January is in full swing and its arrival brought my yearly burst of this strange kind of home improvement energy. Well, it’s not exactly home improvement as much as it is spruce up/rearrange energy.

It really began in late December when I took down the Christmas decorations, especially the tree. This year that happened on Dec. 28 (if my youngest daughter had her way the tree would not stay up one day after Dec. 25 so she was my motivation for getting things back to normal so quickly.)

Once the twinkling lights and sparkly decorations were back in the closet, I saw my house in a completely new light. Suddenly the living room looked much bigger and less cluttered. That was when this desire to change things up kicked in, and I started mentally planning the wonders I might create.

My first urge was to clean and by clean I mean move stuff around to get at whatever I hadn’t vacuumed in months. Always interesting what you find under that sofa that’s been unmoved for, oh say, six months (could be more like eight months but who’s counting.) Then it was on to dusting and polishing furniture. My house smelled like a bunch of oily lemons exploded leaving behind a shiny film on all the furniture.

Of course, cleaning isn’t complete without scrubbing countertops and wiping down cabinets. Add diluted bleach to oily lemons and it’s a heady fragrance indeed.

I considered using a nice pine scented floor cleaner too, but I was afraid that might be more than my olfactory organ could take.

With my exploration and cleaning under and around stuff done, my creativity took over and I imagined all the wonderful things I could do to improve the looks of my surroundings. This year that included new curtains for the living room and dining room. Well actually, it meant new window scarves; curtains are so yesterday.

Thankfully, January is also a time for great clearance sales so I snagged new window coverings (the fancy decorator name for curtains or scarves whichever applies) at 90 percent off their original price.

I got around $250 worth of window dressings (another decorator term) for less than $20 so I felt especially good as I draped (decorator’s name for hanging stuff) the new scarves around their rods.

When I finished, I stood back and sighed with contentment. That was when my eyes strayed to the dining room chairs. Several years ago during another burst of January energy, I recovered their seats, but now that new look is an old look and I decided they needed a facelift.

So now, I’m on the hunt for the perfect fabric with which to replace the old fabric, which was perfect not so long ago. I’m debating whether to go with a paisley or a solid or perhaps try another stripe or venture into the world of floral or fruit. The possibilities are endless.

Whatever the perfect thing is, it better show up soon because January is marching on toward February, and we all know what happens when that month arrives.

On the first day of the second month of the New Year, the home improvement, spruce up/rearrange energy moves from inside to outside and becomes rake, plow/get ready to plant stuff energy.

Wonder if I will luck into a good 90 percent off seed/fertilizer sale.