January is a cold month

Wow the month has brought some very cold days. I'm sure there are more to come, no snow yet. It's been too cold for snow! What I feared is an ice storm. It may still be in the works. We had a nice mild weekend. It was rainy drizzly this morning. Chinese New Year is here! It's the year of the Ox! We had a subdued New Years Eve dinner. I spent most of the day in the kitchen though. I made Hoe Sea Soong, otherwise known as oyster, pork lettuce wraps, two steamed fish, shrimp, scallops, several different veggies, and a 5 spice poached chicken. Mom had sent me more dried oysters, and ginko nuts so that was a plus. We went to H Mart and picked up a couple of pounds of chai siu, and miscellaneous veggies, and the seafood. I didn't see any fresh fish I liked, so I had to change things around and just got two flounder. The scallops I picked up were that great unfortunately, the shrimp were alright. Head on nasty looking things. I wanted to make salt and pepper shrimp, but well the shrimp weren't that big, and I'm not that talented cutting the backs of the shells, removing the intestine, and legs without mutilating the small shrimp. So for the next two weeks we are supposed to celebrate CNY, but we won't. Come on, in Georgia? Sure thing. It's not like SF. I was thinking about how the last few years working, every time the phone rang, we would do our spiel, and include Gung Hay Fat Choy. Why? Well half the pharmacy staff was Asian. It was a given we were celebrating. Here, they don't have a clue. If I saw an Asian person at work it was very rare, and most of them were surprised if I said anything.

Last week, I went out to lunch with Neville's mom, just a basic mom gathering, we met at McDonald's and watched the Inauguration, while eating and complaining. Many things were discussed. Stinky had a bad month so far. He didn't concentrate on his grades enough and was kicked off the wrestling team. This made him realize for the first time, it's not just affecting what happens inside the family, but outside too. So he says he's really gonna try hard to get them back up as he really liked wrestling. He was pretty good too. As another incentive we are going to get him an Alienware laptop as a prize. Holy smokes those things are expensive!

We are also on a strict budget now. We've been enjoying the fruits of Goof's labors, and not managing it well enough. So back to saving and being thrifty. It's been hard, but at the same time, it's worth it in the end. Everything is on a strict budget. We have a certain amount to spend on groceries, and household supplies. Personal spending has limits also. We have a small allowance for each of us. It's better this way. We have some major purchases we need to make this year. Like a new stove, dishwasher, car repairs, cart repairs, and possibly a new tub and enclosure for Stinky's bathroom. We still need to repair the barn outside too. I'm scared about that, because we haven't figured out which fuse powers that outlet. I would love to make it bigger, but then that requires a new foundation. Just taking the old walls and roof off to put new ones up is enough I think. Plus we need new doors. So much to get done.