A Bit of a Hiatus

Normally I focus on book reviews on this blog. However, I thought I would give a quick update since reviews (and posts in general) are going to be a bit slim on here for the next few months at least.

We have a lot going on personally. I was laid off from my job at 3M mid summer (was there ~15 years)  and transitioned to a new job late summer. To be honest that experience has been really tough and I am still working through it while trying to get up to speed at my new job. This happened after switching from a career in chemical engineering to career in intellectual property (and working to pass the patent bar) in 2021. So not only did I switch careers, I then got laid off shortly after doing that. It’s been a lot of change.

My son is also getting older and, while that does free up some time on a daily basis, it also means that we are working on big things as a family. Like visiting colleges, figuring out where we want to eventually live, and things like that. My son going off to college makes us empty nesters and opens up a lot of opportunities for me and my husband to not be linked to one location. We are excited for this new phase in life but it is also taking a lot of time and effort to figure things out.

As part of the above we recently bought a second house in northern Minnesota, an area we have always loved to visit. However, as of November we now own two houses that are fairly far apart from each other. The “new” house is an amazing 1930’s historic house that needs some work, which we are excited to do. My husband and I love working on houses, finishing basements, and doing remodels. We do most the work ourselves but this takes a lot of time. So, between the new job and traveling out to a house that is 3hrs away every weekend to work on it, things have been hectic.

I have also been dealing with some health issues the last few months, which seem to be resolving and we think were viral based. Lots of time at doctor’s appointments getting tested trying to figure out what is going on. So…something has to give.

Unfortunately, that something is this blog. This blog is a fun way for me to record thoughts on books I read, but doesn’t serve any other purpose. I haven’t had as much time to read, write and record videos. And since I am not willing to give up other time-consuming things like workouts, family time, or sleeping…this is what gives.

I am not shutting it down, posts will just be fewer and less varied.

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and thank you for following this blog!