The Sunday Post Closing Out January

 

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This week our weather took a turn for the warmer and that caused me to have a terrible sinus headache that has turned into sinusitis. The turn for the worse happened Friday night so I guess the upside is I have the weekend to relax. However, my plan for the weekend was to work on writing my second book! Yesterday I was smart enough to recognize there was no point in trying to write and I laid in bed most of the day. 

Today, as you can see, I am feeling good enough to sit in bed and write. My goal for today is two thousand words. Wish me luck!

How are you doing? Any fun plans for the upcoming week?  

I'm currently finishing reading Cat Sloan Is Swirling. I'm planning to blog about that on Friday. Tomorrow I'll be blogging about Last Night by Luanne Rice. 

Only 8 more to Go! And 8 Soup Recipes!

You guys, by Friday at 5:00 PM. I'll be 80% done with radiation and I will have a literal handful of treatments left!

Today being only Wednesday, I have 8 left and completely coincidentally an e-mail from Williams-Sonoma popped into my inbox sharing 8 awesome soup recipes.  If I was a food blogger who made money from blogging about soup, I might try to make a recipe a day for the next 8 days.  However, I am not and also--who would eat that much soup.  Additionally, not having a giant freezer prevents me from making a soup a day and freezing it.  Finally, that's too much of a cooking commitment!

These are the super comfy and soft Aldi Christmas leggings. They are the best, they are like velour.

One of the soups does look amazing and I have everything except white wine and Gruyere cheese on hand to make that soup.  The name says it all, Onion Soup with Bacon, Winter Herbs and Guyere Cheese!  Again, coincidentally, the two needed ingredients are available for a low cost at Aldi, where I want to go today anyway and get those $7.99 Valentine's Day-themed fleece leggings.

Here are the super comfy and soft Aldi Christmas leggings. They are the best; they are like velour.

The stars are aligning for me to make this soup.  I'm sure it is rich in fat and calories, but also it's cold outside and life is too short not to try a decadent meal once in a while!

I feel at this point I have done a great job talking myself into making the soup.  While I don't have time today. I will have time  tomorrow.  I already have another freezer meal defrosting to whip up tonight. It's a stir fry like the picture below except for variety I'm adding rice instead of noodles tonight.

Keep your fingers crossed that Aldi has some leggings left by the time I get there tonight! Yes this is the highlight of my week, as you can tell. 

Happy Wednesday! - the last Wednesday of January 2020!  Do something nice for yourself!

Big Milestone Today

Seven days into the new year- heck the new decade- and I've already lost a pair of gloves.  This is why I can't have nice things. This is also why The Man got me four pairs of cheap $1 gloves for Christmas. Now I have 25% fewer gloves to make it through winter. 

I think we all know that by February 29th, leap day, I will be down to one pair which is actually made up of two different colored gloves and at least one of the two gloves will have a hole in the thumb. This would be, as they say, par for the course when it comes to me and outerwear accessories. In case you have not guessed my track record on retaining gloves or scarves long term is not great. 

I need glove clippies.

Lucky for me, today's weather was warm enough that my bare hands didn't suffer too badly.

Heard anything good lately?  I have been listening to the album Bubba by KAYTRANADA on Spotify--the free version because I am trying to cut down on monthly service fees in general. Good stuff it makes me feel like it's the first Saturday in June and the sun is shining and I have Monday off work. Two earbuds up!

Sunday is for Soup: January is for Joy

I don't like winter.  I will admit snow looks pretty and a day off work due to a blizzard is a nice way to break up the monotony of a workweek but other than that I'm not a fan.

However, winter is a quarter of the year and I don't want to spend 25% of my year crabby.  I have done an excellent job of achieving 100% crabbiness for the 25% of the year known as winter in the past; and now that I am nearly a full 50% of a century years old, it's time for a change.

Therefore one of my goals for January is to find the joy in January.  Today is day 5 of January and here is what I've come up with thus far...

When I am out for a run and it snows the snow makes everything quiet and muffled like I am alone in the midst of everything around me.  It also cushions my fall when I slip on the ice I couldn't see. 

Lucky for me so far, so far this year it's been mild and the snow isn't sticking around for more than a day on the sidewalks.  That fact helps me enjoy winter.  The gloomy grey sky is like a blanket blocking out the arctic air keeping our temps above freezing during the day. 

A cozy blanket of clouds is better than a blanket of snow!

The smell of a wood-burning fireplace is an unmitigated plus in my book, so that is nice and also during the winter it is much easier to stay home and not feel compelled to go out and do stuff. Winter is also when I regret not buying a car with a remote start.  As you can see my quest to find the joy in January is a work in progress.

One thing I do know is that winter is a good time to try new soup recipes and a bowl of flavorful soup is a joy.  This week another soup from Real Simple Magazine.

I made a few changes. I used 1 lb of ground pork and 1/2 a lb of ground turkey. I didn't have mirin so I used pinot grigio and I used 3 tablespoons of grated ginger. 1 tablespoon in the meatballs, 1 tablespoon sauteed in the pot and then 1 tablespoon more when the soup was done. I also added a splash of oil when the soup was done because it needed a little something more and toasted sesame seed oil was the right little something.  Lastly, my grocery store didn't have baby bok choy so I cut up 1.5 full-size bok choy like you would cut celery.  (see below)

Happy Sunday!