Trying to Get Ahead of Things

In my bid to be more organized before the new year advances too far, I did what I could in the last week of December to prepare for the month of January.

I had my hair done. I haven't been to the salon in 9 months! It felt good because my hair really needed a good trim after 9 months.

I had my nails cut down and new gel polish applied to get me through at least one week of the new year. 

In an effort to declutter and get rid of extraneous things, I spent some time knitting up many scraps of yarn that are too small for anything much. I made these cloths for washing dishes or for general cleaning.

I was finally able to get to the dentist for a consultation, x-rays and top and bottom cleaning (It's not me in the phone, lol.  The good news is I have no cavities. The bad news is I will need a crown redone and I have another appointment in a week or so to get it done.  It's been years since I last went to the dentist and I really needed the teeth to be cleaned to help my gums stay healthy.

I completed quarterly lab tests and will see the doctor tomorrow. I also did an ultrasound a few weeks ago and I expect the doctor will report on the results.

I packed away all the Christmas decorations and the Christmas tree. Everything is now in storage.

I purchased an inexpensive printer.  I'm waiting for it to be delivered before I pick it up and set it up since it wasn't in stock at the retail outlet. I only really use the scanner and on the odd occasion I need to print something I go to the post office near by.  This approach has been working out for me for many year.  

I also did some research on which smartphone to get and getting closer to actually ordering one.  I'll probably bite the bullet and purchase an iPhone primarily because it will be much easier to sync with anything I'm doing on the Mac.

I apologize to all my readers, particularly those of you who are accustomed to getting blog comments from me. I have actually been reading many of your blogs but have been having a lot of difficulty leaving comments.  I thought I resolved the issue but there seems to be several different issues going on and so far I've managed a partial solution and I'm now able to leave comments on a few blogs.  There are many other blogs where I cannot and I'm at a loss as to how to fix the problem. Please pray about this as it's very frustrating. If any of you use a Mac computer and also have issues leaving blogger comments, I'd like to hear from you and what if anything you did to resolve it.

Last but not least I had a few phone calls with friends and relatives. A cousin will hopefully visit her sister in early February and stop by for a night to see me. If the weather cooperates we hope to go to dinner and walk along the waterfront to celebrate her birthday.

After Christmas I felt quite tired and I also felt quite sick for about 2 days so I'm trying not to work too hard.  I just do enough each day to see some progress and make sure things don't pile up too much.  It seems I do best when I enter each new year slowly and gently.

I hope your year is going well.

💗💗💗

Tuesday 4 ~ January 2023

Happy New Year everyone. Welcome to Toni Taddeo's first Tuesday 4 in the new year.   

January is named for  Janus the two faced god who looked into the past and future. Some believe he

was Noah who may have been worshipped by his progeny. He certainly looked into the pre flood world and the new world.  The Anglo Saxons called this month Wulfsmoanth.   Let's talk about January.

1.  January 1, 1892 Ellis Island opened it's doors.  Did any of your relations enter the United States through Ellis Island?  If not, do you know your family's history?  My family isn't American so no relations entered through Ellis Island or any part of the USA. Fortunately I do know my family history but many of my extended family members do not.

2. January's birthstone is garnet and the flower is the carnation.  Do you have favorite gem stones or flowers? The garnet is a very pretty gem but I've never been a big fan of carnations. My favourite gem stones are sapphire and turquoise. I'm not sure I have a favourite flower but if I have to pick one it would probably be the rose in any colour because they smell wonderful and there are so many varieties and colours for any taste. I do like many kind of flowers though so if we met up in person I'd probably ooh and aah over any beautiful, colourful flower in the garden.

3. January 6 is Epiphany. Many take that day as the final day of the Christmas celebration and take down their decor.   What about you?   I take down my decorations before the Epiphany otherwise they might stay up for several more weeks and that wouldn't do. I like to keep them up until New Year's Day then they come down the next day. This year I almost took them down on December 27th. I think it's because for the very first time in a long while I put the tree and decorations up at the end of November and so a few weeks is more than enough.

4. There is some evidence that January can set the tone for your entire year. What do you think of this? Do you make resolutions, etc?  I'd be interested in what you mean by 'evidence'. Have there been some scientific studies on the subject?  It does make sense to me that January can set the tone for the year. My maternal grandfather always used to teach us, and mom carried on the teaching, that we must set our home and our family matters in a good and positive way before the New Year comes and on the eve of the New Year and on the first day, we should be doing positive things and activities that will 'follow' us throughout the year. In other words, no fighting and division amongst family and friends and no negative activities. I adopted this as the way I live my life in general but also at the close and beginning of each New Year. My family also liked to gather together at home safe and sound rather than be out and about and we stayed up visiting and watching television festivities waiting for the New Year to be rung in at midnight. Then we would hug and kiss and wish one another a happy New Year. Following that the phone would start to ring and/or we would make phone calls to wish loved ones far away a very Happy New Year. Sadly, no one really does this anymore but I loved it. Today I do still stay up until midnight to wish my immediate family a Happy New Year and have a small toast. I hope to continue this tradition even if it is only with one person. 

Update: After reading what others have posted in answer to this question I came back to expand on my answer in case there was any confusion by what I meant.  I want to clarify that my maternal grandfather was not a superstitious person and nor was my mother. We were/are all Christians and the idea about the positivity was to set the tone of what would follow in the new year. It was not magic, nor a ritual but an intentional decision as to how we would live out the day, the transition to the New Year and the New Year itself. We were in gratitude, if you will for each day and moment that the good Lord has gifted us and were deliberately choosing our attitudes about the gift of more time.

Last but not least, I don't make resolutions but I do adopt a theme word for the year. A few years ago I did more detailed goal setting but this takes more thought and work to be ready to post it at the end or beginning of each year. The goal setting works well for me when I'm able to do it. The theme word also works well and gives me more flexibility in the activities I'm carrying out throughout the year.

Thanks for stopping by. I'll be paying your blog a visit soon!