Thank God that's Over

Today we are putting January 2026 in the past. Anyone that has made the decision to live in the Canadian prairies knows to brace themselves for January. This year, each day seemed to hold its own little weather adventure, most of which were not that much fun. I have to admit I am looking forward to turning the calendar to February.  

January is a special birthday month for my family. My Mom has a daughter, a grandson, a great grandson and great granddaughter and now a great great grandson that celebrate their birthdays in January. We are a small family, but one quarter of our family celebrate their birthdays in January, three on one day. 

My Irish twin sister turned 70 and we spent some time together that day. She came home from Pheonix to celebrate with her family. She has a grandson and a granddaughter born on her birthday, so why not! I told her that she could check out how being 70 works, and then, when it is my turn in November, I can decide if I am going to do it or not. In true big sister fashion, she explained to me, that it was one of those things that wasn't a choice, it was going to happen anyway. We feel so blessed to be "70" with a "91" year old Mother. Like we tell our Mom, you have old people looking after you. 

One of my very unexpected January activities was to deep clean my bedroom. What the heck has happened to me; wanting to, enjoying or feeling an obligation to clean is just not within me. Since I closed my home-based business, I have zero desire to clean. "Random" is the name of the game when it comes to cleaning, "very random" would be a more accurate statement. I remember way back when, I would get an urge to just clean, I have noticed that doesn't happen anymore. 

I think my house revolted. I accidently knocked something off my bedside table. When I moved the table to get it, my mouth just fell open followed by a gasp. Yep, it was disgusting. In true Faye fashion, I thought, I will only clean behind the table. Then, a voice in my head said, "seriously, you aren't going to do the entire room! You know that the entire room needs it". I planned for the next day, to "houseclean" my bedroom. I did it, and I did it well, the doing it well is another issue. I realized that the only thing that made me even consider cleaning was the safety factor. I like to think that a little dust builds immunity, but the reality is, people can die of dust borne diseases. 

I have managed to hang onto my pinched nerve in my rotator cuff for many months now. I had heard a number of stories of how people got relief from shoulder pain by having an equiscope treatment. As the name would suggest, it is also offered to horses, I was told it can be done on anything with cells. I had my first treatment in the Deloraine Spa and my second at the Hartney Vet Clinic. It was a very interesting experience. The first day they applied plates which were attached to the machine and delivered electrical currents. I describe it as a TENS machine on steroids without the tingling feeling. The next day they used probs as in the picture. Apparently, red is not good, which I seemed to be glowing everywhere they touched. One more visit to the vet clinic and I am hoping I am good as new. 

During the -50 WC days I set up a 1000-piece puzzle and completed it in 3 days. I realize there is no casual, pick away at it for Faye; I took it on like a job. I couldn't leave it alone. As you can see it was a very nice puzzle that a friend had given me, the vivid colors kept me interested.  

So, who made the decision to put the Scotties in January? I am assuming it is because of the Olympics. "Scotties tournament of Hearts" is a February event, it has the word heart in it. It was probably a good thing they were in January; it filled the very cold inside days nicely. I must admit I had trouble getting into the curling until the playoffs started. I liked that the games were televised at good times of the day, and following curling is the Canadian thing to do. 

I closed out the month with a fun activity. I learned how to make mitts out of a sweater. I saw the ad on Facebook; I spontaneously called the number and signed up. The organizer sent me a long text, something about what I "could" take to class. I skimmed the information until I found what I wanted to read, "you don't have to bring anything, it is provided". Perfect, I just showed up and used the provided materials. It took me two hours to make the first pair and an hour to make the second. Sweater selection was the hardest part.  

I was extremely sad when I read that my beloved "Moira" passed away. She was always Moira to me, not Catharine O'Hara her real name. I loved her in "Home Alone", "Beetlejuice" and of course she was my favorite on "Schitt'$ Creek". She is now on the list of wonderful Canadian Comedians gone to soon, right there with John Candy and Chris Farley. 

Most of what I have written about are what I call, "first world" problems. I did find it fun to look back on January. It seems long, but it only has 31 days in it. January has always and will always be, an unpredictable month. Today, marks the first day of the short little month of February. The days are getting longer, and the Olympics will be on for most of the month, and I know it will just swoop by.

I am really grateful to my little routine which made me go outside during many of the extremely cold days. I think I could seriously hunker down and do nothing. I am not sure what I will do in February. I am thinking I will crack open another puzzle during the Olympics. I will try to practice what I preach and "make each day count".