# Mimi Has A Life! > Books, hobbies, moving boxes, family, and finding fun after 50. ## Posts - [Starting My Extremely-Downsized Life Tomorrow](https://mimihasalife.com/starting-my-extremely-downsized-life-tomorrow/): I’m a 51 year old woman living in a 1270 sq ft home with a full, unfinished basement. I moved here about 10 years ago and still had boxes in the garage I never opened, but never threw away; until this year! I’m not a hoarder, but I did have a lot of junk that needed to be gone. I live in this house now with my 2 dogs and 1 cat. We are together 24/7 because I work from home as a controller in the insurance industry. I spend a lot of time in this house that feels way too […] - [Now Reading Update - July 2026](https://mimihasalife.com/now-reading-update-july-2026/) - [My Random Book Picker Solved My 300+ Book TBR Problem](https://mimihasalife.com/my-random-book-picker-solved-my-300-book-tbr/): I love keeping track of books. I do not love trying to choose my next one. At this point, I have way too many books on my TBR. Currently, there are over 300 books I want to read and it grows more every week. That sounds exciting in theory, but in real life it often leaves me stuck. I would scroll through title after title, look at covers, think about audiobook length, wonder what mood I was in, and still not pick anything. I have a real problem making decisions about what to read, so I finally made something simple to […] - [My End-of-Summer 2026 Reading Slump](https://mimihasalife.com/my-end-of-summer-2026-reading-slump/): It is mid-September and I feel like I am in such a reading slump. I listened to 30 books since August 1st and only 1 was a five-star read for me. Eight others I rated 4-stars, but everything else was just blah ~ 3-stars or below. That is over 285 hours of books and not even a third were worth it to me! I do have to admit there were eight volumes of the Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower in the mix. The higher the volume number got, the lower the stars I gave it. This series […] - [I Read 16 Books in July 2026](https://mimihasalife.com/i-read-16-books-in-july-2026/): It has been a busy July for sure! I read some wonderful books. By scanning my Notion digital library, it looks like I had only 2 Five-Star reads but 6 Four-Star books. A few One and Two-Star reads were thrown in there too. I really have a hard time rating books because I don’t want to give too many 5-stars, but I also don’t want to do too many 3-star ratings. Also, my ratings are usually not based on the writing or narration itself, but the story and characters and how they affect me personally. Yesteryear was super popular and got […] - [The Killer Isn't Alice Clue Order: The Strategy That Worked for Me](https://mimihasalife.com/the-killer-isnt-alice-clue-order/): NO SPOILERS! I will not tell you the killer’s name or page number. I’m so excited! Last night, I finally solved The Killer Isn’t Alice! [2026 Edition #002 version] I submitted my answer, waited for the email and found out I was correct. I have to admit, that felt pretty good after staring at thousands and thousands of random names. But I did not solve the clues in the order they were given. When I first started this puzzle, I struggled because I was looking at individual names way too soon. Eventually, the accountant/problem-solver part of my brain really kicked in. […] - [My 'The Killer Isn't Alice' Saga & Tips](https://mimihasalife.com/my-the-killer-isnt-alice-saga-tips/): I did not start off great with this Murder Mystery. So, I want to share some tips for anyone that attempts this puzzle and for myself if I do more of these later. Tips for Solving a Murder Mystery Puzzle 1. Read All The Clues BEFORE Starting! I started marking off names with clues 1 and 2, then read the rest of the clues ~ realizing I already crossed out names I needed to find. For instance, “the killer’s name does not start with S.” Then, a little later, “the killer is within 1 page of ‘Sasha’.” So, I’ve already marked […] - [My Latest Brain-Exercising Hobby](https://mimihasalife.com/my-latest-brain-exercising-hobby/): I fell for a social media trend, I think. But, I couldn’t resist because I LOVE LOGIC PUZZLES! This is one of the most original and time-consuming puzzle book to find a killer. I’ve seen my whole family’s names, except my grand-daughter. But, I’m still hoping I’ll run across it. I’m only on the 3rd of 17 clues. - [My Favorite Books of 2026 (so far)](https://mimihasalife.com/favorite-books-of-2026-thru-mid-june/): 5-Star Books for a New Reader in Midlife A few months ago, I wasn’t really reading at all. Every time I picked up a book, I’d read a few pages and either fall asleep or realize my mind had wandered somewhere else. Then I discovered audiobooks. Since then, I’ve listened to more than 50 books while walking my dogs, cleaning the house, driving, coloring on my iPad, and winding down at night. Some books were good. Some were forgettable. A few I didn’t finish at all. But these books were different. These are the stories that stayed with me long after […] - [Why I Started 'Mimi Has A Life' Blog](https://mimihasalife.com/why-i-started-mimi-has-a-life-blog/): I started Mimi Has a Life because I wanted a place to write down this strange, full, interesting season of my life. I’m in my early 50s. I live alone right now, but that is changing. I’m preparing to downsize, sell my house, and eventually move into a multigenerational family life with my son’s family and my mom. That is a big shift. I’ve lived a lot of years being independent, responsible, and used to my own space. Now I’m getting ready for more people, more noise, more family, more help, more memories, and probably a lot more adjusting than I […] ## Pages - [Home & Moving](https://mimihasalife.com/home-moving/): Mimi is Moving! I’m holding this page for a very special project I’m working on for 2026 & 2027. I am extreme downsizing, selling my home, moving into a tiny space to live and work. Then, we are building a multi-generational home!!! I’m so excited to have a place for my mom to age without worry, a place for my grandkids to grow with so much love and guidance, and to give my son and his wife a less-stressful life (at least in the finance area.) I’ve worked hard to get my education and show my work ethics and reliability at […] - [Hobbies After 50](https://mimihasalife.com/hobbies-after-50/): Join me while I try new hobbies and see which ones I’m good at or need a lot more practice. Hopefully I’ll find something I can keep up with. Last year, I tried learning songs on a Kalimba instrument. It is a lot of fun, but it’s best if you have fingernails. I’m a biter, so the only time I have the best nails for playing is when I get acrylics. So, it’s hard to stay consistent. But, it’s definitely an instrument I can play while laying in bed and learning songs for years to come. [I’ll write a post about […] - [Books & Audiobooks](https://mimihasalife.com/books/): Now Reading Today is July 3, 2026. I just finished a book this morning and now I’m trying another book by Lisa See. The first one from her I read was The Island of the Sea Women and parts of it really stuck with me. So, I have decided to try The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane today. The audiobook is about 14 hours long, but I listen around 1.25-1.40 speed usually. This means I should be able to finish in about 10 hours. [Click on book cover below to see more about it on Good Reads] Next to Read My […] - [About](https://mimihasalife.com/about/): Hi, I’m Kari. I’m known as Mimi to my grandkids, and this blog is my place to write about the life I’m living, trying, changing, and making room for. I’m in my early 50s and in the middle of a big life shift. I’m downsizing, preparing to sell my house, and getting ready to move into a multigenerational family setup with my son’s family and my mom. It is exciting, scary, practical, emotional, and a whole lot of new. At the same time, I’m trying to make room for fun again. I’ve been listening to audiobooks, learning crochet, trying piano, coloring, […] - [Blog](https://mimihasalife.com/blog/) - [Home](https://mimihasalife.com/): A midlife woman trying new things, making memories, and refusing to be bored! I’m Kari, known as Mimi to my grandkids. I’m in my early 50s, downsizing my life, preparing to move into a multigenerational family home, and filling this chapter with books, hobbies, pets, family, and new things to try. Mimi Has a Life is where I’m writing it all down: what I’m reading, what I’m trying, what I’m learning, what I’m letting go of, and what I want to remember. My Books & Audiobooks I’ve been keeping a Notion list of the books I’ve read, listened to, want to […] - [Privacy Policy](https://mimihasalife.com/privacy-policy/): Who we are My website address is: https://mimihasalife.com. Comments When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection. An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment. 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