6 Things From Us This Month [The January Edition]

Here’s what’s been thrilling us this month – fave reads, on the screen, gifts, goals we rocked, awesome food we made and fun we had.

Fave Books Read

✤ Kim … January was such a good reading month for me. I hope I can keep this trend up all year. Top books of the month were The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas; The Dry, Jane Harper; Crooked Kingdom, Leigh Bardugo.

✤ Tanya … I didn’t have any 5 star reads this month, but my fave was Binti, Nnedi Okorafor. I’m also proud of myself for reading something non-fiction this month – The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg.

Fave on the Screen

✤ Kim … The Magicians Season 2 (TV – Netflix). I was not a fan of the books but I’m really liking the TV show. The Big Sick (Movie Netflix). Both hubs and I were pleasantly surprised at how funny and charming this movie was. We loved it.

✤ Tanya … Happy Season 1 (TV – Syfy) has been killing it. Can you believe that’s the same guy from Law & Order?! His character is so different – and he plays it to perfection! My husband is also re-watching all 8 seasons of Monk (TV – WE tv) – it’s one of his favorite tv shows. I also saw Proud Mary (Movie) this month in the theaters – not bad  but not great either.

Most Used Christmas Gift

✤ Kim … For sure, my most used Christmas gift has been my Anker Wireless Earbuds and my new HP Pavilion Laptop. Both used for bookish purposes, of course!

✤ Tanya … I asked for some very practical gifts this year – and my new Faberware Stainless Steel Cordless Electric Kettle has seen almost daily use for making tea – usually a morning and an evening cup. Plus these Northface Boots have saved my life when it’s freezing cold outside (along with the matching gloves).

One Goal That We Kicked in the Teeth

✤ Kim … I declared my goals earlier in the month and so far, it’s #5 that I’ve been rocking (Read All The Books.) Also, I’ve stuck to my goal of stretching and meditating daily and it’s been unbelievably good for me.

✤ Tanya … I have a lot of goals for this year – I made one for every category on Brainstorming Your 2018 Goals. For “Spirituality” I wanted to get back into going to church regularly and take the kids – and we’ve been every Sunday this month. There’s more to do in this area, but I feel like we’ve made a great start. Also, for Finance, we got off track towards the end of last year, so this month my goal was to update our Shared Spreadsheet To Track Bills – and get a plan together for the year.

January Food Wins

✤ Kim … We tried a couple of new to us recipes this month when I signed up for a free week of meal planning (now I’m seriously considering signing up for more.) Two of our favorites were Spicy Sausage Kale Skillet Lasagne and Slow Cooker Enchilada Quinoa. I tried Enchilada Quinoa before and it’s one of my husbands favorite meals, but I loved the option to make it in the slow cooker.

I also have to point you to these Blackberry Lime Smoothies because they were hit with everyone in my family. I used a mixture of blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries in ours.

✤ Tanya … I didn’t try any new recipes this month, but instead stuck to some tried and true favorites. This Easy Red Beans and Rice is always a hit – I add Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce to spice things up even more. Another hit in our house is this Spicy Sausage Pasta. My youngest begs for this pasta meal the night before his swim meets. And while I didn’t try any new recipes, I tried Mrs. Dash Extra Spicy Seasoning Blend and Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle Seasoning Blend – both are salt free and I used them so much, I’m out now and need to replenish my supply. They were fantastic in our Spicy Shrimp dinner.

Most Fun We Had

✤ Kim … We decided to have a little staycation when my son was out of school over Martin Luther King Day. Hubs was home from Friday through Tuesday and we packed some local fun into our days. We bundled the kids up and went sledding. I wrote all about how we stay warm when playing outside in the winter.

We also went bowling which I haven’t done in years. It was my preschooler’s first time and he loved it so much!

✤ Tanya … Our weekend game nights were too much fun – despite me losing at almost every game. We played various card games – but it’s the board games that were the most fun. We played Monopoly – a tried and true favorite; Munchkin – I can’t really get into this one; and Risk – which we had never played before (shocker I know), but was probably our favorite game of the month. I would love your recommendations for board games to play.

What were the best things about January for you?

(Linking up to What I’m Into with Leigh Kramer and the Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up)