Wrapping Up January: 2017

Cincinnati Skyline from Covington, KY

Seriously. It's February. Of 2017. Unbelievable.

January was (thankfully) not as busy as December you guys. However, it was busier than I expected. Not a lot of time for writing and the blog, but this is also a time period in history unlike anything I've ever seen. I don't know about you, but I'm finding it hard to write. Especially about food. It seems to me that everyone is angry these days. And I do mean everyone. The right and left alike are fired up. I mean, if you read any comments on any political piece, you will see anger. From both sides. I want to write about it, but I am still searching my soul for something to say that's not divisive. 

It seems an impossible task.

In fact, I just wrote practically a whole post on the subject and deleted it because it was divisive. A most difficult subject to breach, the line drawn down the center of America right now. I wish I had the magic words, the enchanted pen to bring about a cohesive country. And so, I shall tell you about a snuggly January, because what's more comforting and easier to write about than little dogs in an upside down world?

A girl has no answers for that question 😂

January started out with lots of wrestling. And playing. And nuzzling on the heating pad. 

And then some more wrestling. 

While everyone on the West Coast was getting buried in snow early in the month, we got maybe 2 inches. It wasn't much.

It was enough to make Mariota want to hide when we asked him if he wanted to go outside 😂

In January, we got a Kegerator! This was actually the hubby's Christmas present. He'd been saving his money since his birthday to get the Kegerator and we finally got it! We've greatly been enjoying having draft beer at home 😁

The hubby got the Kegerator for making his own beer but since that takes 2 weeks, we bought a 5-gallon keg of Pilsner to tide us over.

Oh yes, I am a happy camper!

And this was one of my Christmas presents! I finally decided it was time to get a cast-iron pan, I've been meaning to get one for years. I chose Amazon's best seller because it was on sale at an incredible price. I also got some flax seed oil for seasoning the pan after reading this article by Cook's Illustrated. Stay tuned for cast iron recipes! 😁

Have you ever put your i-Phone on to shuffle through your entire music library? I did one day and was greeted by a blast from the extreme past, my 21st birthday mix. I turned it waaaaay up and surely got some strange looks from the local teenagers 😂

These were the pathetic looks I got as we were leaving for the Cincinnati weekend where the hubby and I went to see Garth Brooks. Such sad puppies 😥

We had so much fun at Garth Brooks though! The hubby's cousin and his wife had organized a group of 10 of us to go to the concert and it was a blast! This was a picture of just the girls, but we had 4 significant other's join us. 

I told the hubby I'd never seen so many plaid shirts at the concert, and yep, I was one of them! 

Garth put on an amaaaaaazing show! 

It was definitely worth the 20+ years I had to wait to see him 😊

Back at home, Gizmo covets the hubby's sandwich.

Last Sunday, we had a day of snow showers. The ground was pretty warm so nothing much was sticking until it began to snow so hard that snow couldn't help but stick. It only stuck around that day, as much of it had melted by Monday. Anyone else ready for Spring??

The hubby has a puzzling partner with a curious face 😍

I didn't share very many recipes this month, but these were my favorite things I made-

Slow Cooker Herb-Rubbed Turkey Breast

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread (coming soon!)

Shrimp Penne (coming soon!)

~That's it for January folks! Here's to a fabulous February!~

SaveSave