January was lovely. Honestly, I’m not used to January being a mostly-good month. My depression cycles – which have remained fairly consistent since I was about 13 or 14 years old – usually involve me having a great first 2-3 weeks of January and then crashing hard somewhere around the 18th of the month. (Yeah, it’s so regulated that it’s almost always within a day of the 18th specifically!!) I don’t know if it’s getting older and closer to menopause or peri-menopause (you notice this started not long after puberty!), or if several years on the right anxiety medication is smoothing things out, but I didn’t really have a crash this year. I had a week toward the end where I didn’t feel great, though that was right in line with PMS, so I don’t really count it. Is that all TMI? I don’t care. I have a female body, and the older I get, the more ridiculous it seems to hide talk of what every female body goes through. So anyway, it was a lovely month for the most part, and a really good start to the year. I feel good about 2023 so far and I hope that continues! The last two years were a bit rough for me and I’d love for 2023 to be a good one! [Pic: A random January photo of my bonded kitties, Atticus and Jojo, snuggling.]

Reading and Watching
After barely reading anything for months, January started with a bang! I read 7 books this month, and really enjoyed them! Trying to pick a favorite is agonizing! There was a Cosmere book, two books that were new volumes of old comfort series, an incredible nonfiction (a rarity for me), and two books far out of my comfort zone that completely blew me away. How do you pick a favorite out of all that?? There were all sorts of favorites here! So honestly, I’ve decided to reserve judgement, and call my favorite of January as a TBD, to look back on in a few months while all these incredible books aren’t still swimming around so close to the surface of my brain.

House
Oy. It’s been a saga this month, mostly because the folks who “fixed” the bathroom in December had to come out and re-fix it three times. And then the drywall guy had to fix something else that the plumbers should have done. Literally they didn’t connect the overflow drain pipe to the pipe underneath. They left a two inch gap. WTF?? So it’s an ongoing mess that’s been a constant source of construction – floors ripped up, holes in the wall, only one usable bathroom – for almost two months now. UGH.

(the former brown walls in my room)

Other than that, Jason took a week off work mid-month, and we repainted and rearranged my bedroom. That was one of my bonus goals for 2023, so yay for getting it done! At least one room went to plan! (PS – I still need artist suggestions, though!)

Goals
I don’t usually expect to finish goals in January, but I did actually manage a couple! Our garage is cleaned out, including the last two large items I wanted to sell or give away to friends (rather than leaving on the curb). My bedroom is also done, which I’ve already talked about. Other than that, I made normal progress toward goals: my first monthly photo book ordered, personal and group photoshoots done, used up some wax melts, etc. I feel good about the progress made this month!

The Ferals
Two cats TNRed this month! Unicorn and Feather will both have safer, happier, healthier lives going forward. Hopefully, they’ll all end up friends (including Lord Grey) and continue to use our home as their base so we can care for them.

(look at those beautiful ear-tips!)

We’ve also continued to foster Petunia, who needed three rounds of different antibiotics to treat her upper respiratory infection. She’s finally symptom-free, though, and this kitten – who was only meant to be with us for about two weeks when we got her right after Christmas – will be going in for surgery and adoption this Friday! There haven’t been a lot of cats on the foster list lately, so we’ll probably take a week to do some deep cleaning, in preparation for kitten season, which will be here any minute.

Health/Fitness
This month has mostly been about managing my health without the proper medication. Back in November, my doctor wanted to move me from the 5mg to 7.5mg level of Mounjaro, after about 12 weeks at the 5mg level. Unfortunately, there was a national shortage on the 7.5mg dose, so we kept on the 5mg for another four weeks…only to have the shortage increase to include the 5mg when I needed my refill in late December. I had to drop back to the 2.5mg level for four weeks. That is the beginning “pre-therapeutic” dose, and while it did really well for me in the beginning, it’s not meant to help longterm.

(hikes of January)

And it didn’t. Through most of January, I struggled with hypoglycemia and blood sugar issues, and it was difficult to keep my weight stable. Thankfully, I was able to move back up to the 5mg level in late Jan. There’s been no nausea side effects the way there was in the 16wks I was on this level before, so yay for that! On the downside, while this has re-stabilized my blood sugar, it hasn’t truly induced weight loss again, so I’m still sitting around the same place I was at before Christmas. I’m thankful that I kept any regain to the ounces rather than pounds, but I’m also looking forward to continuing forward with a higher dose in the future. Hopefully this whole shortage thing is resolved soon! As of today, my total loss since late August is around 16.5 lbs.

Favorite Photos
Because I’ve been posting my group and personal photoshoots in their own posts over the last few month, I’ve decided to exclude the favorites from those from my monthly review. So the following are the photos outside those shoots that are my faves.

Clockwise from top left: Unicorn’s Big Stretch; nectarine blossoms under freezing rain; a message found in the crook of a tree; game night with my lovely friends (Jennine, Sisa, Alia)

Highlights of January
Once again, it’s been a lovely, lovely month!

• Kickoff of the Year of Sanderson!
• spending time with my brother and baby sister before they both leave SA
• playing Cat Lady (board/card game) with Jason and Laurence
• Lord Grey mewing at me and almost approaching me, within 3 feet! Then eating in front of me when I was standing not 5 ft away!
• all the stuff for the Gutter Glitter photoshoot, even overcoming the embarrassment of people staring at me
• the Mr Brown Can Moo rap (ha!)
• an incredible exchange with creatives Reneé and Zara at Mildfire
• connecting with another cat rescuer on my street
• nerdy board game nights – I know I say this just about every month, but these nights truly are highlights of each month!
• being able to help out several friends in need
• bowling with friends even though we’re all awful at it, heh
• getting my first Chatbook that documents Jason’s and my first cruise in 2012
• my Hoid box arrived!!
• celebrating my uncle’s 60th birthday, including seeing several of my aunts for the first time since pre-pandemic!
• silly photo session with Sarah, followed by drinks at Mildfire, where my dad and stepmom just happened to be when I arrived, and where I also got to talk to Reneé about setting up more photoshoots
• all of Petunia (my foster kitten)’s antics – she is the queen of bleps!
• our Roomba. That was an expense I didn’t know we needed and I’m so happy we bit the bullet and went forward with it.
• kind interactions with an Etsy seller who accidentally sent me the wrong item

Coming up in February
Valentine’s, Galentine’s, hopefully more photos! J and I have plans to visit an interactive art museum sometime near mid-month as a Valentine’s date (we never go on the day itself – too crowded!), and perhaps we’ll start work on rebuilding our garden towards the end of the month (prime planting time in south Texas!).