Wonderful week.

 We just got home from going to visit our son and daughter-in-law in Mississippi.  We also took a little side trip to Louisiana / New Orleans.   It was a great time with lots of food and fun.   We had never been to New Orleans before and it was interesting.   Back in MS, we had our first crawfish boil.   Very interesting.  I liked it okay.  My husband liked it quite a bit.  We had a lot of time sitting around and just talking and playing games in my oldest son's nice little home.   We were talking at one time about my kid's childhood's and how their childhood was different from nearly everyone else's they have ever met.  I looked at them and said "I really don't know how to respond to that" and one of my sons said, "I think the phrase you are looking for is 'you're welcome'".   :-)   Nice review of homeschooling and our learning lifestyle!   (and my favorite part of the trip).   

Settling into 2022.

 So far, (knock on wood), it's not as bad as last year.   Last year at this time I was dealing with kidney failure and chest pain and all kinds of stuff.  This year, though we've had snow and my son has run his car off the road twice trying to get to work, it's been more okay.    I'm not working that much so I'm getting a few small cleaning projects done (really few, really small) and working on my youtube channel.   My daughter and I have also started doing some volunteer work for https://www.findagrave.com/.   We've been going to cemeteries and locating graves and taking photos of the headstones.  It's interesting and I get a lot of walking done when we go.  When I'm thinking about what I'm looking for, I don't tend to think about if my knee hurts, or my ankle hurts, etc. and I've been getting an hour of walking at a time.  I'd never have the patience for that if we were just walking.  I'd get bored.   

We're still dealing with the (big) losses of last year, of course, but we're coping and we're making some future plans.   

Our week-late Christmas.

 It went great.   We had a wonderful time.  I think everyone liked their gifts.  One thing I ordered was the wrong size.  It was a dressmaker dummy for my daughter.  I bought her clothing size, but it needed to be just a bit smaller here and there.  Short of asking her for her neck measurements (which would have been a little odd) I couldn't know.  The new one is already on the way.   We had a happy time.  We played some video games and some of the new board games.  Santorini was a big hit as was Cheating Moth.   In Cheating Moth, you HAVE to cheat.  There's no other way to get rid of some of your cards. They're not allowed in the discard pile.  So you have to put them somewhere.  Hilarity ensues as cards are dropped under the table and shoved up people's sleeves.   

Post Christmas, I've thrown my back out and my bestie has Covid so back to reality.

Prayers for my friend, please.  

Christmas 2021.

 It's been a year.   

Lots of surgeries and recovery time.   Loss of 2 people we hold very dearly, my husband's mom and my dear aunt.   Covid 19.    And, bathroom remodeling.   

But we're still here.  We're happy to be celebrating Christmas this year even though it's going to take us a few weeks to get it done.   We're celebrating with my husband's Dad and one of his brother's family today, then next weekend with our son and daughter-in-law from Mississippi, and then in the first couple of weeks of January, we'll be meeting with the extended families if they meet.  We've celebrated for the past couple of weeks with our church family.   

Christmas is always bittersweet as we mourn Christmases past and family members who are not with us anymore, but it's always beautiful.  

It's 9:00 a.m. as I write this and youngest son, the person I know who loves Christmas the most is already up (though he worked late last night) wrapping presents and making me smile.  

Merry Christmas!   

Job Title.

 Youngest son decided on the job title he'd like to have in the future:   Eccentric Millionaire.  

Looking ahead.

 We are trying to move ahead,  We are making plans and looking forward to the holidays.   We have moved the location of Thanksgiving so that it will not be at my mother-in-law's house, though my father-in-law still lives there.  It seems like it would just be too emotional to have it there.  So, we're having it at my brother and sister-in-law's house.  We've got a lot of cooking to do this week for all the feasting.  I'm not ready and would kind of like to skip the holidays this year, but I'm going to put on my brave face.  I guess that's best.  

Believe it or not, I've already started my Christmas shopping!  My family has been pretty prompt about sending me their lists (most of them) and I've been better about just going ahead and ordering them.  Usually, I hesitate and obsess for a few weeks.   

We officially are done with the bathroom remodel, at least from the contractor's point of view and now we just have to finish some trim, a tiny bit of painting, and  set up the new bathroom furniture.  We are also getting our driveway graded even as I write this.  Things are happening to make the house look nice going into the holidays.  It's a money pit, so it's never done, but I can be happy with that is.   I guess.  :-P  

Anyway, happy Thanksgiving week! 

Fall break and crisis.

 We just got home from a lovely little weekend break.  We went to Cullman, Alabama to meet our son and daughter-in-law.  We saw the local sites and played some board games and video games.  It was very nice.  However, in the middle of this vacation, we had a call from my father-in-law that my mother-in-law was not doing well and she was hospitalized that night.   Now she has passed away and we are doing funeral planning.  It's been a shock how quickly it all happened and very sad.  She was a wonderful person and the holidays are going to be difficult this year without her.    

We're still here.

 Things are looking up in some ways.    Husband is doing better post-Covid.   He's able to do some things now, but still gets tired easily.   The bathroom renovation is ongoing.  We're on week 4.   No more of my friends have gotten Covid, thank God and the numbers seem to be going down here finally.  Work is still kind of frantic and annoying, but that seems to be the norm with the supervisor we have now.  I think it's a management problem.   I'm tired of it.   

I have some fun things scheduled and I'm trying to focus on those!   After all these years of writing this blog, I have gotten better at focusing on the good.   A little better, anyway.