The last day of 2022

Here we are at the last day of the year...yet again.  There are many things I enjoyed about the year, and many things I did not.  It was such a huge transitional year as Andrew and I became empty-nesters.  I'm grateful, for the first year since 2017, we didn't lose a family member.  However, this year was full of more drama than I ever imagined, and it began an entire year ago.  I sincerely hope that the drama stays in 2022.  This two week break has not at all been a break as I had envisioned, because I worked either at school or at church nearly every day.  The kids have been challenging as they seem to think they are staying in a motel where they have no responsibilities.  I'm praying for peace as we head into the new year!

Christmas 2022

Another Christmas Day has come around and now it is evening and nearly gone.  It's really been a lovely day, and the first white Christmas we've had since 2017.  We headed north today, and we were surprised how not great the roads still were, which helped to show us we definitely made the right decision last evening.  Mom had let us know this morning that she wasn't feeling well at all and wouldn't be able to participate in celebrating today.  The meal had already been moved to mom's friend's house, and I was so grateful she still wanted us to come on over.  Deb has never married and has no children and her siblings live hours away, so she had never hosted a big holiday meal.  She was excited about having the opportunity, and we were grateful that she was such a gracious host.  One of my cousins even brought their kids over for a bit, and Deb insisted we visit while she cleaned.  It was a wonderful afternoon.

The kids really enjoyed their gifts this morning, and we enjoyed receiving gifts from them as well.  Catherine and my mother-in-law especially enjoyed the blanket sweatshirts we gave them.  I'm not entirely sure what we'll do this evening, but I'm sure it will be entertaining.  There is plenty of wine in the house, and no schedule for tomorrow either!

A change to our Christmas Eve plans

We had to abandon our plans for the day.  We had planned an afternoon Mass and then venturing to our former town for dinner with both families.  I was beginning to be concerned though, about the trip home after dark.  The wind didn't die down until late afternoon.  When Andrew's mother, an extremely devout Catholic, suggested just watching Mass on TV, I knew she had no interest in leaving the house.  Our church decided to cancel services, and I realized that things were just not good out there.  I had planned ahead earlier in the week and made sure to have a frozen lasagna so we could have a decent meal in case we needed to stay in.  While I would have loved to have been with our friends, I can't be sad about a cozy Christmas Eve at home.  We had many of these in years past.  Merry Christmas!

So much...too much

It's been a heck of a week in absolutely all fronts.  Andrew and his mom arrived here Monday evening, and that was the last day our lives weren't crazy until today.  Tuesday I had to work quite a bit both on school work and at the church, in addition to a meeting.  Then Wednesday was more of both, and the meeting was much more lengthy.  Additionally, there was some shopping and things that needed to be finished up, and since Andrew was working at baseball practices and athletic events that lasted hours on end, I was the one that needed to handle it.  Yesterday we were supposed to go to my mom's house and be helpful, but she decided she wasn't up to it.  Goodness knows what condition her house will be in for Christmas, but I can't worry about that because there is nothing I can do about it.  Instead of helping, she had me drive up there and run some errands for her.  I'll be honest, I was exhausted but did appreciate a bit of quiet for several hours.

Then last night "hit" in many different way.  We had a winter storm come through that dropped the temps by 40 degrees in six hours (the bulk of the drop was in just a few hours).  Then the rain turned over to snow, and the winds picked up to actually allow us to reach blizzard status for a few hours.  Everything is basically shut down for 24 hours, and we weren't sad that all activities for last evening and today are cancelled.  In the meantime though, our family heard from Robert, and it was pretty awful.  There had been some miscommunications between all the kids, and he decided to absolutely attack me in verbal ways that while not surprising, certainly were hurtful, and he decided to draw in others as well.  It's been a very, very long time since we had an evening filled with that much drama, and drama that was completely unnecessary.  Thomas was concerned that Christmas would be ruined, and I assured him it was days away and we'd all feel better after a good night sleep.

Today the windchill is in the -30's for the entire day, and we are grateful for a 100% completely unscheduled day.  Since there is no where to drive, Andrew and I have even allowed ourselves a daytime drink.  It's a wonderful day to be stuck here with family and our Christmas prep!

Fabulous family fun

Yesterday was a fabulous way to begin our winter break.  We left late-afternoon to head to my hometown, and our first stop was to see my grandmother.  We took her some fun gifts of a warm fuzzy blanket, some fuzzy socks, and some soap and lotion from my favorite store in town.  Grandma especially loved seeing the kids, and since she was dressed and had on a festive necklace, we took some pictures.  We then headed a mile or so north to my second-cousin's house, and altogether there were 33 people there.  We had a blast.  one of my cousin's kids from Virginia was there, and it was also her 30th birthday.  In addition, our cousins from Massachusetts were there.  It was so great to see them!  My oldest cousin realized that all surviving members of our generation were there (her brother passed away twelve years ago) and so we took pictures.  So glad we thought to do that!  It was such a special evening, and I'm so grateful for family willing to host and willing to travel!

Today, Andrew has ventured east to get his mother.  Originally, it was going to be tomorrow, but things needed to be rearranged and he is there now.  I'll be glad when they return tomorrow, and we are looking forward to all of the time we'll have together!

It's the most wonderful time of the year

Not only is it the holidays, but it is now the only time of the year where I have two solid weeks off.  I do have some work I can do (and need to do) over break, but I have the next seventeen days off work.  It's beyond delightful!  We are only three hours into the beautiful expanse of break.  Andrew is working at a swim meet this evening, but we are hoping to have some champagne later to celebrate the end of the semester!

Less than eighteen hours to go

In less than eighteen hours, our entire house will be on break.  I'll be honest, I've felt like we've been crawling toward this for the last three weeks.  But here we are, and it's almost here.  After tomorrow, I won't have to go to work for an entire seventeen days.  Actually, that isn't entirely true as payroll needs to be done, and I have progress reports to read and have out the first week of January.  But most of those days I will get to sleep in, and I'm very excited about that for us all!

The beginning of December

The first ten days of this month have been absolutely crazy, and definitely exhausting.  Last weekend, Thomas came home because he had purchased tickets to a concert for Christmas for his girlfriend...held on his campus.  She doesn't drive, and I didn't love the thought of him driving them both that far and on the interstate, so I picked him up Friday, took them back up on Saturday, waited around for the concert, and then I was very grateful when Andrew agreed to take him back to school Sunday.  I actually enjoyed my Saturday checking out a few relatively empty stores.

Sunday at church was my morning to "introduce" myself to the congregation.  It's an initiative for our church council, and while I thought the church often hears far too much from me, I was out voted.  I also made an announcement about getting the gifts still remaining on our Giving Tree, and since many people decided to make a monetary donation, I got to spend lots of time shopping this week.  It was also a really crazy week at work as we had about 20% absent all week, and that included students that needed to be going home during the day.  It made for some very crazy days.

Wednesday we got a phone call from Catherine.  While everything is going to be okay in the long run, she needed some help to deal with some financial things and it involved me having to drive to her that evening after I had worked at the basketball game for three hours.  Getting home at nearly 10:00 that night was not only physically exhausting, but dealing with her choices was also mentally exhausting.  Again, she is fine, but things needed to be handled.

Thursday, Thomas finished his first semester of college!  He had originally thought he would be done Friday, then earlier in the week realized it would be Thursday, and it turned out it was actually Wednesday but we couldn't get him home until Thursday.  We had hoped to both get him, but there was an emergency Board of Education meeting due to our levy failure in November, and Andrew needed to attend that very unpleasant meeting (his second of the week).  That meant making the trip to get Thomas by myself.  And of course, him coming home means his cat comes home as well...and his fish too.  Oh my goodness, the chaos.

Andrew and I have realized that having four humans, four cats, a dog, and a fish is a lot of activity when our lives have become very quiet.  It's absolutely crazy, and it seems as though Andrew and I have become very accustomed to the quiet.  When we all got home last evening, I was so relieved we'd made it through the week...and only one more week until our break!  I went to bed at 11:00 last night, and truly slept better than I have in quite some time, and I slept blissfully until 10:00 this morning!  I clearly needed all that sleep!  

Today Andrew and Thomas left to go east for two nights.  I was finally able to get some gifts wrapped and the Christmas cards are almost finished, and I actually feel like I am getting some things accomplished.  Although we aren't doing anything special, I'm enjoying my evening with just Catherine and I sitting here.  And in six days we will be starting break!

Fourteen years of blogging

Fourteen years ago today I started this blog.  That is a lifetime ago.  There are so very many things I want to write about, but this isn't the evening.  I am exhausted and not feeling great, and I have many things I want to accomplish.  Thomas is home, Catherine is home, there is pet chaos, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.  I'll write more again soon.  Happy Blogversary to me!

Another December has rolled around

Although the minutes at work often feel as though they are crawling slowly by, the days are zooming.  It's a busy month, and I'm trying to remember to do what needs to be done, and to be present in the moments.

Thomas called Tuesday evening and scared us to death with his intro of "So I did a thing..."  It turns out he bought a cat.  It was a three-year-old cat that needed to be re-homed.  Part of me couldn't believe it was happening, but then he explained he felt lonely (which was heartbreaking) and also that it reminded him of his late uncle's cat.  And then I completely understood.  My super sensitve, kind-hearted, emotional animal-lover of a son needed to buy this cat to "save" it, and to give himself a friend.  I 100% understood where this was coming from, and my heart broke even more.  He is so much like me in that regard, and because of that, when things make him emotional, I know just how he feels.

Yesterday I visited my grandmother.  It was a very nice visit and she was doing well.  My amazing grandmother is going to be 92 in a few weeks, and she still has her mind for the most part.  We are so incredibly blessed to have her in our lives.

I need to get to church and work tonight while Andrew has conferences, then tomorrow begins the weekend.  It will be crazy like everything else, but each day brings us closer to a few weeks off work!