January 2011 - week one

First, a quick catch-up from 2010 – since my last post was in August! 2010 was not a banner year – two of my cousins (sisters) were diagnosed with breast cancer (both of them are doing well now), we lost the hubby’s Aunt Sissy (she was the impersonation of a “hot ticket” and she is sorely missed), my Dad was diagnosed with lung cancer and went through treatments which in the end were unsuccessful and he passed away 5 days after I was laid off from my job of 7 years. I really thought I’d be there for a much longer time – it was very disappointing and as of today, I’m still not working yet. Yeah, I would say that for the most part, I was very happy to say goodbye to 2010.

Moving on to the post-holiday first week of the year. All of the Christmas decorations were taken down on Sunday and the hubby went back to work after a 13 day break on Tuesday. Monday night I did get my latest fingerless mitts completed and they are perfect!  I spent most of Tuesday on the couch not feeling well (I’m thinking it was my first day alone again, after the holiday insanity that my body just said to STOP!) 

Wednesday I felt better and had a great morning – got in and out of the Unemployment Office in 15 minutes, went to the grocery store, Weight Watchers and then met up with my former colleague Mariah to go to the Peabody Essex Museum for the Treasures from the Forbidden City exhibit. Then the day went downhill – we got a snow removal ticket for $50 from the city for the corner – ugh. Call to our city councilor hopefully has taken care of it. The hubby really does an amazingly great job shoveling (a little AR even) – and for us to get a ticket was an insane blow!

The rest of the week included more applying for more jobs, reaching out to recruiters and a little Zentangling… Time with Mom and Tracy at the Willowtree in Peabody for mussels and wine, a quiet weekend with the hubby and Despicable Me and more vintage MTM on Hulu.

Food highlight of the week – definitely the Stuffed Peppers in my new pressure cooker.  I do plan to make the Aarti Party Pumpkin Oatmeal too – bought the Almond Milk and have one last lonely can of pumpkin ready to go.