The Optimistic Musings of a Pessimist

Holiday Leftovers, Clearance Finds, and Other Recent Frugal Wins

Who’s ready for a look at some recent frugal decisions/outcomes in our household?

1 | Leftovers!

We are a leftovers family. I’m so glad we have relatively little food waste, and nothing brings me greater…

Frugality, Money
Jan, 07, 2026
39 Comments

Drumroll Announcing My Ten Favourite Fiction Reads from 2025

This was hard! For the first time in years, I have had an absolutely banner year of fiction reading and I give all credit to the blogging community. The number of incredible suggestions coming…

2025 on the Blog: Stats, Stories, and So Much Gratitude

Last year I wrote a post summarizing my year of blogging (2024 summary here) and I thought it would be fun to do something similar again! (It looks like a long post, but there…

Blogging
Jan, 05, 2026
48 Comments

Ginger Sparklers: A Beloved Christmas Recipe

A reader asked if I would post my recipe for Ginger Sparklers and since they are my all-time favourite cookie, I had to oblige!!!

I was going to tack this onto another post, but decided…

Christmas, Food
Jan, 03, 2026
27 Comments

Happy New Year (Friday): 2 January

This is the first Happy Things Friday post of 2026.

I feel like I don’t have a lot of “new” Happy Things to add to my list, but I jotted down items that were…

On My Shelf: Books I Read in December 2025

Happy New Year!!!!!

Today seemed like a fitting time to recap the books I finished in December (I’ll be back next week with a roundup of my Top Ten fiction and non-fiction picks for 2025).

January. February. March. April. May. June. July. August. September. October….

Reading
Jan, 01, 2026
35 Comments

Ideas for a Frugal-Friendly Christmas (It Can Still Feel Abundant!)

While things are decidedly more comfortable for us financially these days, we’ve had many Christmases—both in childhood and as a married couple—when money was tight.

And yet we’ve always tried to make Christmas feel abundant….

Holiday Leftovers, Clearance Finds, and Other Recent Frugal Wins

Drumroll Announcing My Ten Favourite Fiction Reads from 2025

2025 on the Blog: Stats, Stories, and So Much Gratitude

Ginger Sparklers: A Beloved Christmas Recipe

Happy New Year (Friday): 2 January

On My Shelf: Books I Read in December 2025

Ideas for a Frugal-Friendly Christmas (It Can Still Feel Abundant!)

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