Somedays you learn something about people that you know that shocks you. Sometimes those things make you think about a range of things.

As I've always said - that one person you just don't like (even if you can't put your finger on why) there is someone who loves them.  It's always very apparent when you've got a mutual friend and you find yourself scratching your head wondering why or how on earth your mutual friend finds cause for their relationship with said person.

The scary/bad/evil person is some dark skulking figure without a face, not someone you know.  That's why they say often it is someone close to a victim, the last person you'd suspect, who was the villian.

We often forget that it could easily be us that is the villian in someone else's story.  It could easily be any one of us.
1 Peter 5:8 Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

You're kidding right?

I got mail today from collections for local taxes saying I didn't pay my Cburg taxes in 2016.  Um.  Right, I didn't pay you any local taxes.  I didn't LIVE HERE in 2016.

I guess if you're too lazy to look up on your local records that I purchased the house in February 2017 and too lazy to look at my 2017 taxes which indicated partial year of February to December of 2017 here you probably don't want to go ahead and fight Richland to try and get the money that was paid, rightly, to them, so how about you leave me out of it?

I can't believe I have to waste my time making a telephone call and trying to figure out what I have to do to enlighten them.  Their form says I have to submit proof.  How about you submit proof I lived here?  This is your burden, not mine.

The humidifiers are off.  The heat is off.  The windows and back door are open.  Avery was outside at the end of the day at daycare without her coat.  We went for a walk.  The sun was out.  I spent an hour in the sun cleaning up dog poop in the back yard.

Ok, so it isn't all great, but even that task felt pretty good today.  I am sure winter will get another hurrah, but I see hope today.  It has me in such a good mood that even my long work day yesterday which resulted in me only getting to see Avery for about 30 minutes seemed like a good day.

Work is still being a bear, but I'm trying to make progress where I can.  I won't say I'm not stressing, I am, but I slept!  I actually needed my alarm to wake me this morning.  This is no small thing to me as of late.

The follow up call from the doctor's office said the lab work said I didn't have a UTI and that I could 'stop the antibiotics'.  I don't know what to believe about the two sides of the argument as to what causes antibiotic resistance.  That aside, I felt like something was up with me, so I finished them anyhow.

 I also went back to the dentist for the other filling late last week, so that's done with.  This time it was only two shots of Novocaine and nothing in excessively painful locations.

This week turns my focus away from things about my body maintenance and towards house maintenance.  Starting first, on Tuesday I have the place that will make the bath cabinet for my 1/2 bath coming to measure.  I've decided to do a floating one since this will eliminate a few of my concerns, it is in style as of late, and it will still give me some storage space in there.  It will be good to get the ball rolling in there.  They also gave me pricing for the other bathrooms, which I'd like to do, but only after I have figured out what type of tile I'd like to put down up there and in the laundry room.

I did have someone come clean twice. I'm not sure how I've been feeling about it.  There were things missed in the first clean, and the second clean took even less time and still seemed to have some gaps that tweaked my nerves a bit.  There was to be a third clean, but rescheduling occurred and then some dialog that made me feel even less like this was the situation for me, and that third clean never happened, nor have I heard back.  I've reached out to someone else and they're coming to give me an estimate on Wednesday.

I saw my first robins of the year this morning!  That's a little less than 2 weeks earlier than last year.

I've been quite the slacker so far this year posting to my blog.  Forgive me.

So the eye doctor appointment I mentioned in my last post went well.  No changes whatsoever to the mole on my eye.  I've since gotten one filling, but we ran out of time and couldn't do the second in that appointment, so I have to go back in March *sigh*.  It took three shots of Novocaine, the third into the roof of my mouth because I was still feeling him drilling!

At the beginning of each year I make my rounds to all of the doctors, so I guess it makes sense that I start to sound like an old person with everything falling apart, but I also have to report that I'm on antibiotics today too.   I had my gyn appointment yesterday where I asked for them to test my urine for a UTI.  When I was pregnant I had my first/only one and it was completely asymptomatic then, so some oddness I've been noticing lately combined with my existing appointment had me wanting to know.

I've had a headache that I've been beating away for weeks now too, which has given me a stiff neck, a feeling that my head is too heavy to hold up, and tired achy eyes.  Of course I'm now making myself paranoid as I look around on Google.  I guess we'll see when the lab tests come back, but either way I've started the antibiotics.

I feel like a little kid again... after a loooong time, I have cavities that need filled.  Not one, but two.  *ugh*  I haven't had to have anything like that done since I was in NC, so like more than 15 years ago, and even then I think it was only replacing older fillings.  I've been drinking the local water which is fluoridated, so why do I still have cavities HMM?  Yeah, poison, I know, but I got sick of lugging bottles of water.  I still do it for Avery, but I'm drinking their poison.

Tomorrow I return to the eye doctor for a follow up to my appointment 6 months ago where they saw a mole/freckle on the back of my eye that they want to make sure isn't growing or changing.  I was so busy dreading that appointment and I didn't give the dentist visit the proper amount of worry.

Polar vortex.  This means my car says it's -4 out and I can really tell how poorly insulated things are here.  The hinge on the front door had ice forming on it... on the inside of the house.  I've always felt a cascade of cold air falling from the window over the kitchen sink, but dang it's cold right now.

I'm once again super grateful for my garage. Of course, without it being allowed to have a heat vent it is down in the 30s in there too.  But that's definitely better to expose myself and Avery to as we come and go.

The comments I made in my last post - well things have begun to escalate on their own.  The next week or so should be interesting to see how things pan out.  This again leaves me somewhat sad for the whole situation.

I'm over here pouting that another weekend has ended so quickly.  Friday was a bit rough, it involved carefully mulling over and then choosing my words in an email.  When one of the folks above me said "do you have a minute to talk" I thought I was in trouble.  Instead I was told how well worded that reply was and how grateful they were.  whew.  The stress is still there at work as we close out that one effort.  I just want it totally done, but I know that some of the conflict will likely go on beyond this effort.  I'm trying to do my best to not escalate things.

The winter storm that came through didn't end up producing much around here.  It gave me plenty of time to do our shopping yesterday and get home before the rain really set in.  It rained pretty hard up through the middle of the night, so I was pretty concerned when I woke up and decided after a few peeks out the window that we were not heading to Starbucks and off to church.  Eventually they cancelled church.  (How crazy is that.  You're not a Catholic anymore when that happens, that's for sure.)  A while later the plows were in the neighborhood, so we decided to venture to Starbucks after all.

After coming home Beff and J visited with us since they were up in the burgh for an event, so we had a nice visit for the afternoon.  This did put off Avery's nap, but she went down easily after they left.

It was a nice weekend, to hell w/ the weather, but it sure was too short.

Today was weird... random out of nowhere call from someone I haven't spoken to in quite some time.  Who decides to call because they were looking for someone w/ the same first name in their phone, didn't have them, so they call you?  Ok, whatever.  It was nice to hear from you.  Also flattering to know you have at least spotted things on my facebook and know what's up with me.  It's always nice to know when people you aren't tight with keep tabs.

Settle down 2019.  It's only two weeks in and you're causing all kinds of drama.

Last weekend we attended a viewing for one of my few local friends' father. This past week was hair on fire getting ready for a client demo this morning that was deferred due to weather at the 11th hour.  I was off and on the computer all weekend looking for the completion of materials that never came.  I'm frustrated to say the least with that.

But that wasn't the big ordeal this weekend.  On Saturday we learned our daycare's plans to be sold to a new owner were falling through and it was closed - immediately.  Well hell.  Fortunately, both of us have pretty understanding work situations.  My Favorite Egg was able to get work in yesterday to cover such that he could be here today with Avery and I could work as planned, since I was supposed to have the aforementioned demo.

We took some time midmorning to go checkout another daycare that gave me comfort, so we're signed up starting next Monday.  We had already worked out care for the remainder of this week with the aforementioned friend who lives very near me and their nanny.  There will still be some internal drama for me as I know these new experiences could freak Avery out, but I'm going to try and chill as to not allow her to feel my anxiety.  If I could stay chill for her while prego I can do it now.

As to good drama, my one other friend here in the area just became a Grandpap today, on my Mum's birthday!  Avery is his "PGB" (Practice GrandBaby). Fortunately the newbie is a boy, so she can still be his one and only Practice GrandDaughter.

How quickly time is passing.  I cannot believe this is my second year end summary where I get to tell you how amazed and blessed I am by Avery.

Some high points for 2018:
- Avery.  STILL!  The milestones are amazing.  Her personality shines more and more every day and she's definitely learning new things every day.  I feel like there is something remarkable happening a couple of times a week.  She is a sweet and pleasant girl.  I'm not going to lie, having a wee one isn't _easy_ and it is tiring, but compared to what I expected - she is a walk in the park.
- Our first cruise with Avery went quite well.  That was back in April before she could crawl or walk, so I am sure the next cruise will be a very different adventure, but at least one without the need of scrubbing bottles in a bin every night.  Fortunately that is coming soon!
- Remaining gainfully employed from home with my long time company.  There has been some stressful points this year, but some evolution in my role too.
- Avery's first airplane ride to Texas to visit with Aunt Jackie, Uncle Bob, and Cousin Matt/Amanda.  We didn't get to see Cousin Danielle, but it was because she's busy working at her first "real" job!  That's a highlight too, I'm quite proud of her.
- Going to visit Avery's Aunt Bethany and meeting her horses for the weekend.
- Aunt Jackie also was sure to come here to visit, in specific for Avery's baptism and her first birthday, both of which were definitely memorable.
- I got a night out to go see Matt and Kim live!
- Getting away w/ Avery to the church retreat at Jumonville.
- I've been adulting for so long that I needed to replace furniture.  As such this year I have purchased comfy new couches that recline and a new adjustable king sized bed.
- Going and doing things I want to do but never would have if it weren't for Avery.  For example:  the aviary and Phipps conservatory.
- Taking the leap and starting to have someone coming to help clean.


Things I wanted to achieve in 2018:
- I didn't get everything done here at the house that I wanted.  The electrical I wanted done is complete, so now there is a ceiling fan on that deck roof, a few more plugs, and a switch instead of pull strings in the basement.  There are cabinets in the laundry room too!  I did not however get in gear on the half bath, but I have many of the supplies.  I am just dragging my feet to avoid the big cost and tough decision on which vanity and counter top to go with or if I should move the one fro the half bath upstairs and replace it with something bigger.  I continue to wish for block windows or a source of light in the garage, but I've taken no action there either.
- Making friends... I've made acquaintances, some are quite good acquaintances, but that isn't enough.  Avery and I made a few acquaintances at Starbucks in the mornings.  My biggest source of adult interaction is at Starbucks and for a few moments when I drop off or pick up Avery from daycare.
- I haven't gotten weight off like I had wanted.  It's hard.  After Avery is in bed I am ready to relax and wipe out myself, not to work out.
- I've tamed a bit with my foul mouth, but I have a ways to go.  I am sure I will be extra mindful once I hear sh*t come out of her mouth for the first time.


The tough parts of 2018:
- Feeling lonely.  Just like last year, I'd really like to find/make closer friends in the area.  I'm blessed that is the only thing I can think of to call a tough part.
- I've had a few bouts of concern for my own future.  Combine that with the irrational fears that Moms, or at least this Mom gets and there you have the new stresses I've been fighting away.

General comments:
The dogs:  Saffy and Dani remain well despite their aging.  We did have a heck of a scare w/ Dani a few months back where she nearly choked herself to death trying to get out of her crate.  More recently Dani has started having the issue where she doesn't get up from napping when she should, instead she gets up and urgently needs to go.  This has resulted in quite a few poop pickups.  It basically is 'falling out' of her before she can even tell me she needs to go.  I'm hoping we're not on a downhill with this.  I need to start to be more proactive about forcing her outside even more often I guess.  Fortunately, since I work from home I know it could be a lot worse.

I continue to be very excited by the difference in weather here over Jtown.  We had the slightest dusting of snow so far this fall/winter.  I know Johnstown got at least one good snow fall already.  If you look it up, based on averages we get 1/3 the amount of snow here.  That speaks volumes.


My desires for 2019:
- Keep seeking out friendships here locally.
- Do a little more bible reading and/or study.
- Once again I'll say I want to take some weight off, we'll see how that goes.
- I'd like to take a day off and go do something with Avery at least 8 of the 12 months.  My targets include a few things that require nicer weather, like the Zoo and Idlewild.
- I want to get the bathroom situation off of the list, for sure.
- I want to declutter a little more - it's time to go through the closets.

I tried to nap with Avery today, but I didn't sleep any better than I did last night.  Instead I got up and took down the tree. Other than the wreathes on the windows, every visible vestige of Christmas is gone.  Christmas itself, as I've said before always lingers with other things, including sadness and heartache.  This Christmas definitely re-opens a few wounds.  It has me disliking myself once again.  I don't know what 2019 will bring.