Thoughts on January

CW. In this post I’m going to be very positive about January. If this upsets and offends then do move on. I won’t be offended.

I think the main reason I used to hate January so much was the length of time it took to reach pay day. Add to that, the cold, long and dark nights as well as the lack of anything much to do except give stuff up. The result is pretty miserable. I am extremely grateful to be financially secure these days, plus I ‘m paid weekly which is a definite advantage. Last year was depressing because of lockdown and I make no secret of the fact I struggled. So, this January I decided to turn the page on last year and be as positive as I can. It’s paid off

January has been a good month in many ways, below are a few of the highlights.

Health / Weight Loss

I’m often good at losing weight in January. After all there is always a certain gain from over indulgence. But this month I’ve gone at the thing single-mindedly. The key reason I need to lose weight is to protect my health. I’m 60 later this year and I am over weight (indeed I fall into the obese category) and un fit. I’m at risk of heart disease, diabetes and probably other illnesses. I’ve been drinking too much alcohol and not doing much exercise.

For 20 days of January I drank no alcohol, sticking to tea, coffee and water. I don’t drink fizzy drinks, with or without sugar and haven’t for a few years. The exception is tonic, for gin. But until last night I hadn’t had any gin either. Now Master and I have moved onto a more maintenance approach, where we have wine at weekends. I guess the only thing I do need to remember is that Thursday isn’t actually the weekend. So, I’m work in progress.

The thing is though, that by cutting out alcohol and reducing my carb intake I’ve lost 7.5lb this month and I’m really please with myself. I’ve also lost some inches and that’s what I’m really looking for. My clothes are fitting better and I have lots of clothes still to fit back into, so all good.

When it comes to exercise I’ve been less good. I’m on track with my weekly swimming and this week I’m actually going twice. But other than walking I’ve not been doing much else. I started yoga but haven’t kept it up. I want to restart that for February though.

Travel

We’ve been nowhere this month and won’t travel next month either. I’m not too fussed as it’s winter time. But we have lots of plans going forward from March. We’ve even booked some of them. There are two classical music festivals in March and April that we plan to go to and have apartments / houses booked for those. It’s interesting that the pandemic has made us choose to stay in hotels less and instead to choose rentals. Then in May we are off to France to go house hunting which will be exciting. There will be more, but that’s far in to the future!

Wedding planning

We made the decision to get married at the the end of last year and so I’ve pushed on with that this month. If I left things to Master, it would never happen. I decided on the venue before I saw it in person and when I did I loved it. A small country hotel with beautiful grounds and it will be perfect for a summer wedding.

My son, but manly daughter in law are helping with planning. This is so far helping my relationship with her develop and I’m really happy about it. When I got married before, I was young and just did what people thought I should. Plus, there was an element of me not really knowing what I wanted. This time I am clear. Master wants simple and no fuss. I’ll be looking for a little bit but not too much fuss.

Yesterday I told the date to our lovely friend over in Amsterdam and she has already booked her flights. So, it has to happen! I’ve bought a lovely dress which doesn’t quite fit, but definitely will in another half a stone or so. This sounds like pressure but isn’t since I do know I can buy a bigger size.

All in all, the wedding planning is so far making me very happy and there is plenty of time to get everything done and make sure we and our guests have a lovely time.

Blogging

This is my 22nd post for January here on MPB, plus I’ve written on my other blog. My generally up beat mood has provided me with plenty of ideas. Plus I’ve been pushed on by the memes, new and revitalised.

Firstly Brigit’s daily prompts, which while I’ve not used them all have helped immensely. I’ll be continuing with these for as long as she has the energy to put them out there.

The return of boob day on Molly’s Daily Kiss has made me post views of the front of me rather than just the back. I’m actually enjoying taking the odd boob picture and plan to do more, especially as my body shape hopefully changes.

January Jumpstart hosted by Violet has definitely spurred me on, though I’m glad I’ve wanted to post anyway.

Then there are the two new memes. #Swap with Floss, and my own #Five Things. Between us we’ve done a great job, even if I do say so myself. Floss is a great host and brilliant supporter of other bloggers and people on twitter. I’ve really enjoyed her prompts and am looking forward to the new one which is out tomorrow. Last but not least No True Way, run by Lily and is great for busting myths about D/s.

For February I’m looking forward to February Photofest and this time I actually have about 2/3 of them in a folder, they just need a bit of editing. Something I’ll start on later today.

Sex and relationships

Unfortunately Master injured himself on New Years eve and has spent most of the month in a lot of pain. It seems likely he fractured a rib, given how localised the pain recently became. But thankfully he is now recovering. This means we’ve done little outside of the house and I’ve had to do more of the things he usually does inside it.

It also means we’ve had sex only once and he isn’t sure he should have done that since it set him back a few days. But hopefully February will be better. The lack of action might account for why I’m feeling a bit horny just now. I’ve channeled it into some erotic fiction writing which I’m saving for when I run out of steam on my blog.

So folks that was January. A pretty good month, for once!