Here we go again.  This year has wizzed by and time shows no sign of slowing down.  Let's get to it, you know the drill :)

Looking back at notes from and wishes for 2021:
- Avery is more awesome every day.  She is smart, funny, and helpful - and I am so proud of her.  It feels weird to not have milestones like what words she says to add here.  It's also crazy to see it's been over a year that she's been 100% out of diapers.
- Not a single cruise... and none on the horizon.  How depressing is that?  With the rules for travel as they are things don't look good for 2022, but a girl can hope.  We did get to visit with my sisters this year, but I only left PA twice - once for work travel and another to pick up Zero.  Avery and I did go to Living Treasures and we got another trip to Idlewild in; all of us went to Splash Lagoon meeting her bestie there.
- Speaking of Zero - we added Zero Francis and Church Noir to our family!  As of Christmas we also have a fish with us... but that's a whole other story.  The fish, a female betta is yet to be named.
- Safyre is well for her age.  Her hearing on the other hand has deteriorated significantly.  It's okay.  She can hear my poor whistle to call her in and she knows the routine.  She's been helping to teach Zero the ropes and setting a good example.  She has started going to the top of the stairs and crying, but not seeming to want to be up there if I allow her up.  Not sure if her mental health is declining or what.
- Health wise for me... there was a procedure under anesthesia to release my frozen shoulder and the subsequent physical therapy.  I also went under for my first ever colonoscopy and caved, getting my first pair of progressive glasses; talk about feeling old.  Otherwise I am well.  I would like to take off more weight, but that's a given.
- Work remains insane.  I'm at least between tasks that I have to lead, but there is no shortage of other activities I need to jump in on.  Taking time off is hard - I have to leave or schedule things in order to actually take those planned days off or I end up hoping on and getting sucked in.
- I hadn't planned anything big at the house for 2021, but was I wrong.  In the spring I ended up prepping an area and putting in a rather large swingset. I also treated myself and put in a hot tub.  I did keep pressing in on the mortgage.  If I can keep going I'm down to 2 more years.  I would be even further if I hadn't snapped and made those two big purchases as I could have dropped a nice chunk on the mortgage.
- I did finish my previous bible in a year plan and joined up with another one that started Jan 1 and finished this morning - I sure love Father Mike Schmitz, so it was easy to keep up.  I did a few other online listening plans and after a break got back on daily rosaries.  I also shifted churches and am back at the Catholic church.  After more than a year of not going to church it is nice to be back every week.

So my wishes for 2022:
- I still wish for normal to return.  Not a "new normal" - that is bs propoganda.  People need to realize they're being lied to and misled.

- I need to keep going on my weight lost journey - let's just put this plaque up as I expect it to be here every year.  I grabbed a water tracking app and am going to try upping my water intake to support this desire.  I never drink enough water, I know this, so it is a good change regardless.
- Nothing is on my mind for the house, but that was dangerous (and expensive) last year... so maybe I should plan something to keep the costs constrained.  The flooring here is all a nightmare.  The carpet is crap and has been since day one (bubbles, something underneath it in the bedroom, pulling up at some edges, and now a few spots damaged by the cat).  The downstairs flooring shifts around under your feet and you can see gaps in some spots, plus where water has laid on it it is bubbling up a bit.  So all of that should be high on the list, but that would defn be expensive and not where I want to dump money.  The windows aren't ideal, but again pretty significant cost.

- I want an actual vacation.  I know someone who is expecting in July.  I pray that things go away so travel opens up fully and people aren't leery of one another -- because I sure would like to go see them after the baby comes.  If that can't happen I do hope at least to find somewhere we can easily drive to and spend a few days; maybe into Ohio or WV.  I have started to think about a Disney trip - maybe for 2023 before Avery starts school but that too depends on how things progress in the next year or so too.

Our long Christmas weekend is coming to a close.  The weather has been mostly agreeable - if I could keep the dogs from digging in the mud thanks to all of the rain.  The gatherings were nice, but always make for tiring days.

Work will definitely be waiting for me tomorrow.  There seems to be some big mayhem getting ready to come down the pike.  Hopefully 2022 doesn't fly by like 2021 did.

I also need to say happy birthday to Zero.  While I am guessing it isn't really his birthday, it is the day they had on his paperwork... so happy 2nd birthday!

My back is finally happy again!

I finally ordered the last two Christmas gifts -- they're shipping direct to the recipient.  Well, not true, I still need one more gift card, but we'll grab that before the family gathering at which we need it.  I still have gifts to wrap, so I am not out of the woods yet.

I didn't get this done over the weekend, nor did I get some cleaning and tidying done as I should have.  I did manage to make two batches of chocolate chip cookies though.  We also went to the laser light show at the church where Avery's daycare is on Friday.  Avery loved it as I expected.  I also got a Sunday afternoon nap w/ a kittie curled up on my lap.  I'll take that weekend over cleaning anyday.

I'm still in pain.  I felt better on Sunday and then yesterday the ache returned, not so much in my neck but deep around my shoulder blade.  It hurts to sneeze, it's hard to sleep.  The heating pad and a pain reliever did nothing.  Getting old sucks.

Hence, I'm starting my morning w/ the back massager.  This tends to make me sore, which seems counter productive, but it does loosen up knots.

I finally got gifts for my sisters families into boxes and ready to take to the post office today.  Well, I still have to order a couple of things to ship direct to the one, but hopefully what I have will arrive on time.  Sunday afternoon was wrapping presents to make this happen.  I still have a majority of the ones for this house to get done.  How am I this far behind on life?

This week was a whirlwind.  Our team had to be prepared for a meeting on Friday, one I had to attend at another office.  Friday was a loooong day.  I was up before 5 and out the door by 5:30 to arrive a bit early for the 10:30 start time.  It ran to 6 and I got home around 11pm after being slowed by some traffic issues and heavy rain on the last legs.  Sitting in the car for so long I am pretty sore today.  My neck and shoulder on the left is so not pleased.  To the hot pad for me tonight.

Today we had my sister Mandy join us.  We had a bit of running to do, so we did to get to shop a little.  We stopped for a late lunch and then we came home and hung out a bit.  We also pulled out the Vitantonio pizzelle maker and cranked a batch out.  I may have paired it with some home made lemoncello.  I'm ready for bed.  Hopefully I can finish recuperating tomorrow.

I did get the tree and many of the decorations out the weekend I brought everything upstairs.  I waited a week to decorate the tree however as I was waiting to see how the cat was going to behave.  Fortunately, he has been content to lay under the tree to this point.

The mayhem seems to be at a hum compared to where we were, but the doggo still has a ways to go.  Every day while I work I also work with him -- in and out of the crate for increasing durations.  The amount of drool has been reduced significantly but is still a factor.  He remains very interested in playing with the cat who acts like a little old man and wants to ignore him.  I do find it funny that Zero forced Church out of the dog bed, much like the he did to Saffy in recent months.  I caught a picture of the indignant look on the cat's face.

School was closed last week for 4 days thanks to a few folks testing positive.  This has left me feeling run ragged.  It was definitely a bad time with regard to work to step away so I was putting in time when I could and plopping the kiddo in front of her shows to keep her occupied.  She did a great job and we did put some learning videos in there, but I remain quite guilty.

We did get to relax over the weekend, going to the town Christmas celebration which is always lovely.  I wish we had gone both days -- there was so much we didn't get to do.  We did however get to see her buddy, whom she missed tremendously all week, and hang out at the parade.