No major events, no huge highs, no deep lows, just life. But life is quite enough, quiet life is good. Let’s do a short recap of what that quiet life looked like in 2024.
Starting with the Best 9 from Instagram and the Year Wrap from Spotify. Spotify requires a tiny bit of an explanation: I read the book The 69 Eyes in the spring which lead me to listen through all their albums, adding songs to my Liked Songs as I was listening. I mostly listen to music only while driving or otherwise out and about alone, so the listening minutes aren’t that high and listening to the full discography of a band that’s been around for a while does cause a peak in the stats, for sure.
My bookish year reviews are separate, I won’t mix them into this. I read 148 books, 52309 pages – so you can see that has taken up a whole lot of my year 😀 See my 2024 in books posts:
On to the monthly reviews!
January
- We built a new bed out of solid walnut. H had ordered the wood precut from an Estonian company, but built it the rest of the way himself (with some help from me)
- I read 10 books
February
- My dad turned 75 and I helped him host a small birthday celebration
- I had a week off work
- I read 16 books
- My ex-mother-in-law (my kids’ grandmother) died (on my dad’s birthday :O)
March
- Funeral of my ex-mother-in-law was in early March
- Ace turned 4
- I read 10 books
- We went on a little roadtrip in south-eastern Finland (pit-stop at Malmgård) on Easter
April
- Meggie turned 12
- My daughter turned 21
- I read 14 books
- We had a fullblown “takatalvi” ie. winter came back for a week or so
May
- Timmy turned 12
- It was sunny and warm, I was reading on the terrace a lot, H opened the grilling season
- A bird made it’s nest in the wheelwell of our AMG; it’s shifter or smtg broke in the spring and it sat in the yeard for some time before we managed to push it into the garage
- I read 14 books
June
- I turned 49
- Someone (well, at least I believe it was intentional vandalism) loosed the lugnuts on the wheels of our other car resulting in me losing the front wheel on the driver’s side while doing 130km/h on the motorway, giving me serious anxiety and PTSD for some weeks
- I visited the Lohja Tytyri Mines for a company dinner
- We went without a (working) car for most of June
- I read 10 books
- I took a train to Hämeenlinna to visit Aulanko with my old friend from the Uni
- My godmother died
July
- We were on summer vacation (4 weeks)
- We went on a roadtrip to Kotka (Katariinanpuisto and Langinkoski) and the Strömfors Foundry village
- I read 11 books
- The funreal for my godmother was in July
August
- We had the 30y reunion of our Theology class
- August marked 4 years of sobriety for H and me
- I took a couple of tattoos: a chameleon on my arm and a falcon on my shoulder
- I read 14 books
- My step-grandson was born
September
- My son turned 24
- My step-daughter turned 23
- We had all family here for the b-day celebrations of those two older ones
- Had some warm days left so we still had some meals outside, e.g. a crawdad feast
- I got a sunflower tattoo on my leg
- I read 15 books
October
- Had a bit of an accident with Ace: he accidentally bit me in my hand when we were playing tug-of-war
- I read 11 books
- Got a couple of funky denim caps with ears – bully and rabbit
November
- November brought sleet and storms
- A tree fell down in our backyard during one of the storms
- I read 12 books
- We had our company Christmas party in Herrankukkaro
December
- Helsinki Christmas Market ❤
- Christmas, kids over for some goodies, food, and their Christmas gifts
- Lots of Christmas baking
- Brunch in the city with some extended family on mom’s side
- I read 11 books
Happy New Year 2025!
This year I’ll be 50 and fabulous (as ever) in June. I’ve also got some new stuff at work, with a new role starting tomorrow. What else? Nobody knows yet. I just hope this year will be as uneventful as the last one, with peace and happiness for everyone. And books. Lots and lots of books.
System Failure for the Masses 