#WBOYC

 So tell me, 

What's been on your calendar this month?  My month started off with a pretty blank canvas, very little socialising going on.  But thankfully as the month unfolded, the calendar gradually filled.  So what have I been doing?  Well

Watching, listening and reading

TV Happy Valley, Firefly Lane, Amanda Holden and Alan Carr's Italian job (which has made us seriously consider Sicily as our holiday destination this year!)

Podcasts - Jane Garvey and Fi Glover "Off record" is still one of my regular ones but I'm still not sure if I enjoy it quite as much as their old podcast "Fortunately"

Books - So Long Chester Wheeler.  I'll be writing a little more about this in a future post.  It was our online book club choice and I read it very quickly as I couldn't put it down!  After that I read a book which won't be available to the public until next year.  My friend Dani is an author and she always lets me read her latest book before it goes in for its final edit. Again, this was a storyline which had me hooked from the very beginning.  It a shame that I can't share the story with you as it is isn't even close to publication yet but I promise that nearer the time I will tell you more.  Spoiler alert - it's good!

Crafting

We don't need any more blankets.  We have more than enough blankets. When there was a new 'Crochet Along' on the Coastal Crochet website I resisted, I even encouraged my friend to do it.  I definitely wasn't going to make it {you already know where this is going don't you?} Then I started to see people posting their versions of it on the group Facebook page.  Then my friend finished hers and said she enjoyed it so much she was going to make another for her sister.  I weakened.  I saw a picture of one that someone had done in dark blues, greens and pinks.  It would look perfect in my lounge.  I had some left over pink wool that I could use.  I would only need to order 3 other colours.  It would cost hardly anything to make. I'll be putting away my Christmas blanket so it really wasn't going to be another blanket, it would just be replacing that one.  So anyway, this is how far I've got ... 

Childcare

Six sessions of picking up Leo and Rosie from school and giving them their tea

Three days of looking after Olive

One evening of babysitting coming up at the weekend too!

Playing with words

I've found a new word game.  It's called Wordiply and it really makes you think.  You are given three letters that you have as a starter word and you have to find the longest word that includes those letters. You have five goes.  The other day the letters were ANT and I thought I had done well to come up with 'fantasmorgorical'.  Sixteen letters, but two letters short of their longest which was 'transubstantiation'.  I do like to start the day with a word game to get my brain working!

Exercise

Zumba started again after the Christmas break.  Although I try and convince myself that dog walking is a good exercise, it just isn't the same as doing an exercise class.  The bathroom scales are clearly not working properly as the numbers had gone up too high 😉  I'm sure it couldn't have anything to do with our pre Christmas socialising ... can it? Anyhow, I attended four sessions of Zumba this month and thoroughly enjoyed every one.

Haircut and colour for me

Of course the day that I had a hairdresser's appointment booked was also a windy and rainy day.  Which means a 'putting up your coat hood and sprinting back to the car' mission to try and come home looking more presentable than when you left!  After spending a decent amount of money on two hours pampering you want to look neat and tidy for more than five minutes.

Just a haircut for Coco

We ended last year with concerns about Coco.  She had made the top of her head bleed and it didn't seem to want to heal.  Well, to be fair she was a little rascal and kept opening up the wound.  When she's excited after a walk she will come in, roll around on her back and rub her head on the floor.  If you have a dog, you will know what I mean!  I was convinced that she had disturbed the skin so much that it had turned black which could only mean that gangrene was setting in.  (Dramatic?  Over reacting?  Moi?) So back to the vets she went where they cleaned it all up, and reassured us that the 'gangrene' was in fact a scab of blood which, when removed, showed that the skin was nicely pink underneath.  

Anniversaries

The 20th January marked another year without my dad in my life.  Even though 35 years have passed since he died, when I see that date on the calendar I always feel sad to think of all the things that he has missed over the years. 

On the 31st January it will be the anniversary of me passing my driving test.  Forty seven years ago 😳 I remember that we woke up to snow that morning and my instructor called to say we would go to the test centre but he doubted the test would take place.  How wrong could he be?  Maybe I wasn't nervous because I thought it wasn't going to happen but anyway - I passed first time! 

Eco-warriors

This was more on Paul's calendar than mine (partly due to the fact that it was pouring with rain on the day it was scheduled) Our local climate action group has organised for a community orchard to be planted on our northern parkland.  

Several local groups have been involved including the local school, Leo's Beavers group and the volunteers of the southern country park.  So on Saturday they planted over 30 trees to attract pollinating insects and over the years, hopefully have a community orchard that everyone can enjoy.

Socialising with friends

We had friends over for tea and cake - I love baking cakes so having people over is a great excuse to get the mixer out; coffee and walnut sponge this time.

The other time that we socialised I fancied doing a dinner with a theme and as it was Chinese New Year we invited friends over for dinner.  I wasn't ambitious enough to cook a Chinese meal myself, especially when there is a take-away Chinese restaurant about 5 minutes away from us!  

You'll notice that I didn't provide knives and forks - it was chopsticks for everyone! {although knives and forks replaced them quite early in the meal}

So that was my January so far.  Would you like to see how it looked in a video of 1 Second Everyday ?

This post is part of a theme organised by the other Deb at the other Deb's World.  Please click on the link, and pop over to read her blog and see how life was this month on the other side of the globe!