things I am learning this month

January is a month for me, where I yearn to dive into study and learning.  This was, when I was teaching full time, the heart of the school year.  Holidays over, we could relax into weeks of uninterrupted learning. Skills were building, interest in the subjects we were studying was high, and as long as we could get outside for a little while each day, we social interactions were mostly pleasant. Cabin fever is a real thing in Minnesota classrooms!

I'm settling into a new phase of my consulting job. This provides even more impetus to be engaged in learning. The more I learn, the more I have to share.

These are some of the things I'm learning this month, which weren't necessarily the things I thought I'd learn...

1. In our house, strep is not a throat-based illness. It does hang out there, but for my kiddo, symptoms will pretty much never include a sore throat. Rather, we must be on the lookout for fatigue, whininess, and generally unpleasant behavior. Our usually sunny kid was being more like a sky before a thunderstorm, and the overnight throat culture told us why.  Poor boy. He's better now.
2. Rushing to get something in before the holidays decreases my ability to proofread things like invoices.  Oops. So, I've already been paid for the work I billed for 2 weeks ago. Live and learn: when importing a spreadsheet, actually check the totals!
3. There is a limit to the number of weeks I can eat all the sugar I want without feeling really crumby. That limit was reached by Christmas. The last few weeks have been unwise at best.
4. Needing others to admit their non-earth-shattering mistakes will never lead to happiness. Better to shake my head and move on.

So, what are you learning this month? What are you reading? What are you creating?