THE ROSS: The 2025 Year End Report
What a doozy of a year. For two overarching reasons:
- Trump 2.0
- Putting the Cross Properties on hiatus for a year.
The Cross Properties wholly took over my life in March, 2014, and then dominated my life ever since. I cannot express enough how intense the word domination is in this respect.
Then…in August…the domination abruptly ceased.
And 2013 Ross returned. A calmer Ross, less burdened by endless demands of money and work.
Three months now into this hiatus, I have one thought: I wish I had done this sooner.
Before the Cross Properties, I had a really full, active life. After the purchase, these responsibilities remained but were crushed into a small space as Cross Cross Cross dominated.
By necessity though, a lot of responsibilities were abandoned, like maintaining the house I lived in, and a small house I had in Matfield Green.
It grew painful watching these properties quickly fall apart
It has been a great pleasure this past months working to reverse some of this damage by neglect.
It is also pleasurable to not have every extra penny Hoovered up by the Cross Properties.
And this is good as 2025 ends.
When 2016 ended I was just coming out of a serious, debilitating depression. One directly caused by events that took place on November 8, 2016.
I had no idea of how I could through 2017. But when I did my 2017 Year End Ross Report I realized that I had a great year, indeed, likely my best-ever year. And this, I knew, was mostly attributable to the Cross House. I wrote at the time:
While my brain and heart were almost daily abused by the utter horror of the Trump Administration and GOP, my soul was profoundly nourished this year by the Cross House.
I spent months rebuilding the NE corner. And this proved powerfully nourishing.
I spent months transforming the parlor into a thing of beauty. And this proved powerfully nourishing.
I spent months enhancing the exterior colors. And this proved powerfully nourishing.
I spent months painting the great north wall. And this proved powerfully nourishing.
I spent months going through the house and putting bits and pieces back into place, rehanging lost doors that had returned to the house, and recreating lost features. And all this proved powerfully nourishing.
I spent an entire month organizing and cleaning the house to get ready for the first annual Day After Thanksgiving family-of-choice dinner. And this, too, proved powerfully nourishing.
When buying the house in 2014, I knew it would never make financial sense, and I worried about my mental stability in making such a purchase.
It never occurred to me that the house would perhaps save my life. It certainly saved my sanity.
And this created a blueprint for 2025. I knew that doing good work would help me survive Trump 2.0. So, I created my own Project 2025, and refused to let evil and madness consume my life and soul.
And now, a year later, this plan has proved an effective buffer from the daily horrors (like murdering fishermen). I have been Baby Stepping on my house in Strong City, and the Tin House (updates soon!), while continuing micro-work at the Cross Properties (mostly cleaning and enhancing crispy). I also down-sized my car from a minivan into a petite Kia Soul.
I have also attended a number of No Kings protests and this helped me from feeling impotent.
West Palm Beach, Florida
Boise
Chicago
Des Moines, Iowa
San Francisco.
Yesterday. NYC.
.
I daily read Heather Cox Richardson, and she offered a nice year-end report on the Trump Reich, which sums up my thoughts better than I could.
I also have two cats which, over the years, found me: Gray, and NewKitty2. I am crazy about them, and they give me immense pleasure every day. Is there a better magic elixir than kitties?
The girls.
My health is much better than it was a few years ago. My blood pressure is about perfect, the lead I poisoned myself with has leached out of my body, and I have warily embraced getting old. What else can I do?
My income dropped about 8% this year. Yes, poo, but that is less than I expected, considering the poor economy and disastrous tariffs.
I have made repeated donations to the World Central Kitchen. I have tried to donate directly to help Ukraine but never found a method that seemed 100% legit. I did buy a hat made by a citizen of Ukraine. So, a tiny bit of help.
.
In summation, 2025 has not been the best of times nor the worst. Even with the August shock, the year has been mostly benign. And I am happy to grab at that.
And, to all of you reading, may your 2026 prove glorious, notwithstanding the dark clouds on the immediate horizon.
Oh, and I stand with Ukraine.
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Wishing you a happy and healthy 2026, Ross.
I’m in the process of renewing my own blog and including that life is inherently political as I blog and post. I’m hoping for a better 2026 on this side as well.
Happy and healthy new year to you too, Ross!
I’m glad you found inner peace and are trying to strike a happy medium.
I want to wish you a Happy New Year!!
🎊Here’s to a healthy & Happy New Year, Ross!🎉
✨️Cheers!🥂
I agree with your sentiments. Best of everything in the new year.
Happy (or at least tolerable) New Year dear Ross. May good things come your way!
Wishing all a much kinder and saner 2026.
So grateful this year is over! Here’s hoping you and we all have a better year ahead. Thank you for taking us along on your journey.
Happy New Year Ross! I am heartened by your summary here and I’m so glad that you feel that you’ve turned your health around. I think the best way to make it through this political era with sanity more or less intact is to first take care of ourselves; don’t let ourselves be ground down by the horror going on in this country. Do something positive to try to make a difference to our fellow citizens as you have by attending marches, as some people have by writing letters and as I have in volunteering for a legal advice organization that is doing good work on the ground. Your plan for the future sounds great and I’m so glad to see that you have taken steps to regain your footing with your finances. Love and hugs from me. I look for word from you every day as I have for years.
Congratulations on your journey of health, both physical and mental.
I had a bad 2025, through no fault of my own and not much I could have done about it. I saw my future. Now I am working to make it the best i can.
2026 will be the year of ME. I’ve taken out a HELOC as I have a lot of equity built up and there are things I want to get done so I have the time to enjoy them. I already have a new garage door, new refrigerator and a new garage freezer with the old refrigerator next to it. The little dorm fridge I had to buy during Covid will now be the Garden fridge. I want to try my hand at tulips and daffodils that need the kind of cold we don’t have here. Also some garden seeds need to be cold in order to germinate.
With the new garage door is new garage organization. I’m finally letting go of my past life, which includes a lot of school materials for a career I will never do again so out they go. The hauler made his first pick up today. I told him I will be keeping him busy for the rest of the year.
The piles of wood go on the 15th. I want to replace at least one fence panel per month. More if I can. I want the fence done and the pergola back up.
I’m painting my kitchen, emptying the cabinets and moving from Tupperware to canning jars, except for the spices. The sideboard is going to become an island on wheels. Everything that isn’t tossed, sold or donated will be stored in marked totes of some kind, organized and stored together with like so I don’t have to go to three different places to find everything I’m looking for.
I am going to pamper myself because no one else will. I am buying myself flowers every month and I’m going to start sewing again. Lacey, frilly colorful little things to make me happy.
I don’t have cats but I do have dogs and I spend time every day just sitting and petting and hugging them. We all benefit.
I missed Christmas baking this year because of the garage door, refrigerator and freezer and I decided, well, I’ll just make them anyway no matter what time of year. The cookies don’t have to cut with Christmas cutters. I can get ingredients year round. It’s for me and I don’t care what time of year it is.
Most of all, I’m not going to take shite from anyone any more.
You are my role model. Your work on your house makes me want to work on mine. Your putting your health and priorities first made me reassess mine and get my life in order and on track.
You are my hero, Ross. My mantra is if Ross can do it, I can do it. For some things requiring upper body strength I may need to hire someone. An arborist because I draw the line at working a chainsaw on a ladder. But for the regular stuff. I will do it because Ross does it.
Here’s to 2026. May I put on a red dress and go out dancing before the year is over.
Inspiring! I realized today that if I get rid of one thing a day, that would be 365 less things! And if I get rid of three things a day, that will be 1095 things less! I have so many work clothes and shoes I will likely never wear. I have baskets of pinecones I’ve gathered…
Wishing you an uncluttered and happy 2026!
Happy and healthy New Year to you dear Ross! You have gotten me and many others through some tough times. You are an inspiration. You are loved.
I am working with some folks to help the Dems win in 2026 and 2028.
I wish us all, and the world, peace, good health, love, and abundance.
Happy and healthy New Year to you, Ross! Take good care of yourself and the kitties in 2026. We want all of you around for a long, long time.