Hello and here we are, 2016! Can you believe it?! Welcome to the New Year. It’s already been full of ups and downs, and what is it— the 5th? Oh, it’s Twelfth Night! Tomorrow is Epiphany! How special!

  Today was our first day back in a normal routine– everyone back to school. It was a good day– it went by really fast, mostly as I tried to get done all the things I needed to get done ‘just me’ for the first time in a couple of weeks.

  First I treated myself to a nice long walk at a local park- it was a nice, long COLD walk, and I’m still feeling it, but it was good. Good to get the new year going by getting some blood pumping, thinking about the coming future and being outdoors. Over Christmas we had flooding, then snow, so we were mostly homebound. Didn’t help that everyone had a cough, either, so there was no romps in the snow thanks to this mean mama.

   And now that we are back to routine, I am enjoying some quiet time and trying to make progress on big plans for the coming months. I picked up THIS book the other day and love the idea of a spiritual retreat….although I love the idea, honestly, of going anywhere quiet 😉

   I’m also enjoying some nice cups of chai tea lately…and this year I want to use ‘the good dishes’ more often. Audrey got a dollhouse for Christmas, and we think when we have it finished we’ll have a little tea party with some friends to inaugurate it 😉

  Well, the sunlight is almost gone for the day. And I need to think about dinner. There are messes to take care of, books to read, paintings to paint, kids to cuddle. We’ll see what all gets done!~

  Thanks for coming here to see me this fresh new 2016! Come back again and we’ll chat…
H