New Year! Yes, it's been a hard year, but turning the page, I will seek out joy! I hope your year ahead is wonderful!!
Happy new year! Thank you for this place and for your lovely self.
Happy New Year, Kristen!
Happy New Year!
Here's to hoping 2023 will be better than 2022.
Happy New Year to everyone, wishing everyone health, happiness, peace and prosperity for this coming year.
Thank you Kristen for having this blog, a big part of this for me is reading all the comments from all of your readers, I'm always interested to hear what they say, and I learn new things along the way.
What a cute, funny little puppy! He looks like he's full of energy lol. Wishing you and yours joy and peace in the new year, Frugal Girl!
Happy New Year to you, Kristen! And to all of the awesome FG community!
Happy New Year to you too.
I hope this year is less traumatic for you and you and your girls continue to enjoy your new normal.
I have a number of challenges on the way that I know about - our landlord is selling the house so we will be moving at some stage; he’s also decided to put a new kitchen in so we’ll have all the mess/stress with that in January; youngest son finds out in 3 weeks if he’s been accepted by Cambridge to study architecture; eldest son find out in 2 weeks if he’s been approved to study for a semester in the US in 2024 and my 82 yr old dad is due to have brain surgery to repair an aneurysm. It’s all a bit tense here!!
I’m having therapy, initially due to some work related PTSD which has bought up some childhood trauma and the techniques I’m learning at therapy are really helpful for me at this quite challenging time.
Thank you Kristen for this safe space full of wonderful contributors and your joyful and Pollyanna approach, I’m a Pollyanna myself so love reading your positive posts xx
@Joanne in the U.K., good for you addressing your mental health. I pray all these things you speak of are resolved in a positive manner. As Dory says, “just keep swimming!”
Happy New Years, Kristen!
I hope this one is a great one for you.
Happy New Year, Kristen! I hope this is the best year ever for you. I so admire your strength and spirit.
Happier New Year, to all of us. 🙂
I love this poem by my favorite poet, Lucille Clifton. She wrote it for her birthday, but I think it works for New Year's Day, too. I hope this year is the best one yet for you and yours!
i am running into a new year
and the old years blow back
like a wind
that i catch in my hair
like strong fingers like
all my old promises and
it will be hard to let go
of what i said to myself
about myself
when i was sixteen and
twentysix and thirtysix
even thirtysix but
i am running into a new year
and i beg what i love and
i leave to forgive me
—Lucille Clifton, Good Woman: Poems and A Memoir 1969-1980
Happy New Year to you, Kristen, your daughters, and the wonderful readers of tFG.
I love this blog!
Happy New Year all. May you all have health.
Today I made the overnite cinnamon stick recipe. Passed 6 to my daughter next door and 4 to my neighbors. My husband enjoyed them.
The weather is beautiful here. 54 deg. now. I was out early this morning for the first day of the monthly challenge my walking ladies and I are doing. The local college gives us a new location each month with point earning challenges.
Thanks for continuing the blog, despite your terrible year. You can't know the times one of your blog posts have lifted me up. Happy New Year.
Happy New Year, FG World.
I'm an astrologer and you're not wrong to think 2023 is when it finally gets better. There's some big, big shifts in the planets at the moment that have kind of always been building up to this and people brave enough to make the really tough changes in their life and endure all that comes with it are the ones who win most with the new energy.
Thank you for sharing your story so graciously too. Here's to 2023.
Happy New Year to you and your family!
In those other years, I never would have known you felt like that. I join you in hoping that this year, it really will be better. ❤️
Happy New Year to you, Kristen, and to the girls and to the other readers!
Happy New Year Kristen to you and your girls. Your blog means so much to me and I hope next year is such a wonderful turning point for you.
Happy New Year to you and the rest of the group!
Also, not to be weird, but you look extra lovely in the first photo of 2023. Perhaps it is puppy love? (But don't tell the cat.)
Sticking with you?! You continue to be a source of joy and inspiration despite all that's been thrown your way. I appreciate you and the community you've created more than you can know.
Happy new year!
Kristen, I’ve said a prayer that 2023 is a wonderful year for you, despite the hard things. ❤️
Kristen,
Thank you for honestly sharing both your trials and celebrations with all of us. I hope and pray that 2023 is a year filled with small sorrows and great joys for you and this entire gang of Frugal family members. Special note to Battra92 (hope that is correct) that I continue to pray for you and your dear wife and daughter as you navigate through your loss and grief.
Fondly,
VickyMac
Happy New Year, Kristen.
I wish all good things for you and your family, and all of the good folks in this community.
Sorrows lightened; joys heightened.
I also keep praying that the new year will be a good one and have learned to adjust what is "good" for me. There have been many surprises in my life- some not so nice/good and I have to find my contentment within those circumstances. Praying for you and your household.
Kristin, you are an amazing young woman. I have followed you since your children were little and I know that you have had ups and downs that have taken you to your emotional limits. But you are still standing. You have cried and beat your pillow in rage and pain but came out on the other end with the smile of a winner. I wish you and yours the best in 2023! Happy New Year!
So you're puppy sitting for the puppy sitter! He's awfully CUTE!