My January

Nicholas & Wheelie Pete making an alcohol stove

Here's a quick look-back at this month.  Well, maybe not so quick.  This final week is a short week--the end of the semester is Wednesday and the kidlets don't have school on Thursday or Friday ...



This month has been a busy one for me on many fronts.  I started off the month by finishing all the tests I needed to renew my teaching certificate.  This was hugely stressful since I haven't actually taken any classes since Samantha was very young.  I had 7 tests to take in about 3 weeks, and I took the final 3 on January 2.  It felt very good to be able to turn in my paperwork to the state almost a month early.  Now I get to wait for them to process it and get me my shiny new license ...

My Sarah turned 12 ... I think this year I'm really beginning to feel my age.  With my youngest turning 12 and my oldest graduating from high school, well ...

No cake ... just a special sugar cookie

I worked 11 of 18 possible days this month.  While I'm so glad I could work, it has been a bit stressful in other ways.  My regular fitness routine has suffered.  It will definitely a priority to get  back into the 3 to 5 times a week routine.  Back in September, my good friend Brynne talked me into a PiYo Live! class she was teaching.  I really struggled at first, but I have never felt so successful after 4 months of classes.   Successful in that I can follow the instructor without always having to watch her and also successful in that I feel strong and capable; these classes are hard for me but so worth it!!  I really recommend PiYo to anyone looking for a great well-rounded work out.  I'm totally NOT a fitness person, so if I can do it (and enjoy it), anyone can--really!

This month I also had several meetings for my calling at church.  I'm in the Stake Primary, so we have ward conferences starting this month.  In addition to visiting the Primary in each ward, we meet early the week before their conference for leadership meetings.  This year we're focusing on the Faith in God program.  I really enjoy getting to know so many different women and learn from them!  Our Cub Scouts also had their Pinewood Derby this week, so I got to help behind the scenes and see all the fun cars the they made.

I managed to do 2-1/2 weeks of menus this month.  We had some old favorites as well as a couple of new ones.  Chicken Cordon Bleu pasta, One Pot Enchilada Pasta (I'll have to do a post on this one ...) and baked potatoes were 3 of our favorites.  I don't know what we're going to do when we hit the end of our annual box of Moses Lake potatoes ... We also did the breakfast cart as Nicholas's school as a fundraiser for his trip.  For that I baked banana-blueberry muffins--a family favorite.

I'm also getting into a regular routine with my Latter-day Light e-mails.  I'm not totally good, but I am taking it one day at a time and I know I'll be able to get caught up and keep up with my new routines.  I like that I can click the link in the e-mail to get to my daily reading, that way I can read anywhere if I find myself waiting for kidlets or in line for gas or whatever.

On the sewing front, I've gotten 13 blocks from my amazing Stash Bee hive.  Hopefully I'll get the top totally together next month and quilt it in March or April.

I finished my NewBees block--Scrappy Irish Chain.

I also finished my Bonnie & Camille mini table runner.  Blogged here.  I'm probably most excited about my UFO finish this month, though.  I finally got started on my Civil War Melodies quilt.  I got 6 blocks finished and ready to go ...  I think the only things left on my January to-do list were to finish the backing for my Random Bamboo quilt and send that out for quilting and to whittle away on my scrap pile a bit.

Oh, and Sarah got her Primary Bee quilt laid out and started sewing the sashing on ...  hopefully this will be ready for quilting soon, too.