Where Did January Go?

January's one of the longest months of the year as well as one of the darkest & coldest. It usually comes with the  dreaded Credit Card statement!! So how come it went so fast??? I don't know about you, but I'm still flattening the boxes from December's indulgences.

Since I've become so damned feeble with an oxygen hose attached, cooking & washing up has been a real chore. Not only do I have to sit when my knees wobble but I have this oxygen line to trip over. It wasn't so bad in the warm weather because I could live with salads, open face sandwiches & veggies with dip but when it's cold I want hot food. Lately, I've been forcing myself to cook more instead of going through the drive-thru for egg mcmuffins or my local cafe for take-out hot meals. 

I have a slow cooker - which I love - but getting it in & out of the overhead cupboard is impossible  for me so I didn't use it a lot. My helper Mike got it down for me last week but it sat on a chair because I had nowhere to put it. A lightbulb came on & I stole a shelf from a storage unit, laid it across the two unused burners on my stove - yes, people, I took out the fuse - & put the pot on top. I don't have enough counter space for it but it now has a home on the empty burners. Next to a plug-in too. AND I've been eating soup for the last 4 days!!  Soup with beans & lentils, cabbage, carrots, spinach, tortellini, tomatoes, squash etc. I'm cleaning out the fridge. AND I'm feeling pretty damned good. I wish I'd thought of this months ago. Tonight, I have a One Pot dinner with hamburger & pasta cooked in Broccoli Cheese sauce. I'll put extra broccoli in at the end to steam. Sounds tasty just writing about it!!  I spent all afternoon cruising the internet for One Pot meals & I found an actual site for Slow Cooker cooking. I may be on to something.

Knitting - Lucky for me, my favorite pair of circular needles were in the 'sweater I started for my niece last year which was in my big woven knitting bag so I'll be able to yank  borrow them to work on my sweater in Heritage by .Briggs & Little! I haven't seen or heard from her for over a year so I don't think she'll miss it just yet!! When mine is done, I'll be able to work on hers again.  I've made a couple of sweaters with Heritage so far & really do love it. It's scratchy at first but softens with handing & washing. I don't even mind pulling the little bits of hay out of the yarn because I know its not over processed. Heritage is a worsted weight yarn in about 30 colors. & retains a lot of natural oils which even improves hands when knitting. 

I was going to use the Sport by Briggs & Little I bought at the same time but don't have any needles to work with it. But I do have some crochet hooks so I might make a Kimono style sweater instead. This house is quite draughty so a sweater is really a must.  

Haven't heard from my midnight visitor so I'm hoping all is well with her. She did say she was going to talk to people at the Gurdwara  about her problems so I'll just have to send good wishes in spirit & hope they helped her situation.