These January Days

 It's been a slow week around here.

A string of dark, rainy days had me yearning for the gardening season.

My temporary fix was a trip to the garden center for a few new houseplants.  They helped to fill in some of the bare spots after the Christmas décor was put away and give me something to nurture until I can be outside again playing amongst the flowers.

When we moved I vowed to have only a few houseplants and only ones that weren't too fussy.  While watering this morning I counted 10 plus one rather sad looking orchid. (hmmm... how did that happen). I'm experimenting with the orchid to see if I can get it to re-bloom.  I understand that can take awhile.  Speaking of houseplants, have you noticed how they are currently all the rage? A visit to YouTube for orchid growing tips led me into the rabbit hole of channels devoted to everything you could ever want to know about houseplants.

 In other exciting news I made a homemade cleaner before Christmas.  A walk through the woods for pine and cedar mixed with a few orange peels and vinegar.  It's been tucked away in the pantry waiting to be put into service during the post holiday clean up.  I think this weekend I'll put it to the test on the bathroom floors.  Oh boy, sounds like something to look forward to :).

I do, however, like the idea of moving away from so many chemicals in the house.  Do any of you use the more natural, homemade products for cleaning?  If so, have you found any that you really like?

The holidays left us with far too many sweets lurking about.

This isn't a good thing for somebody who dislikes wasting food.

A cookie here and a candy there have left Brett and I both disgusted with what the scale is telling us.  Since the holidays also left us with a surplus of butternut squash and granny smith apples, I had a chopping session followed by a roasting session and then a food processing session to prepare a soup that Brett declared the best soup I've ever made.  Wow, I'll take that compliment.  But, to be honest, it is a delicious and nutritious soup which is something we need to balance out those sweets ;).  I've been making it for years and even did a blog about it way back here.  

With a little luck all of that chopping counts toward calorie burning.

Moseying Into The New Year

** Happy New Year **

Raise your hand if your Christmas tree and decor are all put away.

I'm imagining a lot of hands going up.

Here, however, the tree is still up along with all of the decor.

This morning brought rain and gloom.  I plugged the tree in and continue to enjoy the cozy light it gives the room.  This weekend will be when everything is returned to "normal" around here and that is okay with me.  Some years I would be feeling very behind to have Christmas still lingering.  This year an opportunity to hop on a plane to go share New Year's Eve with the one and only grandson arose.  Hard to pass up an offer like that.  So, we left the house as is and took off for a week.  This was his first time staying up until midnight to wear a silly hat and glasses and blow a horn to usher in the new year.  At first he looked as though he thought we'd all gone a bit mad :).  I'm thinking that now that he knows what it's all about he'll be looking forward to this opportunity to stay up past his bedtime and make all the noise he wants without being reprimanded.