Friday, January 31, 2014

55 Days Until Spring

It's finally the last day of January, and only 55 days until spring.  I don't feel like I've accomplished much this month, except playing on the computer, reading Goldfinch, watching Girls, Downton AbbeyTrue Detective, HG TV, and going to doctors.  It has been so cold and snowy here, so I don't even like going out much.  We do go out to eat a couple of times a week but I haven't even gone to thrift stores much.  The one in our neighborhood closed a few weeks ago, and I used to go there every week when I went grocery shopping.  I like one in South County which takes about 25 minutes to get to, so I only go there every couple of weeks. 

I also have been doing some sewing and embroidering.  I am so anxious, though, to get outside and work in the yard.  We'll need to landscape the front yard since everything was torn up with our addition.  We'll probably just move some of the stuff we have in back, some hydrangeas and astilbe.  We did plant a couple hundred tulip bulbs this fall;  that should be so pretty in front of the new porch.  I also want to rearrange some of the flowers that I'll be able to see out of my new kitchen window.  I haven't had a kitchen window since we moved here, and now we have a nice big one so I can look out over the back yard.

Oh yeah, I also got finished cleaning out the basement.  It is so nice being able to walk around down there.  Next is the attic.  Ugh!  I guess I did something in January, but it was really my first month since retirement and I've never not worked, gone to school or raised kids.  I feel really unproductive.  Wayne is taking a history class three mornings a week, and I might do that in the fall.  I also might teach a class a couple of days a week.  I'll see how I feel once I get to work outside and don't feel so confined.

Tomorrow night we have an engagement party for my niece, and Sunday is grand daughter Abbey's tenth birthday.  I got her a new Kindle because hers quit working.  Then next weekend we are going to Cincinnati to celebrate Stephanie's birthday and for Julia's christening.  My birthday is that Monday, and one of my sisters is having a Fancy Aunt Lunch the next weekend for me, my youngest sister (who was born on Valentine's Day and a niece who's birthday is the day after mine.  February should be a bit more interesting.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

New Year's Resolution

I'm not real good at keeping New Year's resolutions, so I usually don't tell many people what they are.  The past two years my resolution has been to lose weight, and I've lost 25 lbs in the past year.  Not because of the resolution, just because I don't like my doctor writing "obesity" on my list of ailments.  I went for a checkup last week and he did not put "obesity" as one of my ailments, so that felt good.  I still want to lose 15 more lbs., which I can probably do.

This year my resolutions is to get rid of stuff.  We could barely walk in our basement, and our attic is piled three feet high with stuff.  Every closet door upstairs can barely be closed because of all of the clothes and junk in them.  I started on the basement last week, as I was putting away Christmas decorations, and I got rid of about 15 trash bags of stuff.  Now we can walk in our basement again.  Next I will tackle either the closets upstairs or the attic.  I need to stop saving stuff in case someone needs it some day.   I could probably be a candidate for the TV show Hoarders.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

The Holidays

We celebrated grand daughter Katie's birthday on the 21st.  She's the one who made us grandparents.



Well, Christmas has come and gone and I just finally got all of our decorations put away.  We had a good Christmas; Patrick was here from New York and John and Chellie and the babies came from Cincinnati.  My daughter who lives in town had the family Christmas Eve, and Christmas day we went to one of my sister's houses for brunch.  We ended up having the family come to our house Christmas night.  There were probably about thirty people, but with the addition it didn't seem that crowded.

John and Chellie got up very early the next morning and went to Tampa, and Wayne and I watched the babies.  It was a lot of fun but kind of tiring.  I'm not as young as I used to be, haha.  They are having Julia Christened Feb. 9th, so we will go to Cincinnati for that and they will celebrate Stephanie's second birthday on Sat., Feb. 8th.  Her birthday is actually next week, the 23rd of January, but she is little enough that she won't really know the difference.