This is going to be the strangest reflection upon a year ever.  Life continues to fly.  I guess given the landscape of 2020, that is kind of a good thing, but it does mean some of the most precious time with my little one has also flown by.

As always let's look at the wishes I had for 2020:
- I have gotten to know my new relatives better, but not as I would have liked.  It's kind of hard given the past year. I can't use that as an excuse though, I need to get better at getting on the telephone.  Let's put that on my wishes for this year, since it doesn't look like much will change.
- I wanted to get back on top of loosing weight.  Let's call that the most epic fail ever.  I'm up, and not by a couple of pounds this year.  Again, I can't give myself a pass with the pandemic, I have no one to blame but myself.
- Doing things with Avery was limited since many things were closed.  We did do soccer, but we didn't start swim lessons or other things that I probably would have otherwise done.  We did still go to Idlewild one day too.
- House progress - from my list there is a new freezer and dishwasher and I got the interior painted, which is huge, even though it wasn't on my list last year.
- Am I better person?  I dunno, I'd like to think so.  I've made progress on some things that are important, but could do better.
- I'm glad I didn't comment again on making more friends here.  Heaven knows that has been impossible this year.

Notes from 2020:
- Avery is not a very picky eater, I consider that a pretty huge win.  She is well spoken and clear, she's smart and funny, and she is totally potty trained -- even in undies over night!
- Another year with a single cruise.  There should have been a second one, but ya know.  The saddest part of this is that who knows when I can look forward to another one.  We didn't get to Aunt Jackie's either, but fortunately she did come here -- with my niecey poo! -- and we got to spend time with Susanne.
- Work is crazy busy.  There is opportunity for overtime pay too though, so that helps in some other ways.  I'm still struggling to use vacation time -- mostly because I can't leave, so when I schedule off I tend to still get sucked in because there is so much that needs to be done.
- Danika is no longer with us.  It happened pretty early in the pandemic and as sad as is makes me to say it, it was a bit of a relief.  I think she had a good life with me.  Avery still remembers her and mentions her.  She was a good girl and she deserves to be in heaven with her Meme.
- Safyre is well, thank goodness.  I did find someone who was skilled enough to trim her nails properly!  So she is probably more comfortable.  I feel bad for her at this point with Avery; Avery has taken to following her around the house with her trucks.  Saffy remains very patient and takes the turn the other cheek attitude, she's a good girl.

So my wishes for 2021:
- Normal.  I want normal back.  I want to go do things and experience things with my daughter.  I want to walk around the zoo without a mask, I want to cruise, I want to fly to see Aunt Jackie, I want to go see our older family members in Altoona.

- I could leave it at that, but I won't.  What can I control?  I can control me.  That means it's time to fix the weight thing (again).  Me being a chonk sure doesn't help ensure I could weather COVID if (when) it happens.  I need to be here and be well for my sweet girl.

- Here at the house, I don't know what I want to tackle anything other than beating down the mortgage.  I refinanced it to reduce the payments and timeline earlier this year.  I want to get even further ahead.  I have always tried to pay ahead and put into retirement, but listening to more and more Dave Ramsey I am thinking I need to kick it up even more.  It's time to curb bs spending.

- I also want to keep working on more bible reading (or listening as it has been this year on my bible app).  I will get the whole way through on the year long plan that I am midway through.  I have also been playing through the rosary each day (since late October) in preparation for the election.

- I'm considering a shift in churches, but I guess first things need to open back up again.

- Most of all, I want to see a bunch of politicians get voted out.  I want God to shine His light into the darkness, expose the corruption, and open a bunch of eyes and ears so the attempts by the media to convince people otherwise would be as though they had been muted.

I should have mentioned that I impulse made a batch of peanut butter fudge - thanks Alton.  It was the fastest and easiest thing ever.  It was pretty decent!  Notice my use of past tense.  My favorite egg and I have pounded through it... I even caught Avery sneaking a piece.  Mental note - she can reach pretty far.

Christmas was pretty quiet.  We mixed up a french toast casserole on Christmas eve so we were ready to go in the morning.  Since our company bowed out we had leftovers.  Surprisingly we slept in a bit and then opening gifts took a little while, but Avery helped get everyone's attended to, including Saffy's.

Since my favorite egg neglected to bring the cut of meat he wanted to make I instead made a turkey breast that I had bought and various sides.  It wasn't the big to do that Thanksgiving was, but it was definitely larger than a Sunday meal (Mom always did a bigger/nicer meal for Sunday).

I had boiled down the carcass, getting the last of the meat off, so today I made a turkey rice soup that turned out pretty nice. I also got motivated digging in the freezer and started a batch of pasta sauce.  I didn't want to make a grocery run, so it will be light on onion.  I also pulled a bunch of frozen ground beef which I am cooking up in non-meatball form to add to the sauce.  I dunno why frozen meat tends to bother me so much.  I smell it, and it just doesn't smell like fresh.  It doesn't smell bad, but it leaves me leery.  Getting those things addressed made space in the freezer at least to restock it with said sauce.  I didn't even use all of the tomatoes I had in there - that tells you how productive the plants were this year!  I probably should have put a pack or two of the hamburger meat back in the freezer too.  Maybe the last ones need to finish defrosting in the fridge and become taco meat instead.

Needing to work with a kid here at home at least I'll have some food ready, coupled with leftovers, to get through the week.

Current status:  Trying to get some time in while the kid is on the couch distracted with her favorite videos.  I worked 9 hours yesterday to cover some time.

Daycare is closed for two weeks.  It started with a parent that didn't dropoff/pickup.  They were going to press on since they weren't coming in the building.  Then a teacher in another upstairs classroom tested positive.  That triggered the shutdown.  Today a message came that a second teacher tested positive - this one in my kiddos room.

I have a bad feeling they're not opening back up in 2 weeks.

Saddest thing about it for me is that I just emailed to cancel our 'reservations' for Christmas Eve service at church.

I remain very fortunate with regard to COVID.  I still only have 2 "one-degree" friends that have had it to my knowledge.  I still share the concern and even mourn with a fair share of people.  I just learned that a "friend" from Starbucks just lost both of his parents within 5 days.  I can't even imagine.

Hundred Acres Manor is a haunted house near here, in Bethel Park. They didn't open this year or I would have also taken Niecey Poo there. They did however put together a pretty nice drive through light display, which they dubbed Elfburgh. On Saturday morning I made our reservations after seeing it was booking up and we were there last evening.

On the drive up we went along the route that took us past a resident who has put on a Christmas Vacation themed display for several years. I was driving so I didn't get the best view. I am sure I'll go back some other time now that I know where it is and how easy it is to find.

We also kicked off our cookie making. Gotta have some ready to leave for Santa after all. Saturday I made smores cookie balls from a mix that turned our pretty yummy and I mixed up the batter for pizzelles and put it to rest in the fridge over night. Sunday afternoon was spent making pizzelles. I would like to make a batch of peanut butter cookies and of course some chocolate chip. We'll see what next weekend brings.  We're getting tightened back up in lockdown, so I doubt I'll be out running.  It's time to shift back to curbside.

Most of the gifts are wrapped; I am still waiting on maybe 2 to arrive. We gave Santa a roll of paper with dinosaurs on it to wrap Avery's presents. I hope I gave him enough paper.

I ended up going to Medwell to get my steroids. I'm glad I did, the swelling has reduced a good deal and quickly, but I'm still hurting. I have already made a few motions that were too much by accident and left myself writhing.

I went first thing (8am) on Friday. You pull up and there are signs saying you should call before you go in. Ok. So I called. and called. and called. It either said the number wasn't available or gave you the canned options saying no one was available. I could see the employees inside. Around attempt number 70 there are now 3 other cars pulled in also dialing and redialing on their cell phones. I finally got a person who asked a few questions and told me to come in to register.

When I was waiting inside I got to listen to them taking other calls.  People trying to get COVID tests.  Their daily slots for such testing is limited and was full up, so call back tomorrow at 8am.  Well that explains why I couldn't get through.

It took an hour and a half, so I barely got out of there an home for a call I needed to accommodate, but I did get what I needed.  $12 for the steroids, prb several hundred for the visit (what I see processing right now is $120 for the xrays and $240 for the outpatient visit) which could have been avoided if my PCP had not told me to just keep suffering.  THIS is why I wanted to wait until January for all of that, since I haven't paid out my deductible for the year yet.  I would have expected MRI to see soft tissue, but ok.  Now I have a picture that depicts a bit of arthritis and some calcification that is consistent with bicipital tendonitis.