hither, tither, and yon....

 Yesterday, my son Joseph and his wife Bethany came over for a visit with Bella and Bucky, their two pups.  Bella is 2 or 3, a black Lab/mix, and Bucky is half Mastiff, half St. Bernard.  She is huge for five months old!  They ran around with Suri and Sunny in the snow for a while, then came inside for a bit.

So Bucky at the top (she is SO sweet!), then Bella with her Batman ears, Sunny, and Suri...

Bethany, giving them a treat...

After our visit, we picked Miss Charlotte Claire up from school, and went to the thrift store.  She found one t-shirt, I found some grandchildren clothes, and a nice Bruder snow removal truck for them.  We went to Aldi for a few things, and came out with a set of magna-tiles, because I love toys, and shh, the grandkids will like them too.  (I totally opened them and played with them last night...)

Home, ahh home.  Camille made barbecued chicken pizza, her favorite kind, while I heated up stew, which is the third time I've had it...it was still good, but...wow are we spoiled, ha.  Paul had leftover steak in a low carb panini, the kids ate the pizza.  Stew is gone, I am glad I did my fair share of not wasting it, now tonight it's on to a new meal:  stuffed peppers.  Hot sausage and burger and a chopped onion, all browned up, with tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, and a can of diced tomatoes, with onion powder, garlic, oregano, Italian seasoning, simmering...rice in another pan, will heat up some cauliflower rice too, then add it to the pepper halves, cover with cheese, and bake...covered, right Billie Jo?  At least until the peppers soften...I wouldn't probably have thought of this, as this is new to me, and I don't usually follow recipes, so I'm glad for the tip!

This fine morning, I was sitting in my comfy chair, drinking my coffee, when my second oldest daughter, Abigail, called.  She has recently started her own accounting business, and she had to drive to the small city to check her mail and do a few things, and would I like to go with her?  I'll be ready in five, I said.  

Just to ride along and catch up...so nice.  We went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond:  they're closing!  wah!  I've loved that store through the years, especially when I was a member and got 20% off everything, even clearance...when they started to not include clearance, I stopped renewing my membership.  Anyway, it's closing, and everything is 20% off or more.  The shelves were stripped, not totally bare yet, but oh my goodness...the cashier said they couldn't believe how quickly everything went, it's as if there's a supply chain issue, and people can't really get things anymore, then they go on sale, and wow.

I bought two candles, that's it.  Ab got some really nice slippers and curtains for her office.

We stopped for coffees, mmmm, (which I brought home with me, and Sunny toppled when she jumped up to bark at something...it spilled all over the floor but thankfully not on my computer, which I do keep in the case, just in case)...the first third of it was good though. 

Home...ahh, home.  Samuel had called me while we were out, and asked me if I would watch Grant...for a week to ten days!  Oh, this Covid stuff:  one of the kids in his daycare tested positive, so Grant was in close contact, and has been booted for ten days (which they still have to pay for).   Samuel does not get paid time off, and Grace has no time off left, as she had a baby at the beginning of the year, ect. ect., so they thought if they drove him up to me, and of course I said YES!  Then, they picked him up from school, and he had a fever, so....he's staying with his mama and papa, and they're taking time off unpaid.  It's rough, but I hope Grant is okay.  His parents just had Covid a few weeks back, so maybe he has something different, but who knows.  So I feel bad for Sam and Grace, it's so hard to get ahead these days, but Sam seemed to be taking it all right.  

Sonja was due back in the morning, from Oregon, but her flight was rescheduled, she gets in at midnight, blah.  My favorite, driving in the night in the winter...but I'm glad she's coming home...:)

Friday night, we have plans to watch one of the Psyche movies here, as Paul and Camille are going to the symphony with Emily and Mariel....(wait, why am I not going to the symphony?  hmmm.). 

Here's some good news, interesting news, wait-is-there-a-catch news:

I looked it up, seems to be true.  Next Thursday, mandatory face coverings in public places, and Covid passports both dropped...Boris Johnson believing the Omicron wave has peaked.  The health secretary said, "..."we must learn to live with Covid in the same way we live with the flu."  

I'm wary, what's next?   

I got a few new dresses in the mail today from Target...yes, I love to online shop.  I put things in the cart, see the total, and nope, usually don't order.  But sometimes, there is 30% off!  The dresses fit so nicely, are so lovely, but the plunging neckline, ugh.  I would need to add something, and I'm not that clever....I cannot see wearing a tank top underneath, I'd get so hot, and be pulling and tugging on the tank top, oh dear.   To be fair, on a normal person with a normal chest, it wouldn't look so bad, but when you have cleavage up to your chin, which is NO FAIR, it looks trashy, at least to me.  And Lord help us if I lean over in it.

Ah well, dinner isn't making itself!

you think THAT'S bad!!!!....

 As Betty stated, there are others who have had it so much worse, so you feel bad complaining about losing the taste and smell.  This inherent goodness, and empathy, makes us humans, good humans.  However, when we DEMAND that others not complain because there are others worse off, well, no.

Rambling incoherently right from the start this morning, aren't I?  Comparing our circumstances and judging what others should think and feel is never good, but we all either do it, or are tempted to do it, on occasion.  

I've totally lost my train of thought, but here are some cute animal pictures:

(and a cute husband pic, too!  see all the train stuff in the background?  We have to find a place for it...)

Orange Guy likes to be warm and cuddly, so he gets as close to the dogs as he can.

Yesterday, we had our snowy weather, and stayed home...Paul had taken the day off of work to go ice fishing, but it wasn't ice fishing weather, which makes very little sense, but apparently it's not good when it's windy on the lake.  

Today, the snow will be tapering off, and the afternoon should be cold and clear.  I'll be picking Miss Char up from school at dismissal, and with Miss Cam, we'll go to the thrift store...do you believe I get a senior discount on Tuesdays?  I missed a whole year of it not knowing it started at 55.  The lady asked me if I was eligible, so tentatively...ha, I was tempted to say, EXCUSE ME, no, I'm only 39!  

Here's the latest update from our county:

It's raging through everyone, and I do feel bad for the older folks.  I've read a lot of people feeling relief when they "finally" get it, and recover, when it's milder...for older people with other health issues, though, it's rough.  The numbers from our county still seem to swing towards more vaccinated getting sick, half and half on the hospitalizations.  I think our fully vax rate is around 50%, with maybe 60% having one or more shots.  If this variant is evading the vaccination, time to end the mandates.  You can still get as many jabs as you want to, if you feel safer, or trust in it, go ahead, but stop the forcing.  

Well, I TRIED to behave myself and not write controversial stuff.  Isn't it frustrating though, when things seem so clear, and they're such heated topics?   

Anyway.  We had leftover stew last night for dinner, it's just so good.  Now it's time to make a new meal plan, and check what we have, what we need.  Sonja K. will be back on Thursday, it seems so empty here with only three kids.  I am not sick of winter/cold weather meals yet, but grilling on Sunday was fantastic, such a veer from what we've been eating.  It helped that I could actually taste the food, too.  My goodness, I swear I will never every take for granted one single bite of delicious food!  The taste and smell is still a bit dull, muted, but I'll take it!  I can taste the coffee, so yeah, I'm good!

I'm really craving stuffed peppers...with cauliflower rice, I think.  Will I be the only one here who enjoys them?  Probably.  Also, chili, which I love, but I have to eat around the beans, as I cannot tolerate them at all.  Meatballs again, maybe, they were so good.  I am not tired of chicken soup yet, either.  Maybe we can make bread bowls...or just bread sticks...not that I will eat them, but it'll warm up the kitchen, and the kids like them.

Camille and I have a noon date to get some school things done, she's working on math and violin in the mean time.  We might sneak into the library quick today, as we can always use more books.  I've just read Firefly Lane and Fly Away by Kristin Hannah...good reads.  (The girls and I watched Firefly Lane on Netflix, then I realized they were based on novels, so...)

Ah well, off I go to do some things around here...enough laziness, at least for now...

guess what's sneaking back into my life?!

 Mmmm hmmm, I can taste my coffee!!!!  It's much more subtle, but it's there!  I sniffed the Tide the other day, as I go around sniff-sniff-sniffing everything, and I could detect a hint of that lovely laundry freshness, and yay!  I ground up those coffee beans, and got a whiff of yum, yay!  

Tasting things is back too, but not glaringly so.  It's different, it's muted.  I hope it comes blaring back, full strength, but hey, even if it doesn't, I'm pretty happy here, enjoying the coffee!

It was so bad, when it was gone, I couldn't even detect a hint of mint with toothpaste, there was the menthol feeling in my mouth, but no smell at all.  So it's a joy to have it back, subtle as it is.

Yesterday, we had last minute plans to have some of the older kids over...some we haven't seen since Christmas, because of the sickness we had here.  (We've been hanging out with Margaret and Adrian and Wulf and Tennyson right along, because they got it at the same time as we did, and Evelyn, too).  So Emily and Abigail and Mariel were coming over, and Molly with her little girls, Lydia and Ophelia.  Yay, I was cleaning the house and humming some happy songs, then Jonathan tried to start his car...he has a Volkswagen with closer to 3k miles than 2, and it wouldn't start.  He determined he needed a new battery, and had to go to the suburbs...well, I had looked at grocery ads online, and one of the stores had sirloin steak for $3.99 a pound...in these days of inflation, burger costs almost that much!  Perfect, I could go with him, he could drop me at the grocery store, get his battery, and pick me up!

I was able to get nine pounds of steak, a giant cookie birthday cake marked $5, some fresh donuts, a loaf of pheasant bread, fresh from the oven, for $2, and some fresh broccoli and cauliflower.  (I cut up potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, tossed in olive oil and salt and pepper, roasted in the oven, added the broccoli and cauliflower to roast a bit, and mmm.)

Emily's birthday is tomorrow, so we decided last minute to celebrate it!  I had gotten her a few things already, so why not?  She brought her guitar, Margaret her violin, Evelyn her flute, and Camille got out her violin, Paul his mandolin, and they played music again...it's so nice.

The flaw in the grilled-steak-in-January idea:  the cold wind!  It was freezing out!  I threw it all on the grill, cranked the flames for a bit, flipped it once, then piled it all on one side with the top closed, burners on low, other side on high, then went back in the house for a few minutes...Abigail casually said, "Wow, the grill is on fire!"...oops.  I managed to get them all off, and would you believe they came out perfect?  There was some well done, for those of us who don't like to eat it still mooing, and plenty red and rare, with some in between.  It was truly a feast, we don't eat steak very often, it was tender and good.

I didn't take an after picture, but it came out beautifully.  

We sat around the table solving the world's problems and laughing about times past.  The grand kids were busy playing with dollhouse stuff, blocks, and ride-ons.  The living room was absolutely strewn and littered with toys, and I said, it's like days goneby.  This is how it looked ALL THE TIME, way back when...

I didn't take enough pictures, of course...

Happy birthday Emily, my sweet girl, the one who made me a mama 37 years ago...

Ophelia...Molly and Josh's little girl.  Lydia was here too, and oops, I didn't get a pic of her.

This is blurry but I like it,  Paul and Molly looking at a silly dog cartoon.

Adrian, and Abigail with Tennyson...Tenny is such a happy little guy!

And, we had a snowstorm last night, and are staying put at home today.  It's very cozy.  Paul took the day off to go ice fishing, but I guess there's such a thing as it being too windy and snowy to do that.  So he has a fire going in the furnace, and it's nice and warm in here.

The problem with having my taste back is that now I want to taste everything, just what I need, ha.  I made a huge crockpot of beef stew on Saturday, and the girls had gone out and about with Evelyn...came in the door with food from Chik-fil-A, so they weren't hungry.  I couldn't really taste yet, but there is so much left, and it's what's for dinner tonight, so I'm looking forward to dinner, oink oink ha.    

My son-in-laws who are brothers, Adrian (Margaret's husband), and Darius (Kathryn's husband) lost their grandpa yesterday, he joined their Grandma in heaven, she had just passed a few months ago.  Their grandparents had seventeen kids, and I don't even know how many grandchildren.  They lived in Winnipeg, (Canada), where Adrian and Darius are from.  Adrian was quite sad, as his grandpa was as quiet and meek as a lamb, but had faith like a roaring lion, he was tender and good and patient...he's obviously in a better place now, but it's still sad to say goodbye.

Sonja is having a nice time out in Oregon, we miss her though.  Emily is planning to bring Charlotte Claire on a trip out there sometime soon.  I don't like having the some of the kids so far away, but I am so thankful that we can at least stay in touch so easily, and I can see the grandkids on the screen.  

Ah well...thank you all for being so nice to me, so encouraging and supportive.  I appreciate it more than you'll ever know....

not really feelin' it today....

 ...just being honest, I rarely get in a "funk", and I'm not about to...but I am tempted...the feeling sorry for myself feelings are coming on strong today, out of nowhere.  There's not usually a good reason for these moods, but I know that I am not going to wallow in it.  On the one hand, I can't help that I'm feeling this way, but I sure as heck can help whether I settle in, agree with the thoughts, and become one with it.

I have suspected that for me, the whole getting Covid has brought a roller coaster of emotions, I've felt just ragingly hormonal lately.  Look at me wrong, I'm whimpering.  So this has brought me into some need, you know, a Coming-To-Jesus need.  I don't want to be bound by what anyone thinks, and I want to be thankful for all that God sends my way.  My feelings however, don't always line up.

This fine morning, I talked to one of my daughters on the phone.  She is an absolute gem, one of my best friends:  she's smart, and dedicated and faithful, true and kind and good.  She also has a lot of trust in the vaccine, which is fine, she is in medicine, and knows more than I do.  I told her that I'm thankful that I have gotten through the dreaded virus with minimal/no damage done, that we know of, without having the even more dreaded vax, at least that's how I see it.  I am thankful for this.  I acknowledge that I do my reading and my poking around, and it's what I've had peace for.  

But, when your own kid sounds disdainful of your choices, ouch.  This morning, I just found myself in tears...because what if I had gotten really really sick?  It would have been because of that choice I made, and no one could convince some people otherwise, even though here in my county, more than half of people testing pos are vax, and the #hospitalized has been about equally split.  

I don't mean to sound like she said anything rude, because she didn't.  But a mom knows her girls, and I can sense these things.  

This isn't meant to be a debate, as I totally respect each person's choices, and this has been a very rough few years to navigate, trying to figure out what's true, and what's political, and what's for each one's best.  There are things to weigh, decisions to make, and I don't believe that people have been given all the info on side effects, but that's a whole other kettle of fish.

In any case, I've just found so many reasons to cry today, and since I'm home all alone, I've just cried a little...

1.  I can't seem to lose weight, even drinking black coffee.  I tried on some shorts in Kohls, and my legs!  Oh, cottage cheese married peach colored jello and moved into my thighs!

2.  I cannot taste my coffee.  I know, nothing to cry about, but wah anyway!

3.  This morning, I started thinking about all the people being cold, if they cannot afford heat, or if their pipes froze, or little kids not having warm enough blankets, and it just made me so overwhelmingly sad for all the people everywhere who suffer, and I cannot bear it.  With energy prices, and food prices...oh dear.

4.  I've had to do some soul searching about caring what people think of me.  Some of the harsher comments I've had here recently hurt, made me almost cringe at the thoughts of viewing the comments, which has never been an issue here, for years and years...I mean, I've had the off rudeness, I've had comments with bad language I haven't printed, and a few really off colored random ones, but overall, only goodness from very nice people.  At the end of the day, of course it doesn't matter if someone doesn't like me, there are a lot of people in this world, we cannot each live to please every single person, and I honestly don't want to try to please any person.  I know that each thought, each action, how I use my time, all of my choices, I will answer for, I will stand before God.   This knowledge brings me to judge what I say and do, and how I react, and I know this is the only thing that matters, in the long run.

I feel a bit better already, but honestly, I can't even let myself think of the sufferings in this world.

I think I'll move on to happier thoughts...we went to visit Margaret and Adrian last evening.  Margaret and Camille played their violins, Evelyn her flute, and Paul his mandolin and guitar...

Wulf is feeling lots better, enough to ride around on his little four wheeler.

Tenny-Ten is doing better too...he's such a snuggle bug.

Brrrrrr!!!!!

I sneaked this pic from the stairs....it sounded lovely.

Today is beef stew day.  I browned up the beef with coarse ground pepper, flour, salt, onion powder, and a dash of garlic, then cut up potatoes and carrots, simmered it for a bit while I cleaned up the mess, then put it into the crockpot.  It's interesting, because I can get these little whiffs of smell, little hints, and it's so exciting, so hopeful! 

The meatballs were so good last night!  I couldn't really taste them, but there is a bit of something there, more than before, and the consistency was nice, ha.  Margaret made bread sticks and pasta, and had made cookies (none of these things were consumed by me...)But:  I brought some melt-away mints, little white chocolate, chocolate chip shaped non-pareills, minty flavored pastel candies...I could taste the mint!  I was so excited about that, I ate WAY more than I should have! 

No, I don't have anything to complain about, but life isn't always easy...you can please some of the people some of the time, but I do aim to live a life pleasing to God, and that's a serious thing, the most important thing. 
 

singing songs about winter...

...baby, it's cold outside!  Tomorrow we'll be lucky to hit five degrees Fahrenheit.  brrrr.  But, we're not staying home and hunkering down, no, we're going to visit Margaret and Adrian, and little Wulf and Tennyson, and Evelyn, who lives with them.  I've made a crockpot full of meatballs, and am bringing up some pasta, Margaret is going to make breadsticks.  I asked Wulf if he wanted chocolate milk, and he said he did, imagine that, so I'll be stopping at the store....they live up north of here, in the city right on Lake Ontario, it's lovely there, but brrrr.

Wulf is allowed to have chocolate milk, as the poor boy has been sick off and on for the last few weeks.  He had some good days, then got feverish again, is okay now, but still rather worn out.  It's not fun to see your grandchildren sick.  (It's also not fun to be blamed for your grandchildren being sick, but that's water under the bridge, now isn't it?  I decided that I am NOT going to let naysayers ruin my blog, nor rain on my happiness, nor make me feel guilty for enjoying my God-given life....so remind me if I forget, okay?)(Let it Go, songs of winter, right? (Frozen)). 

Today, I vacuumed several rooms, washed dishes, changed the bedding in my room over to the winter bedding...I liked the summer stuff so much, I wasn't going to, but the flannel sheets match the black comforter, so what the heck...when it gets warm again, the pink stuff can come back out.  (I usually just take the sheets off, wash them, put them back on...but today I had to wash the flannels first, and I changed the duvet cover, ect.)

The girls are all ready to go to Margaret's house, they are having a sleepover there....so off we go!  Into the cold...

well, I'll take one of those!

 Scrolling through the intern this morning, I found a listing for a house, I think in Wisconsin, with a bathroom with...three toilets in a row, and three sinks.  The comments were hilarious, because who would want a bathroom like that?  Well, not too long ago, I'd have taken one ha, although I would prefer to make privacy stalls around them.  I would have liked a huge-0 bathtub too, and one of those giant showers with a few shower heads...and a few more washing machines and dryers, although for several years we had that washer that wouldn't spin out half the time, so at that time, just one that worked would have been nice.  A double oven, I'd have taken that, a second refrigerator, sure!  

It all happened so fast...the babies year after year, the house filled to the brim...our kitchen tables packed full at dinnertime, three pounds of pasta with the meatballs, barely enough...nine or ten kids at a time in school, with their homework, and projects, and permission slips to sign.  Lunches, snacks, supplies (you need a poster board TOMORROW?!  WHAT?!  I TOLD you, Mom!   oops.  Yes, you did.).   

It seemed like it would always be like that, knee deep in small children, dreaming about the elusive five minutes of peace and quiet.  

I remember calling my mother while I made dinner one evening, as per usual, and it was noisy and crazy in here, it was my little break, as the kids got semi-used to me talking on the phone.  My mother said, "Some day you'll miss having them all there, and the chaos."  ha.  ha ha ha.  I did NOT believe her, no, not one little bit.  I thought of her sitting there in her house in her comfy chair, with just my dad there, and their two dogs, and I couldn't picture it for me, no way, no how.

But here I am.  Yes, there are still four kids at home, but they are quiet, mostly, and so responsible.  They all do their own laundry, and help with things...and yes, I have ten grandkids, when they come over it can get a bit noisy and crazy in here, with toys strewn about (I love it!).  

But, here I am.  I am turning into my mother...in my big comfy sweater, in my big comfy chair, with my slippers, shuffling out for more coffee...oh dear.

Okay, so here's a thing:  for Christmas, we got Paul a smoker.  When he and Adrian took it out of the box to assemble it, the top was bashed in, so they sort of pounded it out, said the door still closed, and were heck-bent on using it...it was Christmas Eve, and we had Christmas dinner to smoke!  So, we used it.   Since then, I took pics, sent an email to the company, and they're walking me through the process of removing some things from the body of the smoker, including cutting the cord, so they can send a new body, and we can put our original "innards" into it, and use it.  Now, don't you think that's a lot to ask of us?  I'm glad they ARE sending us a new body, but jeepers, if Paul wasn't involved, I'd be saying NO WAY, I can't assemble this thing!  But then if it's less waste, I guess we can put aside our laziness and grumbling and be thankful we'll have a shiny new dent-less exterior....harrumph.

I've been trying really hard to smell things.  It's awful but it's hilarious.  I can clean the entire kitchen with the bleach based cleanser and not smell a tiny whiff of it, put together a pumpkin pie the other night, nary a hint of the cinnamon, ginger...but I think I can detect just a tiny bit of aroma from the coffee beans, all ground up...just a tiny hint, but shh, it might just be that I really want to smell it.  (I've been drinking up the older coffee we had in the cupboard, don't want to waste all of our good fresh Christmas gift coffee, since I can't taste it anyway....)

We are leaving for the airport in a few hours, as Miss Sonja K. is going out to Oregon for a week.  She's brave to travel by herself, 19 years old, but then she traveled back from Germany alone when she was 16, so she certainly is capable.  I told her to make sure she tells everyone she's traveling alone, ha.  No, I do worry, and I remind her to keep track of her things (she lost AirPods on a trip to California last year, she did the track my AirPods  thing and they were in Chicago, but the airline couldn't find them...)...I tell her to walk straight up tall and confident, and watch her surroundings, and be smart.  

It's hard to let your children go.  

Ophelia's birthday presents came in the mail, I'm excited to wrap them...a toddler scooter, so cute, a 3 wheel-ed thing, all pink and sparkly...and a Care Bear...I didn't know they still made those, I guess they're trying to bring them back?  It's Tender Heart bear, so cute...I got her a little sweatshirt and matching pants, and a little gift for Lydia too, as it's hard to be the big sister when little sister gets presents.  

I'm planning to make a nice beef stew for dinner.  Beef prices are ouch, and I think they'll be getting worse before they get better, but I only paid $4.49 a pound for this...shh, I could've bought the beef roast for $3.99, and cut it up myself, but I decided to splurge a dollar fifty, and get it all cut up and ready to brown and make a stew.  It's not much more expensive than hamburger right now, and I've been craving stew...stew that will be steaming good, and I won't even be able to taste, ha, what am I thinking!!?  Can you believe it?  I keep forgetting that I cannot taste anything!

Oh dear....

....I'm back!!!!

 We are doing much better, thank you for the kind thoughts and words, and prayers.  I still can't taste or smell, but the cough is much much better, and the stuffiness is improving each day.  I haven't had a fever in several days, and have slept quite well.  Paul only got a bit of a scratchy throat, then got better, probably because he was sick last March.  

Over the last few days I've thought a bit about the blog, and have decided a few things, so in no particular order, as usual:

1.  If you don't leave your name, I won't print your comment, last names are not necessary, just a first name. (unless it's a nice comment, ha!)  One reason for this is if you've been exasperated with me and stated you are done with me, then you certainly don't want to be commenting anymore!  

2.  Comments that are not nice will not make it through moderation.   You can disagree, state the other side, or point things out that I've not noticed, but be nice.

3.  One of the problems some people have had with the blog is that it has become "increasingly political".  This is complicated, because our lives have become increasingly political.   I've never liked unnecessary rules or infringements on rights, this hasn't changed.

4.  One commenter insists that I "might have spread this virus around to other people"...but you cannot spread a virus that you do not have.  This commenter also stated how I've been insensitive to those who have lost loved ones to Covid, by stating all the "fun" that we're all having at home while sick with Covid. If you've read here for any length of time, you'll know that no matter what befalls us, I try to make it fun.  Through the years of being a mama, I've discovered that most of life is doing what you really don't want to do...the appointments, waiting in lines, driving here and there, and the work!  The endless work!  But having a positive attitude, making the most of the little trials in life, in the mundane, in the drudgery of life, that's what brings happiness.  In the beginning of the lockdown, when the world was shaking in fear of the unknowns, I battled that fear as well, but I also decided that we were going to make the most of our time.  The fact that we did puzzles, played endless games of Catan, watched new shows together, went for drives around the different Finger Lakes, went on walks and hikes, and yes, trips to Target didn't mean we were disrespecting anyone.  It's known now how mental health declined when people were isolated from each other, especially in children.   I was determined that even if my kids couldn't go to school, or be with their friends, we were going to enjoy our days, because:  this is life.  There is only the one ride through it...and each day matters.   

   (My mother had breast cancer when I was in high school. She never got a driver's license, so either my grumpy dad drove her for her chemo, or she took the bus...I went with her  when she took the bus.  We had to walk several blocks to catch the bus, then got off in downtown Syracuse, and walked several blocks, up a huge-0 hill, to Upstate University hospital, where she got her treatments.  I don't remember a tiny whiff of complaining from her.  She made it all into a huge adventure.  She never got bored, in fact she didn't allow us kids to be bored, it was sort of crime, in her book.  So even waiting at the bus stop in the cold, when she must have felt horrible, she played games with me, like, What Do They Do For A Living.  She could whip out an entire life story for a lady who walked by, it was great fun to me....me, who didn't actually realize how much she must have been suffering.  She simply didn't believe in complaining, she liked life, and she liked to live life.  This is Off On A Tangent on steriods, I win Off On a Tangent!!!!  Anyway, this is how I choose to live my life too, in thankfulness for each day....)

5.  Hands down, the best thing about this blog is the goodness and kindness of the readers.  

6.  Writing without thinking about anyone reading it is very therapeutic, and I try to just forget who reads, while I write, so I can write freely.  When I offend, it's not meant to offend, as I wouldn't purposely hurt anyone.  But also, I don't want to be restrained by caring what people think of me.  I do not seek to please man, because then I could not please God.  Does that make sense?  

7.  Our health, our bodies, and what we choose to put into them should NOT be a political issue.  You know me, I dither and hither just to take a Tylenol, cannot tolerate nasal spray (my heart races!), alcohol in any but the smallest quantities, even antibiotics have given me trouble (heart issues with Ciprofloxen).  I can't take Sudafed, or Benadryl.  I don't take heartburn meds because of the side effects, nor the Naproxen the dr. gave for my arthritis.  I do not like side effects, I don't like putting things into my body.  I take my vitamins, and yes, I take the Tylenol or ibuprofen when I absolutely have to, because:  migraines.  

8.  My little granddaughter Ophelia has turned two years old!  I hope to visit with her this weekend and give her some birthday presents.  

9.  Kathryn and Darius and little Achilles and Rhys will be coming for a visit next month!!!!

10. Sonja K. is going to Oregon tomorrow, to visit Kathryn and Darius and the kids.

11. Our quarantine is officially over!  Yay!

12. No matter what anyone says, this does not make sense:  in NY state, the unvaccinated nurses and healthcare professionals were fired, now if you're Covid positive and you're needed at work, well you had better get yourself in, sick or not!   

There is definitely a huge uptick in cases here in our county.  I think the fully vaccinated here are about 50% of the population,(about 60% with at least one jab).  It's very contagious, but it generally seems to be more mild, which is something to be thankful for.  (...and I did not "make up" these numbers, you can look them up yourself at Cayuga County)

13. We are getting some extremely cold weather this weekend.  Paul is ecstatic, the lakes are freezing, so ice fishing!  

14. I am glad to be recovering so well, because less than three weeks until our Ft. Lauderdale vacation!  You have no idea how nice it is that my older daughters think to bring me along on their vacations!  To raise children, and have them grow up and be your actual friends, wow.  I am super thankful for this.  Of course when you have 16 kids, you can't bring everyone all the time, if I were rich, we'll, we'd all go.  We have been talking about having all eleven of the girls (and me!), and the sister-in-laws go on a weekend away sometime...that'd be fun!

15.  The other day, dreaming about summer, I checked out one of my favorite campgrounds on Lake Ontario, for a random weekend in August, and what?!  A water site was open!  I reserved it for three nights, then Emily reserved a site too.  Now we have one for June (also a water site), July, and now August.  Now we just have to find a nice camper, small enough to tow with our Nissan pick up, big enough for Paul and I and a few kids, and two Labradors...or we survive in tents for a bit longer, ha.

16. 

The two kitties (Orange Guy and Kettler) know that people = warm.  Charlotte Claire was taking a pic of Cam's zoo-y lap too.

17. Paul is playing his mandolin, the girls are watching anime, Jon is just chilling here, and the dogs are snoring.  I can't say that I'm tired of winter yet, but when I booked that campsite, I started thinking about sunshine...sunshine on my skin.  There is nothing like it, it's healing and delicious and relaxing.  Hopefully our Florida trip works out...lots of flights getting cancelled.   

18. Ben and Ashley will be having a new baby boy in a few months, this will be our #11 grandchild, and their third child...Anya, Elise, and baby brother.  This is exciting stuff!

....and I'm tried enough to wind down for bed.  My feet are cold, even in my new Christmas slippers, and when I think we still have the rest of January, then February, March, and chilly April...usually get some snow in May....eeks!  Have a really good evening...