Catching Up

January used to be my nemesis month, but as I grow older and crankier, I'm now a full winter hater from December through March. I hate almost everything about winter (sorry winter lovers, I should probably snowbird to Florida where I'd be less inclined to gripe about the cold, the weather, the dreaded germs and darkness... except... um, fire ants and alligators). The winter stretches out so far and long in January though... the light is weak, the temps are usually the coldest, it's dark so early but without the Christmas festivities to distract us. So many months ahead of us of winter. The only silver lining is that this January hasn't been as bad as other years.

We had a weekend of warm weather. Like two whole days in the 60's, on a weekend! When we could enjoy it! In NJ, in January! So we basically lived outside for two days. All those garden cleanup chores I missed in November - cleaning up wilted perennials, covering the raised garden beds for winter.

And now that it's cold outside again (sigh), I'm back to working on the basement. It's a beast and really a whole post of its own, once again, as we are stuck in an endless cycle of messiness and clutter buildup. My goal is to set a timer and just do a few minutes a day when the kids are at school, but it's still so overwhelming. I have a whole post on this to share later. One I meant to write and share last year. And the year before that. And basically every year since we've bought the house. 

Oh and, what ever happened to the drainage project? After one of the wettest, rainiest Autumns we've had in years where we struggled to get it even halfway done, it became winter way too early. The flooded trenches became ice, the snow fell, we had a massive ice storm over a month earlier than normal. More snow. And then while it's been oddly warm recently for NJ in January, with that has come more rain. And it's still January so the ground is wet and frozen. So we are just letting it go until Spring. Hopefully what we've done so far won't be too damaged by winter, but when spring comes we'll go back to digging, pumping, laying pipe and gravel and digging dry wells. It's our #1 spring task and it better help when it's finished because I never want to deal with this again. Sigh.

Highlights from January so far... New Year's Day fireworks. Playing outside for two days straight. Two kiddie birthday parties. Morgan's 2nd doggy birthday is coming up and the boys are determined that we don't miss it this year.

The house needs a deep cleaning. I literally had to create a chore chart/schedule for myself, like a little kid, to get myself organized again. After the long holiday break with all the activities and lack of structure, I've found myself floundering trying to get back into regular life. So easily distracted. Tired. The lure of a good book so much stronger than the promise of how much better I'll feel if that pile of whatever is put away. I have so many pine needles that keep reappearing even after vacuuming. And I am finding that no matter how much vitamin D I take or how frequently I use my sun lamp, my body still thinks I should be hibernating like a bear.

And since I can't hibernate for real (though OMG how good does that sound? Why can't I be a bear?!), we are trying to embrace the art of hygge and embracing the idea of cozy around here like last year. LED fairy lights, a lit candle, blankets to snuggle under. Tea and coffee. Making homemade soups for dinner, baking bread in the dutch oven, eating the bowls of citrus fruit I place around. Embracing indoor greenery by spending a little extra time caring for my houseplants (though I'm totally guilty of over-loving/over-watering things). I have paperwhite bulbs and two succulents blooming, which make me so happy. And I'll probably break down again and buy more before I know it.

On a positive note, I'm also already diving into planning the garden. I'm making wish lists of everything I want to buy as if I owned 5 acres in the country instead of .25 acres in semi-urban suburbia. And of course a much more practical list of seeds that I'm out of, and a short wish list of a few of plants/bulbs I might insist on for mother's day/my birthday/right now (I'm looking at you Graham Thomas, wouldn't you look so good climbing up the back side of my front porch on my new white trellis?). This will be my first FULL year with the new raised bed garden too and I couldn't be more excited to get started back there. It's been such a joy to plan out and look forward to sharing that too.