If you don't know what a roundup is, then you should read yesterday's entry. Here's mine:
What books and/or magazines did I read this month?
January
was a great reading month around here, I read two books out loud to my kids (we
do reading time every night before bed.) We read The Lion, The Witch and the
Wardrobe and Prince Caspian, both by C.S. Lewis from the Chronicles of Narnia
series. At my son’s request, we are reading them in the order they were
published and not in the numbered order on the series. I also read Orbiting the
Giant Hairball which is a fun and creative little book. I’m about halfway through 1776 by David
McCollough and it is quite fascinating. Not an easy read, but very interesting
to learn about the American revolution.
I really didn’t read a lot of magazines this month. I cut back on my subscriptions which all seemed to end this month and I decided not to buy a lot of magazines since they seem to sit in a pile forever. I did read Blueprint from cover to cover and really savored it since it is the last one- sad!
I
also read the new Martha Stewart kid crafts magazine and after my daughter and
I finish a few of the projects I will share pictures of those here on the blog
in a few days. And I always read Family Fun magazine. I usually get some good
ideas for homeschool from that one.
What movies and/or tv shows did I watch this month?
U23D baby! It
was so cool!
What special days did I celebrate and how?
We didn’t do
much to celebrate New Year’s Day since we all had major holiday burnout!
My sweet nieces turned 2 in January (they are twins)
and we went to their Elmo themed birthday party. We ate Mr. Noodle's noodles!
and my
Mom turned 29 (again!)
What gifts did I give and/or receive?
I gave my nieces an Elmo gift basket full of Elmo goodies since they love that little red furry guy so much!
What illnesses or health concerns did I have?
Just
tired. Still am! My newest hobby is napping, at least I wish it was! Doesn’t that sound like a great hobby? Do you
think anyone would read this blog if it was “Katie the nap-taking Lady”?
What fun things did I do with my friends and/or family?
Went
out to breakfast with my college roommate, so nice to catch up with her. We had
dinner with some friends. My neighbor gave us cupcakes – yummy! Spent a morning
at my daughter’s school for career day. My daughter
is advancing to State level in the reflections contest and her science fair
entry did well and is moving on to school-wide competition. I never did mention
here on the blog that the tap water was actually cleaner than the fridge
filtered water!
What new foods, recipes or restaurants did I try this
month?
I
have to send out a big THANK YOU to the Pioneer Woman for rekindling my
interest in actually cooking food for my family. Hubby sends his undying love –
LOL! I have rediscovered the love of butter and I have found that the way to a
man’s heart really is through his stomach. (same for women and kids!) It makes
me happy to hear yummy sounds coming from our table again. If you haven’t
cooked any P-Dub stuff yet, I highly recommend her tostadas,
and her guacamole.
I have a list of other recipes I want to try from her blog. I also dusted off
some of my cookbooks and made homemade peanut butter cookies, beef enchiladas and a roast with homemade gravy,
and mashed potatoes.
What special or unusual purchases did I make?
I think I only went to 3 stores all month; Target, the grocery store, and IKEA, but I went to each one of them several times. I did some major damage at IKEA as I bought a table & chair set, 2 bookcases, storage containers, and lots of closet organization boxes, hampers, memo boards, frames, and a step stool. We got organized around here in January! (actually still working on putting everything away – it’s like a giant slide puzzle when you start moving things around!)
What were this month's disappointments?
Nothing
too major. Had to change my closet plans after we realized we couldn’t fit the
IKEA Pax system, but it worked out just fine anyway and we were able to use the
money we had set aside for the closet project for all the other stuff I just
listed.
What were my accomplishments this month?
Not freezing to death. Seriously, it was soooo cold all month and we had a ton of snow! Our pipes even froze one night and I have been keeping the heat on at night because it has been so cold. Not excited to get the heat bill.
I took a photo every single day! Well, I did miss one, but we aren’t going to worry about that, I just inserted an extra one from another day – LOL! I’m very proud of myself for participating in the PHOTO 365 (or should be 366 since it is leap year) this year. Because of this project I have discovered the joy of Flickr. I’m so addicted to the Flickr site and I just love browsing through all the groups there.
I homeschooled my son and also added my daughter to the homeschool mix toward the end of the month. We had a great learning month in January!
I cleaned my studio… and then I messed it back up again! Yes, I decided to add a shelf to my closet in there so I had to empty out the closet. Now I’m patching and painting and reorganizing everything in the closet.
I designed 4 new paper packs and a full digital kit
And I even created a few scrapbook pages (10 to be exact) - here are a few of my favorites. Go to my gallery to see the full credits for each one.
I’ll be back tomorrow with a list of projects that I have in mind for February. See you then!
