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January Roundup

January 31, 2021 by April

WOW, this month was a RIDE. But kind of like a ride where you watch a video of a roller coaster from a first person point of view, because let's be honest, 99.9% of us watched everything that happened this month happen from our smartphones. I watched the insurrection of the Capitol with my phone propped up beside my laptop as I tried to work. Then two weeks later, I watched the inauguration the same way. Somehow in between though, I did what seemed like a lot of stuff, which I will detail in this first 2021 January roundup.

January Recipes

Tomato Jam Grilled Cheese

Brown Butter Collards

Small Batch Fruit Salad

Small batch fruit salad

Vegan Chili

TVP Chili Spice Mix

Pasta Roller Ramen Noodles

Champagne Vinegar

And I delved into cookie decorating with less environmental waste, plus kitchen tools I've treated myself to.

Kitchen torch for creme brulee

January Home Updates

This month I published a post on our 2021 house goals, and well, we have an exciting development on one of them: we're getting solar panels installed! I technically started looking into it more realistically in mid-December, but with the holidays and a few other details it spilled over into mid-January before we signed and sealed the deal on it. The solar panels should be operational by the end of February, I think.

Meanwhile, I am staring down the barrel of this project. I don't wanna do it, but I know this is the best time to do it.

Valspar paint to paint the trim inside the house

Other January Things

Besides food and home updates and watching history unfold, I've had a lot of administrative tasks in our life this month. I had to find a new CPA because the one we've had for our entire adult lives sadly passed away. Plus it is tax organizing month, but I think I've gotten organized enough that it's a fairly easy process by now. Then everything related to the solar, which luckily was all conducted through email and text.

But you know how it goes, women are tasked with being the administrator of our households. While I resent that it just "happens" like that, I like the control I hold because I know everything about everything. Some women find themselves knowing nothing about how their lives operate when husbands are no longer around, but I will only find myself wondering how the technology infrastructure in our home works. Which, now that I think about it, is no small task. So while it doesn't feel like a lot while I'm folding clothes and keeping the floor from being a carpet of animal hair, Patrick really does do a lot for our household.

Speaking of animal hair, Meatloaf is the epitome of January in this house — wrapped in fleece.

Dog wrapped up all cozy in a blanket

More Life

  • panama flags on building casco viejo
    A Girls Trip to Panamá City
  • middle of brussels
    Our Trip to Belgium
  • amsterdam canal with bikes
    Our Spring Trip to Amsterdam
  • Blackfriars Inn Inverness vegetarian full Scottish breakfast
    I Miss A Vegetarian Full Scottish Breakfast

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About April Blake



Cooking doesn't have to be boring and routine. Are you looking for easy dinners, Southern-inspired recipes, fun desserts, and ways to incorporate unusual ingredients in your cooking? Welcome, you're in the right place!

I'm April Blake, a recipe developer, food, agriculture, and travel writer, and digital marketing manager in South Carolina. Please follow me on Instagram, but not in real life.




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