This Week In My Home: New Year!!

This week in my home....

Pardon me while I feel nostalgic for what winter can look like...We're expecting temperatures in the high 70's mid-week...

...We are celebrating the New Year in our usual understated fashion.  In fact, as I type this it's New Year's Eve evening and our plans include going to bed about our usual time. This is typical of us.  We don't drink much and we certainly have no desire to be on the roads with those who might not know when enough is too much already.   Which reminds me of a funny conversation I had with my doctor during the intake process when I was getting set up with him.  He commented on my being hit by a drunk driver that I shouldn't be on the roadways during the hours they drink.  I looked at him and said "Oh okay...just so you know it was 8am in the morning on a weekday."  He looked at me and laughed and said "In other words let's just stay home!" lol

We've had a pleasant last day of the year and I'm looking forward to the New Year.  I slept very well last night (LOVE cold weather when my sleep actually deepens...of course being tired as all get out didn't hurt either!), got up this morning to make John a top quality BIG breakfast.  Mama came out about noon with a pizza in hand and I had a salad and half a carrot cake from the freezer that I thawed to go along with it.  We had conversation and food and it was nice enough.  Mama was in her usual form, lol, her first comment to me being that I looked really bad which surprised me since I'd looked in the mirror just a bit earlier and felt I looked as well as ever.  When I pointed out my copiously blooming African Violet and she said "Well that's ugly isn't it?"  I decided to let well enough alone, lol.

John napped after she left and I spent time online researching a project for the blog that I'll post about early this week.  I watched Downton Abby until my British drama level hit the high peak mark.  PBS was running a marathon of episodes this week and I've seen just enough of it to know I'd missed a lot.

To celebrate New Year's Eve, I've tried my first glass of champagne.  I LIKED it!  Mind you, it seemed a huge waste to me to open a bottle just so I could have a glass but you know I was able to find a recipe to use up the rest of it or at least most of it and where there's one recipe there are usually ten.  I don't think I'll indulge often but it was nice and I was happy to do something else I'd never done before the year ended.

No regrets as I bid this year goodbye.  I'm excited to face a new year.  Aren't you?

...I plan my work week:

John got paid earlier this holiday on Friday but I've still got to buy groceries, at least a few...

Oh the shed is a mess!  I've just been going out there to shove things in the door.  Time to sort it all back out and get it cleaned up.  We're due rain this week which is not a good time to work in the shed but there are also meant to be a few clear days and I'll make time to go out then and tackle that almost big job.

Hem my jeans...erhm...

Sort through the boxes of books in the guest room and determine which should find new homes with friends and family, which I might sell and which to donate.  I started this task Friday and have two full boxes for donation though I confess my heart wrenched a little giving some of them up.  Pep talk to self went along these lines "Yes, it hurts but think just how thrilled someone else will be to buy them."  That helped a lot.

Plant the bulbs ...erhm....

Pick up the rose bush prunings and dispose of them.

Continue work on my blog post project.

Get that book review written and off my list!

Go through our DVDs and make the list John asked me to put together of movies we want to purchase for next Christmas season.

Focus hard on ONE room this week and clean it really well.  Won't take all week long nor be all that hard but it is necessary.  If things go swimmingly I might do TWO.

Take a long hard look at my January calendar and plan.  I know I've got the first two major dates covered but I need to look at what comes later in the month.

I plan my meals...

I did really but no, I'm not sharing here this week.  I'll do that in a later post.  Be patient please!  You'll soon see why.

I plan leisure:

Work on genealogy notebook.  I never did that this past week and I really want to do so.

Read one or two of my vintage January magazines.

Having watched portions of the Downton Abby marathon, and realizing how very much of this series I've missed, I thought I'd crack open my DVD set and watch some of the first season episodes.