Wow! February is here, and that means I am going to take a few minutes to get January all tucked in and put to bed properly by doing a roundup of the month. (see yesterday's post for details.
:::
What books and/or magazines did I read this month?
I ended up reading several issues of People Magazine this month while I sat in various waiting rooms for several doctor and dentist appointments. I discovered one of my new favorite books this month, in the children's section at the bookstore. My daughter's class had just finished reading Serpent Tide by K.L. Fogg and she kept telling me what a good book it is. So we picked it up and I have been reading it out loud to her every day. It has been really hard to put it down each day! I have really enjoyed this book so far and we have about 100 pages left to go (it is almost 400 pages). I bought mine at my local Barnes and Noble store but when I looked online at both Barnes and Noble and Amazon, they were not available. Maybe they sold out? You can order it online at Seagull Books
I haven't finished it yet, so if you have read it...don't tell me the ending!
:::
What movies and/or tv shows did I watch this month?
Still enjoying Scrubs re-runs with my hubby at night. We all watched a TON of Mythbusters on the Discovery Channel this month. It's our new favorite show to watch as a family and my son just loves it. We even ordered him a Mythbusters T-Shirt!
:::
What special days did I celebrate and how?
We didn't do much for New Year's Day and I felt like it took me the first 2 weeks of January to recover from the holidays. I have never had it hit me so hard and I was so tired of my decorations by the time I took them down that I was just tempted to throw them all away! LOL!
My Mom's birthday was the 21st and I made her this layout and bought her an online class from Creating Keepsakes. I signed up for it also and I still need to get working on that. I didn't get to party with her in person since she lives in another state, but I'm glad I got to spend time with her (and the rest of my family) at Christmas.
My darling nieces turned 1 and we had a fun little family party for them. We gave them cute little matching outfits.
We had a "Wii Party" with my hubby's family. My kids have been dying to get a group of family members together to try out the Wii sports. We weren't sure if the grandparents would get into it or not, and it turns out that Grandma liked it so much, she wants to buy one! LOL! Of course, they are still very hard to get.
Here's a scrapbook page I did about the Wii awhile ago that I have just never gotten around to sharing on the blog or in the galleries.
I snagged the picture off of a Nintendo site and it still printed out nicely on the layout.
:::
What illnesses or health concerns did I have?
My daughter has been sick for the last several days and has been home from school with a cold. I had a bought with the flu a few days ago. Mostly, this month has been about catching up on all the annoying little things I needed to have done; ingrown toenails surgically fixed (ouch), a cyst removed from my wrist (ouch again) and a dental exam that told me I have to get some extensive work done next month (yikes!).
:::
What new foods, recipes or restaurants did I try this month?
Hubby and I got to go to a nice dinner at a friend's house where we were treated like royalty. They made us so much to eat and it was all delicious. We had a main dish called "chicken pillows" and when I get the recipe I will share it here - yum!
We took the kids out to IHOP one Saturday morning for breakfast. Hubby and I got to go to lunch one day at Applebees where I had items off of the Weight Watchers menu - they were quite tasty. Yes, I did join Weight Watchers online this month. I am currently doing the core program and I lost 9 pounds so I am very proud of myself. I'm trying to keep my food choices very simple right now and that seems to be helping.
:::
What special or unusual purchases did I make?
We actually spent quite a bit of money this month, way more than usual. We bought new luggage at Costco which we desperately needed. Got new travel backpacks and shoes for the kids also. We are gearing up to go to Disneyland in the middle of February! Bought some clothes on clearance for my daughter, and several t-shirts for my son. I picked up some t-shirts for myself but I think this might be the first time in the history of my life that I still have Christmas money left to spend on January 31st!
Our big purchase this month was a new bedroom set. Our first real bedroom furniture in 16 years of marriage! We spent a lot, but it will be really nice. It is all still on order so I don't have any pics to share yet. We also had a wall in our bedroom painted this gorgeous color of green:
:::
What were this month's disappointments?
It was a good month so it is hard to complain. Wish we could have avoided sickness and I wish I could have done more (as always). Our desktop computer quit working at the end of the month and now I need to get it in for repair.
:::
What were my accomplishments this month?
Professionally, this was my best month ever! I finished up my Amazing Month of Memories class series and I'm really excited about the new stuff I am working on. I also finished up a big project I have been working on for another company (sorry, can't tell you yet!)
I redesigned my entire blog and I also posted 30 blog entries during the month of January.
I had my first ever guest creative team members and they did a wonderful job! I'm also very lucky to have some new guest team members joining me for February and of course, my ever-talented full-time creative team as well.
I only created 8 digital layouts this month, but considering everything else I had going on, I feel ok about that. I am hoping to do more in February.
Anything else noteworthy to record?
I participated in Ali Edward's word challenge and my word to inspire me this month was "Simplify" - the challenge is to pick one word for the year, but I am doing one word per month instead.
I did 2 pages about this that you can see in my sidebar album of layouts titled "one word". I feel like I really embraced this idea and I did a lot to "simplify" my life this month.
Here is how I was inspired by my word this month - SIMPLIFY:
Got rid of a TON of stuff. I think I would be embarrassed if anyone knew exactly how much junk I gave away, but it feels great now!
Cleaned out and organized my pantry. Simplified my approach to food and grocery shopping in general.
When faced with decisions and problems, I tried to take the most simple approach and that seemed to help clarify things immediately.
Found a tutor to help my daughter with math. We have really been struggling with this. The same tutor will also spend some time doing homeschool with my son so it is nice to have a bit of help with this.
Evaluated priorities. My daughter quit orchestra. She was just overwhelmed and it is going to be better for her to have the extra time and energy elsewhere.
Finished some projects that have been on my list for a long time. Feels good to not see those on my to do list everyday anymore.
Committed myself to live a more simplified life. I have tried to refrain from bringing home non-essential items from the store. I am trying to pare down a lot of the extra "stuff" in our house. I need to remember these things.
Don't forget to do your own roundup!
