Before I can move on to February, I have to finish up with January.  It wasn't until now that I realized that I hadn't done that.  It has been that crazy around here!

It is a huge amount of birthdays in January...here are the family 5.  Son John, John, my Dad, Emily and Ariel.

A couple of pretty sunrises shots.

Some grandkid times.

There is nothing more irritating that having to buy something you don't want to buy.  Something you don't think you really need, but you can't do without when it goes out.  I am talking new tires, new roof, new underwear.  You gotta have 'em, but until they go out, you don't realize how important they are.  Well, my washer went out.  I called to get an somebody out here to fix it.  He asked the model number.  Would you believe that they can't even get the parts for it?  It is less than 10 years old! I hate it that it is cheaper to toss it out and buy new than to fix what we have!   So not only did I have to go out and buy a new one, I also bought the matching dryer.  Well, you can't have half a set.  I figured that the dryer was on borrowed time as well.

I have a couple of indoor plants that I have had for a few years.  The yellow orchid has bloomed every year for 8 years now.  The white orchid is on its second bloom since I got it and the pink azalea was a Valentine from my parents.  I can't even remember how old it is, but it blooms every February.  The orange plant, a bromeliad, was given to me when we first moved into this house.  It was blooming like this when I got it, but the mother plant died off leaving two babies.  They were pretty and green but did not turn color again.  I read that if you seal the plant in a clear plastic bag with an apple for 10 days and then wait about 3 months, it will force it to bloom again.  In August when my apple tree was ready, I dropped a whole bunch of little apples in the bag and gave it a try.  Sure enough, 3 months later, it is in full bloom.  I was pretty happy about that!

So that is the rest of January...on to February!!!