New Year's Day 2023

 The first full day of January 2023.

I have not done much today. It has been colder here, and very wet and at times windy so we have stuck to the house and just chilled for the best part.  I have still been in holiday mode. 

However, things will change again tomorrow, when I really must get a wriggle on!  

I do not know about any of you, but I am not actually making any New Year Resolutions per se.  I have so many things to do, but they may not necessarily be achieved in the time frames I would like.  In reality I under-estimate how long it is going to take me to get things done which is a real shame.  Rather than beat myself up about it, which I am an expert at, I am aiming just to get specific jobs done in the order that they present themselves.

A couple of things I have promised myself though is to try and incorporate those items I want to have a go at into my home routine so that I actually get a chance to play and practice.  Everyone has to start somewhere and there are many things I want to achieve including items that have not been very good at such as pastry making and also bread making of all descriptions.  I am therefore aiming to do a couple of bits of baking on these topics a week as well as perhaps another item want to tackle as well.  Just because things are not how I would wish where I am at present, does not mean I cannot get some practice in somewhere down the line.  I am hoping to achieve more on the cooking front overall.

We have had pizza for tea today and I also made a batch of Raisin Scones, which were allowed to cool a little before then being generously spread with butter.  They went down very nicely. Scones are a simple recipe but oh so useful as something to snack on when you have the munchies, or indeed with some cheese.  Plain ones can be dressed up a bit with a bit of whipped cream and some jam. Somehow a little home-cooking always brings that feeling of comfort especially when the weather is dreich as it has been today.

The recipe I used is here:

Scone Recipe

This time I used plain flour and baking powder as the recipe (in the past I have used SR Flour); these however seem to have risen more and are a better texture.  I also used Raisins as that is all I could lay my hands on.  May well do the plain flour and baking powder as standard from now on in when I make scones.  I only used the smallest cutter I had as well and these have expanded well and risen well.  I have to mess around with recipes and test their parameters as to whether I want to add anything different in, add a little extra sugar, bit of spice, cherries or chopped ginger. You can also make them with buttermilk or with milk and yogurt.

OH is intent on sorting out the loo tomorrow.  First part of decorating.  I in turn am going to try and sort the kitchen out a bit, to the point where I can then set about my ironing.  I only have a very tiny galley kitchen (this is where I iron) so everything has to be reasonably tidy before I even commence.

Once this first part and the first part of the loo decorating are done. He is starting the prep work tomorrow i.e. scraping and wiping down and then first coat of paint.  

Once the ironing is out of the way with, I can then set about the Pantry and get that decorated out. (Did not make it before Christmas sadly as I ran out of steam). Then my Pantry can be well and truly sorted out.  I can then finalise my Pantry Contents Schedule for shopping purposes.

Then OH can set about the bathroom, which also needs the same treatment, before final coat of paint is popped over both rooms.

Needless to say I have quite a few things to do this New Year and we are only Day One in.

I also have loads of plans on getting stuff done for the Pantry, using what I have in-house and any bargains I come across unexpectedly as well.  You can only do what you can do at the end of the day, but I aim to get a lot of stuff done early on in the year if I can to give me a head start.  Even if I only manage to achieve a couple of things a day, it will give me an advantage overall and hopefully free up time further down the line for me.  I also have my crafting and all sorts of other hobbies to factor into this as well.

Right am off to watch some TV.

Catch you later on.

Pattypan

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