January- so far, so good.-

     I'm happy to report that we have the first two weeks of January under our belts (almost).  So far, so good. After the first snowstorm of the year, I'm happy to see it melt. It's warming up this weekend, so it should be gone soon. I wouldn't mind, but it's just an inconvenience to have to worry about slipping on the ice. 

     
     Not much going on here- my mission for the new year is to de-clutter my life.  One culprit is magazines.  I should stop buying them, because they take up too much room.  I can't bear to throw them out because they're full of neat crafts, recipes, and articles I may want to re-read someday.  I should put them in binders, or maybe cut out the articles I want and put those in scrapbooks, but it's too time consuming. 

     
     When I was young, I used to make scrapbooks, and most of the contents were cute advertisements and pictures I cut out of magazines. I think magazines are great time capsules. It's fun to look at old magazines, and see how much society has changed in a short amount of time. Looking at mags from the early 70's when I was very young, is fascinating.  Then I can get nostalgic seeing Family Circle and Women's Day from the 80's, and re-living all the stuff I remember (again, mostly the products advertised, and "pop culture" stuff.) 

     
     Then there's the magazines without ads--Reminisce and Taste of Home, both of which I have boxes of. I don't subscribe to them anymore, but if I just found the boxes I have and re-read them, I'd be all set!   Nowadays, Taste of Home is a mainstream magazine with ads, and it's just not the same. It's not "down home"anymore.
      
     January is a time for bargains at CVS-I got some expensive dog-treats for Cindy- ham and chicken jerky strips. At 75% off, I was excited. But I didn't clean off the shelf, I left some there for other dog owners to claim.
      
     I also got a couple of nice Christmas decorations and light-up candles that look a like a candle with glitter floating around in them.  Lastly, I got a big container of ornaments, some of  them huge, designed to be used outdoors on bushes or trees. I love them- paid $5.00 instead of $19.99.
      
     But the sweetest deal of all was a mini net book/tablet.  I have a friend without a computer, and I thought this item was a steal at $24.99 instead of $100.00!  I mailed it out yesterday morning, had to before I got anymore attached to it! I had to open the box and check it out, make sure it actually worked. I hate to say it, but the customer reviews were mixed. Some gave it five stars, others said to throw it out!  I figured for that price, I'd take my chances.  I didn't set up the e-mail on it, I just hope it works for me friend.  I'm sure he'll call me tomorrow when he gets the package. That will be my good deed for the day.
     
     Are you excited about the return of the NHL?  I don't know yet. It will be weird for the Bruins without Tim Thomas. But he really alienated himself last year with his over-opinionated political views.  At any rate, the players and owners hurt themselves by letting most of the season slip away.  Still, an abbreviated season may work to the Bruins advantage. Could they win the Cup? I really don't know, we'll have to wait and see.

     Notice how I've left a wider space between paragraphs? I'm doing this because I recently printed out a blog book!  They let you design the layout, size, paper type, etc.  I chose the setup that would be more economical. Because of that, my paragraphs are running into each other.  Except for this flaw, I'm very pleased with how nice the book came out. It only had my posts from last October through July.  Next time, I'll save up and do a larger book, maybe even go for a hardcover.

     I'm almost done with my on-line writing class "breaking into print".  Only two more lessons! I shouldn't call them lessons, because it's not really like that. I write an article, my wonderful instructor edits and critiques it for grammar and content, and advises me on how to market it, and improve it.  I'm lucky to have a teacher who's not only nice, but encouraging. Assuming she really means it when she compliments my work, it makes me feel like I have a future in writing!  I haven't actually tried to sell any of my work yet. That's the next step.  I'm also seriously considering working on my "real" books. Nowadays, you can write and publish your own work economically, by printing on demand!  More later on this topic.

     I hope you're having a good January! Take care.