Chill Out

January is a funny month, it's long but it's not my least favorite month in the year. The month of March often feels like ten Januarys and consequently is the month I most want a little getaway. Back to January... I think there's pressure to be productive this month. To look at the blank page before us and feel a surge of enthusiasm for cleaning, organizing, and embracing that out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new mentality in every area of one's life.  

Impossible to maintain for the next eleven months, but in January we are ever hopeful. 

Since I'm mid-office redo I've been forced to go through all my files and accumulated stacks and do some shredding and re-organizing. It feels good to thin the paper piles and start fresh. Hubs doesn't understand why there are still so many piles (there aren't!) but everything has to be looked at before it can be discarded. 

Because our project here required carpentry, painting, construction, and sanding there is mucho dust on every wall and surface. What better time for a whole house vacuum than January? Hubs likes to vacuum so even better. 

Painters left yesterday and their piece of the project is done. Next up is the electrician who will install lights in the stairs. Hopefully. We finally have the lights in hand and now just need to know where we land on his calendar. 

The lights probably should have gone in first,  but we weren’t sure we were ever going to get them so plan B. He thinks we can make it work this way too, 'since there's access'. 

Whatever that means? I'm more of a call me when it's all done kind of home improvement person, which works for us because hubs is the opposite and likes to drill down to the nth detail. Somebody needs to, right? 

Let's talk books.

I read more in January. Well in regular-ordinary years I read more in January. I don't know about you but I feel like my sense of concentration suffered during the 'Covid years' and it's just now getting back to what it was last century. 

My neighborhood book club just finished this month's selection-The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan. A mostly pleasant read in spite of its WW2 setting. The plot centers around a cooking show that taught British homemakers how to make the most of their rations.That part of the storyline is true, but the contest added to the novel is complete fiction. 

There were lots of recipes sprinkled throughout the book and I made two of them for our get together on Tuesday-fruit scones and an apple honey cake. I did not make the sheep's head pie or the sardine rolls mentioned, and I also skipped the spam and game pie for reasons I don't need to explain. 

A friend loaned me my current read, The Winemaker's Wife, a novel by Kristen Harmel, plus I've started next month's book club book- Becoming Mrs. Lewis, a fictional account of the relationship between  C. S. Lewis and Joy Davidman.

Lots of books to make January feel less January. 

I've also signed up for the Lifetime of Reading Challenge on Facebook (you'll find it on the Book Girl's Guide page), with a theme this year of different decades. This means we'll read a wide range of books featuring main characters of different age ranges. Sounds interesting and you can choose your own book or read one of their suggestions. 

I've chosen one of theirs for January, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith, which is actually a re-read for me. This was one of my favorite books as a young girl and I've wanted to re-read it for ages. January seems like a good time. 

If books aren't your thing, how about puzzles? I was given three puzzles for Christmas and hubs is helping with the first one. It's the University of Tennessee stadium on football Saturday, and you know what that means? It means the whole puzzle is orange and white. Yikes! I told hubs he has to help because his sister gave it to us. We're making progress and if we ever get it together we might frame this one to hang in the pool room. 

If books aren't your thing and puzzles aren't your thing how about TV? We might be the last people to the party, but we're finally watching The Sopranos. We're only in to Season 2, and it's definitely gritty so not for everyone, but we're hooked. I grew up in NJ and hubs and I lived there twice during our married life so we're loving the backdrop. 

Books, puzzles, TV binging, home improvement and icy temps. That about sums up January. We have snow in the weekend forecast which seems ridiculous because we rarely get snow, but apparently we are getting a little snow. Hubs would be happy to never see another flake, but I miss an occasional snowfall so hoping the weather forecaster is correct. They're wrong sometimes ya know-ha! 

Happy Januarying to you all! 

Got Hodgepodge?

Welcome to this week's edition of the Wednesday Hodgepodge. If you've answered today's questions add your link at the end of my post. Be sure to leave a comment for the blogger linking before you because we all know comments make the blog world go 'round. Here we go- 

 

1. What do you wish you'd done more of last year? Less of?

More travel, less careless eating. 

2. What's the tallest building you've ever been in? Do you have a fear of heights? 

Hmmm... I've been in my share of tall buildings around the world. I think the tallest I've been in is Taipei 101 located in Taiwan. I wrote about our visit in a post linked here-Look It's A Bird, It's A Plane...' 

Taipei 101 was at one time the tallest in the world, but when the Burj Khalifa was completed in Dubai it dropped a notch. And now it's down several notches but is still in the top 20 (currently #11). 

Am I afraid of heights? Not really. I'm not however, a fan of small enclosed spaces, and that's often how you have to travel to reach a height. Cable cars and teeny tiny too crowded elevators. Shudder. That hasn't kept me from mountaintops and buildings 101 stories up in the sky though. I think happy thoughts and grab the family member closest to me, or sometimes even perfect strangers, and I go. 

3. Do you have a word for the year? Elaborate if you'd like to elaborate. 

Not so far, but I don't think it's too late to claim one. 

4. January 11th is National Milk Day...are you a milk drinker? What kind? Your favorite recipe that calls for milk (cereal doesn't count)? 

I rarely drink a glass of milk, but I do like it. As a child I drank a lot of milk, that was the 'kids beverage' served at every meal. As an adult it's pretty much limited to my cereal if I'm having cereal, and I also add a splash of milk to my tea. I buy non-fat milk, but often when I'm cooking I'll use 2% or sometimes even whole milk if the dish I'm preparing calls for it. My favorite recipe that calls for milk? Mashed potatoes. 

5. What excites you most about the future? What do you miss about the past? 

This feels like it could be a whole big blog post, but for today I'll keep it simple. What excites me most? Watching my daughters parent their own children, and watching those children, my grandchildren, grow and become the people God created them to be. 

What do I miss...I don't know why, but a picture of my family sitting at the kitchen table having dinner is the first thing that popped into my head. My seat was on the side of the table beside my brother. He was always on that corner because he's a lefty. My dad at one end, my mom at the other, and my two sisters on the side next to the windows. Something about that memory makes me feel all cozy inside. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I'm still a little discombobulated here in terms of 2022 organization. That's what happens when you have home improvement happening at the start of a new year. Painters have been here all week painting the shiplap we added to my office wall and staining the wood we added to the stairwell. It's icy cold outside but we have all the windows open because it smells a little bit like a factory in here. Looks beautiful though, and I will show pictures when everything is done. The mattress for the Murphy bed arrived today so we're getting close.  Have a great week everyone!

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Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 447

Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here tomorrow to add your link to the party. See you there! 

1. What do you wish you'd done more of last year? Less of? 

2. What's the tallest building you've ever been in? Do you have a fear of heights? 

3. Do you have a word for the year? Elaborate if you'd like to elaborate. 

4. January 11 is National Milk Day...are you a milk drinker? What kind? Your favorite recipe that calls for milk (cereal doesn't count)? 

5. What excites you most about the future? What do you miss about the past? 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Just Write

I've joined a writing accountability group to kick off this new year, which is basically eight sessions of concentrated writing time with a group of other writers, all working on various projects, all needing the discipline of a schedule. We meet via Zoom and after a short ten minute intro we all dive in to our projects. 

First I need to figure out what my project is, then I'll dive in. 

In the meantime I blog. Is my blog a project? It could be if I were more disciplined, hence the need for a group. I used to blog more often and the words just flew out of my brain and onto the screen. These days too many words constantly swim in my head and most days I can't figure out how to coalesce them into something anyone would want to read. 

When I started blogging I was living overseas and had kids in college. The years rolled by and there were moves and retirement and daughters getting married and grand babies coming and all of these seasons of living and the events they brought with them were easy to write about. I know my niche and try to stay in my lane because that's when I do my best writing.

What is my lane in 2022? 

While I've lost some of my focus during the 'Covid years' I know the extraordinary ordinary of everyday life is still my wheelhouse. I actually think we need more of it in the online world. The real world too. Less arguing over everything under the sun, more noticing life's small beauties on a regular basis. 

So that's where we're headed. Where I'm headed. Where I'm steering the proverbial blog car in the year ahead. Likely more of a Sunday drive as opposed to 500 laps around a racetrack at breakneck speed, but still buckle up. Sunday drives can be full of surprises too. 

Hodgepodging Is For The Birds

Welcome to another year of random mid-week fun, aka The Wednesday Hodgepodge. If you've answered today's questions add your link at the end of my post, then leave a comment for the blogger before you. Happy new year and here we go-

1. Share one happy moment/memory from the holiday season. 

I recapped our holiday 'month' in a recent post (link is here-Square One) so not sure I have something new to add.  I guess I'll go with the obvious and say having daughter2 and her hubs here with us the week before Christmas. 

2. Let's be reasonable with our expectations going into this new year, k? What is one thing you'd like to accomplish/improve/complete/do in 2022? 

I'm still pondering the new year so am not going to wade in with anything too deep just yet. One thing on my list every year is to go somewhere I've never been, and that's my hope for 2022 as well. 

3. Every January 1st since 1976 Lake Superior University has published a list of words they'd like to see banished from the Queen's English. Words may be banished due to misuse, overuse or just general uselessness (go here to read more about how the words are chosen). Here are the words/phrases they'd like to see banished in 2022-

wait, what?-no worries-at the end of the day-that being said-asking for a friend-circle back-deep dive-a new normal-you're on mute-supply chain

Which of these words/phrases do you use regularly? Which of these words would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Is there a word/phrase not on the list you'd like to add?  

I am not a fan of circle back, deep dive, or new normal (what's old normal anyway?) so those three are my top picks for banishing. I like and use 'no worries' on a pretty regular basis, and have no real plans to quit. 

A word or phrase to add...how about quarantine? 

4. Best thing you ate in the month of December? 

Wow. Now this is a hard question. Hubs and I are members of a local wine club and we hosted the December dinner. We don't cook it, we just work with the chef and the wine vendor to make it happen. We went with a Korean BBQ themed meal, the chef's take on it anyway, paired with some California wines, and it was wonderful. 

In terms of sweets, my daughter made a soft, iced gingerbread cookie this year and it was scrumptious. 

5. January 5th is National Bird Day. Are you a bird lover? What's your favorite bird to see in the wild? Choose a phrase from the list that follows and tell us how it relates to your life currently...eat like a bird, bird's eye view, early bird, bird-brained, free as a bird, or a little bird told me or kill two birds with one stone.

We are big bird lovers here. We can't have a regular bird feeder because somebody won't stand for it....

....but we do have a bluebird house and these beauties are some of my favorites. Hubs whistles as he approaches the house and they come from all directions and flit around him while he fills their bowl. 

We also love the hummingbirds that hang out beside our kitchen window and of course the blue herons that fly overhead and sometimes perch on our dock roof. 

In terms of phrases I'm going with 'eat like a bird'...as in that's the plan rolling in to the new year. Less carbs, more salads.  

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Does anyone else need about six or seven days to get into the swing of a new year? I am still trying to de-Christmas my house, organize my new calendar, and empty the big desk in the office so it can be moved to make room for the Murphy bed delivery happening tomorrow. For the record, there are many rabbit holes to scurry down when one is emptying a desk, but I have mostly stayed on task. And then yesterday, on a bit of a whim, I signed up for a writing accountability group that starts TODAY! New year, new you...isn't that how the saying goes? 

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Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 446

Hello and happy new year Hodgepodgers! After a brief holiday pause we're back with our regularly scheduled random. Here are the questions to the first hodgepodge of 2022. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here tomorrow to share answers with the universe. See you there!

1. Share one happy moment/memory from the holiday season. 

2. Let's be reasonable with our expectations going into this new year, k? What is one thing you'd like to accomplish/improve/complete/do in 2022? 

3. Every January 1st (since 1976) Lake Superior University has published a list of words they'd like to see banished from the Queen's English. Words may be banished due to misuse, overuse or just general uselessness (go here to read more about how the words are chosen). Here are the words/phrases they'd like to see banished in 2022-

wait, what?-no worries-at the end of the day-that being said-asking for a friend-circle back-deep dive-a new normal-you're on mute-supply chain

Which of these words/phrases do you use regularly? Which of these words would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Is there a word/phrase not on the list you'd like to add? 

4. Best thing you ate in the month of December? 

5. January 5th is National Bird Day. Are you a bird lover? What's your favorite bird to see in the wild? Choose a phrase from the list that follows and tell us how it relates to your life currently...eat like a bird, bird's eye view, early bird, bird-brained, free as a bird, a little bird told me, or kill two birds with one stone.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Square One

I didn't mean to take a three week hiatus here but that's what happened and I'm not mad about it. Course we can't move forward without looking back so let's talk December. 

Christmas came. It always does thankfully. This year's holiday looked a lot different than the one I'd been imagining in my head all year long, but we are nothing if not resilient here so we adjust and adapt and carry on. The weather was fabulous so hubs and I started the day with coffee on the porch. Eventually he made us yummy bacon egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches and we opened gifts, took the pup for a nice long walk, then got the house ready for company coming later in the day. 

We were so glad to have friends also on their own this year, and together we did the traditional ham dinner with all the trimmings served on the Christmas china kind of meal. A really nice afternoon and evening spent with some of the nicest people we know. 

We missed in person time with the cutest little men on the planet, but we did FaceTime and loved hearing about all their favorite moments of the day. Little ones are extra precious this time of year, don't you think? 

We did manage an early somewhat traditional Christmas celebration with Daughter2 and her hubs a few days prior to Christmas and that was loads of fun. They arrived the Sunday before Christmas and left for the in-laws on Thursday morning. 

We declared Wednesday our Christmas with them, and woke up to stockings, breakfast casserole, gifts, and a prime rib meal which the men loved planning for, talking about, cooking and eating. Emphasis on the talking about-ha! Men and their bbq! 

We took them into tiny town one night to see the lights, played darts at the local beer station, played mini golf in a light rain, and just enjoyed being together. 

Backing up to the week before their arrival when we spent a really fun Saturday night with a big gang of friends and strangers-now-friends at a Santa pub crawl in town. We all agreed we have not laughed that much in a long time and it felt great! 

So many Santas, but 'Santa Baby' was my favorite costume.

What else? Oh yeah...construction. Can't forget that. I mean we've only had this project on the books since May so of course the install is going to happen the week before Christmas. Still not done but well on it's way. The wood that's been in our garage for the past three months is now on the wall, waiting on the painter (mid-January), the electrician (sometime), the Murphy bed install (happening this week!) and just a few other small loose ends to tie up before we call it a day. We are loving the look of what's been done and think we might actually wrap this thing up before too long. 

'Too long' being a relative term, ahem. 

Neighbors invited hubs and I for an oyster roast one night about a week before Christmas and it was so much fun. And because there were so many oysters they invited us back two nights later for a repeat and we were happy to oblige. Another neighbor provided the oysters, fresh from their trek to the coast, and we had them raw, steamed, and Rockefeller style. 

Hubs and I had a night on the town in the nearby big city one evening, with dinner and a holiday show courtesy of the local symphony. It was fabulous and I'd definitely like to make this a regular thing going forward. 

My sister lives about an hour from us and since her birthday is the day after Christmas we made plans to celebrate both occasions at my niece's new home on the 26th. We had too many wonderful hors d'oeuvres and loved spending time with family. 

What else? Hubs gave me a new computer for Christmas (whoohoo!) so he and I trekked to the mall last Thursday to do some sort of transfer blah blah blah at the Apple Store. If anyone is wondering what everyone is doing, I can tell you...they're at the mall. Have mercy it was a zoo! I haven't been in a mall since before Covid and I guess I thought that wasn't a thing anymore (the mall, not Covid-ugh!) but it is most definitely a thing. 

We hung out at home on New Year's Eve which is our favorite place to be at year's end. It was absurdly warm and we grilled scallops and were asleep before the clock chimed 12, which is pretty much how our end of year always goes. I'm more about a champagne toast on Day 1 anyway. 

How many times can I mention the weather? My daffodils think it's time to pop up and it is definitely not time.

On the bright side, since the new year rolled in with 70-something degree temps and crazy humidity we made the little brown dog's day and let him swim. Nothing makes him happier than dock diving and we aim to please. 

Our neighbors joined us for dinner New Year's Day and we played some pool after dining on the traditional 'lucky meal' like all good citizens should. Pork tenderloin, cornbread, collard greens, and black eyed peas. I hope everyone reading here also did their part-ha! 

And I guess that catches us all the way up. 

Wait....did I tell you I'm going to be a Nana again?!?!? This is what happens when you neglect your blog. I'm going to be a Nana again!! Here's sweet daughter2, the momma-to-be, with the nightgown I gave her this year. Hedgehogs of course, because it's not Christmas in my house without a hedgehog wrapped up somewhere.

Never have the words happy new year been more appropriate. 

Happy new year!!