Back To Normality-A Few "Slow January" Goals

So the holidays are over, the partying, gifting, traveling and general Christmas-ing is finished. I love it every year, I do. But frankly, I also love it when life gets back to the normal, the everyday, the relaxing and even the mundane.

A frugal blogger I follow has declared this her "Year of Slow". I'm not one to choose a single word for my year, nor am I likely to want life to be slow all the time, but I am embracing my slow January. For the rest of this month, my only have-tos for leaving the house are a Monday morning volunteering gig, Wednesday knitting with friends and church activities. Admittedly, I am meditating on a new volunteer gig which will take some time (although be closer to home) and have investigated joining a writing group or another crafting and lunch bunch. But for January, life is going to be mainly very slow around this particular homestead.  

A pile of Christmas boxes-and a sock removed by force from canine jaws!

Which, hopefully, gives me some time to get a few things done! Annual goals are not my thing I've found-and I've decided that for now I'm not joining in with any bloggers on any annual, winter, spring or other goal get togethers. That said, I have a very few goals (as well as some boring tasks) to get done this month. Aside of course, from getting around to putting all that holiday stuff away. Dishes and all.

1.  I need to finish that ole triple nine patch quilt. I did gift the uncompleted quilt to my brother, along with a card saying the I simply had not found the vintage style fabrics that worked with others to complete the final squares. So tomorrow I'm off to find 12 unique vintage and traditional fabrics so that this can be complete. This is not a chore, because it's one of my favorite things to do.

2. I want to go on a movie date with my son. I was gifted a very large movie gift card, and my son and I both are the type to go see movies-many movie and often any movie. So at some point (probably this weekend), we'll be off together to see The Darkest Hour.  And enjoy popcorn, candy, and soda. All required for movies in our book.

3. Plan same son's birthday party for the start of February. This will just be a family event (I'm sure he'll party with friends later), but he has specifically requested a really good Italian restaurant that has pesto sauce-and it's amazing how few of them there are. I'm also hoping there are still tickets that are not an arm and a leg so that he can see the San Antonio Spurs (his favorite team) when they come here to Denver to play.

4. Have a girl's day out (as my sister and sister-in-law and I do every year post Christmas-it's my major gift to them). Right now we are alternating between glass blowing, painting and sipping or a boozed filled lunch and jewellery making. What ever it is, it will also include food. And wine. Plenty of wine.

5.  Go to happy hour at least one Wednesday with my knitting group. I keep missing it due to a combination of reasons: yoga, dog dinner, and other obligations. I need an late afternoon of sushi appetizers and alcohol at least once a month.

6.  Explore at least one new group this month and see if it's right for me. While I'm wanting to slow down, I'm also looking for  more interaction and I'm burned out for now on Olli (senior college). So I've made a note to experiment with a monthly writing group, a quilting group, and a second book group and see if any of them are up my alley.

7. Download a variety of prayer journal prompts and make prayer journaling part of my morning pages. I'm sure some of my readers who do one or the other are saying, but wait!  I understand that both are deserving of their own journal. But I already have two journals-my bullet/calendar/list journal and one that holds sketches and recipes and the like. I cannot handle more than one more, and both are part of my "morning meditation while I'm still in bed and drinking my coke" routine!

8.  Grab a large pad, keep it on hand, and spend the month free writing about everything I'd like to do, need to do, love, want to buy, need to buy and so on. As well as things I hate, drive me crazy or want out of my life. For at least this year. In February or so I'll worry about organizing said list and figure out which is wheat and which is chaff, if you will.

9. Do something special for each kid in person or afar twice this month. I have two adult children who have both returned to school full time (one 27, one 37), work as many hours as they can and still stay sane while taking 15 to 18 hours, plan to go to grad school after their second degree and are paying their own way. In other words, they have no life. And no time. And no money. So anything small, fun, or financially helpful in any way always makes them smile. This is actually an every month goal.

10.  Exercise (with weights, bands and ball) for forty minutes at least three days a week. The other days I walk, but my primary goal this year is to increase flexibility and strength (and hopefully the stamina will follow).

11.  My final goal, and one which will surely not get done this month in full is to change my mainly single purpose room into a multipurpose room. I chose the smallest bedroom in the house to be my studio/office because I could have two large tables in an L shape, shelves nearby and simply turn my chair in any direction and be a foot or so within what I needed. Only. My interests have expanded in retirement, and I now also knit, draw and paint, want to learn jewelry making and have become deeply involved in making natural personal care and cleaning products with essential oils. And writing. Always writing. Obviously, not all at the same time, or within the same week (or month)! But my workspace needs to reflect this, as does my storage. 

When you design your own non-spill cup holder since you know you'll spill that glass one way or another before the day is over. At least now it'll land on the napkins in the plastic instead of on quilting fabric or something worse!

And there you have it. Some things I'd like to do in January. With the except of the family related stuff, nothing is written in stone. No hearts will be broken, and no failures chalked up if other things fall by the wayside.

And now darn it, I still have a tree and ornaments to break down!