I love to make plans for January. It can be a long or dreary month; or, I can plan to fill it with things I'm excited about. In my notebook for this January:
• I'm bringing Clara's yellow dishes out for daily dinner use. Such sunshine!
• Painting the two downstairs hallways bright white--they're still the cream color the living room was before last January.
• I'm taking at least two little day-trips to farther off towns. These will involve thrift stores, for sure.
• New flannel sheets for my bed. And maybe even an electric blanket!
• Tracking down a good strong decaff black tea--I see that my darling P.G. Tips is now available decaffeinated.
• Serving citrus fruit every day of the month to everyone who wants it.
• I'm fitting a 1940s pants pattern, because I never have.
• I'm making felt slippers.
• Wish I didn't know this, but apparently I'm planning to run 88 miles this month as I gear up for a spring half-marathon. Man, I wish I hadn't done that math.
• And, I want to make some of the crazy salads from my 1940s and earlier cookbooks.
• Very last, I'll be taking two weeks off from posting here as we juggle some very large projects as a family. I'll let you know when it's time.
Anyone else have January plans?
Good list!
ReplyDeleteI took your posts to heart when you said that if you could run, anyone could. I doubted it, but I started on October 1st of 2011 all the same. Miles run? October - 210.6, November - 133.3, and December- 138, with two days to go. I plan on a half-marathon in the spring, too. Thanks for the inspiration!
Are you serious? That's major mileage! I'm sure your half will be no problem at all!
ReplyDeleteTea recommendation: The London Tea Room in St. Louis has an extensive menu of delicious loose leaf teas, which can also be ordered from their website. A friend & I are headed there tomorrow for tea & knitting.
ReplyDeleteI recommend the Earl Grey, the Naughty Vicar (Vanilla & currant), and the Pu-Erh Blood Orange. But be warned - teas this good can be habit forming!
http://thelondontearoom.com/Drink_Me.html
Irish Breakfast is a pretty strong tea, too. But someone else was praising P.G. Tips to me recently. Hmm. You know you can decaffeinate any tea by steeping it 20 or 30 seconds, then throwing out the first cup - 80% of the caffeine comes out in that first minute or so.
ReplyDeleteYou make me think that I should be making more plans. Hmm.
Lisateresa
Great plans!!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see everything on your list come to fruition.....maybe all except the last one. ;) I really enjoy your posts and I have a few blogs I really like visiting daily and yours is at the top of the list. You give me so much encouragment and motivation!
No suggestions on tea because mine turn out bitter....I believe the common denominator is me.
I believe you will have no problem polishing off 88 miles. Have a great time enjoying a book on cd or even the fresh, crisp air.
By Grace Alone,
Kim
I love the yellow dishes plan. Such cheer! Especially with half a grapefruit in a yellow bowl.
ReplyDeleteI'm on with the citrus fruit plan. Besides that, I have a little sewing to do, a little more prep, and then I plan to have a baby!
Your idea of taking a couple day trips inspires me. I recently inherited a vehicle that gets 50 mpg. I feel like I have been given wings as my old one got 12 mpg. I found myself thinking "I could do a day trip now without paying a small fortune!". Thank you for the thought, it has given me something to savor!
ReplyDeleteAmy F.
Good list - that sounds like just the right mix of creative fun, work, exploration, and challenges to keep your month interesting.
ReplyDeleteAround here the big project is painting kitchen cabinets (we're half way there!) but I like the idea of a list like this and may make one of my own. I've heard of New Years resolutions, but never One Month resolutions. They sound much more manageable.
Beauty, activity, homemaking...it sounds like a beautiful reflection of your priorities. I am currently working on my list of 41 things to accomplish in my 41st year.
ReplyDeleteAnd Sarah, we just painted our cabinets in November, and it made a world of difference. I will post pics on my blog soon!
What a wonderful list! I'm a big fan of Irish Breakfast tea myself. It's quite robust, but the PG Tips sounds intriguing. Also, as an FYI which you probably have heard already, you might want to reconsider the electric blanket idea. I recently spoke to a nurse practitioner who mentioned that the EMFs (electromagnetic fields) from all of the appliances & technology we use today has been found to depress our immune systems. She told me to make sure our clocks, telephones, etc. are kept at the far end of our nightstands if we even need to keep them there at all. It was a very long and interesting conversation for sure! Good luck with your 88 miles and all of your projects!
ReplyDeleteI love your list! My WWII rations cookbook has some crazy salad recipes in it. I wonder about my Bettina books. My Year With Bettina didn't work out last year, but I'd like to try it this year.
ReplyDeleteAs for the pants pattern, I look forward to posts on that. When I have this baby, I hope to make a pair of corduroy slacks from a 40's pattern. Hubby loves the 30's/40's style pants (a la Helen Herriot in All Creatures Great and Small TV series). I've been wanting corduroys for years for the autumn and winter months. I'm thinking a deep chocolate brown or maybe a more daring color like plum.
Training for a 5k (much smaller than a half marathon!); starting the spring semester homeschooling three small children; and finishing a dress I'm making for myself.
ReplyDeleteYour January list is very motivating. And your blog is always so beautiful and encouraging! Happy New Year!
Boy, I hope I'm able to get half of that done! I don't know how you do it. :-) My plans involve painting my son's bedroom blue (he wants it to look like he's underwater) and then seeing if I can talk his 1st grade teacher's aide into painting a giant squid down one wall, doing some sewing, major deep-cleaning of the house, and starting Weight Watchers with my husband (for the first time in 8 years). Hopefully I can start running, too - a friend turned my on to the Couch to 5K program. I really want to give it a shot (and my dog would like to, too), but getting outside when it's freezing is so not my thing :-)
ReplyDeleteAlso, Typhoo makes a great decaf tea. I've got a huge box of it upstairs in my cabinets. I love my British teas, but I can't really do the caffeine anymore. There's a great local store called Baltimore Coffee and Tea that sells a huge assortment of teas. Here's their website: http://www.baltcoffee.com/
Again, it can be an addiction. Let us know what you end up choosing!
Elizabeth :-) (Mouthy Labrador from the S&S board)
I plan on getting some reorganizing projects doen around the house. There are also some phd's in my sewing room that I want to cross off my to do list so some time in there will be a must! As far as teas go, I love Bewley's Decaf Irish Breakfast. It was always a disappointment to want a decaf tea and find it was so weak. I wanted a strong tea after dinner but didn't want to be up all night and this fit the bill. British Express ships it
ReplyDeletewww.britishtea.com and they carry your PG Tips also!
PG Tips Decaf is delicious and is our decaf of choice but I also like Yorkshire Tea Decaffeinated. It is made by Taylors of Harrogate (who supply the tea for the famous Betty's Tea Rooms in York and Harrogate). Good and strong stuff!
ReplyDeletewow...busy busy busy. and 88 miles, wow- that is amazing.
ReplyDeleteenjoy January.
and...loving the book. ;-)
I shop at a restaurant supplier (feeding 10 at every meal makes you in the leagues with those who call themselves chef ;-) ... so large boxes of citrus fruits are in the works for us well through March...vitamin C to ward off the ickies. amazing how fast my crew can eat a crate of Valencia oranges.
Kimmie
mama to 8
one homemade and 7 adopted
That's a fantastic winter list. With the end of our 10-year drought I have realised that 3 months of gloomy skies is no fun.
ReplyDeleteMy current favourite tea is a French early grey that Dh sells. It's so delicate.
January for us means summer and school holidays. So we'll spend a week camping with friends (we have a caravan - easy camping!) and then we just relax. At home. With the air conditioner :) Salads, BBQ's, walks after dinner.
January plans? Finishing two sets of 18th c. style stays with cane boning with my daughter, trying out a polonaise (18th c. gown) pattern with a thrifted gold brocade tablecloth (and possibly one with red sheets,$1.98 for the set, sturdy 100% cotton), working up Dominic Argento pieces for a couple of local music series around here with my husband (classical guitarist, music faculty at the college) and working with my kids (ages 9-17), who will sing in harmony in Latin and do a 4 part harmony setting of a Tolkien text by Gwyneth Walker...and lots of cleaning, teaching, reading, dishes, and laundry.
ReplyDeleteI am inspired by your many projects and admire the way you run, do all that you do, and still find time to paint! Thank you for your lovely blog.
Anna, Inspired by your winter-trips-with the children posts, I am going to enjoy a couple of quiet days with one daughter, in a cabin on a lake doing some creative work and my husband is taking our 2 oldest boys on a hike to an inn (2 days of winter hiking). I am learning to start cross-stitch or something like that. Trying to manage my bit of CPA work and our 5 dear children...Mary Brooke
ReplyDeleteMy lists are so humble these days--something to do with the ages of my babies.
ReplyDeleteBut for January--host our annual Epiphany feast, celebrate our daughter's first birthday, learn to care for my new lovely orchid, sort through more vintage patterns, and download some fresh new music for the fresh new year. Those are all the extracurriculars I can handle!
Tea. Ceylon is nice in winter. Cream Earl Grey is a favorite. And I adore Yorkshire Gold (strong!!). But I'm not sure any of those are decaff.....
If you know anyone visiting the UK, it is worth getting them to buy decaff tea from the store, Sainsburys, good value and good taste.
ReplyDeleteLove it that you've made plans.....something many of us rarely do. :)
ReplyDeleteWe're planning a "winter holiday". Games, sledding, snowshoeing, lots of feasting on good foods - like coconut cake, called 'snowball cake' - and decorating with paper snowflakes...a sleepover party at Grampa and Gramma's to top it all of!
ReplyDeleteYou'll be missed during those two weeks ... I so enjoy your blog. Clara's dishes are beautiful and will surely brighten those January days!
ReplyDeleteSounds great! I'll take a few things off your list and add them to mine. Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteOoh, interesting plans, everyone! This month I'm organizing my PhD research in Zambia, sewing the binding on my 1st quilt, going to London to fish, organizing cabinets, visiting family far away, running a bit, and hoping to squeeze in a few days snowshoeing in the Alps, near where I live. Wishing you all a happy and productive January!
ReplyDeleteI wish you the best in 2012. Good luck to you in training! As you know, I'm jealous of anyone's ability to run (hopefully I'll be one of them in the fall). I look forward to hearing about your projects and you will be missed. Blessings!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the 1940s pants/slacks! I made a pair myself not too long ago (Folkwear 240 with some of my own modifications), and they are wonderful. I feel like Katherine Hepburn every time I put them on, and they are a classier, more comfortable comparison to jeans. You won't be sorry if you make them.
ReplyDelete