Today is the Day (and ten other random facts)

Fact #1: My kids (finally) go back to school today after the Longest Winter Break of All Time. We’ve taken on a whole new schedule and lifestyle in the time the kids have been out of school. I don’t remember how to do the routine. I don’t remember how to feed my family non-party food that I have to buy and prepare myself. I don’t remember what day it is. I don’t remember how to go to work during normal hours (I went in at 5:30 am during the break). 

Fact #2: Speaking of party food, even though the holidays have come and gone, we are still partying pretty hard over here. Our family has so many December and January birthdays that we can’t even think about rest until February. Over the weekend we had a combined birthday celebration for me (Jan 1), my brother-in-law (Jan 3), and my father-in law (Jan 4). The next day we had Nicky’s birthday party. His birthday was December 27, but we put off his birthday party for a bit because we were booked with Christmas events, other people’s birthdays, and a niece leaving on a mission. I wanted to do something at least a little bit special for his 18th so we had an open house and encouraged people to dress like Nicky. 

Sadly, I got very few pictures. 

Fact #3: On Saturday, during the hustle and bustle of getting ready for parties, someone drifted into my lane and sideswiped  my van. Everyone was fine. Her car was fine. My van’s damage was minimal and only cosmetic (fortunately), but it was a bit inconvenient. I’m not sure, but I think the girl might have initially tried to run. I chased her down, and she pulled over. 

The door is dented, but the scuffs all came out.

Fact #4: Puzzles we did over winter break:

Fact #5: I wish we’d had more time for puzzles and games. On Christmas Day I wanted to play Ark Nova so bad, but in the afternoon, Scotty got slammed with a head cold. He was pretty sick for about 4-5 days. Alas, there was never Ark Nova. 

Fact #6: We hoped to get Daisy’s learner’s permit over the break, and that never happened. After my car accident over the weekend, she’s taking a big step back in any desire to drive. But we did get Nicky’s dental and medical checkups done for his mission paperwork, so at least we have something checked off our to do list. 

Fact #7: I have been engaging in a wonderful journey of collecting all of my free birthday food and gifts. Stay tuned at the end of the month for a thorough rundown. In the meantime, here is a teaser:

Fact #8: 

Me: Go put the HAPPY BIRTHDAY sign out in the yard for the party.

My kids:

Fact #9: I have jury duty next week. This is the 8th time in my life I’ve been summoned for jury duty. Something is wrong with the system. Why is it that I can’t win BINGO to save my life, but I can get called up for jury duty the second I’m eligible?

Fact #10: I am solidly one of those people who get the bug right after Christmas to throw out everything we own and declutter the entire house. I have taken three car loads of stuff to the DI. It feels so refreshing! This is such a funny phenomenon, but I am definitely among the January purgers. My mentality right now is “if it makes me feel any amount of stress to own it, use it, or store it, I want it gone!” I’m doing this with “stuff” but also with food. I’ve gone through all of our food and thrown out everything that I feel stressed out about trying to use up. 

I love getting rid of stuff! Wish I could get rid of my jury summons… (I’m contemplating paying the $1,000 fine and taking the night in jail).

Things I Didn’t Buy From the Thrift Store: A Photo Essay

 

Currently (January 2025 Edition)

Reading:

Celebrating: so many birthdays. December and January are packed with birthdays in our family. 

Wearing: my sleep clothes (i.e. my undies). It’s 3:55 a.m. and I’m having my traditional “wake” session. I probably won’t go back to sleep today.

Eating: dip. For my birthday I decided to have a dip night. I invited a few friends over and asked them to bring dip to share. We had a variety of sweet, savory, hot, and cold. 

My friend Carlie and I do a dip themed game night every year, but this was next level because there were more than two people bringing dips. 

Suffering from: watery eyes.

Laughing about: the fake Pit Vipers Nicky gave me for Christmas 

Have you ever seen anything so cool in your life?

Annoyed by: fast food apps that have not offered me free birthday rewards. Also, fast food apps that offer a free food item when you take a survey, and then the promo code never shows up. 

(You owe me 6 minutes of toilet time and a free order of cheese bread, Papa John’s, and I’ll never get over it!)

Buying: a few upgraded items for my house. I got a new bathroom rug, new throw pillows, and a new doormat. I have also found some great things at the thrift store this week. 

Missed opportunity to buy a fish table 

Watching: season 2 of Shrinking. I’ve watched all the episodes except the finale, and I’m prep for the finale, I decided to start at episode 1 again and rewatch the season. Well, mostly I’m just listening to it in my ear buds during chores.

Dreading: things I can’t say. 

Enjoying: no snow. But I’m not going to say anything because I don’t want to jinx it.

Looking forward to: going to work today. I like my job enough that most days I’m excited to go.

Working on: finishing Nicky’s mission papers. We have his dentist appointment today and a doctor appointment next week. 

Cooking: nothing. We have been in such strong party mode lately that we are being fed constantly by outside sources. It’s great and all, but I also look forward to getting back in control of our food. 

Needing: a new phone case. I just bought one last week, and it shows my greasy fingerprints really bad. It’s gross.

Playing:

Some friends and I played Pando recently, and it was a blast. It’s an obscure game that’s kind of hard to get your hands on, but it’s a fun one and good for a crowd.

The Pando crowd

Craving: water. I’ve definitely let my hydrating slide these past few weeks.

Singing: “We Don’t Talk About Bruno.” After a few years, it still resurfaces.

Drinking: way too much Diet Dr. Pepper.

Sick of: hair creases from my CPAP. 

Happy about: the regular McChicken returning to the menu at our local McDonald’s. Now if they would just bring back root beer!!

All hail the regular McChicken with the lop-sided mayo blob!

Hoping: to reset my sleeping habits soon. I’m hardly getting any sleep lately, and my brain is always buzzing (which is why I’m currently blogging - it is now 4:44).

Feeling: lost in space and time. Our winter break has been so long (and it will still be five days til my kids go back to school). I have no idea what day it is, what we are supposed to be doing, or whether I’m even wearing pants.

Avoiding: sleep. I could probably fall back asleep this this point, but I think I’m going to go to work instead.

Grateful for: working limbs.

Sorry it’s not your birthday

It’s 5:51 a.m. on New Year’s Day, and I’m wide awake after a night of hardcore partying. Hardcore partying = everyone in my family left for several hours, and I had the entire house to myself, so I Marco Polo-ed my besties while I did some much-needed cleaning. I also made myself a cheese plate and drank Diet Dr Pepper and Martinellis (a drink for the soul and a drink for the celebration). It occurred to me that in some phases of life, this would have made for a very lonely New Year’s Eve, but in my current state of existence, it was perfect! Just what I needed! 

My girls went ice skating with some of their cousins

It ended up that everyone was home for the turning of the year, even Nicky! 

Right after midnight, Nicky and Daisy sang me “I Love You, Mom!” from Phineas and Ferb.

New Year’s Day happens to be my birthday. Fun fact: my cousin and I were born on New Year’s Day 1984 - same hospital, same doctor. I was a bit late, and he was a bit early. My mom went into labor on NYE and had me at 2:29 a.m. on New Year’s Day. Then the doctor came in her room later and said, “Your sister-in-law just showed up!”

There are some bummers to having a birthday A) on a holiday and B) so close to Christmas, but I’ve never known anything different, so I just go with it. I actually like my birth date other than being super partied out from all the events of the holidays. It’s always the first date on the scrolly thing when I have to enter my birthday. I get Christmas presents, and then I get follow-up presents. I’ve never had to go to school on my birthday, and in most cases, have had the day off work (Scotty too). Also, there’s something nice about rolling my age over at the same time the year rolls over. It just feels right.

This morning, for the first time in my life, I realized that most people wake up on New Year’s Day, and it’s not their birthday. I have no idea what that’s like. You poor souls just start your year off the same numeric age you were the day before! And then you increase your age on some random day in the middle of the year, and there probably aren’t even fireworks. 

New Year’s Day is probably pretty sad for you all. I’m sorry.