January Is Nearly Gone

I'm not sure how it happened, but we are already at the end of January. 2015.  Was it yesterday I was telling myself that I had "plenty of time" to order some seeds before I needed to get them started for spring planting? Ha. The best laid plans... 

It has taken me 38 years to admit it, but I am not the most disciplined of people, though I have found that "proper prior planning" helps a great deal. So I've been trying to schedule out my week in my head so that I know what to do and don't feel as overwhelmed by my "to do" list. My plan has been to spend Mondays on major house cleaning, then use Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for painting cabinet doors, writing, or other miscellany. Fridays, I balance the check book and do the shopping. Of course, this only works if the universe cooperates with my plan. Usually, it doesn't, so I haven't done a lick of painting since before Christmas.

Take, for example, Joe. He has a mild peanut allergy. Earlier in the month, I made a big pot of delicious lentil soup. At suppertime, Joe took one look at his bowl and told me it looked disgusting. But he tried it, decided he liked it, then proceeded to shovel a bunch down his throat. A minute later, his mouth was itching and his stomach hurting. The next day and a half, chunky liquids periodically came out both his ends, and any plans I'd made were thwarted.

In other disruptions to my schedule, Joe got braces. That in itself didn't throw me off so much. It was the two subsequent visits to the orthodontist to get wires trimmed that were tearing up the insides of his cheeks.

 Speaking of teeth (and completely unrelated to my rant), Zivah is about to lose a top, front tooth. This picture doesn't quite do it justice. It is currently so crooked, it is a constant temptation to reach in her mouth and yank it out. I tried this once, but the tooth is hanging on tightly for dear life.

 Last week, we finally got some snow. It was gracious enough to come on the weekend and did not disrupt the school schedule. It stuck around just long enough to let the kids roll around in it and make some snowballs.

January hasn't been wholly unproductive, though. I finally got some things hung on the wall in the kitchen.

This arrangement makes me happy, as I have a thing for birds, and most of the items remind me of people I love. The nest picture is cyanotype made by a former neighbor and artist friend of mine. The birds were embroidered by my great aunt, Lillian, and the butterfly cut-outs were a gift from another friend. 

So here's to February and momentum. May I see the end of the paint brush by Valentine's Day- or March.