It’s time for my annual “Things I Learned” post; let’s get into it!

Have hard conversations sooner rather than later. They might not even be all that hard.

Payment processors are MASSIVE leaches.

Be sure the people you appreciate know how much you appreciate them; you never know when they might not be around to thank anymore.

Catching a 9pm flight so I’ll have longer in the first location feels like a terrible idea on the actual day, especially when I’m going to bed at midnight in the second location.

After I’ve been travelling for more than ten days I’m not going to get much work done. I always think I can squeeze in an email or something here or there, but my brain gets very tired from all the ongoing new-ness + needing to devote mental energy to things that are on auto-pilot when I’m at home (like laundry, making tea, and getting around).

A relatively small drip/leak adds up fast—what looks like just a dribble can easily be upwards of 40L/hour of water!

Capillary action from a tightly folded pond liner can pull a shockingly large amount of water out of a pond in a short period of time.

Fresh cedar mulch looks and smells fabulous.

A cubic yard of anything is simultaneously a lot of that thing and also not much at all.

Thank heavens for wheelbarrows.

Don’t mistake a history of sparse friendly interactions for friendship.

I definitely haven’t been eating enough fibre.

Some people really need to be in control of everything, and will be perfectly pleasant to you until a situation arises where they can no longer be in control.

When making decisions, sometimes a gut feeling of “I don’t want to” or “I want to” will be all you’ll really have to go on, and that’s enough.

If you like the nutritional profile of chia seeds but not the texture, grind them up! The resulting “flour” is far less noticeable in things and doesn’t create blobs that get stuck in your teeth. Just take care not to blend/grind them too long or you could end up with chia butter instead as there’s a lot more fat in chia seeds than something like wheat or oats.

I’m learning to pay more attention to how different activities/jobs/tasks make me feel after I’ve finished them. Some tasks that are very fun in the moment leave me wrung out for hours or days afterwards; I need to build in time for rest after those things. Conversely, some tasks that are a bit of a drag at the time reliably improve my whole day (exercise). I need to prioritize doing those things even if my inner toddler really doesn’t want to.

I’ve been bitten by the gardening bug, and it’s great! Thus far I haven’t grown much as I spent the whole summer manually re-landscaping my back yard so I’d actually have places to plant things, but the thrill of digging, moving earth, researching plants, and planning out things that will hopefully come together to create an outdoor space I’m in love with is utterly addictive. I spent more time outside this past summer than I have since I was a kid, and I loved seeing the change in my space at the end of each day of shovelling and wheelbarrow-ing. I woke up every day with stiff, sore hands and a serious sense of accomplishment and possibility.

My houseplants need to be re-potted far more often than I thought.

Lottie does not need to go out 27 times a day, she just likes going out 27 times a day.

I flippin’ adore Notion.

A good fence can do a lot for one’s mental health.

If you have painful cracks in one or both corners of your mouth that just won’t go away, it could be fungal angular cheilitis (don’t click that link if you don’t want to see a close up photo), which won’t go away without some sort of anti-fungal treatment. See your doctor/dermatologist. A surprising number of stubborn dermatological things can have fungal roots, so if you’ve got any sort of persistent rash/dry patch/irritated patch/etc., a visit to a dermatologist is a good idea.

I’ve started taking Lottie out for more frequent, shorter dog walks on top of our long one, and that’s been lovely.

I took an interest in carpentry and woodworking this year, and such a physical endeavour has me seeing building and maintaining strength in a new light. It’s now empowering—the sort of thing that allows me to do more of something I’m interested in right now, rather than a rather boring thing that will hypothetically help older Marie a few decades down the line.

A 12 hour road trip gets longer every time you do it, even if you’re really excited about what’s on the other end.

I’m very, very sick of AI being shoved into absolutely everything. I do not want AI spewing out confidently inaccurate “answers” above every internet search, interrupting me everywhere I write, and clumsily summarizing my text messages and emails. Gahhhhh.

Beans and I really don’t get along. This is a very unfortunate thing for a vegetarian, so if you have any tips that aren’t the standard things every internet search on the topic suggests (taking Beano/digestive enzymes, extensive soaking & rinsing, no canned, only canned, etc.), I am all ears!

I bought a water still late last year when I couldn’t buy any distilled water locally due to a shortage, and have been using distilled water in my kettle ever since. It’s definitely a lot more work than using tap water, but it sure is nice to never have to descale my kettle.

When it comes to de-scaling the still, white vinegar works better than citric acid. Which is annoying, because it is heavy and smells bad.

I am continually amazed, delighted, and surprised by the difference changing just one variable can make to a formulation.

I found a 100% linen king-sized duvet cover on clearance at Ikea this year, stitch-ripped out the side seams, and turned it into a set of sheets. It’s not a perfect fit on my queen-sized mattress, but I am IN LOVE. I haven’t used cotton sheets in over 6 months, I just keep washing the linen ones and putting them right back on the bed.

I’m trying to pay more attention to things in my life that I want to do vs. things I think I’m supposed to want to do. If I’ve tried something quite a few times, and have never felt like it’s for me… maybe it isn’t. And that’s ok.

A month goes by surprisingly fast these days. Weeks go by in a blink of an eye.

Oranges from different trees taste different! I was able to pick oranges right off the tree in Portugal for the first time in my life, and I quickly found a favourite tree that had the best tasting oranges with the fewest pips.

I continue to learn how I have been walking improperly, and I’m working on improving that. It is really eye opening; I’m finally using and strengthening really important muscles that I’ve under-used for decades. I’m glad I didn’t wait any longer, but I sure wish I had found out I was walking wrong in my teens—that would have been a lot easier to correct and would’ve led to far less cumulative damage.

The amount of work that exists between making a cut with a saw and a smooth wooden surface that won’t give you splinters/doesn’t look like it was hacked through with an axe is surprisingly large. And that’s not even getting to the finishing part!

Dust collection & management is very important.

If you think formulating is an expensive hobby, try woodworking 😅

It’s now been nearly three full years since I started a “Dry January” that never stopped, and I’m still feeling great about that decision.

I blocked a variety of social media sites and other distracting things on my computer and phone this year, and that was a good move. I spend far less time doomscrolling or just goofing off. I couldn’t fully block YouTube because it’s my job, so I installed UnTrap for YouTube and used it to blank out the homepage so I don’t fall into a video hole when I just meant to upload a new video.

I’m currently re-reading the Little House on the Prairie series I loved so much as a young child, and it’s fascinating. Reading them again as an adult who has a greater appreciation for how huge and uncertain their moves were + experience doing things like laundry, cooking, and home repairs (but with modern conveniences) is humbling.

Don’t let the fear & pain of change get in the way of making necessary, important changes. Good things lie on the other side of that fear and pain.

Here are some books I read/listened to this year and loved:

• The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman
• Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
• The White Lady: A British Historical Mystery by Jacqueline Winspear
• The Impossible Fortune: A Thursday Murder Club Mystery by Richard Osman

If there’s something in your life that’s been nagging at you for a while—a thought that keeps re-surfacing, an important (but not terribly time sensitive) endeavour you keep putting off until “later”—pay attention!

In the end, a good story can’t change a thing you don’t want into a thing you do want.

The life I live now needs to support the life I want to live in the future. I want to continue to be independent, travel, and work in my garden—so I need to take care of my body. I want to continue to learn and improve, so I must prioritize learning & exploration. I want to be part of a community, so I must invest in my community.

Some people will only value you for what they can extract from you, constantly doing a cost-benefit analysis as to if you’re worth keeping around. Boot those people out of your life.

As I set about learning about woodworking, carpentry, and gardening, I’m realizing how much teaching formulation has made me a better learner! I ask better questions, waste less time trying to find answers that don’t exist, and have a lot more fun than I might’ve.

Lottie turned 9 this year! Time flies.

It takes approximately 5 months and two haircuts for all the skunk smell to fade out of Lottie’s fur enough that you don’t get a skunky whiff whenever she gets wet.

Other “Things I Learned” posts:

1. Things I Learned in 2012
2. Things I Learned in 2013
3. Things I Learned in 2014
4. Things I Learned in 2015
5. Things I Learned in 2016
6. Things I Learned in 2017
7. Things I Learned in 2018
8. Things I Learned in 2019
9. Things I Learned in 2020
10. Things I Learned in 2021
11. Things I Learned in 2022
12. Things I Learned in 2023
13. Things I Learned in 2024

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What did you learn this year? ❤️