What's Up Wednesday - January 2023

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This snuck up on me! At the beginning of the year, when I was thinking about what to do with my blogs and even when I first hatched the idea of starting this one, I decided on a couple of link-ups I'd seen that I wanted to jump in on. This one - What's Up Wednesday with Shaeffer & Shay - was among those I'd considered, but it kind of slipped my mind. So here I am, reminded that today is the day, and I'm really not prepared. I'll do what I can for today, and hope to be ready for next month!

On the last Wednesday of each month, these two lovely bloggers host a link-up to talk a bit about what's going on in our worlds - food, entertainment, plans, fashion, work, whatever - in the What's Up Wednesday linky party.

What We're Eating This Week . . . We've been mostly homebodies the past week or so, and as usual, I haven't been really excited about cooking. And I don't usually take pictures of our food anyway! We've had simple comfort food lately, like grilled cheese, crustless pizza, chorizo and potatoes, and tonight I think we'll have chicken potpie. I've been putting off baking bread but I think I'll do that tomorrow or Friday. 

We've been treating ourselves to these potato chips and cookies brought back from Canada when we visited there recently.

What I'm Reminiscing About . . . Silly thing, perhaps, but my husband put a small suet feeder outside one of our windows yesterday, and as I watch hopefully for a brave bird to visit, I've also been remembering the busy birdfeeders outside my window back home in Maryland. I think having a porch or deck suitable for lots of bird feeders will be an important feature to look for whenever we start house hunting!

What I'm Loving . . . Lots of things, but I don't know if there's anything really specific right now. I'm trying to love life the way it is here and now, and not to dwell on what I miss about my life before we moved. 

What We've Been Up To . . . We've had a fairly busy month, even if most of my weekdays are uneventful and somewhat repetitive. I stayed in Maryland just past New Years, after our trip home for Christmas, and once I got back here to Ohio, my husband and I turned our attention back to getting our townhouse a bit more settled and homey. Once the Christmas decorations came down, the living room looked rather bare, but at least we know how much space we have as we continue our search for a couple more pieces of furniture. The spare bedroom/office looks a bit more put together now, although there are still quite a few boxes in there waiting to be gone through and put away properly. In a way, I'm surprised at how long it's taking me to get the master bathroom organized. We got out the really important things and left everything else in boxes this whole time!

We've done a lot of the shopping together, which is new, but honestly I'm home alone during the day, so I don't also need alone time while getting groceries! 

We've visited two different churches on Sundays, still deciding which one is the better fit for us. We've gone out to eat a few times. We get together with our son and his family at least once a week, but I'd welcome much more time with our granddaughter if it works out! She doesn't stay still for very long at a time though!

In the middle of the month, we took a short-notice trip to Ontario to see my husband's family. He was able to visit two times during the past couple years, but I haven't seen them since the middle of 2019. BC - Before Covid. We now live just a little closer so we tested out the drive and it's quite doable. It was so nice to get away, to see some family and a couple friends, and for me to have some social interaction!

What I'm Dreading . . . looking for a job. As bored and lonely as I am during the day sometimes, I'm also leery of getting out there and hunting up a part-time job that interests me and is practical. My previous jobs over the past several years have been things that kind of fell into my lap, but I don't know if I'll be that lucky here!

What I'm Working On . . . Other than the job search? I've started getting geared up to do our tax returns, which is really exciting . . . not. But it has to be done. As does an update to our budget and financial planning. I'm working on a better way to meal plan and prep, now that it's just two of us. Also working on writing and updating my blogs, which is more hobby than anything.

What I'm Excited About . . . the next visit home to Maryland, whenever that will be! Or whenever those kids will be able to come visit us, although that probably won't be until summer. I'm starting to make plans for spending some time there with the kids around the time our daughter has her Senior Recital in April, although I think we'll try to go out on a weekend or two much sooner.

What I'm Watching/Reading . . . I've watched very little TV since Christmas, other than a bit of hockey now and then. I'm more of a reader (see my book blog at Just A Second).

I'm currently working on:

What I Would Tell You by Liz Tolsma

The Friendly Persuasion by Jessamyn West

Recently completed:

Bridges by Linda Griffin

The Wendy by Erin Michelle Sky

It Happened In Ohio by Carol Cartaino

Up next:

A Perilous Perspective by Anna Lee Huber

The Letter From Briarton Park by Sarah E. Ladd

In Spotlight and Shadow by Rachel Scott McDaniel

What I'm Listening To . . . I actually listen to the radio in the mornings - RadioU, to be exact - but no longer listen to talk radio since moving to Ohio. Nothing there catches my interest. So I listen to podcasts a lot more. My favorites are The Bible Project podcasts, Cooper Stuff, and The Dan Bongino Show. 

That's intentional listening. But it's been an interesting contrast of what I hear in the background here, compared to what I was used to in our previous home. Here I can hear traffic on the nearby highway, and occasionally doors or a dog barking around the apartments or townhomes close by. I also hear the washer and dryer, the water heater, and even the furnace running. I never noticed those sounds in our house in Maryland (we didn't even have a furnace!). But I can't hear birds just outside the window, pet cats doing whatever it is they are doing, family members coming and going, or farm equipment at the neighboring places. Still getting used to it!

What I'm Wearing . . . I'm not all that fashion-conscious, and I don't like taking pictures of myself. And I don't even have a full length mirror yet, so don't look for me to model my cute outfits in this section! 

I finally bought the new pair of shoes I've been wanting - these black moccasin type flats by Spring Step - and they are every bit as comfortable as the first pair I got from that brand. I got the light color ones last spring and have loved them so much I've been wanting a more winter suitable pair. 

I've been wanting a new winter coat for awhile too - my heavy leather one is warm, but it's more of a dress coat and I thought I needed something more casual and that I could bundle up in for cold weather walks. I got lucky when I found this Zeroxposur puffer at BJ's for just fifteen bucks. 

What I'm Doing This Weekend . . . we're planning to get together with our son and his family on Friday night but haven't decided what we're doing yet. Not sure if my husband and I will go exploring somewhere nearby on Saturday or Sunday, but one thing I hope to work on is getting some of my pictures and artwork hung up. I'm getting pretty sick of looking at the bare walls and we've been putting this off. Maybe we'll go furniture shopping too.

What I'm Looking Forward To Next Month . . . We have friends from Ontario stopping by for a visit in mid-February so that's exciting! First time having company here, I guess. I'm hoping there will be a visit to Maryland next month too, but that's still up in the air.

What Else Is New . . . nothing much, or maybe almost everything! Nothing new in the last couple months, but since we only moved here at the end of November, everything is still new!

This post from my Homeschool Coffee Break blog sums up the move (and the new layout for my blogs too): Moving Updates

This post is linked at What's Up Wednesday for January, with Sheaffer & Shay.

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