JANUARY 2026
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Life Lately.......
January was a COLD month....snow, low temps, wind, and ended the month with a frozen creek! Fortunately, there was a boat coming /going pretty much the whole month and I am extremely thankful! We were able to go for one night and stayed in OCMD - shopping, dinner, & a hotel with a bay view. It was short and sweet, but it always serves the purpose intended - a reset! We got to see Mom both days, but only a handful of times the rest of the month due to either weather or sickness (we had colds/Peter strep? fortunately, Mom has stayed well so far), I keep in touch with the nurses to check on Mom, but there is nothing like seeing her and getting hugs and talking to her. She's about the same overall, but her mind seems to be fading even more and that breaks my heart. Dad is not doing too well. Since his broken hip and pneumonia last fall, its been an up and down of alert days, agitated days, somewhat himself days, and some days just not responsive at all. He is still at (N) near my sister, but it's an all day trek there and back so I don't get there as often as I'd like. Much prayer needed for my parents. It's been 9 months since Mom's stroke and it is still a daily struggle to navigate through this season. Sometime over the holidays, the Lord spoke to my heart and gave me the greatest peace I've ever felt. He gave me a new perspective and some added strength to keep going to do my best for my family and myself. Its still a struggle, but thanks to HIM I am pushing through and actually finding some joy again.
Cooking is therapy for me, so of course, January was a good month for meal planning and spending lots of time in the kitchen. I bought a new Beautiful brand crock pot and got on a soup kick this month. I made Hoppin' John for New Years, a pot of my MIL's recipe for Vegetable Beef Soup, Copy Cat Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi Soup, THE BEST TikTok Potato Soup, and the yummiest Creamy Italian Sausage Soup. We also had homemade spoon bread and fried rock fish nuggets from Peter's December fishing day, and a duck dinner for the family (thanks to Logan supplying us with some wood ducks (our fave)).
We LOVED our football season this year!!!! The Bears gave us our best year and made it to the playoffs ANDDDD beat the Packers!!!! The season ended with the Rams game in overtime, but Caleb Williams made his biggest heart - attack play of the season and miraculously sent them into overtime!!! They ended up losing but WHAT A SEASON!!!
I read 4 books in January (recap post coming up!), and watched hours of You Tube videos (mine and Peter's latest obsession - we follow several YT accounts we watch together and we have our own favorites). I watch zero tv...but love YT!!
I've spent 99% of January at home! I can go days without leaving the house. We have the boys over after school for dinner and homework while Nathan is away at work and Kayla is working. They all also come by for visits often. We tried to do a little visit with Kamry and fam, but again, between weather and sickness we didn't make it work. We are planning to go very soon!! I miss them so much!
