Like many people the New Year provokes me into thinking about the year ahead and what could be different. As I hinted in my catch-up post for walking East Stoke’s lanes, I’ve been thinking about this space here and more specifically how infrequently I’ve showed up here over the past year, and how I can change that.
One of the ways is to ‘rediscover the joy’ in writing posts which all sounds very grand. You know how much I love a plan, well so far I’ve mostly stuck to it too, as I have a lot of stuff stored up to share. I’ve also realised that I’ve not been so good at those ‘life update type’ posts, and so this new series of monthly posts aims to change that, as there is always something going on. It may not be big (and quite often it definitely won’t be clever) but it is life, and very real.
I’m hoping that it won’t sink into the minutiae of detail, nor be deathly dull - but I guess you’ll be the judge of that!
January has been January-ing
It’s been a month that’s been full of coughs and colds (yes, still) with both MOH and I suffering throughout the month, which made planned appointments with the dentist and hygienist fun though thankfully we managed to navigate with said lurgies, and remarkably each of our appointments taking place when we were probably at our healthiest.
It’s not been all bad though as we’ve had a fair bit of Christmas goodies to munch through; we finished the Christmas cake after a short delay, and the last of the mince pies disappeared this week. It’s been a month for getting things done that we’ve been meaning to for a while, and a new griddle pan was part of that - we were going to replace it when we moved in eighteen months ago, but didn’t.
But it’s also been a month when venturing outside has been minimal - understandable really - though we did make it to our favourite restaurant in Newark for pie night - but after all the effort (and it really was an effort) to get the Christmas decorations down on time, they haven’t yet made it back out to the garage.
Around the house all the components for my craft room mini-revamp arrived and are now in place - I’m already loving it - it’s such a simple change to extend my desk space, but so effective.
We’ve had a couple of issues with our new build and the developers have been back to make progress on those. We’ve had a leak in our lounge, which only leaks when there’s really bad weather and the developers are hopeful that they’ve solved this on their most recent visit - let’s hope so. It’s not a big leak, but of course it’s not ideal.
We’re also expecting a replacement for a failed sealed unit in our front door, and hopefully a resolution to the main thermostat issue. The heating still works fine as we are able to control the temperature in each room downstairs individually, and separately the whole of the upstairs which has its own thermostat, but it needs fixing.
Inspired by many quilts
I’ve also been more inspired than normal by quilts this month. I spent two days at the Newark Quilt Show and consequently took way too many pictures, which I’ve not even started to edit or share yet - but I will. This year I even went armed with a ‘wish list’ and was pretty good at sticking to it too, though as ever my craft to do list is already growing!
I finished the Noughts and Crosses charity quilt, and have already started on my next one - I’m hooked (again!) This one started with these cute little houses from Sherri’s January mystery block of the month quilt over at A Quilting Life, and there’s plenty more to come, but aren’t they fab?
Impulsively I also booked myself onto a quilting workshop entitled ‘Floral Fancy’ and then spent the time leading up to it wondering if I had the skills to do it justice, and making sure I had the things listed on the requirements for the workshop. Despite being advised not to be intimidated by the long list, I was intimidated by the long list - but as it turned out I didn’t need to be at all.
It was a fabulously creative and inspiring day, and needless to say this workshop left me with even more on my craft to do list, as me being me I’m not content with just finishing the panel I started on the day, and am working out how I can extend it in my own way.
As a teaser, here’s a shot of how it started…
We definitely watch much less TV since we moved here, but this month we’ve subscribed to SkySports mainly to watch Luke Littler in the darts, but the bonus has been a fair few football games too. We won’t keep the subscription indefinitely but it’s been good to have this month, and I can see us keeping it for the winter months (especially as the deal was good).
We’ve been watching Celebrity Hunted (despite not knowing who most of the celebrities are!) and have been looking forward to the CheeseFest which is The Apprentice starting. We’re definitely not loving the upcoming changes to Discovery which results in the loss of Eurosport, which is prime viewing for MOH and the various cycling races, which to continue to watch these the option is to subscribe to TNT Sports at a much inflated price. We’ll see.
Snug as a hibernating bug
There’s been little exploring this month, though we did manage a day-late (thanks to the weather) New Year’s Day walk, but apart from a wander around Newark to see how high the Trent was by the Castle (while MOH was at the dentist) that’s been about it. Unless you count a car trip to a new part of Nottingham, and a cross-city navigation from Beeston to the Meadows for a stop in at my nearest Hobbycraft.
THE RIVER TRENT VIEWED FROM NEWARK CASTLE. USUALLY THE RIVER PATH IS BEHIND THE BARGE.
To be honest I’ve been happy enough being as snug as a hibernating bug and watching the frosts and weather from inside, though MOH less so.
I’ve a day trip to London booked for next month, which I managed to snaffle train tickets for in LNER’s sale. I’ve already got a full day planned in Islington before meeting up with MOH in the West End for dinner, and I’ve even planned in an essential stop in Liberty’s too - just me though, I’ll go before I meet up with MOH!
Let’s hope that February is healthier!