Welcome 2020! It’s a new year and a new decade. Are you ready to move forward and embrace this awful awesome life? We’ll be here to guide and entertain you with clever articles, life hacks, book reviews and much much more.

Do you make resolutions? Why do they fail? We have a few ideas to help you change that.

This month Orlando Bartro reminisces about the romance that never happened because of an opportunity missed. Was it fate or do we control our destinies by the choices we make?

Linda Cahill helps you start the New Year off with some delicious recipes for all your New Year’s favorites.

Patricia Petrusik pays tribute to her beloved pet Jazmine the Sober Cat. Jazmine wandered away from her home last year.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was born January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia and he was assassinated  April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. He was 39. To commemorate his legacy, we’ll be taking a look at Dr. King’s life and his dream for America.

Have you accepted our pie of the Month Challenge? If so, you should be making a delicious coconut cream or banana cream pie this month and sharing your recipe and photos with us by sending them to my attention at fran.thisawfulawesomelife@gmail.com. We have a delicious recipe for a banana cream pie from Pampered Chef we’ll be sharing this month. Remember, I will be sending one lucky pie maker a gift from Pampered Chef in December.

I started a new produce delivery service before Thanksgiving and I’ll be sharing impressions of the service, the selection of produce I’ve received so far and how it’s changed my cooking/eating habits.

We have reading suggestions for adults and kids guaranteed to make you forget all about the weather this winter and don’t miss our January Famous Firsts Quiz.

Learning is a lifelong pursuit and I found the perfect book to share with you. I reviewed The Weird World of Words: A Guided Tour by Mitchell Symons. I’ve always loved words and this book is filled with fun facts and interesting words and phrases.

I also reviewed the latest book in the Trevor Galloway Thriller series by J.J. Hensley. I’m happy to say Galloway is back… damaged, but better than ever.

Samantha Sayers is still missing. She disappeared on August 1, 2018 after a day of solo hiking at Vesper Peak near Seattle, Washington. Sam was raised in the Erie, Pennsylvania area where her parents Ron and Lisa still live.

Her family is exploring all avenues of inquiry to find and bring her home.

In the face of such an enormous challenge, they have chosen hope. Please keep sending positive thoughts to Sam and her family.

As promised, we will be displaying a yellow ribbon for Sam on the opening page of each issue of This Awful Awesome Life until she is home.

If you are a person of faith, please pray for her safe return to her family. Because we are an online publication, we are able to update this article with any news. We will also post information on our Facebook page. Thank you!

Please share our link, thisawfulawesomelife.com with your friends and family.

Be sure to subscribe to our free mailing list and each new issue of This Awful Awesome Life will be delivered directly to your inbox with a personal note from me. We won’t share your name or email address.

Happy Reading,

Fran