What's Hot. What's Not. Round Here. Right Now.

..and that was January? Fastest first month for years! Brighter and better than the one before, here, and that has encouraged me to do a bit of a round up: what's hot, what's not, round here, right now.

Hot:

• My new raskog trolley from Ikea. I should really be taking it upstairs and filling it with supplies. Instead The (Not So) Small One and I are stuffing it with snacks and pushing it round the kitchen, asking each other if we want "anything from the trolley". I always thought being an air hostess would be nice; but only if the uniform included good hats.
• A weekend visit from our friend who lives in San Diego. His wife had given him a shopping list for the Cath Kidson shop in town. "Are you sure you don't mind coming with me, Sian?" he asked, in his innocence.

A casual, piled up page to reflect  the way you'd find me on a grey  Saturday in January - on the sofa with a stack of magazines and sewing and other things I love. The tag with the tree is a clothing label from about four years ago and most of the other pieces are from an old Midnight Rooster kit (including the top of the little paper bag the embellishments came in), The photo comes from a month-by-month "things to do" book I had as a child - I made a layout about it here

• A boy in a dinner jacket. But there'll be more on that in February. So far he only has plans for the Formal, which is on Valentines Day. But his plans are good..
• Three Ginger Cakes for the price of two in Sainsburys. A small pleasure, but one worth enjoying
• A new Craft Shop opening close by, and with a big workspace. Maybe it will be a chance to meet some fellow scrappers
• It's National Storytelling Week this week, run here in the UK by the Society For Storytelling which exists to promote our oral storytelling tradition. It's funny: when I'm planning Storytelling Sunday, I never think of us all typing or scribbling - I imagine us sitting round the kitchen table, talking, properly telling the stories. I try to hear your voice every time I read a post and I try to make you feel as if you can hear mine. I learned about reading out loud at Library School (can you imagine? actual lessons on the best way to hold a book so that everyone could see the pictures? It was my favourite time of the week) and I can recommend the resources on this site if you are interested in making your voice heard!

And not hot?

• The (Not So) Small One's Big Bang calendar getting lost in the post. it's alright really. She doesn't need it. She can quote Sheldon perfectly well without it.
• Dried up Paint Dabbers. hardly the end of the world, but still..
• The top of the house. Not hot. It's freezing. We have a smoke safety window which has jammed itself open and we've been waiting for over a week for someone to come and fix it..

But now. let's move on to February - and Storytelling Sunday this weekend. We had lots of new participants last time round and I'm very much hoping that they'll all be back to join in again this month. Along with all of the rest of you! So, Pick your Precious - find something you love and write about it - and we'll see you on Sunday? More information here if you are new to the whole idea - and if you are new, you're very welcome.