A few spring photos

Spring is rushing by, and I realized the other day that I haven't shared any pictures of it with you. Here are some pretty things that have been growing and blooming in my world over the past few weeks:

Isn't that beautiful? Our young crabapple tree has shot up to over 7' tall and two weeks ago it was covered with these pink flowers. 

Speaking of beautiful..

Two borage plants from last summer started growing back late in the winter. I moved them from the zinnia bed over to the corners of the new raised bed. They've since burst into bloom, and I just love the color! 

Next, some neighborhood photos with the wisteria and azaleas blooming. I just love this time of year.

Eustacia

Several weeks ago, my husband asked me what I wanted for my birthday. He said it ought to be something special, because 50 is a milestone. We talked it over, and he suggested it might be time to start planting the roses I've been dreaming of growing for a long, long time. Years ago, before we were even close to being able to buy a house, I signed up to receive David Austin English rose catalogs. Every time I got one, I'd spend hours poring over it and hoping one day I'd be able to place an order. 

Well, now we have a home of our own, and a garden, and I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate turning 50! 

The initial plan was to order three roses, because that's how many we have room for in the spot I picked, but after giving it some thought, I decided it would be better to start with one and then later (maybe next year) add two more. That will give me the opportunity to focus all my attention on my "birthday" rose, since this is new gardening territory for me.

It took two weeks, but I finally picked the variety I wanted and placed my order. That was on Tuesday of last week, and on Friday my rose arrived! When I got home from work Gregg had already prepared the bed by digging up and moving the banana plants that were in the spot--hard work, and I was so happy he got it done for me! The next day, Saturday, we were able to plant.

Behold my newest "pet"...a bare root shrub rose called "Eustacia Vye":

It doesn't look like much now, but I have high hopes!

Birthday weekend

The Saturday morning before my birthday, while I was in the midst of finally finishing my cake, I got texts from two of the three friends who were invited over that night. Both had last minute emergencies and weren't going to be able to make it to the party.

At this point I'd already made and purchased a lot of food and drinks and alcohol and I knew I was going to have way, way too much. Marla was the only friend I'd invited in advance who was able to come, and the neighbors I'd planned to text that afternoon weren't home. 

I was disappointed, but of course I understood. Martina and her husband had a friend in crisis and needed help finding temporary housing for his dogs, and Meisha had a family issue come up. And since I hadn't mentioned anything to the neighbors ahead of time, they had no way of knowing I was going to text them to walk over for cake that night. 

It was still a nice time anyway, even though it was just me and Marla. I set out small dishes of the food I'd prepared, made a small pitcher of champagne punch, plugged in the string lights on the porch, and we spent a few hours eating and drinking and talking. 

The next morning, Martina texted me and asked if she could stop by that afternoon. She felt about about missing the night before and wanted to bring a gift she'd gotten me. Of course, I said yes, and that afternoon we had another small "party" with more small plates of food and plenty of cake. I didn't make punch this time, but we did have a selection of hard apple ciders. 

That afternoon, my phone rang and I saw it was my nephew, which seemed odd. When I answered, he said, "Hold on a second!" and then him, his mom (my sister in law) and his wife Jessica all sang "Happy Birthday"! Even one of their dogs joined in by barking while they sang! It was so sweet! 

I got serenaded again later that day. Two of my favorite little kids (siblings) at the school have a sweet mom who saw on Facebook that it was my birthday, so she recorded them singing Happy Birthday to me and telling me that they love me, and posted it on my Facebook page! (Those of you that I'm FB friends with can go check it out if you're interested). That made me so happy!

Then on Wednesday, not-so-little P. and his mom met me at our favorite Mexican place for dinner to celebrate our birthdays...since P. and I are birthday twins. He's 12 years old now and growing up fast. It was really good to spend some time with them and they gave me a card in which they had written, "Friendship is a treasure, but you're more than a friend. You're family." That made me cry. 

All in all, it was a good birthday, even though it was nothing like I'd planned!

Back later today when I show you my gift from Gregg. :)

The short version

I've been trying to write a post about my frustrating experience with baking myself a birthday cake last week. When I told one of my friends about it, she laughed until tears ran down her face. Granted, we'd had a few drinks, but it really was funny as I told the story.  

When I tried to write about it, though, I couldn't get it to work and convey the humor of the situation, so here's the short version: I got way overambitious and attempted to make a huge chocolate cake with homemade buttercream. I also wanted to decorate it, despite never having any practice at that. I ordered a cake decorating kit with lots of bags and tips, watched a few Youtube videos, and gave it my best shot. I baked the cake on Thursday evening and left it to cool overnight, and then on Friday I started making buttercream and attempting to pipe borders and simple flowers.  

What a nightmare! Turns out buttercream is hard--not hard to make, but hard to get the consistency right. I did a thick layer of chocolate buttercream first, and it looked awful. Just awful. So then I made a huge batch of vanilla buttercream and made two more attempts to cover over my bad work...and it kept getting worse! Finally after three or four hours, and a trashed kitchen, I gave up for the day. I was disgusted with the whole thing and ready to dump the mess in the trash!

The next morning, Saturday, I knew I had to do something. The party was that night, and the cake was a wreck. So in desperation I went to the grocery store and bought two cans of Betty Crocker chocolate icing which I slathered liberally all over the mess, smoothed it out, dumped a bunch of sprinkles all over the top, and called it a day. And then I said to myself, "What the hell was I thinking?" and also, "Never again."

Two days of stress and effort, in pictures (and layers of crappy buttercream):

Next: the first two big blobs of cheap canned frosting I slapped on top of the wreckage made me laugh hysterically, and I had to take a picture. This summed up all my planning and effort perfectly.

GEORGIE WUZ HERE! 

Okay, but to be serious, the cake actually turned out to be...presentable. And tasty. You can't really tell from this picture, but it was huge and weighed a ton. Especially with two layers of homemade buttercream smothered in Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge icing and Sprinkles.

Quick update, more later

I've been working on a post about last weekend (specifically, the almost-disaster that was my overly ambitious birthday cake plan) but a comment by Debbie last night reminded me that I haven't updated you all about Gregg's oncology appointment. 

The doctor says his scan looked good! He thinks the handful of radiology sessions were successful and Gregg's going to be fine. Just to be sure, they're going to do a couple more three-month follow ups, but Dr. Smith doesn't expect any more problems. We're so pleased and relieved! That news was the best birthday gift! 

Thank you for asking, Debbie, and reminding me to post this. :)

Okay, more later about the Great Cake Debacle and the birthday weekend. Right now, I'm off to work.

Half century

I have a big birthday coming up on Sunday...one of those years that end in an "0". It seems too crazy to possibly be true, but I'll be 50 years old! 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not upset about it, I just can't seem to wrap my mind around it. I've barely adjusted to thinking of myself as a forty-something and all of a sudden, I'm about to leave my 40s behind. Crazy, crazy, crazy. I'm sure it's like this for everyone, but whew!

I'd originally thought I'd have a big get-together to celebrate such a milestone, but it hasn't worked out. When I talked to Gregg about it, he asked if I'd mind keeping the party small because he's not feeling up to having a lot of people over and having to help host. He's got an oncology appointment looming next Monday where he'll get the results of a CT scan he had last week. This will determine how successful the radiation has been and whether he'll need further treatment or not. With this hanging over his head, he doesn't feel like any major entertaining, and truthfully, I don't either. 

So instead, I'm having a small party on the back porch Saturday night with just two or three close friends. Marla and Martina, of course, and a new friend I've made at work, Meisha. Later in the evening I might text a couple of friendly neighbors and invite them to walk over and have a drink or a piece of cake. I plan to have some good food, good desserts, and a few different drink choices (alcoholic and non). I bought some pretty string lights for the porch, too. It should be fun, and not too stressful to pull off like a big party would be. 

 

I do feel kind of sad that Gregg is the only family I'll have celebrating my birthday with me. My dad died just over a year ago, and I haven't been in contact with my mom since last summer. * I don't have siblings, although I love Gregg's. In fact, I invited his sister to come down on Saturday to spend the night and attend the party. I would love to have her (so would Gregg), but she thanked me for asking and then changed the subject. It kind of hurt my feelings, to be honest. Not because she's not coming, but because she didn't even seem to really consider it. 

Of course, Marla and Martina are like sisters to me, and I have an abundance of friends. I have a really good marriage. I'm grateful for every bit of it, and I don't have any right to complain. I try not to. I don't always succeed.

These are just things I'm thinking about as I prepare to turn fifty.

* It's better that we're not in contact. It's been really hard coming to terms with that, but it's true. It's sad and hard and I wish things were different, but I've started to prioritize my own needs and my own well-being. It's past time that I did.

I want my hour back

I think Daylight Savings Time is ridiculous and I hate it. Why on earth do we still do this? Maybe it had some value in the past, but I can't think of a good reason to keep it up in this day and age. I've felt "off" all week and it's been really hard to wake up in the morning. Then there's all the clocks that have to be changed--what a pain! I wish we could pick a time and leave it alone already.

You know who hasn't had to drag themselves out of bed an hour earlier and trudge off to work in the (still) dark of night this week?

These two bums:

I snapped these photos right before leaving Monday morning. Don't they look cozy and comfortable? No lost hour of sleep for them!

Just another Thursday

What do you do when your morning is off to a crazy start? 

Text a friend and share a laugh! Sometimes that's all you can do. 

It's been quite the week, y'all. 

Weekend recap

March began with a beautiful, sunny day on Saturday, and quite warm. We spent a good bit of time on the back porch with the dogs and Marco, soaking up some fresh air and sunshine. Yesterday was much colder and slightly overcast. 

Gregg's been sick. Last week he had some sort of cold/flu/virus that put him in bed for a couple of days with fever, body aches, a cough, and nausea. For a while Saturday morning he was feeling a good bit better, but by suppertime his fever was back, and his cough was getting worse. He's still got a lot of chest congestion but as of last night seems to be turning a corner.

Besides bringing him ginger ale and offering to heat up soup, things like that, I've been keeping my distance. I do NOT want to get sick again this year. It's been a horrible flu season in this area and plenty of other nastiness has been going around, too: strep, Covid, stomach bugs. I have enough exposure at the school. In fact, we think that Gregg picked up this virus at the little preschool he still visits twice a month to clean the aquarium. 

So not the most auspicious way to begin March, at least for him. I'll leave you with a few pictures I took over the weekend. Have a good week, everyone.

Poppy facing down her sworn enemy: the FedEx truck! (Our neighbor gets deliveries almost daily and Poppy can't stand it).

Marco preening in the sunshine Saturday morning. 

Daffodils are blooming around the neighborhood. 

Winter break checklist

I'm thrilled to say that this morning I girded my loins and did our taxes. It's always such a relief to get that over with, and more so this time because Gregg started collecting Social Security last year. We were both a little nervous that since he hasn't quite reached his full retirement age, his earnings from self-employment added to the SS payments might put him over a threshold to owe higher taxes than usual. To my relief, though, we pretty much broke even and the amount we owe the federal government was less than the refund the state owes us. In fact, we come out ahead by $350, so I'm counting that as a win!

I had a six-month checkup with my family doctor yesterday which I was also dreading. I'd hoped to have lost more weight by now, but that didn't happen. (On the positive side, I haven't gained any back either). The doctor didn't comment on it one way or the other. I'm hoping to get back on track and take off some more weight between now and August when I see her again. 

I also had a dental appointment early in the week. I just needed a cleaning and checkup, but I've come to dread my visits because the big, busy dental practice I use are ALWAYS trying to have me get expensive work done. This last time I protested that I wanted to hold off as long as possible on any extra work, because of the expense, and they STILL printed off a big estimate (over $7000!) and handed it to me with a warning that the prices go up every year. I hate the pressure to spend lots of money when I don't think it's really very urgent at all. I was super relieved when that bi-annual ordeal was over, too.

Another thing I accomplished this week was helping Gregg construct a new cage of bird netting around the crabapple tree. It grew so much last year that its branches were rubbing against the old net, so we had to make everything wider. If we don't take these steps, the neighborhood deer will eat every tender new leaf that opens this spring.

It's hard to tell from this photo, but the tree is over 7 feet tall now! I can't wait for it to bloom in a few weeks.

And speaking of growing things....my two seed orders arrived this week!

I'd already started tomato and pepper plants from seeds leftover from last year. As you can see, the tomato seedlings are starting to get big!

It feels like I've gotten a lot accomplished on this break, and I still have the weekend in front of me to do whatever I want. Then back to it on Monday!

Handsome

For Meike, who asked about Little P. and the dance. His mom sent me a picture, as promised. 

I'm going to have to stop calling him "Little" P.! He looks so grown up for not-quite 12.

A homely* kind of day

I'm off work this week thanks to Winter Break. Besides appointments with the dentist and doctor (both simple routine checkups) I didn't make any plans, other than just enjoying myself doing whatever I wanted. So far, it's been really nice. 

On Saturday morning I met up with two friends from book club for breakfast. The place we went has the most wonderful Eggs Benedict, a favorite of mine, so of course that's what I ordered. The next day, I made a big batch of homemade vegetable soup, which has been simmering on low in the crockpot more or less ever since (it's had one overnight in the refrigerator). Today the weather's turned frigid again with the possibility of freezing rain and snow flurries tonight, so we're looking forward to that soup. And as I type this, two loaves of homemade bread are just about done baking. Between the bread in the oven and the soup simmering in the crockpot, my house smells wonderful right now.

Added a little while later while finishing this post:

I added an egg wash and sesame seeds to the bread this time. I hope it tastes good!

In other news: I am a domestic goddess!! HAHA. :) No, but seriously, in between making the bread, I finished a knitting project! I've been wanting to start knitting again, but it had been a loooong time, and I wanted something quick and easy to start with. Gregg has been pestering me for a while now to make him a new hat, so that's what I did! Nothing's any quicker and simpler than a hat and I didn't even need a pattern. I'm happy with how it turned out, and he really likes it. It's thick and warm. Just in time for our winter weather over the next few days!

I only talked him into letting me take his picture by telling him I'd take a side photo. I don't know why he hates having his picture taken, but he does.

To finish off a good day, I have book club tonight. That's always a fun time and I'm looking forward to it. I'm only about halfway through the book, but I'm not that invested in it, so I'm not worried about finishing. Seeing my friends is the main thing, although the drive home might be a little bit icy. Depending on the weather I may need to leave a little early, but I hope not.

Have a good night, friends!

*Homely in the British sense.

Shot down

I haven't shared a Little P. story in a while, so I wanted to tell you about talking to his mom yesterday. Since we both work in the same school district, I can reach her office by dialing her extension even though we're in different schools. Anyway, I was thinking about her and P. yesterday morning and how we hadn't talked in a while, so during a slow time I rang her up to say hello. *

Anyway, we chatted for a couple of minutes, caught up, etc. When I asked her how P. was doing, she told me about something that happened to him recently. His middle school (!) is having a Valentine's Day dance this Friday evening. There was a girl he liked, so he summoned his courage and asked her to go with him. So cute! Right? 

Except...you want to know how that little sh*t of a girl responded? 

Turned him down, which is perfectly fine, but then she told her circle of little catty mean-girl friends that he had asked her, and they all laughed at him.

Laughed at our little P.!

I was so mad.

Judon handled it like a pro, as usual. She didn't get too excited about it all, merely telling him, "Forget that girl. Go by yourself or with two or three of your best guy friends." She encouraged him to look on Amazon to find something he might want to wear, and he picked out a red suit jacket (!) so she ordered it for him. Then they shopped together for a shirt and pants to wear with it. I'm so glad he's going to go and I hope he has a blast! I told Judon to send me pictures of him all dressed up.

And I hope that girl gets a lesson from karma one day. 

Growing up is tough. I'm glad I don't have to do it again. I wouldn't go back to my middle school years for anything!

*I knew that she'd see who was calling, and if she was busy at the moment she wouldn't pick up. That's why I wasn't worried about disturbing her at work.

A new skill

For the first time ever, I made bread by hand today. It was a revelation. 

Not only was it far easier to do than I expected, it turned out great. Nice crust, nice light crumb, truly almost perfect. It's also delicious! After it cooled enough to slice we had it spread with softened butter and raspberry jam. It was the best thing I've eaten in ages.

A poem for Friday

 

Rant

Three months ago, on Election Day, I swore I wasn't going to let the second Trump term cause me the daily anxiety and stress that the first did. 

Yeah. That's not working out. At all. 

I've never been so frightened in my life over politics and the direction of our country. Every day it's just more and more horror. The rule of law, precedents, norms, civilized behavior..............none of it means jack shit anymore. 

I find myself resenting Trump voters even more than I used to, and that's saying a lot. I'll have zero, ZERO, sympathy when the lowlife losers and racists who voted us into this mess lose their Social Security, disability payments, workplace protections, FEMA disaster relief, Medicaid, and on and on and on. Fuck every single one of them. We tried and tried to tell people what a disaster this was going to be, and "owning the libs" meant more to them than anything good and worthwhile that America has stood for for the past 250 years. They can all go to hell and rot. 

The only thing I regret is that the decent people in this country are going to suffer right along with them. Over the weekend I actually found myself googling "safest blue states for women and minorities" and making a plan for selling the house and moving before things get too bad and we're trapped here. States that border Canada are my first choice.

I can't even believe I just wrote such a thing here on the blog. Never in a million years did I think things would come to this.  I love my house, my state, my life, but I won't sit around while our version of the Taliban comes into power and live under the control of such people. We have literal (neo) NAZIS running the show. NAZIS. And a way-too-large portion of our population are ALL FOR IT. It's sickening. Scary. Almost unbearable.

How are you coping? Do you think I'm crazy? Alarmist? If not, are you making plans? I'm afraid this is all going to get much, much worse before it gets better. If you have any words of comfort that might make me think otherwise or feel better, please share them. 

And thanks for letting me get this off my chest. As you can probably tell, it's been a bad day.

Game changer

I took today off from work. I had a mid-morning appointment with my allergist, Dr. Stone, and I have loads of paid time off I can use. My appointment was just a follow up to check on my progress with the Dupixent injections. I was so excited to show him how great my skin looks! These shots have been a total game changer for my severe eczema. The skin on my ankles and feet hasn't been this clear (and itch free) in over 20 years!

There's still quite a bit of discoloration on the skin, which Dr. Stone thinks will gradually fade over the next 6 months or so. You can really see it in certain lights, like in this next photo:

I don't care about the lingering redness one bit, though. The skin is smooth, cool, and soft. It's not broken and bleeding from scratching anymore, and the terrible itching has stopped pretty much completely. I can't begin to tell you how much this has improved my quality of life!

 Bless the doctor for being persistent in getting my insurance to cover the cost for this medicine. I'm beyond grateful.

Miscellany

Is it just me, or did January seem like the longest month ever? It seems like New Year's Day was months ago rather than mere weeks. 

Gregg finished his five rounds of radiation early in the month. It was much easier than he was afraid it would be and the few side effects he's had have been relatively minor. We won't know how successful it was until March, when he's scheduled for a CT scan and follow up appointments. I hope that will be the end of this situation. It's been a constant nagging worry for months now. 

Plenty of other things were hard to deal with in January, of course the biggest was the return of the Trump to the White House. It's less than two weeks into his term and it's been utter chaos and flagrant cruelty in a non-stop barrage of evil (and mostly illegal) executive orders. It's been really hard to try to put all that aside and carry on with normal life, but for the sake of my mental health I've had to try. I know most of you understand.

It's going to be a long four years, friends. 

But enough about that. It's a new month in a still new year, and today the sun is shining and I'm at home. George and Poppy are always thrilled when they realize it's a weekend morning and I'm not leaving for work. They wrestled and played on the rug in front of me while I had my morning coffee earlier. Marco was on one of his big perches nearby, squawking and flapping his wings and obviously wanting to jump into the middle of the dogs' play fighting and participate. We have to keep a close eye on him to prevent that, because he doesn't have enough common sense to realize how badly that could go! The dogs wouldn't intentionally hurt him, but they play really rough with each other and get really wound up and fierce. Any normal bird wouldn't want any part of two "fighting" dogs, but Marco thinks it looks like fun! 

Speaking of life with Marco...this morning, while taking a shower, Gregg noticed a section of paint chewed off a corner at one end of the shower curtain rod. That's classic Marco business right there. Sometimes he likes to perch on the curtain rod while I shower so that I can give him a quick shower, too.  This isn't the first time he's chewed paint off that spot. We just (re)painted the bathroom last summer and tried to be diligent in keeping him away from that particular corner. I have no idea when or how he got away with it this time, and Gregg is PISSED. We have some extra leftover paint, and can touch up the area without too much trouble, but he's still pretty mad about it. Since he retired last spring, he's at home a lot more and gets pretty tired of dealing with Marco's bad behaviors day in and day out. 

In the linen closet the other day, refusing to come out. Incidentally, one of the outer corners of this closet is where he chewed off the paint. He's a real asshole sometimes.

In other exciting news, I started some tomato seeds last week and they've begun to sprout! Plans for the 2025 garden are well underway. This afternoon I want to start pepper seeds (I should have done this already) and I need to place a seed order soon. I plan to make a second, smaller raised bed this year so I can grow some extra vegetables. I'm afraid that produce prices are going to skyrocket this summer, and the more I can grow for us, the better. I'd also like to plant a lot more zinnia varieties this year, both for the pollinators and for the simple joy of bouquets in the house. I love cut flowers, and zinnias are so easy and cheerful!

Do you have any gardening plans this year?

Are you as glad as me that January is finally over? 

What are you up to this first weekend in February?

Answers on a postcard, please.

A coincidence, and a blast from the past

Last night I dreamed I was back in high school, and I was hanging out with my friend Trey. We were at the grocery store, picking out snacks because he was coming over to spend the night at my house. We were making plans to stay up late and watch scary movies. 

As soon as I woke up and took a shower, I sat down in front of my computer with a cup of coffee and opened up Facebook. And would you believe it? Trey had sent me a private message with a picture of the two of us in high school that he found recently! CRAZY.

Baby Trey and Baby Jennifer, circa 1989. We were freshmen in high school. 

We're still good friends all these years later. We met in kindergarten and now we're both on the verge of 50 years old. 

Snowy day

 

Overnight we got about 2-3 inches of snow. It's so pretty! Since our high temperature today is going to hover around the freezing mark, and tonight is supposed to be 13 degrees, I imagine it's going to stick around for a while. 

Prepared

It's 6am and 19 degrees outside. I'm drinking my second cup of coffee and preparing to don my heaviest sweater, coat, scarf, and hat and head out to work. Currently the only hazardous weather condition is the bitter cold, so we have school today. The winter storm warning doesn't take effect until early evening. I'm certain we won't have school tomorrow, and there's a chance we won't go back on Thursday, either. We'll see how it all shakes out.

We're well prepared for staying in and waiting out the weather. It's been a household goal of ours to keep the pantry, freezer, and household stores really well stocked up. The dogs and Marco have a month's worth of extra food on hand. We have several cases of bottled water on hand all the time. 

All that careful planning and preparing comes in handy when something like this winter weather is coming. I don't have to scramble and navigate crowds in stores. And in this circumstance, even if we lose power, we have gas logs to keep warm and a gas stove for cooking. We have plenty of flashlights and candles, too. I'm not worried.

I stayed away from social media and the news yesterday. I couldn't watch the travesty in DC and I don't have anything to say about it, really. Everyone knows how I feel and most of you feel the same way, I'm sure. We're just going to have to buckle in and get ready for the ride. 

So anyway, today I'm choosing to focus on the possibility of a rare winter snowfall. I have a feeling that the kids at school are going to be wild with excitement this morning at the prospect of snow. Good luck to my teacher friends trying to get anything done today!

Winter storm approaching

It looks like we're going to get some snow next week, as well as super cold temperatures lasting from Tuesday through Thursday. Some longer range forecasts are also predicting an ice storm next Friday night.

Need a laugh?

Gregg and I stumbled across this video on YouTube last night, and we laughed so hard tears streamed down our faces. 

Enjoy!

Twelth night book exchange

The holidays are well and truly over now. There are only one or two holdouts in the neighborhood as far as Christmas trees and lights, and what's left just looks...tired. It's back-to-work day for me, although I won't go in until noon because of conflict between the car situation and Gregg's appointment. I was able to sleep in a bit this morning and I still have some time to sip coffee and blog before heading out. A nice gentle way to return after more than two weeks off!

Yesterday afternoon I had my first and only visitor of the holiday season, my friend Martina. We've started a tradition over the past two or three years of exchanging books at Christmas. Normally we get together as close to Christmas Eve as possible (if not on Christmas Eve) but this year we both had a lot going on and couldn't manage it any sooner. 

It was nice to have something to look forward to on my last day off, though. Since any holiday treats were long gone, I went to the store and bought an assortment of cookies and a chocolate babka to serve, along with hot chai tea and iced tea. It was good see my friend and spend some time together, and the dogs were beside themselves with joy. They love Martina and all the attention she gives them. Marco likes her just fine, but since she occasionally helps me trim his nails (which he loathes) he always keeps a slightly wary eye on her! 

I'm really excited about the books I got! We both try to make sure our "want to read" lists on Goodreads are updated about a month prior to Christmas, and I like the two she picked for me this time. 

The first has gorgeous cover art.

And the other is a "slow building neo-Gothic" which sounds

 like something right up my alley.

A few loose ends

We're getting off to a cold start in this new year. For the whole first half of this month temperatures are predicted to be well below freezing almost every night, with some really intense cold starting in the middle of next week. Intense as in 20 degrees for a few nights, which is really cold for us. There's even talk of possible snow next weekend, but I'll believe that when I see it.

It looks like I may not start back to work until Tuesday. Gregg's radiation treatments (the two he's had so far) have been easy and he's able to drive himself home after, but he's got an appointment on Monday morning and we're sharing a car until late Monday afternoon. The oil light came on in Gregg's van on New Year's Eve and he took it to the shop yesterday. After diagnosing the problem(s) they told us it would take that long for them to get the work done. 

I'm supposed to spend part of the morning at a bookkeeper meeting across town (all staff have professional development on Monday) before returning to the school around 10:00, which is Gregg's appointment time. It just won't work out with one car, so I guess I'll have to use a personal day. I didn't come back immediately after last winter break, either, because my dad had died on New Year's Day. (I'm not liking this trend).

So, this is how the year is starting for us. The van repair is a real blow after a tough holiday season, because it's expensive. We knew when we bought a very late model van with a lot of miles that there would be repairs to deal with...but this first repair job is more than we spent on the car itself! The one consolation is that we'll get to write off the initial purchase as a business expense (Gregg uses the van for his aquarium gigs) on this year's taxes. And we're still better off repairing an old van than with a car payment! It is, after all, just used for hauling aquarium gear and as a second (backup) car.

I'm hoping next week we can tie up all these last bits of unfinished business from 2024 and then move forward. The van should be done on Monday afternoon, and next Friday will be Gregg's fifth and (hopefully) final radiation treatment. I'm hoping for at least a short period of smooth sailing after that! 

January 1st

Happy New Year everyone!

It's a crisp, blue-sky kind of day. I've got black-eyed peas simmering in a crockpot with the leftover bone from the Christmas ham, and we'll have some sort of greens to go along with them. I actually bought two nice bundles of collards, but if I decide to not bother with them today, I have some seasoned collard greens in a can I could heat up. It would certainly save time and effort. I also need to bake a couple of loaves of banana bread to use up some overripe bananas languishing on the kitchen counter. There's a container in the fridge with chopped pineapple leftover from the weekend, so it may end up being pineapple-banana bread. 

So for me today, I'm planning a little bit of cooking but not much else. I've also finally restarted a knitting project I began some years ago, and I may work on that for a little while. Gregg went out to clean aquariums at the nursing homes (so he won't get behind on them during his treatment). As for his treatment, yesterday was a bust. He got himself all nerved up to go have the first round, and when he got there found out he was mistaken about the day he starts. He actually starts tomorrow. That was a real letdown. He also woke up yesterday with a toothache, so as you can imagine, he's not having the best start to the new year. I told him we'll hold off for a few weeks and then have a small private New Year celebration. Maybe even that late winter/early spring weekend getaway we've been talking about...I have more time off coming at the end of February.

But for now, I'm off to stir the peas and then maybe take Miss Poppy for a nice long walk. George is asleep, so we'll let him snooze, and then later I'll take him out for his own (slower) walk. Georgie will be 12 years old this year and likes to take his time these days. He still loves his walks, though.

How the dogs spent New Year's Eve. I took both these photos shortly before midnight.

George went to his spot at the foot of the bed early on. He wasn't interested in staying up with us! Gregg went in and covered him up with one of his blankets. Look at that sweet boy!

Poppy stayed close by us in the living room, but it was past her bedtime, too. She slept like this until she got up to follow us to bed, finally. She's a good girl.