January 2009 Round Up

Created using Big Huge Labs Mosaic Maker.
Click mosaic to bigify, or see my January 2009 Project 365 Posts.

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?
::Erin looks sheepishly down at her feet::

What movies and/or tv shows did I watch this month?
Nothing new, really. In other entertainment news, we actually decided *not* to watch the second season of Damages. The first several episodes of the first season were good, and then we just felt like it kept dragging on and on. Once I realized that I was sort of dreading watching the first episode of the second season (that had been sitting on our DVR for over 2 weeks), we just agreed to let it go. If we subsequently hear that it's that awesome, we can catch it on DVD. It's not like we're short on television shows to watch.

What special days did I celebrate and how?
MIL's birthday was early in the month. Other than cards, I'm really not sure what DH did for her! A t-shirt, I think. And we visited with my parents over MLK.

What gifts did I give and/or receive?
Was supposed to give a few, but they're not in the mail yet. (Sorry Charisse!) My parents also gave us a membership to Fernbank, along with a camera for Luke.

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?
Luke seemed to be running a low-grade fever Jan 30, but it was gone by morning. I had a little spell of just generic "not feeling well" earlier in the month, but nothing specific. Other than that, we were good this month!

What fun things did I do with my friends and/or family?
Went to Fernbank with my parents.

What new foods, recipes or restaurants did I try this month?
Well, I actually made Pizza Pasta Soup for the first time, instead of just consuming that made by others. Didn't turn out nearly as well as Mom's, and I'm not quite sure why. Used a different pizza sauce, which I think was some of it. I was also not impressed with the brand of italian sausage I used. And the pasta got mushy (should have undercooked it slightly, but I didn't think of it at the time). But other than that, it was fine! LOL

I also tried a new restaurant called Mo's Pizza and Sandwiches. It is near the office that is my "home office," and a group of us went out to eat after our training session at the office near the end of the month.

What special or unusual purchases did I make?
We joined Costco, thanks to a gift membership from my parents. Let me tell you, it takes stamina to get through that place, whew! We have to remember to go early in the morning, because Luke and I were just crashing after only half the store on our first visit. (Didn't help that I wasn't feeling well.) we also (finally) had Luke's 4 year portraits made.

What were this month's disappointments?
My grandmother is having back problems, and my father has to have knee surgery.

What were my accomplishments this month?
I will try to use this space to update my 101 Things progress each month, as well as anything else noteworthy (which, sadly, is rare). So, items completed:
* 35. List 101 things that make me happy.
* 58. Take Luke to the Fernbank Museum.

I am also participating in Project 365, where you take a photo every single day for a year. That's where the mosaic up at the top came from, created by Big Huge Labs Mosaic Maker, which I think I am now totally in love with! I know it says it is a Flickr tool, but you can use most any URL that goes straight to a JPG in there (that's what I did, inputting the URL from the folder where they are stored on my website).

I have also given up caloric drinks during the day. I can have one glass of milk during the day (usually in the morning, but not always), and that's it. No more Coke, no more sweet tea (ACK!!). Just water and milk. The main part of it is the calories, trying to lose a little weight, but I was also becoming more and more dependant on caffeine, which was affecting my sleep and causing heartburn. I had given it up for a few years, then it slowly crept back into my drinking habits. It actually wasn't as hard to stop as I thought it would be, though Golden Corral (the best sweet tea in Atlanta, IMO) and Mexican (I don't know if they serve Mexican Coke or what, but theirs is always great) just aren't quite the same.

What were Luke's accomplishments this month?


Also in conjunction with my 101 Things, I will be posting my weekly Luke photos in this section, both to keep me honest about whether or not I really did take a picture of him every week (item #52), and to fulfill the requirement to post at least one photo on each round up (item #92). I had not even considered doing Project 365 at the time I put either item on the list, nor had I considered posting the weekly photos to the round up (I was really doing it for more variety of photos for my annual CD calendar than anything!), but it does seem quite a natural fit.

In actual Luke news, he was having some behavior problems at school during the beginning of the month. I don't know what that was about (though I can hear my father whispering "testing boundaries" from 300 miles away), but it needs to stop! It's not serious per se; nothing physical, and nothing bad enough for them to call me at home (and I know they've done that to other kids), but still. To hear more days than not that he wasn't listening and/or was being defiant gets really old. It has seemed to be better for the last week or so.

Luke visited Fernbank Museum for the first time and seemed to really enjoy it. Our primary purpose for the visit was to see the two dinosaur sections of the exhibit, which he loved. We didn't think he was quite ready for an IMAX film yet, and we were short on time, so we'll hold off on that for a bit. There's always next time, especially considering that we are now contributing members and can visit whenever we like. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Also as mentioned above, Luke now has his first camera, and he is having an absolute ball! Here is a sample of some of his latest work (click to bigify):



Anything else noteworthy to record?
Whew! I think that's enough, don't you? LOL I feel like I'm forgetting something, but it has rolled over into February 1 as I was getting all this together (I'm going to backdate it so it shows up in the January archives), so I really need to go to bed. If it's that important, I'll remember and update.

Monthly Round Up courtesy of Katie the Scrapbook Lady.

Currently feeling: busy busy