18 in 18 - January report

Well there’s not much use in publishing a list to feel accountable and not reporting on my progress so here is an update on how January went.

It wasn’t the best of months because it started with me being ill with some sort of virus that made doing anything a challenge but I did pick up towards the end of the month.  I’m not going to beat myself up if I miss some of the monthly things here or there.  Life’s too short for that.

1.     Bake once per month (bread/cake/biscuits etc) I didn’t manage this in January but I did make a nice chocolate tart today and hopefully I’ll make something else in February and I’ll be back on track.

2.     Plant new flower bed and child proof garden  - this won’t get started until the Spring when my gardening help returns to work with me on this.

3.     Sort out magazines – no progress here.

4.     Plan a lunch date/date night with Nick once a month (theatre/cinema/meal) Managed this one.  We went to see The Post on Tuesday and thoroughly enjoyed it followed by pizza at Pizza Express.  We would have been more adventurous but we were at Westfield which is right by the London Stadium, home to West Ham Football Club who happened to be playing on Tuesday – it was busy!

5.     Eat at 4 new-to-me restaurants – none yet.

6.     Complete the A – Z blogging challenge – this is an April challenge.

7.     Plan a family weekend away for next year – no plans yet but have spoken to the kids about the idea.

8.     Walk at least 3 times per week – being ill didn’t help with this but hopefully February will be better.

9.    Visit my brother – not yet

10.  Visit my cousin - ditto

11.  Visit the beach - ditto

12.  Complete my reading challenge (52 books for the year)  On track, in fact slightly ahead.  In January I read:

The Essex Serpent – Sarah Perry

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine – Gail Honeyman

City of Friends – Joanna Trollope

The Kept Woman – Karin Slaughter

The Thirst – Jo Nesbo &

The Couple Next Door – Shari Lapena

Details and reviews can be found on my Goodreads site.

13.  Keep my bullet journal updated – work in progress but going ok.

14.  Blog at least once per week (plus regular memes)  Well I certainly achieved this one but mainly because I took part in the Just Jot it January challenge organised by Linda G Hill.  I blogged most days and several days had 2 posts.  Now I just need to keep the momentum going.

15. Take more photos – not so good!  I have actually cooked some new things this month but as usual I forgot to photograph them.  I did take one of the chocolate tart today – but only after some had been eaten!  I did also take some pics while I was out walking today.  Hopefully talking about it more will help to remind me.

16. Update my wardrobe – not yet!

17. Do more crafting – update on blog.  Well the only update on this is that I’ve almost finished the main part of the baby blanket I’m working on.  After Nathan’s early arrival last year catching me out with his blanket not finished I decided to carry straight on with another blanket in case either of my sons decided to surprise me with news of a pending arrival.  Just as well as BOTH sons surprised me so now I have two blankets to get finished by June!

18. Try out a new recipe each week – well I didn’t manage this every week but during January I did cook 5 new recipes so that’s good enough for me.  You’ll have to trust me on this as there is no photographic evidence but I made the following:

Cheese & Spinach Lasagne – everyone liked this except me.

Beef goulash – this was good.

Pork with Soy and Cinnamon – this was ok but the recipe used dark soy sauce.  If I made it again I’d use light.

Tagliatelle with 4 cheeses – We all enjoyed this.

Butter chicken with rice and Naan bread – this was good but the rice was soggy.

Phew this was a bit long.  I think in future I’ll just comment on the regular things and anything where progress has been made. (Might make it a lot shorter!)

I tried these out today!

Now I'm off to sort out the widget for Goodreads - it's still showing my 2017 challenge!