We went bowling today. It's been over 5 years which includes having a kiddo and a frozen shoulder and I did pretty darn well.

Our weekend was pretty peaceful.  Stuck around the house until evening church service last night after which we did a little shopping since the kid pushed to go have dinner down in Washington.  Today I got a bit of time in for work before we headed to bowl.  I am feeling pretty fulfilled this weekend.  Glad I got to spend some quality time with her.

On a sad note my cross broke.  I had it off after a massage last week.  When I tried to put the necklace back on I dropped the pendant and the rose gold portion separated from the silver portion.  At least I found a good repair place.  Fingers crossed that it can be repaired.

Last week the electric company notified me that they had a planned power outage for my house/street/area this morning.  I looked at the weather and it said low of 23 and a high in the 30s, so I wasn't sweating it.  This morning it was -7 on the way to take Avery to school.  The weather app was sticking to its guns claiming the low for today was going to be 23. *blink blink*

I headed to Starbucks for a few hours.  When I checked in via their text message service it indicated my power wasn't out.  I called their 800 number and was told that the work was done.  I was home early enough for most of my daily meetings to be from here rather than on my cell w/ the sbx noise in the background, but the power wasn't out. *shrug* ok, I'm good with that for sure... but how much are we betting the power is out by surprise some other day instead?

Speaking of work calls, I'm about done w/ all of them.  I'm truly struggling to get things done because it's one call after another.  The best part are the calls when you need to indicate what you did since the call yesterday... approximately NOTHING.  #feelingaccomplished

My shoulders and back did remarkably well despite the snow shoveling.  The strained feeling was minimal and I was pleasantly surprised.  Still coughing.  I wonder sometimes if you just end up in a habit of coughing which makes it go on longer than it needs to.  I tell myself to just not cough, but well... you know, what's the first thing you do when you think "don't do this".

Critter updates - Saffy goes for her yearly checkup tomorrow.  She was enjoying the snow with Zero earlier this week and feeling spunky.  Zero is doing ok.  There are some things he just needs to get through his head; I'm hoping consistency will be the hammer that gets them in there.  Church no longer lets me trim his nails easily, so I am trying to figure out how to get him to work with me without getting swatted at.

 It's the second half of January and we got our first _real_ snow overnight.  To be fair, most of the Western half of PA and several states south of us also got significant snow as well.  I went out to shovel the driveway twice last night in an effort to spread out the pain.  I still had a good bit this morning to clear away.  Even though I expect no one I still shoveled the stairs.  I was also a good girl and cleared around the fire hydrant in my front yard -- you're welcome neighbors.  It's been blowing around, so it's hard to guestimate the overall depth but I'd say we have 6-7".  School was closed today due to the snow fall, so I didn't need to get shoveled out, but I bet I'll see people turning around in my driveway more often today as a result -- again, you're welcome neighbors.

I no sooner finished shoveling and the flurries began again.  While I am reminded to be grateful that my shoulder functions this winter I am also saying a prayer that they still function tomorrow despite the abuse.

Happy 100th birthday in heaven to Betty White.  I made my little donations to my favorite Cat and Dog rescues, you should do the same :) 

Long before I realized today was Betty's birthday we had also assigned this day to Church based on lose guestimates that he was prb around 6 months old when we adopted him on July 17.  It worked out well to not overlap Mom's birthday or Saffy's birthday, so the 17th it was labeled on my calendar and today he got a special treat with his breakfast.  Even he watched me shovel the show this morning from the front window.

This past week saw daycare closed for 4 days... again.  I'm tired.  But more than that I feel guilty for the amount of time the kiddo spent watching videos.  Yes, some of them were educational, but nothing compares to real learning time.  Our favorite egg has been staying away because he tested affirmative.  Looks like that stint isn't up because he got another affirmative despite feeling better.

I guess if he had it that is what I had nearly two weeks ago?  If so what they advertise as primary symptoms are off the mark for the latest flavor.  This makes it all the more lame that they continue to check for fevers at school.

The doggo has been a bit more tolerable.  I am trying to be more diligent about some things to mitigate potential issues.

This weekend Zero has decided to go into 100% hardcore drive me insane mode.  We went outside to enjoy the snow Friday after school/work and he promptly jumped up, putting both front paws on Avery toppling her over.  She plopped down on her butt, and gratefully didn't end up smacking her head on the concrete, which could have easily happened.  I feel like all I did this weekend was yell - "leave the cat alone", "don't jump on her" (he will jump onto the couch not carrying if he's landing on Avery), "get out of there".  Today we went to the trampoline park and hung out w/ Avery's best buddy for a couple of hours.  We returned home to find that he was able to reach a significant amount of Avery's stuff.  If he can reach it from the crate he drags stuff into the crate and destroys it.  Her tent and tunnel, or what remained on the main body of each anyhow, are both in the trash at this point.  Her sleeping bag has a hole that will need to be repaired.  Avery didn't cry a ton, which I am surprised by, but grateful for.

I'm over it.  I can't stand having this huge crate in the middle of my living room forever.  There isn't a bigger space to put it where nothing can be reached.  You can't have it up against anything, as I learned in my bedroom, because when he has a poo accident you get to clean the whole wall too!

This has been an expensive few months with him - and I don't even leave very long/very often.  How long before him stomping on Avery, Church, or Saf is more than an annoyance?  What if he pushes Avery down the stairs?  What if he really hurts the cat?

I did it.  I left the message saying I just can't do it anymore.  I don't know what else to do.  I never thought I'd be this person.  I miss the peaceful existence I had 4 months ago.

Saffy had her 13th gotcha day on the 3rd (we labeled her 14 yo as a result).  With Zero's birthday right after Christmas and Church's birthday earmarked for later this month we'll do one celebration later this month.  That buys me some time to figure out what I am going to do for them.  I'd like to think that I would make them some special treats - but let's be honest, even when I didn't have a kid and a lot more free time I didn't make treats but a couple of times.  I think I need to order something special and maybe plan to cook up some meat and rice to distribute to the gang.  Other ideas are welcome.

Avery and I have a lovely cough.  Around the same time I also managed to get sore ribs (intercostal muscles) again (from being in the car for a couple of hours) and shifted back to no longer being overheated.  I thought briefly that I was going down hard, but I had no fever - I truly think that my hormones finally flipped back the other direction.  It's been a couple of years that I was rarely even wearing a winter coat out of the house, but the past few weeks I have found the 20s to be painfully cold.  My sinuses are now pissed off, so it's time to do the neti pot tonight and get past this.

I have been going back and forth on my extra vitamins because I was trying to determine what was causing my nosebleeds.  I would take them for a couple of days and then have 3-4 nosebleeds a day.  Stop the vitamins and a couple of days later the nosebleeds would stop.  Debugging has led me to blame the zinc.  Further searches tell me that supplementing zinc could drain your body of copper thus giving you the nosebleeds.  Very interesting.  So the question is, can you supplement copper?  I need to research more.  At least I can continue w/ my vitamin d, vitamin c, and n-acetyl cystine.

I have been telling myself I am overdue for purging.  I need to go through so many things and cut some stuff loose.  I had taken one quick load to donate before the new year (baby bedding and a queen sized comforter since I no longer have a queen bed in this house).  Last night I found the last minute motivation to clean out the kitchen junk drawer!  It took way longer than I would have liked, which should make the full task in front of me seem extra daunting, but it was therapeutic.  I found myself quickly gathering a garbage bag of clothes before bed too.  I need to go through the other cabinets and closets and then maybe I'll have the momentum necessary to tackle the basement.

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.