......And on To February

Just a quick aside here folks! I love Scandinavian shows., and Russian shows. I've watched many of them with subtitles, and loved them. Today, one of those shows started again-and I was thrilled. Only instead of subtitles, it's now dubbed in English. Am I the only one who would prefer subtitles to hearing English with lips moving that don't match??

So, February. The shortest month, as they say. The first month of winter is gone. The snow comes, it hits sixty and sometimes feels like seventy with the snow, and the circle begins again. All in all though, the month has begun well. A relaxing weekend (with not much being done), a long church meeting, and Sunday evening at DB's house, where I brought the queso. 

I'm a big belever that less is more in recipes. This one from Betty Crocker is a loaf of Velveeta and two cans of Rotel (one mild, one hot), I threw a pound of pork sausabe in the mix and let the slow cooker do it's job. ****I'm aware that Velveeta is less than healthy. I however, come from the school of thought that if I eat healthy daily including low fat mainly, that allows me those occasions that include Velveeta Queso or baked potato and sausage soup made with cream****

Now it's time to make at least a few goals and plans. There are three  birthdays between now and March 4th, two of them my offspring (it seems that over eighty percent of the people from the extended families on both sides celebrate birthdays in the late January through early March period or the late September through Halloween period. What that means, I'm not sure). While Valentine's is not a huge thing for me (never was, actually), we do our "thanks" for the independent book store that hosts the knitting group on that day, so some baking and planning are in order. Add somethings to do around the house, and adding new kinds of exercise in-along with trimming the food budget-and there ya go.

February Goals

1. Exercise out of the house two times a week at least (I have a good mix of in house exercise but need to do Tai Chi elsewhere I'm thinking)
2. Have one hour of quiet time before bed, with the special Kindle Fire cover for non-blue reading being the exception
3. Aim for three hundred dollars absolute max for groceries (I'll be blogging about the specifics on this)
4. Spend an average of an hour on the house daily as I put it to right (I am not the only person who cleans or does other things)
5. Completely plan and budget one train trip start to finish.
6. Make three Valentine things: a watercolor card, a mini quilt for the front entrance, and decorated sugar cookies for the bookstore  

   

   I plan to use this as inspiration

   
   

   

   Use these fabrics plus white

   
   

   

   And make a new quilt to hang in this spot as you enter the door-I want to do one for every  month/season instead of a wreath on the door.
7. Finish one of my four in progress knitting projects
8. Finish sewing together the yellow quilt and have it and the vintage one ready to send out to the quilter.
9. Watch eight episodes of a new online course from the Great Courses plus, two a week.
10. Make at least two half day on my own excursions/explorations this month.
11. Get all birthday gifts and cards purchased, wrapped and mailed on time (you have to know me)
12. Aim for no more than three hours of online time daily that does not include reading kindle wise.

And two goals that aren't really goals but reminders for future months, if you well,

1. Start thinking about how to change around my front room. We don't have a foyer, you walk in and see the hanging above and then go right to the kitchen or left to the "fireplace room" The hall closet is at the end of the hall. Right now we make do with a coat rack, but I want a dedicated "landing area" that fits in with the front room and entrance.
2. Remind my self that within the next two months the below photographed passport issue needs to be dealt with. No words are necessary (it expires in July anyway) 

   

   Whatever you are imagining here, you are probably right. Sigh.

And there you have it. The last two are open ended and really not goals as such, just thinks to think about and put on my calendar. In true bullet journal fashion, I have even made a little weekly tracker in my notebooks of notebooks. And for what it's worth, I plan to blog on at least numbers 2, 3, 5, 6, that notebook of notebooks and maybe even the story of the passport.

Happy February, all!