New year, same me

Hello January, the longest month of the year, with 63 days and 75 nights before we get to February, which is the coldest month.  It was passingly sunny today, with blue skies but a sneaky cold wind that just cut in to you.  It’s apparently also the return to work day — well, partly, as schools here don’t open until Monday but otherwise offices and shops are back to normal.  Jerry began his day by stealing my chair, refusing to move when I wanted to sit, then spreading himself out between me and my tea.  Bad idea!  He got thrown on the floor, (which lasted all of 2 seconds) jumped back up, gave me a schnoodle death glare, and settled back into my lap!!  Don is currently depressed, as Canada lost a game and is now out of the tournament that they were in and had had high hopes of winning (they’d won their openers by a goal difference of over 5)  I think they got cocky and lazy, and this is the result.  Anyway, he’s moping until the next game (there are about a dozen lined up over the next 2 days) so he’ll be fine.

My weekend of fun is catching up to me.  I was awakened this morning by my clock chiming 9am.  I thought that was wrong, but nope.  I’d slept for a solid 9 hours without moving.  In fact, my leg was cramped from having been bent at a weird angle all night!  I got up, had breakfast (ham and egg omelette; tea and toast) and started going through my mail (mostly promotional stuff from the bank) when I realized that I was not fully awake.  So I went back to bed for a couple of hours to fall into a deep sleep.  I’m more awake now, but an early night is still planned.  I’m so happy to have had the weekend with my sister and the family, and I have no objection to being a jungle gym, or to be given instructions on how to colour by numbers, or how to read, or whatever.  I love the kids and the time I spend with them, and I’m always happy to be with family.  I’m rather missing my older niece, who is working during her university break and enjoying the experience of earning her own money, interacting with customers and a bit more independence.  We had a short conversation where we talked about her life and how her views have been evolving from “vision” to “reality” and how different studies are between school and university.  I’m so proud of her and how she’s maturing.  It’s hard to believe that she’s 19 in 3 weeks’ time, but she’s growing up so well.  

Now that Christmas gift giving is over, I have birthday gifts to sort out.  My nieces are both celebrating in January — the 18 and 21 — so I’ve got a small window to find, buy and ship gifts.  For my elder niece, that’s more challenging as (I’ve muttered about this before) TTPost seems to think that mail delivery is not one of its duties, so I need to make alternate, long distance arrangements very early. Shipping issues aside, there’s the question of what they would like.  It’s a real challenge.  This year, I was able to send gifts to TT in November when my sister travelled, so that’s one less load.  As for my little niece, she informed me this weekend that her birthday list includes a hula-hoop (I said we’d have to wait until she was a little bigger, and she reluctantly agreed); a hair dryer (already ordered by her mom, but I can’t say that) and a stationery set because she likes to write and she needs more writing paper.  I talked with her mom to see if we could coordinate a gift; she will be getting a vanity table, so her mom suggested that I look at a vanity set or something similar.  I’ve been looking and I’m unimpressed.  Brush sets — really pretty ones — are horrendously expensive.  “Fake vanity sets” which include toy makeup, hair styling tools, etc, are also pricey and look cheap.  I’m not keen on “best gift for girls” to learn “how to do makeup and look pretty” because it screams “grooming” and creepy gender stereotyping to me.  I’d given my niece a necklace with a pendant of 2 hearts, and she wears it every waking hour, along with a bracelet that I’d given her last birthday with her name on it.  She loves jewellery (in imitation of me, I suspect, as she checks what I’m wearing every time we meet and remarks on anything new I have)  So I’m trying to consider an age appropriate gift for her that meets her interests.  She’s not interested in making jewellery, so there’s no point in getting one of those kits.  I’m sorry, I know that I turn into one of those aunts who will show the same photo 20x and babble incessantly about the kids.  I’ll try to contain that!

I read an interesting article that pointed out that while gratitude is important, remaining solely focussed on it makes us unbalanced and can lead to unhappiness, paradoxically.  The author went on to make the point that the most important thing to us should be our relationships and we should prioritize the people we love.  People, not things or places.  I’m contemplating that this week, as I’ve made a major effort to focus on being grateful for life and for the situations in which I find myself.  I don’t think that I’m necessarily wrong to be thankful, I probably would be if I was more grateful for the hot cup of tea than for the person who did the shopping so I’d have tea bags.  Or if I treated the many, many people who look after me as just machines and was rude or dismissive or otherwise inhumane.  Please God I never turn into one of those people!  I need to give some thought to this concept that relationships are the most important part of our lives and we should nurture them carefully as this creates quality in our lives.  What are your thoughts?

I’m now off to find supper… it’s so wonderful to have a selection in the fridge!  And to have even more in the freezer so I can eat without needing to cook!  It’s even better to be hungry!  It’s actually only fun to be hungry if you know you’re going to eat soon; it’s not if you literally have no idea when or where you’ll find your next meal.  Do I want salmon, chicken, ham or shrimp tonight?  Hmmm… Good night!