Month of January 2026

January was a cold, snowy month. We had three snowstorms this month and average temperatures well below freezing, sometimes dipping into the negatives overnight. This is the coldest, snowiest January we’ve had since moving to Peekskill in 2019.

Beginning of January:

Winter gift for the birds

Mid-January:

Snowy Weekend

End of January:

Digging out from Fern

We’ve spent a lot of evenings snuggled on the couch watching movies. Some of Charlie’s current favorites are the Despicable Me series, various Curious George movies, Brave, and Monsters, Inc.

I blogged every day this month! I didn’t start the month planning to do so, but after I had blogged for 5 days straight, I wanted to keep it going. After about a week, it got easier and I noticed things throughout the day I could blog about. I had a week-long stretch where I had posts scheduled a day or two ahead of time, then the rest of the month I wrote and posted the same day.

Will I keep this going? Maybe. We’ll see. Even if I don’t do every day in February, I expect it to be more frequent than autumn 2025. I’m getting back in the habit of just hitting publish.

Let’s take a look at how I’m doing on the things I want to do this year.

What’s going well:

I’m keeping my camera out on my desk, batteries charged, and taking more photos again. It is nice.

I’m cooking beans each week! Here’s the collection of posts: https://cagrimmett.com/tag/beans/

I’m making little sketches for Charlie’s lunchbox, and I’ve been doodling with him at the table occasionally. Here’s a few:

I started work on a dough bowl:

I also started two small house projects: putting in a new utility sink (which required me to do some plumbing) and replacing florescent bulbs in the basement with warmer type-B LEDs that bypass the ballast to eliminate the hum. I’m counting these under the “learn more mechanical things” category, as I’m a plumbing novice and I had to do research to learn about why florescent bulbs hum, and why the LED type-A bulbs hum (they don’t, it is the ballast!).

What I haven’t done:

I haven’t been baking, doing math (though I bough a book on eBay that caught my eye), or stretching consistently. I have been reading some non-fiction and fiction, but I haven’t been reading that much overall this month, and because I’m jumping between books I haven’t actually finished one yet. I’ll remedy that soon.

The baking will have to wait until it is a tad warmer out, as nothing is rising. We tried twice with mediocre results. I also need to replace the light in my oven, which might help something proof overnight. I think I’ll do go that after I hit publish here.

I’ve already blogged about everything else I’ve been doing. Making hot sauce, going to a museum, taking photos in the snow, and tying flies.

We’ve had a couple playdates with Charlie and his friends this month, one on a warmer day at the park and one the night before the big storm at someone’s house, but we had to cancel two because of snow and the general illnesses going around. Our whole house has colds right now, and so does half of our friend group. Winter is tough on socializing.

Here’s to a slightly warmer, healthier February!