I have to remind myself that Januaries are always difficult for me, and Februaries, as well. As is the case for many people, things are a bit of a grind here in suburban Elysia just at the moment. But I can’t judge 2021 too harshly on its face, just yet.

My expectations weren’t high. The pandemic wasn’t going anywhere. The riots at the Capitol and the continued insanity of Trump, MAGA, and Q….well, that’s a big bunch of demerits for sure.

We’ve had a mild winter so far, without a lot of snow or extreme temps, which is sort of nice but then again every day is just more Michigan grey. At this point I’d relish a nice whomp of snow just for something different.

I’m still working away in my back bedroom / office and still having to make hundreds of quick transitions between employee / parent / teacher / chef / home project manager / therapist / partner / lover every day. Which is not ideal but which I think many of us are struggling with. This will likely continue through April or May, at the earliest, if I’m not mistaken, and perhaps longer depending on how we handle Miss L’s continued remote school through June. This paying job I’ve done for the past 10 years – at a company I’ve been with for 19 – is its usual mix of stability, ennui, consistency, tedium, stress, aggravation, reassurance and comfort, all at once. I try to remind myself to get out for walks or runs and fresh air, get enough sleep but not sleep too much, to have gratitude, take my vitamins and watch my diet and keep to-do lists and make time for self care but sometimes things fall off the plate and I have to start all over again.

Maybe my daily commute (30 minutes to an hour plus one way, depending on weather and traffic), which I always bemoaned in the past, was more beneficial than I thought- time to transition from one role to another, catch up on news or audiobooks or podcasts.

Rise of the Fake Commute and how it might be beneficial to your mental health

The key is taking things one day, one action at a time and not thinking too far ahead.

How’s your January going so far?

So long, January, don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.

When we last visited, I was in the dank pit of seasonal grumpiness…but now January is over and somehow we all survived. February can be tough, too, but it’s a shorter month, the days are becoming incrementally longer, and hopefully there will be a bit more sunshine than we’ve had recently. A girl can dream.

No one else in the house except for the cats have had the same January doldrums as I have (and they’re doing better now that their Prozac has been refilled). Brandon built shelves for our master closet and painted the upstairs hallway and rehung all of my family pictures in that hallway, all on the weekends even though he works long days during the week and has a long commute, too. All I ever want to do on weekends is take naps. Miss L, too, has been a tiny dynamo. She auditioned for her middle school play, she’s auditioned for a small scholarship to a wonderful fine arts summer camp for her flute, she continues three hours a week of dance, and altogether she is a beam of bright light and enthusiasm and fearlessness. I could not be more proud of her.

I’m knitting away on my traditional New Year socks, which are usually just a simple sock recipe and usually get named after a book. (Last year’s was Killing Commendatore  by Murakami.) While I knit, we’re watching His Dark Materials on HBO and after we’re done, I’ll have Miss L watch the feature length film version, Golden Compass, with Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman. In general I  like the HBO version better, although I just can’t with Lin-Manuel Miranda as Lee Scoresby. Lee in my head is always a Carradine.

So this is January, done and dusted. I did great with meal planning in January, and tried some new recipes that will continue into our rotations. I love the cast iron skillet and cookbook, and I tried a couple of crockpot recipes from Pinterest that made Miss L’s dance days easier. I also did very well with waking up earlier / getting to work earlier; a good habit to continue in February and once it starts getting lighter earlier, I hope to add some morning walks / runs into my weekly schedule, weather permitting.
Looking ahead to February, I hope to run more and be outside more; I have one of my favorite small races, the Betsie Bay Frozen 5k. I also want to hit the gym at least once a week for weight training. I want to drink more matcha green tea lattes. I struggled with the no-spend January, so I’m going to push myself to do better in February, although we are buying a rug and a chair for the den and maybe a runner for the newly painted upstairs hallway. One of the things I splurged on in January that was specifically on my “no spend” list was yarn – sigh – I have a problem. I got this colorway from Etsy after seeing this post. So once the New Year’s socks are finished, named, and unveiled, I’ll be casting on.

I hope you are all proud of yourselves for making it through January even if you didn’t struggle as much as I did (and I hope you didn’t). I look forward to hearing more about my blog and vlog friends’ February plans and projects, books and shows and podcasts and passions, and lives in general. Be well and exercise self care and maybe pet some dogs or cats and stay hydrated and my mom says D3 is good and it’s always good to create some art with pencils or paint or yarn or words or your camera or your voice.
xo Happy February!