January 2022 | Life Lately

 You guys, January was a damn circus. Which sounds like fun costumes and interesting sounds but is actually a whole lot of animals and I'm pretty sure I was supposed to be the ringleader in charge. But mostly, I was just chasing monkeys all month. 

I parented alone for a couple weeks and we rotated getting sick and waiting in drive-thru testing lanes and we ran out of milk more times than I can count because I was basically not leaving my house for a few weeks. Last night wrapped up a stressful week at work during which I literally laid awake at night worrying about issues that needed resolution. Dry January ended this week and while I was long-pouring grape juice in a wine glass in the final days, when I could finally enjoy a Friday evening happy hour, I instead made a cup of tea and crashed on the couch around 7:30. 

But I got a full night of sleep and woke up feeling all kinds of brand new, and tomorrow we fly out to Disney World so all's well that ends well, I say. 

The month/year actually started off really great. We had some family here for the NYE holiday and had a blast playing euchre and singing karaoke at a dive bar up the street. I spent the 1st laying around all and eating chinese food and decided resolutions don't start until Monday. 

The rest of the month was mostly boring. As I was writing this, I almost gave up a couple times because it's soooooo boring. January always is. I had a couple of "less than" social media moments this month that coincided with jotting notes in this blog post and it was totally depressing. Seeing a couple people doing actual important things and here I am writing about a sad salad I ate one miserable day in January. 

But that's what social media is: a highlight reel. And this month, my highlight was painting my bathroom and buying a milk frother (I'll be talking about this for a long time. I love it). I got my kiddo to school and my dogs fed and the house is not totally disgusting. There is milk in the fridge and somehow, we got a hundred things checked off a to-do list in time to take a family vacation. I'll take my wins where I find them. 

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Let's talk about January. We basically just slob-kabobed. 

Mostly anyway. Sometimes I feel bad for how much couch time Duke and I both enjoy in the wintertime, but then I remember that in the summer we'll be at the park or the beach or in general somewhere else outside and I just roll with it. Whatever. It's a season. 

Oh, and I kept the tree up for a while. Like, at least mid-January. I just couldn't talk myself into 86ing twinkle lights when it's still so dark and dismal outside. I did eventually take it down though. I accept reality. 

And I'm actually lying by omission here. I took down the big tree, hated how empty and sad it looked, so I promptly swapped in a smaller 4' tree that is still lit up and perched in the living room. The tree on my deck is still fully lit and on 24-hours a day. I'll take it down in exchange for 70º -- as if that's a bribe the universe even cares about. 

In an effort to perk things up and find something to look forward to, Duke and I made a batch of heart-shaped sugar cookies. He's such a helper in the kitchen and loves to be in charge of something. I've started letting him "be in charge of dessert" while I'm cooking dinner lately. Two bonuses: it keeps him from (asking to and/or) staring at a screen for an hour or so, and also gives us some nice time together in which we're enjoying each other's company, but not really in each other's way, if that makes sense. Side-by-side, I work on dinner, and he dumps ingredients in a mixing bowl, and in the end, we have spaghetti and some brownies or something. 

Valentine's cookies with a Christmas tree in the background. 

Let's see. In other news, there was that one day that we saw the sun. 

I was so delighted, I snapped a picture for posteriority. 

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No pictures but I did some painting. Ryan went on a skiing trip and I used the opportunity to paint a few rooms without consulting him. I'm not suggesting it's the right thing to do, but it is the thing I decided to do and it turned out fine. 

I also managed to 100% fool Duke into believing that scraping the burned parts off toast is just part of the standard process. You'd think I'd figure it out after 30 odd years of making toast, but I forget about it every single time and there's not one piece made in this house that doesn't come out a little burnt. Luckily, he assumes it's a step, like layering on the butter and I'll just leave that one alone until he's old enough to realize otherwise. 

Anyway, I'd say that's about it for the month. I think I do get a real touch of seasonal depression and I'm looking so forward to seeing the sun tomorrow. I feel so dismal just writing about what a crapshoot January was, even though logically I know there were some wins in there. I'm just a gal that needs some vitamin-whatever-the-sun-provides so maybe a perkier post next week!

Happy February! One month down and even if we're not quite on the summertime-highway, we're headed there and on our way.