Christmas/Birthday 2021

So, this year has given 2020 the run for its money...with medical issues and various stages of opening and closing, masking and unmasking, etc.

Finally started feeling like myself on December 22, and now we are having a subdued Birthday/Christmas.

Its been good, even in its weirdly slipshod way.

As Willow said "I am content."

X-mas morning, time for some candy!

New Coat -- and Kif.

Last night--opening gifts....and Kif.

Lighting of our memorial candles.  We remember a memory for each person and then light it. One for Paul, one for Grammie, one for Grandma...the one for Chewy's dad gets lit on New Years Eve.

Michael's gift--Hammer Dracula figure.

Gift from Michael--a cuddly shark character.

Willow wanted a K-Pop band CD--comes with stickers and 

Birthday cake!

Birthday dinner--Japanese steakhouse!

Birthday gift

Complete Lego Advent Calendar!

Ending the Year on an Obvious Note...

Welp, I got Covid-19.  It has been a very busy year for us medically speaking, so why not just finish the year off with THE Sickness that is plunging the world into a Pandemic Rollercoaster!  Sure!

The good news--no one else in the family tested positive.  The other good news---since I am vaccinated, I feel crappy, but not AWEFUL and I am definitely getting better and shouldn't need to be hospitalized.  

I can definitely tell this is "something different" than a normal cold/flu thing though.  My main symptom has been a LOT of Fatigue.  Its a very annoying thing to not be able to get things done because you just feel exhausted (and this is after sleeping quite well!)

So...there is that.

ROAD TRIP THANKSGIVING

We finally were able to make the long road trip to North Carolina to visit my dad and his wife.  We have tried to go two other times, but, you know, the whole PANDEMIC thing....

I was a bit trepidatious, as the last time we made the trip, Chewy was having a massive TNA attack  and Michael was having anxiety/IBS issues...and Willow threw up all over me the night before Thanksgiving (we concluded she was not sick, she just ate ALOT of Oreos).  So, yeah, it hadn't been as good a trip as we would have hoped.

This trip, this bizarre year-of-still-dealing-with-pandemic-and-rampant-people-stupidity actually worked out very much the opposite!  

The worst thing of the trip was the Traffic and the time it took to go there and back.  OTHERWISE, it was great!

We got to spend quality time with family, my children were well behaved AND engaged...a VERY big deal for someone on the Autism spectrum, and especially since social isolation has made its impact too on them.

We played board games, ate good food, had good conversations. We listened to Weird Al, an audio book of the HitchHikers Guide to the galaxy.  

With all the mess of this past few years, it was very much needed and very much life affirming.

I wish my dad lived closer, but at least this time I felt like he was able to actually get to know my children and get some insight to our little family.  It was definitely quality time!

Okay, pictures...

Willow sleeping while we are driving 12+ hours...(that is her bread pillow)

Her eye mask says "meh"  (that pretty much sums up 13 yr. old Willow)

First stop shake at Vernon's Diner

IHOP tree

Grandpa and Margo--Grandpa as a Pumpkin Waffle at Brigs

First Breakfast in NC

Seafood Scramblies and GRITS (YUM)

Dinner at the Olive garden--Willow was treated like a princess.

When in the hotel, Willow had two modes....

Second mode...

Playing one of our favorite board games.  Michael explained it very well.

And even some pool time.

Thanksgiving Dinner!  Thank you Margo!

Thanksgiving Dinner setting.

On the road back...

...

I have been having a post in my head many times the past month, but I just did not have time or the nerve or the energy.

So, this Saturday morning I am taking the time!

September was such a busy month, I cannot believe that there was a September.  It seems like we had vacation at Cape Cod, got another guinea pig in the bargain, started school and ZIIIP...its now October!!  Hell, its almost MID-October!!

It alarms me sometimes to see how quickly time is moving now.  Being 50+ years old is starting to not only become a reality, but a dread in lots of ways.  I guess this is what one would call the "mid-life crisis mentality".  Sigh.

Talking with a lot of people lately, there seems to be an overall sense of "meh", unease, and a general feeling of being "burned out".  I think the 45th Presidents term, along with the Pandemic has just gotten to the core of everything in our society and our lives and I think everyone is just so fatigued.  I know I feel that way a lot.

(also...this keyboard is sticky--who the hell has been using my keyboard with sticky fingers?!?)

Trying to lift myself and whoever else I can, out of the general funk...but I think it just is going to take....time.

----------------------------

Meanwhile, life goes on!

To show that we definitely haven't had enough car drama in our lives lately (going strong since December 2019!), Michael made sure to get another milestone in life achieved!  He was in a fender bender!  (and, of course, our "new" car got the bigger hit!)

Oh look--in the background there is Willow--and she is almost done with PT and her knee is doing great! (positives, positives!)

So, car's in the shop and we have a rental car--and our Insurance Deductible will be used and probably our rate will increase too! Yay?!

In the other area of spending money, we got a New Roof!  What a wonderful-in-an-adult-way way to spend $10K!

Hey, yeah, Willow took this picture from our car--ya can kinda see the roof, right?  Its Black (how original--frankly, I was thinking of a different color, but the one I wanted wasn't available....sigh)

Oh, look, a big tree that may smash our roof!  (wait...positives/positives...) The tree is very pretty...

In actual positive news---Michael is doing great taking the subway into school, and he is enjoying his classes.  I will say no more, cuz I don't want to jinx it.

Willow is going to school in person and has met a new friend, named Fox (yes, they are named Fox).  

I have so little to do (HA) that I decided to have a small Halloween Party for Willow and a couple (probably literally) friends.

One of the great things we have been doing to keep our spirits up--watching old movies with Michael, and Chewy and I are playing electronic Ticket To Ride games against each other.  (I beat him a bunch at the beginning of our playing, so in true Chewy fashion, he obsessively has been playing it on his own to get better...)

I have also been starting to get ready for a long awaited trip back to North Carolina to see my dad and his wife. We had planned to do it just before the pandemic hit...and then, well...you know the rest!

Last time we went, Chewy had an awful bout of TNA attack and was miserable the whole time; Michael was having anxiety issues and bowel troubles to go with it; and Willow---over indulged in oreos and other treats and vomited all over me and the hotel bed the night before Thanksgiving....its gotta be better this trip....right?!!?

I am gonna close with cute pictures...ending on that positive!!

First "in person" visit with Kayla in a while....