January 2019, a strangely full month.

January is a strange month. So much holiday and yet by the end of the month I'm fully back at work and holidays seem forever ago. Not to mention summer school and maitland alive, and of course all the projects I got obsessed with.

Beautiful swims to start the year. I got deaf in one ear and it was severely blocked for 5 days. Just when doctors are all shut. But eventually I got good tools from chemist and unblocked it myself in 2 days.

New Year's Eve didn't go according to plan but I was OK with that. Heather, George, JK and I went to Julie's place for wood fired pizza, intending to go to the fireworks afterwards (there wasn't going to be time but oh well) but we were delighted to see a spectactular electrical storm pass over us, which also cancelled the fireworks so we didn't miss out on anything and had a memorable light show. As well as pizza and cocktails and chocolate cake. We also watched the midnight fireworks on TV but they were disappointing. Would not stay up for that again. The soundtrack was abysmal and they didn't do the golden waterfall off the bridge. 10/10 for the storm and pizza though.

It rained so much in the storm that the bucket I put in the backyard collected a good lot of rain water for the mossy rock Elsie gave me!

Church uni kids organised lawn bowls to farewell Rachel who was my Tocal/Bachy friend this year. Good to hang out with people I don't spend a lot of time with.

I was very creative with my Boxing Day Sales shopping this year, I went online and got some Australian bird fabric from Nerida Hansen sale, and 7 watercolours and a tray. The paints are a big investment, one of those expensive things I've avoided for ages because the gap between the student paints I use and the proper paints is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. But I did some research and got the Liz Steele sketchers kit from Daniel Smith plus a green Liz also has in her kit. A very useful set of paints.

I was not immune to Marie Kondo on netflix. It has been a while since I culled the oldest clothes so I decided to do the "all your clothes on the bed" experiment. I don't know if her method is any better than the normal way of culling, but anyway I culled. I am encouraged not to buy any MORE clothes, having seen this on the bed. And it's not even that many clothes compared to the show.

I did odd jobs, like I fixed a broken keyring with earring tools, and I replaced a toilet seat.

And then it was time to drive to Katoomba for Summer school. Saturday was hot and I drove in the weekend peak traffic in Sydney, but I visited G to drop off her Christmas present and get a cutting, and she made a lot of effort and did a very refreshing morning tea which was a big relief.

When I got to Katoomba I had a headache and it was very hot and there was nowhere cool to escape, I went to JK and Maddie's house for dinner though which was nice, I almost napped, and we picked raspberries right from their backyard.

This is the house I stayed in with a church couple and some singles. It was strange, but the people were nice. Much more relaxing for me than organising 7 women.

I took the moss rock and it got rained on all week! After Saturday it cooled down and I really enjoyed the rain and mist and coolness.

It was my best summer school in years in terms of energy. Either just a fluke of my body or due to easier housemates, I don't know. I had one night of cramps that I stayed home, but I went to every other session and did lots of tech team and had good catch ups. I didn't have the usual feeling of having to pace myself and rest and fight depression.

I got obsessed with shopping for the perfect raincoat, but have not yet purchased.

I also got obsessed with Japanese Maple trees, I may plant one.

ON Friday I got sick. A sore throat, then aching as I drove back to Maitland. I watered the plants and went to bed. I barely got out of bed on Saturday, super achy, and my parents bought food for my empty fridge. Maitland Alive sent 5 people over to use my shower and I lay on the bed while they watched TV and showered. On Sunday I felt a bit better and found an after hours GP nearby to get antibiotics for my throat. Took Monday off, and then went back to work.

I was expecting to enjoy the benefits of last year's decluttering but the ball had snowballed in my absence and a whole wall was removed. In the below picture the orange cones mark where the office used to end. We now have a bigger office and new neighbours.

I created a colour palette.

And on the Friday before the Australia Day weekend when I was alone in the office, I watched youtube tutorials and made an animation of a stick person jumping and kicking a ball in Adobe Animate.

Maitland Alive people were lovely as usual, we watched the Indian Pacific train on TV for a couple of nights and then we played Rummikub.

And now the big event of the month!

PERGOLA!

A before photo.

Builder on Monday, digging holes for posts.

End of day 2. And I faced a terrible dilemma, because it was too low. It made backyard feel small and crowded.

When you looked out the back door you saw beams and rafters really quite low.

I hate to be difficult, and make the builder do more work on such hot days. I had a very anxious night. But the builder was very agreeable and suggested he could replace these two poles near the house and raise the end up so the roof would slope. I specified the supporting beam to be level with the bottom of the eves.

And now I love it! Sloping is even better than flat! It feels lofty and gracious.

After a week or so I decided definitely to paint it and got some weathershield samples. I tossed up between matching the colourbond fence and the greyish trim on the house, and decided on the greyish colour.

I bought 4 L of weathershield which is enough for 2 coats (surface area about 16m2). I also got some paint swatches for my sister, who just bought her first house and it used to be a rental so they had to do floors and paint.

This is the house they moved out of. The last rental in the Green family! And a frugal one it was too, a tiny fibro cottage. They new house is very nice, lots of storage and a backyard with potential and lovely neighbours. Lots of blessings.

Anyway back to my pergola. I borrowed Dad's ladder, and its pretty scary using a ladder, you really do need someone to hold it steady but anyway, I managed to paint the whole thing in 4 hours on the public holiday when it wasn't a super hot day, and I didn't drop a whole tray of paint at any point.

It's very messy work, and I had a sleep in the afternoon, I have never needed a nap so bad I crashed so fast.

A last few odds and ends. Coralie had a leaking tap while I was at work so I guided her to turn off the mains, and changed the washer when I got home. I'm a pro at taps now.

I quite enjoy this instagram account of sarcastic posts about singleness. Such things can lead to bitterness, I usually prefer to ignore everything to do with marriage and singleness and just live my best life, but this girl has a light touch. I resonated with her post about telling doctors you have a sexless life. It's called thedtrblog (DTR means Define The Relationship, I had to google.)

I did a little more macrame so I can have 2 at the office now. I took my string of hearts to work and I plan to grow G's cutting in the other one. The moss is also at work, because of the air conditioning, FYI. The moss is very needy.

And there we go! So much happened. I left out anything I didn't take a photo of as well.

Overarching mood at this point: 1. not sure what to do about the mirena with all the days my stomach is upset. I have 4 or so hours of irritable bowel symptoms nearly every day. Makes it hard to concentrate at work, sometimes prohibits doing things. I'll try and persist for one more month. 2. Housemate absent so much I almost live alone, and I'm feeling a bit lonely and flat sometimes. I've lived alone in the past, I can do it, but I haven't got it right at the moment. Maybe being unwell every day is affecting my joy in life too. So, mood is, I could get depressed probably, but I'm not.

Percy is my loyal housemate, always happy to hang out on my lap or my armchair next to me and watch TV. He's sitting on my knee right now while I blog. He's in a chill mood lately, not biting or screaming as much.

I've got a year on a page, because the next few months have some key big things to organise. I want to write this on nice paper but haven't got around to it, but January is well ticked off! February begins tomorrow. Cello and home group and everything starts up and the year is truly happening.