End of Month Recap - January

Wow, the end of January already.  2010 is already flying by!  This was a busy month...and next month will be the same.  Overall I did well on my January goals, as well as time would allow anyway.

The stand mixer...I did get it set up and actually used it...once :P  It works really well.  And I look forward to using it more often as I get used to it.  The thing that is limiting my use is location.  I really have nowhere to put it!  It's on our breakfast knook right now.  Which is fine...by which I mean it looks fine and isn't in the way.  But in terms of function it's not good at all.  If I want to use it I have to move it...which means climbing to the back of the bench and attempting to lift it/move it to the very edge/corner of the breakfast knook so that it can (barely) reach an outlet.  That thing is heavy!  And it's quite a pain to move it back and forth every time I want to bake.  Unfortunately there really is no good counter space for it.  It won't fit on any of the regular counter tops because the cabinets would be in the way.  And I don't have much counter space as it is.  So, I need to figure out a solution.  It's still in the works.  Hopefully soon I'll be using it all the time for baking.  But so far no such luck.  I've baked 2 of my 3 cakes for Feb. already...with my hand mixer.  I'm hoping to at least use my stand mixer to make frosting next week.  And then maybe for my third cake.  Despite not using my mixer I did do a lot of baking this month.  That is something that never stops here :)
**So, I actually wrote this post yesterday since I had some time.  And then of course I ended up baking in the afternoon...and using my mixer :P  I made some chocolate chip cookies.  I moved the mixer to the counter right by the back door.  Again, definitely not the most convenient location.  The verdict is still out on whether or not this spot is better.  I won't have to move it to use it.  But the counter is so small I can barely even tilt the head back on the mixer.  And any little bit of mess/spilling goes onto the floor...onto the shoe mat.  Not exactly an ideal spot for baking.  But I'll give it a try and see if I can live with it or not.

No time for canning beans this month.  It'll happen sometime.  Not sure when, but sometime.

I definitely stuck to my goal of soup and bread this month!  More so new soups.  Lots of yummy new recipes this month.  And we liked all of them!  A great January food.

Like I said, I've baked 2 cakes already (3 rounds of baking, a few cupcakes for us in the process:).  I have 1 to go, and possibly 1 more yet after that (depends on bday plans later in the month).  I'm still working out the final details of the planning phase for decorations of the first 3 cakes.

Things have been going very well with Rebecca this month.  I said we needed to work on timeouts.  Well, after doing it a few times she hasn't really needed anymore!  I'm sure there will be plenty more in the future as she tests her boundaries and finds new things to get into, but she learned very quickly what it meant/how to behave in order to not have a timeout.  I know timeouts don't work for every child, but so far they are working for her.  I figured as much...she has people pleaser genes from her Mommy :)  She likes to be good/make Mommy and Daddy happy.  We are sure to praise when she does stuff right too, so that helps.  Clean up has been going quite well.  Some nights it takes a few extra tries to get her to clean up.  But overall Rebecca is a big helper with clean up.  Sometimes she'll even do it on her own randomly during the day.  It's so nice to have the toys all put away before she goes to bed so that Mommy and Daddy don't have one more to-do on their list for the evening.  The self feeding is also going well.  Rebecca is pretty good with her fork now.  She thinks it's fun to see what she can get on it.  We're still working on spoons, but she's definitely getting better.  Not much progress on potty training.  She's gone a couple times when she's gotten undressed before her bath.  Like I said, we're not forcing this.  Just see what she's ready for.  She's starting to understand it.  But we'll wait for her to be physically ready.  I continue to work on being more patient and being a good role model for Rebecca.  I'm not perfect (or even remotely close), but I'm trying to get better at it.

We have kept plenty busy this month.  Unfortunately illness prevented us from doing some of the stuff we wanted.  But such is life.  We're still having fun.  It's been good to see both old and new friends lately.

I've been doing my best to just live life, take things one day at a time and trust that God is in control.  God is good.  I still have plenty of daily struggles, trust me.  But I give my worries over to God.  Justin and I did get out together once this month (yeah!!).  I've been doing really well with eating healthy/focusing on health and not letting food be an obsession/not let it control me.  Overall I've been more relaxed and easy going.  I'll never be a totally laid back person, but I'm finding more balance I think.  I continue to develop deeper relationships.  It's nice to get to know some new people and have them get to know me.  Overall a good start to the year.  We'll see what surprises God has in store next month :)