Lately - January 2021

 

Eating - January was a very tasty month indeed! I rang in the New Year with the traditional black-eyed peas, pork and corn bread - all extremely tasty! I decided to enhance my cooking skills and so I whipped up Homemade Beef Stew and Sun-Dried Tomato Mozzarella Chicken Pasta... both of those were pretty tasty, if I do say so myself. 

I also broke open Joanna Gaines' cookbook(s) and made Fatayer and Lucy's Peanut Butter Brownies and my Mom whipped up some Cherry Crisp - it was all divine! I also had Shredded Beef Tacos from Regions 117 - they're a new favorite of mine! And we all enjoyed the treats from the Netherlands in our Universal Yums box!

Watching - My January television watching has been made up of several shows: Bridgerton, Rome, Home Town, Magnolia Table and Escape to the Country! I should mention that I watched Bridgerton for the first time (yes - I'm on Round Two) as soon as it dropped on December 25th, but I loved it so much that I came back for a second viewing! 

Rome is an HBO show from all the way back in 2005-2007 but a friend recommended it and I've been making my way through the two seasons; I have eight episodes to go to finish it up. It's been bloody, bawdy and entertaining; to say the least. Home Town and Magnolia Table are all about home redo and kitchen goodness and have inspired more than one cooking bout... and Escape to the Country makes me wish I was back in England!

Wearing - Okay... this one is more of a joke than anything else but I looked back at pictures from January and I am wearing either my gray beanie or my black beanie in half of my pictures! Once in a while I throw on my headband style head warmer but right now, the beanie is the best way to go! 

It's been chilly this month and so I've been keeping my cozy hats, leggings and sweatshirts on rotation almost daily - when I wasn't at work, that is! I just got a bit tickled by how many pictures I had wearing my beanies... especially since I used to never wear beanies at all! 

Bought - I am trying to be more conservative in what I buy... but I did purchase a new comforter for my bed and a throw pillow to along with it! I also grabbed some of the books in the Bridgerton series and a book called The Sanatorium that looked downright fascinating. I also grabbed some Loft jeans on sale - normally right at $90 a pair but on sale for $22 and $24 respectively - you can't beat that!

Want - I want warmer weather... I want the pandemic to end... I want the groundhog to predict that Spring will arrive early this year... I don't think that's asking too much, is it?

Reading - I've been reading The Dating Plan by Sara Desai this month and before that I was reading The Duke and I by Julia Quinn; it's the first book in the Bridgerton series. I've got quite a few other books on the list waiting to be read, so I won't be lacking for good stories in February! 

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So there's just a little of what I've been up to in January! The first month of 2021 has come and gone and honestly... it was a little bit of a mess, wasn't it? Here's hoping the year can only get better!

Five on Friday - Adios January

One. Bedroom Update - I did just a small bedroom update in the last week and a half and I'm really loving how it's turned out. I "inherited" a lovely navy chair from my parents; it's beautifully made, so very cozy and just the perfect spot to plop down and be comfy! I decided that with that pop of navy added into my room, I needed to tie it in just a wee bit. I'd also been looking for get a comforter that was a bit more heavyweight... so the search began!

I went with white for my comforter and found a beautiful, fluffy and extremely cozy one on Amazon (of course) and I have loved it so much! I decided to use my old comforter as an accent on the end of the bed and tied it together with my old pillow shams and a new navy pillow! The final touch was two navy curtains mixed into my yellow curtains - I think it all turned out excellently!

Two. Turkey Shepherd's Pie - My family had Shepherd's Pie on Tuesday night; a Weight Watchers recipe I might add, and it was absolutely divine. I just knew I had to share the recipe because it was so very tasty and really didn't have too many points. 

What You Need

• 2 large uncooked russet potatoes; peeled & cut into 2 inch chunks
• 1/3 cup reduced fat sour cream
• 1 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 3 medium carrots; diced
• 2 ribs celery; diced
• 1 small onion; diced
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• 2 cloves garlic; chopped
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 1/2 tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 tsp. dried rosemary
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups chicken or beef broth
• 2 sprays of cooking spray 

What to Do 

• Preheat oven to 400. Spray a 2 quart casserole dish (or a cast iron pan) with nonstick spray!
• Put potatoes in medium saucepan and cover with 1 inch of cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat; reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are fork tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and return to saucepan. Add sour cream, butter and 1/2 tsp. of salt and mash with potato masher until smooth.
• Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add carrots, celery and onion; cook, stirring frequently, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in corn and garlic and cook, stirring constantly about 1 minute. Transfer to bowl. 
• Return skillet to heat and add turkey; cook, breaking up turkey with a spoon until cooked through. Stir in tomato paste, rosemary, thyme, pepper and remaining salt and cook two minutes longer. Stir in carrot mixture. Stir in flour and broth and simmer until thickened, about two minutes.
• Transfer turkey mixture to prepared dish. Spread mashed potatoes over top, making sure to cover to the edges. Bake until potatoes are browned; about 35-40 minutes. Serve!

We added in some English peas as well - and it was so very divine! 

Three. My Intent - This company wasn't new to me but this was my first time purchasing from them; have you heard of My Intent before? The company creates bracelets that are stamped with a person's Word of the Year... or a short phrase... a word that might be an encouragement, any of those things really. I sometimes struggle with staying focused on my Word of the Year - so I thought this would be a simple reminder.

The bracelet is a slip knot tie with a silver stamped ring - and as you can see (maybe) my word - Progression - is stamped on the ring. You can choose the metal and the color of your cord, so I went with the silver ring and a maroon cord and I love how it turned out. It's a great reminder that I am growing daily... I am progressing! 

Four. Weirdo - Sometimes I wonder if my dog has forgotten exactly how a bed works... I found him casually relaxed across his bed like this earlier this week.

It must have been a pretty comfortable way to chill though - because I've since found him lying "in" the bed like this twice more. He's such a weirdo. 

Five. Weekend Things - What to do over the weekend? One just really never knows when you are still in the midst of a pandemic and can't go about life as usual. I'm sure there will be some kind of grocery run because... well... would you just look at that map?

As much as I am over Winter, it would appear that Winter is not ready to be over. Forecasts are predicting anywhere between 6 inches and a couple feet of snow - so who knows what it might be? The snow is supposed to start on Sunday and last through late Monday or early Tuesday of next week - so I may be buried in snow by the time the weekend ends. Or - it could be nothing! 

Watson Wednesday

 

As promised - I couldn't resist sharing just a few more snapshots of my pup in his little gnome jacket. Watson has always enjoyed wearing clothes; they seem to make him feel pretty proud of himself and he posed in the front seat of my car this weekend for me, ha-ha!

I'm glad I have these cute little snapshots to forever look at - he's the cutest! 

January = Long & Cold

Is anyone else over Winter? Maybe it's just January in general that always bums me out? It never fails that January always feels like it lasts a couple months instead of a couple weeks and this year is no exception. I'm tired of the cold - and as I write that, I'm waiting to see if the predicted Winter weather today will be snow, sleet or straight up ice. *sigh*

I am pleased to report that it IS staying lighter outside each evening (as it usually does) and I managed to snap a glorious bit of sunset on Friday evening with maybe a shooting star in the picture? I don't know - but I do know that it speaks to me that Spring is on the way and the darkness won't last. And boy - that's a sermon on so many levels but I won't go there today. 

I've been having some real anxiety about going out to eat - because when a family member gets COVID and you aren't really sure how that family member got it - it will make you a little (more) fearful. I'm glad I went out to eat on Friday night because my Nachos Supreme were delicious, there was no one seated anywhere near us and when we were done eating, I did manage to find books five, six and seven of the Bridgerton series at Books A Million. I haven't bought books from an actual bookstore in YEARS.

We watched the movie Downhill on Friday night and it was pretty amusing - it was nice to watch something new and different! Saturday dawned bright and blisteringly cold! The temperature hovered around freezing but the winds were whipping at about 15-20 miles per hour and made it feel like it was somewhere in the mid-twenties! Yikes! I put on my Pom Pom Hat around 9:45 and just left it on all day, ha-ha!

We ran errands and picked up Chick Fil A for lunch and I suppose; because I'm a little nuts, I bundled myself and my pup up and we rode over to the lake to do some walking and wandering around the trails. The wind was pretty rough but amazingly, we had a great time wandering around the lake and when we were standing in the sunshine - it actually wasn't terrible! 

 

When we got back in the car - in what was something of a miracle - Watson just sat happily in the seat, looking right at me with his cute little hood on. I couldn't resist snapping multiple pictures of him. I'm sure I'll end up sharing more of them on Watson Wednesday - he just looked too adorable!

My Mom and I have been watching Magnolia Table and since this weekend was kind of off the rails - where eating was concerned - we decided after watching episode four that we'd whip up Lucy's Peanut Butter Brownies for our weekend dessert. They were pretty easy to make and tasted absolutely divine! I mean - it was creamy peanut butter sandwiched between chocolate brownie and chocolate icing. What's not to love?

I introduced my parents to the the movie Midnight in Paris - I think they enjoyed it! I also finished up the first season of Rome and the first book in the Bridgerton series, The Duke & I. After coffee, breakfast and church (which Watson slept through) we grabbed lunch at Olive Garden and I popped into Old Navy and snagged two pair of leggings for just $12! I like Old Navy's leggings for lounging around and the pair I had - suffice it to say they'd seen better days!

Later in the afternoon - since it wasn't quite as cold - I hitched Watson up and took him over to the opposite side of the lake to let him explore some more. I know he loves being outdoors, especially when he's in the woods... or off-roading as it were. Ice had started forming on the edges of the lake and there was snow in the distance out over the mountains... and once it started to move in and little flakes began to fall, we headed back home. 

We used Door Dash to pick up Five Guys for dinner and watched the new episode of Home Town before I started a new book, got my clothes and home all organized for the week to come and crawled into bed. Man - I am looking forward to warmer weather! Granted, now the weather is saying there could be 1-3 inches of ice - so I suppose that won't happen this week, ha-ha!

Five on Friday - The Third Week of January was NOT my Week

You read that correctly - this week was just not my week. Even with the day off on Monday, the rest of the week was.... not great. We'll just leave it at that. That would be why there was no blogging on Monday or Tuesday. So now on this Friday... I am playing catch up on this weird and not so wonderful week.  

One. Universal Yums - I signed my family up for Universal Yums and our first box arrived last weekend. I know some friends who have tried this and I always enjoy watching the videos of people opening and exploring their foreign treats - so at $16 for the small box - I figured, why not?

Our box was from the Netherlands and had six items to sample: Candy Cars (a gummy style candy shaped like; weirdly enough, Cadillacs), Gouda Crisps (little cheese crisp style crackers; flavored like Gouda), Licorice & Fruit Jellies (another gummy style candy; half was fruit-flavored & the other half was licorice), Onion & Cheese Crisps (literally what we'd think of as chips), Chocolate Covered Biscuit Bites (little biscuits, covered in dark/milk/white chocolate) and a Stroopwaffel - which is divine & can also be found in the US.

We sampled all the snacks while watching an episode of Rick Steve's Europe - all about the Netherlands! I wanted to set the mood, you know? Hands down my favorite thing was the Stroopwaffel and a close second was the Chocolate Biscuits! I'm looking forward to seeing where we go next!

 

If you'd like to try Universal Yums, you can use my link: https://www.universalyums.com/?uy=ajup2t4wxa

Two. Stupid Walks & Cherry Crisp - I am really craving warmer weather... but the universal at large doesn't really care what I am craving because it has been pretty chilly here in the last few weeks. I decided on Saturday that while the sun was out, I needed to seize the moment and get outside for a little while - I took a Stupid Walk.

I know you're thinking - what is a Stupid Walk? My sister and I listen to a podcast called The Popcast and one of the presenters has decided that walks taken over the course of this pandemic season should be coined as "stupid walks". There isn't anything inherently stupid about them... but sometimes when all you can do outdoors every day is to take a walk, it sometimes gets stupid. My walk got a little stupid when the sun went away and it got very cold... *shrugs*

As part of my ongoing endeavors to improve my cooking skills - I made Joanna Gaines recipe for Fatayar on Saturday night and while I thought they tasted delicious - I do not think they looked pretty and so I don't have a picture. My Mom made Joanna Gaines' recipe for Cherry Crisp as dessert and that both looked beautiful and tasted spectacular.

Three. Lapping the Lake - The weather on Sunday (of last week - I'm so behind) was another chilly but sunny day. Thankfully the combination meant that even though it was brisk, it was still worth getting outside and enjoying the sunshine. The lake where I live has a hiking trail that goes all the way around it and that seemed the best spot - so off we went into the wilderness. 

The trail is slanted at places and there were spots where the mud was thick and sucked my boots into the muck. Thank goodness for rain boots that come almost up to my knees, ha-ha! The hike was good and I actually ended up getting so warm that I ended up pulling my coat off and wearing it hanging off my shoulders like a cape. I'm glad that I'm able to leave near an area like this and have the opportunity to get outside - even when it's chilly. 

Four. The Great Outdoors - Monday was another chilly day but yet again, I decided to get outside regardless of the chill in the air. I wandered all over the edge of the field near the house and Watson was wildly thrilled with all of it. He loved climbing through the brambles, bushes and branches and sniffing each and every leaf that blew into our path.

Later in the day on Monday I took Watson over to the boat launch where we discovered that all the Christmas trees from the community have been loaded onto the landing and are being prepared to be tossed into the lake! Watson thoroughly enjoyed ambling between each of the trees and sniffing away at them all. 

We made our way up onto the levee where to the left are views out across the valley and to the mountains beyond and the views to the right are of the lake, stretching out into the distance. Watson was fascinated by it all and if only the wind hadn't been blowing like crazy, we'd have stayed out on the levee much longer. 

Five. Blustery & Blizzardy - Last but not least... the crazy weather this week! Wednesday morning I took Watson out to start the day and there were flurries that could barely be glimpsed when looking into the light. We came inside and within minutes... seconds even of shutting the door behind us, a blizzard had blown it!

It snowed all the way to the office and then came down pretty consistently until almost noon - it was a little bit wild! My ballet flats weren't exactly the best footwear choice but then again, I also didn't expect it to snow half the day! I still feel like I'm pretty over Winter but I might as well settle in because the forecast is calling for snow again on Monday! *sigh*

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So - all in all I'm glad this week has been recorded and we are all moving on from it. I'm hoping the rest of January will be quiet, calm and maybe with a little less snow. I realize as I type that... the last point is probably a laugh. Oh well. *shrugs*