January update

Linking up with Kristen and Gretch for a monthly update on what's up and what's down.

Reading - Tried to participate in the 24in48 readathon last weekend. I read more than I normally do on weekends but definitely didn't make it to 24 hours. I'll have a nice list of books to share on the Show Us Your Books post on the 13th.

Work stuff - Just finished the busiest month of the year for me there and glad for a bit of a breather. However, once I get everyone else's W2s out, that means I need to start thinking about personal taxes. A little nervous about my taxes this year. Trying not to stress about it though.

House - Getting stuff done around the house - painting, plumbing, electrical work, gutter repair, wall repair, carpet getting pulled up, wallpaper getting ripped down, etc. I thought I should do some before/after photos, but I'd rather forget the 'before'.

Running - Two parts to this one ...

Discovered a trail race out in the boonies of Shelby County, KY. It was totally not what I was expecting ... but I finished and with minimal pain. Thankfully, I wore an old pair of running shoes because I overestimated my creek-jumping abilities and landed in the mud. When I tried to climb the creek bank, my shoe stayed behind. I was crouched down trying to yank that shoe out of the mud with both arms and full-body strength. It FINALLY came up ... but had filled a bit with mud. Unfortunately, that was in the first mile and I had to run 3 more miles with my foot in cold mud/horse poo. Ran most of it with Katie (of fromicecreamtomarathon) and if it weren't for her, I'd have never finished. Some of those hills were brutal and the mud didn't help. We finished 4 miles in just under an hour though so I'm happy about that.

Then - I'm combining two training programs to get through the winter. One is the Marathoning for Mortals run/walk half marathon that has worked wonders for me in the past. My only beef with it is I'm only to run twice during the week and a 'long' run on Saturdays. Sorry, but I need more active days than that ... so I'm also doing the Norton's Health training program for the Kentucky Derby Festival marathon/mini-marathon. This one is a bit of overkill with one rest day, one cross-training day, and 5 running days each week. I won't win any races and it's mainly to keep me moving and my mind off things. And also get caught up on Netflix/Amazon Prime Video without feeling like a slug, because ...

Eating - too much. But also planning the garden and getting the seeds ready to start. The kids have put in their requests for what to grow and they promised to help when they're here.

Watching - not the State of the Union address. It's not because of who gave the speech - I never watch it, regardless of the party in charge. The constant popping up and applauding gets old in the first 30 seconds so I wait to read the transcript of the speech on the next day. That was also a disappointment. I'm almost done with "Comedians in Cars getting Coffee" -- the episodes are super-short, super-funny, and super-dangerous to watch while on a treadmill. I tried with just one episode and had to keep grabbing the handrails while belly-laughing at 6 mph. Not safe. Not safe at all.

Glad January is over ... as slow as it went, time is still moving too quickly for me. My sophomore received letters from three different colleges last week. Plus, a letter from the school highly recommending him for AP classes, based on his PSAT scores. Here's the thing - this kid doesn't even remember taking the test. It was just a regular standardized test to him so he didn't study, didn't stress, didn't do anything his mom did when I took the PSAT. And he doesn't like school. Go figure. My daughter wants to sign up for all the AP classes she's able to, loves school, loves organizing and planning what she wants to do ... total opposites and yet both are so like me. I love this time with them. :)

so that's January ... and on to February ...