How is everyone's January going so far?  How are you doing with your new year resolutions or your 2019 goals if you do them instead?  My January has been mixed with some amazing secret things that may or may not happen (so I won't disclose them at this point.  If they do happen, I will most defiantly write a blog post about it, don't worry!) And some less amazing, more mundane things have been going on as well.

I had to have a few days off sick in the first week of January because I caught the flu off my housemate's girlfriend.  They had spent Christmas day with her family and some of them were ill, then they up to see his family on Boxing day where some of his family were also ill.  His girlfriend ended up getting flu and then a few days before New Year, they both came to my and my housemate's house for New Year,  Although his girlfriend was mostly in his room or using the bathroom, I managed to get sick with a sore throat and then more flu-like symptoms which started on New Years Day.  Great.  I'd managed to avoid getting a cold this winter up to that point and then I get ill with flu.  I wasn't as bad as she was thank goodness, as she spent a few days just sleeping and struggling to keep food down.  I just had no energy to walk to work, run around a shop for eight hours and then walk home, so I phoned in sick for a couple of days.

I've had to have two fillings this month :( I have a sweet tooth for chocolate and always have had.  Over the years I've tried to not eat as much chocolate but around Christmas, it is difficult with all the treats we get at work and those I get from Father Christmas.  I dislike the dentist and definitely dislike getting fillings!

Last week on a day off I went to the doctors as in November last year I'd started with tennis elbow in my left elbow and it hadn't really got any better.  Some days are better than others, it mainly depends on how I sleep and if I'm all curled up in a ball or not. If I am then my elbow will be sore the next day.  I was sporadically doing exercises to stretch and strengthen it, but it's been difficult to rest it as much as I need to while at work as I work in quite an active retail role.  My job en-tales, alongside the customer service side of helping customers; changing window banners and displays including the mannequins, as well as changing the in-store mannequins, moving stock around as well as processing delivery.  All very demanding on my elbow muscles.  The doctor, therefore, signed me off sick for two weeks.  Not much fun when I'm a person who although I do like some downtime, I'm also a do-er and as I don't feel sick, I want to be actively doing things that I am unable to currently do.  It's all quite frustrating.  

As I'm off sick for two weeks I'm looking at things I can do that won't be too taxing on my elbow but I'll still be saying busy.  I think that more clearing and sorting out is not currently an option as I'm really struggling with gripping and holding any weight in my left hand as it hurts my elbow.  I've had a couple of walks; one to collect the sick note from my doctors and one yesterday afternoon to the cinema to watch a film.  It's been ages since I last went to the cinema, but seen as I'm on leave from work it gives me something to do in the afternoon.  I went to see Mary Poppins Returns, I loved the original so much I wasn't sure if I would want to see the new one.  There wasn't anything else on this week that I wanted to see so I went to see it.  The film was good and I laughed at lots of it, although I found Emily Blunt's accent was very annoying.  It sounded very fake to me.  I went to the 2.20 pm showing on a Tuesday afternoon and the ticket cost me £6!  I was the first one into the screen and I ended up having it all to myself!  No one else turned up to that screening at all :D

Other things that I've been doing the past few days are journaling more and also reading more as well.  My 2019 reading list consists of twenty-five books!  A couple are one's I'd started last year and hadn't finished them, so I aim to do that this year.  I seem to have a problem where I keep buying books, even though I have a large pile of unread books at home.  I've decided I can't buy any more until I've read those that I already have but haven't read yet.  I did that a few years ago and I did manage to read most of the books I'd had for a while but not read.  If anyone is interested, I will be writing a post about the books on my 2019 reading list.

What's on your 2019 reading list, if you have one.  Or, what books are you currently reading or wanting to read this year?