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And after being out on New Year’s Eve last night for the first time in MANY a year, I really have no intention of doing much – other than staying in my PJ’s and relaxing today. Be sure to join us for Happy Homemaker Monday and link up with our host, Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

Surprise, it’s cold, gray and rainy here in the Pacific North West. We’re still JUST a bit above normal which is not predicted to last, but it’s a wet cold in the low 40’s during the day with night time lows of mid 30’s. The years we don’t have snow for Christmas usually bring snow in the new year and this year won’t disappoint evidently. We have a dip in temperatures predicted at the end of the week with snow predicted for the weekend on.

Hubby got me several new flannels for Christmas so I’ll be trying those out this week with Levis, turtlenecks and my favorite UGGs.

I’m starting off 2024 FRESH with a new look here on the blog, but also my outlook on what I want to accomplish in this new year. The blog look may change a few times as I adjust to the color combinations 😀

I’m even attempting a new way to combine all my different lists, calendars and planners into one place. I found an easy to use calendar/planner from a company called Fringe that is compact, yet full size and to all appearances will allow me to keep ALL my planning in one place instead of multiple planners, whether it’s birthdays, appointments or meals. WISH ME LUCK 😀 I’ve used the same brand and style of calendar/system for so many years now I’m just not sure if I’ll be able to do it, but have high hopes in eliminating all the multiple planners.

THIS WEEK’S TO DO LIST, PROJECTS & APPOINTMENTS

LAUNDRY & CLEANING/GROCERIES & ERRANDS This week I’ll be cleaning up from the holidays and doing a deep cleaning all around. I actually have no appointments and did all the shopping last Friday other than the Eagles shopping on Wednesday afternoon. I’m even starting off with NO laundry besides what we wore to the party last night. PAPERWORK, PHONE CALLS, PROJECTS & TRAVELS I’ll be cleaning up the end of year files and boxes of receipts and trying to get rid of all the stray notes on my desk so I can start the new year off less cluttered. RECIPE RESEARCH & MENU PLANNING I’m deciding which cookbook to cook from for the remainder of the month after I finish a few leftover recipes, but leaning towards a new one from Taste of Home, the “all-new MOST REQUESTED recipes” that came in my last quarterly box. I have a list of some “scheduled” to post recipes I want to use this month also.

WHAT’S ON THE DVR/TV

We just finished the 2nd season of REACHER on Prime and will watch the Kid’s Baking Championship on Food Network that begins tonight and football of course. Besides that not much is worth our time.

I’m about halfway through Marie Force’s current book STATE of BLISS, book #6 of the First Family series.

BREAKFAST is always a work in progress for me – it will generally be hot water and a fruit yogurt 😀 Jean did suggest some coffee yogurt and I was able to find it, but it just wasn’t the same 🙁

There were so many meals in December that were altered or downright canceled that I’m rolling many of them over into January. I was able to end the year with a cleaned out refrigerator and am looking forward to cleaning out the freezer and pantry this next month.

My plan is to then pick one cookbook each month and cook all the “tagged” recipes from that book before donating the book. I’ll only keep the recipes we REALLY liked and will add them to my actual recipe box.

	MONDAY 1/1	TUESDAY 1/2	WEDNESDAY 1/3	THURSDAY 1/4	FRIDAY 1/5	SATURDAY 1/6	SUNDAY 1/7
DINNER	BLACK EYED PEA CHILI & CORN BREAD	WHITE CHICKEN CHILI LASAGNA	CORN clean out refrigerator night	ROLLED FLANK STEAK and CAULIFLOWER GRATIN	CHICKEN CORDON BLEU and SALAD	PORK CHOPS with APPLE STUFFING	CARNITAS with HOT PINEAPPLE SAUCE & SALAD
DESSERT	probably nothing as there are still plenty of holiday treats around 😀

Usually the sunsets are the gorgeous ones, but this was midday to the east a couple days ago.

• TEX MEX RANCH CHICKEN CASSEROLE
• LASAGNA STUFFED GARLIC BREAD

• RED CABBAGE SALAD
• NO KNEAD SALAMI BREAD
• LEMON BLUEBERRY TURNOVERS