Jee Wizz January has felt like it has gone on forever! The dark, dank winter days seem to have dragged, I’m not a fan of the cold nor January, to be honest.
On a positive note, here are a few of the things which I have #LikedandLoved throughout the past thirty-one, long, dull days.
New Year
As always we brought in the new year at home and for the first time this year our son stayed up to share the celebrations with us. I rather enjoyed watching the fireworks from London with the little man in tow, though I’m not sure that he was all that keen on joining us in dancing to Auld Langs Syne.
The following day we made and hosted dinner for the in-laws, following which I took down the decorations and got the house ship-shape ready for a new year and a new start.
Clearing and Cleaning
This month has been all about clearing and cleaning around the house. I’ve managed to declutter a vast amount of the garage (over eight bin bags full of STUFF). Most of the books, toys, gadgets, and clothes which I sorted have either been passed onto friends, family, charity or sold online so there has been no waste whatsoever.
The Road To Recovery 
Following the new year, our son had a routine operation. Unfortunately, his recovery wasn’t quite as easy as we had planned nor hoped for. He became quite seriously ill and gave us all a bit of scare, thankfully he has since recovered and is now completely back to normal. It’s so wonderful to see our boy back to himself!
Loving Lebara
J got his first-ever mobile phone this Christmas and after giving Tesco Mobile a try we realised that their ‘Pay as you Go’ prices were just too pricey especially for a child’s device. It took the best part of a fortnight to have his phone unlocked and we have since found and signed up for a suitable deal with Lebara Network.
It’s really nice to be able to send my son a quick message or to give him a quick call when he’s not with us. I never thought I’d let him loose with a mobile device but it’s given him the independence and trust that he needed.
Turning To The Television 
With the cold weather, what better to curl up and to catch up with the television? My Aussie-favourite just so happens to be on air and I’m rather enjoying getting ‘back to the bay‘. I’ve also been enjoying watching the latest series of Cold Feet, as well as numerous shows and series on Netflix.
Exploding Kittens
The kids were inundated with new games for Christmas. There’s nothing better than a board or card game to pass the time, this was especially so during J’s recovery. We’ve played all sorts of games over the past month including ‘Exploding Kittens‘, a rather gripping card game which I’m yet to win but have really enjoyed playing.
The Gift Of Gaming
Who knew ten years down the line my son would turn out to be just like me?! I’m a bit of ‘gaming girl’ and over the years have obsessed over role-play games such as Animal Crossing, Viva Pinata and of course The Sims.
I remember playing the first edition of the Sims, I later collected The Sims 2 and all the expansion packs, the Sims 3 (and a few of the expansion packs) and then The Sims 4…
J recently asked whether I’d let him play ‘The Sims 4’, he was totally unaware that I had the game tucked away in a drawer so it was a nice surprise for him to be given the go-ahead almost instantly.
Within the hour he was busy building houses, setting up schedules, placing furniture and he too is now hooked.
Wonderful Winterwear
Though we’ve yet to see the white stuff, it’s blooming freezing outside. Given that I spend a fair amount of time outside each day, I decided to invest in some new winter wear, I ditched the black in preference for ‘bright’ and now I’m ‘mellow yellow’ in my hat and scarf!
A Daily Diary
Each year I am given a new ring-bound diary, usually with three of four lines to write an entry for each day. This year, however, I was given a much larger diary with a page per day, I really like having more ‘room to write’, it gives me the space to scribble whatever happens to be on my mind (which is a fair amount so it seems).
Family Time
Despite the miserable weather, we’ve done our best to get out and about as a family. Last week we enjoyed a delicious meal out and the kids behaved like angels.
Thanks again for reading my blog and I hope that you enjoyed reading what I #LikedAndLoved in January.
If you fancy sharing some of your own #LikedAndLoved points from the month then why not join in either through your own blog post or by leaving a comment below, I would love to hear what you #LikedAndLoved this month!
