Here in New England, we’ve been pretty lucky so far with winter this year. Aside from the freak storm in October, the weather’s been relatively mild, and we’re below the normal level for snow. (Last year at this time, we had almost 39 inches of snow)! We’re already dreaming of spring, (got my seed catalogs handy), but it seems so far away. We’re always running, but when it’s time to take a breather, nothing‘s better than to snuggle with a pretty throw or blanket. Grab a cup of tea and come take a pause with me!

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We spent New Year’s Day in Manhattan, figuring it’d be a good day to go, since most everyone from the night before would be asleep or already left, and, my daughter had never seen the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. Getting up early and driving in, we headed to Times Square. Hours before, there’d been millions of New Year’s Eve revelers, and several tons of paper confetti had dropped on the crowd. When we arrived at 10:00 AM, there was not a scrap of trash to be seen! The only shred of evidence of the celebration were a few sanitation trucks parked at the end of the street, and the lit “2012” lights where the Ball had been dropped at midnight. Talk about efficient post-holiday cleaning! While many do “Spring Cleaning”, the weeks after New Year’s are a good time to clean and organize. Packing away holiday decorations leaves open table tops and spaces, and it’s too cold to do much outside. With indoor pets and a busy family, I have a lot to keep up with. We’ve already “gone organic,” getting chemicals out of our foods, now my New Years’ resolution is to “cleanse” us of the rest of the chemicals in our lives!

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