It was a good weekend for me, except that I miss seeing Silver online. I briefly checked in with her, and she has some things going on. So to Silver: we miss you but more importantly, we want you to focus on what you need to in this moment. We’ll be here when you come back!

Otherwise it was a good weekend. We are doing one big vacation this year (probably this decade or even multiple decades!), and we’re going with at least one of our sons and his family. It’s Hawaii! I spent a lot of the weekend researching flights and the hotels, trying to figure out the best options for us. I finally booked the flight and the hotel, and bought travel insurance on the flight. Normally I don’t buy travel insurance, but this time it seemed prudent for various reasons. And now I’m excited! I even have two swim suits — they are board shorts and tankini tops that cover enough so I feel comfortable. Our grandson is going, and I want to hang out in or by the pool and beach without being self-conscious. One of the sets is two years old, and the second one was inexpensive, so it’s a win for me!

Yesterday I went to lunch with my friend, then we usually go to TJ Max just to look around. It’s so good to see her. This week, I’m seeing Biker Witch, so I have that to look forward too.

This afternoon, I have an appt to get an x-ray for my neck just to make sure there’s no mischief going on in there. Chances are good I’ve just annoyed some deep muscles, rather than anything nefarious going on with my cervical spine.

How was your weekend?

TGIF! It’s time to share five random things about our week. Here’s mine:

1. It’s hard to believe that News Year’s Day was just a few days ago. It feels like weeks have gone by for some reason. I think the week just feels off from the holiday. I vote that next year, Christmas and News Year’s Day do not fall on a Monday! Who’s with me?
2. I spent hours getting some rough estimates on the cost of the flight and hotel for Hawaii this year.  So I told my oldest son his dad and I are actively trying to spend his inheritance on floors and Hawaii. He texted right back, “Get heated marble floors!” I guess he’s now helping me spend his inheritance? The kids always crack me up.
3. Looking at costs for Hawaii or searching for the right floor hasn’t been anywhere near as stressful as shopping for a refrigerator was last year! To be fair, if we go to Hawaii, that’s a fun vacation (one hopes!) so we can’t call that stressful. And one of Wizard’s friends has been in the floor business for decades, so he’s helped us a lot and saved us a lot of stress and worry. However, it amuses me that choosing refrigerator stressed us out more than this bigger investment stuff
4. Maggie is very suspicious of the samples for hard floors we’ve brought home. She really likes our carpet. But Maggie does not pay the bills and therefore, (she will be surprised to learn) she doesn’t make the decisions. As a concession to her, we’re keeping the carpet we have in the bedrooms. Plus Wizard wants carpet in the bedrooms and I’m good with that. The carpets in those rooms are fine, and with an aging dog, it’s just a better choice for now.  We can always change that carpet down the road if we want to do that.
5. Today I’m going to see my regular doctor to talk about two ongoing issues, but nothing dire. Sunday I’m going to lunch with a friend! I’m really looking forward to that! Both of us are trying to see each other more than once or twice a year.

That’s my five, now I’d really love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

I took Maggie to the vet for a routine thing. She get’s anxious like most dogs and didn’t want to go with the vet tech. The vet tech was nice, but firm and picked her up and whisked into the treatment room. These are really quick 10 minute visits and that includes cutting her nails.

When the vet tech came back, I asked if Maggie was good. She said, “Yes, she just lies there for me.” And then she demonstrated by throwing her hands up like a turtle on their back. I don’t know why, but that cracked up. And while Maggie might be anxious, she’s calm and trusting enough to let the tech do her thing. I’m really glad Maggie’s a good girl.

The tech also weight Maggie and she’s FAT!! Okay I’m kidding, the tech didn’t say that, and Maggie’s not fat. But for a year or longer, she was losing very small amounts of weight consistently. It wasn’t alarming, but both the vet and I were watching it. Then the vet discovered the hernia when she removed what we though was a lipoma. So clearly, Maggie is doing better! I knew she was eating well and not throwing up, but seeing confirmation that she’s stopped losing weight and even gaining some back is really nice!

Also, the staff liked the cookies I dropped off for them

Otherwise, my Wednesday will include an early morning appointment to look at more floors. Isn’t it funny how you think you know what you want until you walk into a showroom with tons of choices? Of course, one we price it all out, we may find we love the floors we have It’s all good, we’re just researching options and pricing it out for now.

How’s your Wednesday going?

Happy New Year!!

I hope everyone had a safe an enjoyable New Years Eve! And I wish for all of us a wonderful New Year!

That said, even though I’m writing this blog on New Years Eve afternoon, I can safely predict that I’m annoyed by the fireworks that scare my dog. That’s my one complained. Some of them are also very unsafe.

So this weekend was quiet, just the way I liked it Saturday all I did was read and make sourdough bread. Sunday was low key too, and for dinner we made trip tip, with fresh sourdough bread and a good wine. And in the best news, my daughter-in-law is recovering from her illness. I was finally able to go over on Sunday, and she looked and sounded much better. I also read again on Sunday because I’m reading a super interesting to me book “Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir. There’s a lot of science and physics that I don’t fully grasp and I’m looking up a lot of words or concepts, but I’m enjoying the book so much I don’t mind. It’s fun. I suspect I’m looking to books to challenge me a bit more since I’m not writing and getting the mental challenge from that. It makes sense to me, anyway.

Now I’m looking for 2024! How about you?

TGIF for the last time in 2023!! Doesn’t the year always seem fast when it’s in the rearview mirror??? Anyhow, time to jump into sharing five random things about our week (warning: it’s an intentionally quiet week for me and therefore a very short Friday Five).

1. We took our Christmas decorations down yesterday. I’m always ready to do that soon after Christmas. And we got rid of some of the older decorations we don’t need anymore.
2. There’s a lot more room in my freezer these days! I really had it packed full! It makes finding things, and grocery shopping, much easier again.
3. Is anyone else disappointed that we’re heading into 2024 and we still don’t have the pill that restores our youth and vitality?
4. We don’t have any real plans for New Years. We talked about going out to dinner, but we’ll probably stay in and maybe open some wine. Whatever we do, we’ll enjoy it.
5. I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year!! My wish is that 2024 brings us all good health and true joy! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

That’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours!

I hope everyone who celebrates had a great Christmas, or just a great weekend.

We had a great time, except my youngest daughter in law got sick. I hate that for her. They had four parties back to back and ended up unable to go to any of them, and had to cancel another party at their house. I feel so bad for both of them.

Otherwise, we had a good holiday. We went to a big party at Wizard’s brother and sister-in-laws. We enjoyed that, but of course, it’s a bit hard with one brother so recently passed away. However his widow and daughter were there and that made everyone happier. I brought cookie plates as gifts. Here’s a picture of some of them, and a pic of most of the cookies and breads. Wizard posted this online BEFORE all the parties. I just shook my head when I realized what he’d done. So no one was surprised, LOL

2) The most fun for me was Christmas Eve when we went to Middle and his wife’s house. I finally saw their kitchen! I love it so much. I’m just so happy for them. It’s so perfect for their lifestyle, and they waited a long time to get it. As beautiful as it is, it’s also comfortable with a big center island and lots of barstools so people can gather without getting in the cook’s way. They really thought it out.

But the highlight of the night for Turbo was — seeing Santa Clause! So all credit goes to Turbo’s dad, CPA Boy, for arranging and buying everything, then springing it on Wizard so he couldn’t say no. So we got to Middle’s early, and once we knew Turbo and family had arrived, Wizard went into the other room to change into the Santa suit. He had garage access from that room, so he slipped out, came to the door and surprised the heck out of Turbo! Santa then asked everyone in the house what their name was and what they wanted for Christmas. When he asked Turbo, Santa announced that he had a gift for him in his bag, and pulled out a special surprise — a monster truck Turbo really wanted. (Again credit to Turbo’s dad for getting that too!)

Turbo carried that truck around the entire night. He told his dad he was so happy Santa came to see him! Turbo never recognized Grandpa, which did surprise us a little. We’d forgotten that when kids want to believe, they believe. And that’s the magic of childhood

Wizard was so thrilled, and he has a very special memory along with Turbo. It was awesome.

When we opened gifts, we facetimed youngest and his wife so they could see Turbo opening their gifts.

Christmas day we stayed home, both wiped out. We had a nice day together. We also bugged the crap out of youngest son by calling to check on our daughter in law Okay he didn’t really mind, he knows we care. He has a much milder cold-like version of the virus.

How was your holiday, or weekend?

WISHING ALL MY FRIENDS

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!