18 of 52 of 2026

Another busy week at work. Its only going to get worse as we progress thru the year. 

Tyler took his solid works certification test on Friday.  He scores 30%.  He knew he wasn't going to pass it but we are glad he went thru thru the process. 

Sophie has been struggling a lot this week between her heavy breathing and one of her paw pads missing skin. I put a bandage on it, a sock and we use her shoes when she goes outside. It seems to be working for her.  Hopefully she can get over the hump before me and the kids head to VA for the weekend. 

17 of 52 of 2026

This was a crazy week at work. My project is moving faster than I thought and I'm getting behind and with it. Its making me anxious.  

On the home front, we put an offer in to the house and it was accepted.  The inspection was done on Thursday so now we wait and see what happens between the realtors to lower the cost so we can fix all the big issues. We're also waiting to see if Dan's application will be approved with the mobile home park. If all goes well then we will have a second house by the beach we can hang at. 

This weekend we went to our first rodeo and Lakeside Rodeo.  The kids dressed up in western gear.  It was fun to watch and wouldn't mind going again.  

16 of 52 of 2026

This week was pretty crazy at work. I dove into my new project and feel overwhelmed already. 

I found out this week that my Ninonh Ruben passed away on April 5th after being on the hospital for 6 weeks. I have yet to call my Ninang to see how shes doing.  We weren't very close so its a little awkward to speak to them.  His funeral is at the end of the month so I'll need to make sure to attend it. 

Yesterday we did a fish fry at moms. I also cleared all of Ralph's stuff out of his room so hopefully we can redo that room in a couple weeks.  Im also hoping he takes all his crap back with him but doubt he will cause he always has a way to make things difficult. 

Today we drove up to Oceanside to check out a house and we are moving forward with putting an offer in, hopefully on Monday.  We will see how it pans out.  

15 of 52 of 2026

This was a really busy week at work.  After 7 days off my inbox had over 500 emails that I needed to sift thru. 

On a personal front, not a lot happened this week.  Tyler got me into collecting Pokémon cards.  I logged and organized my cards into binders this weekend.  I had to order several more binders for my collection. 

Tyler started to study for his AP world history exam this week. He has 3 weeks to prep for it. 

I finally ordered Hannah's yearbook. I also created her half page and I hope she likes it.   

On Sunday we went to the Carmel Valley Farmer's market to supper Che and her business.  We got rained on twice but we walked away with some yummy treats.  

14 of 52 of 2026

I had this whole week off and felt like I didn't accomplish much at home that I wanted to. On Wednesday I took the kids shopping and decided I wanted to start collecting Pokémon cards.  Something to bond with Tyler. On Thursday we watched the Super Mario movie and dined at BJs.  

On Friday, we did a little more shopping and I bought some Mary Jane Dr. Martens. Tyler hung out with his friends at the beach.  Dan and I hung out with Hannah. She tried oysters on the half shell for the first time and loved them.  We had Stella jeans ice-cream for the first time and watched the sunset.  

On Saturday, Hannah hung with her friends at the mall.  Tyler and I went to the cemetery.  We also spent about 150 on Pokémon cards and almost 250 on Tyler's outfit for Grace's graduation next month.  

We spent Easter at Paul and Rhonda's this year.  It was nice but the kids got super bored. I didn't go crazy with their baskets this year because I didnt really know what to get them.  But they seemed to enjoy what I got. 

13 of 52 of 2026

So work this week was another whirlwind. I only worked 3 days this week but it felt like a full 40 hours.  I also recieved great news. I got a 3.5% raise and a 20k bonus which im super happy about.  I need to figure out how I can level up to a VI and remain that until I retire in 20 years.  

Hannah went on her East Coast trip. She enjoyed it.  But I ruined something again.  I got her a big head to welcome her back but it was too embarrassing so im iced out again...we are day 2 of the 2 week ice out.  At this point im just going to stop trying to do cool things cause whatever I do is not cool.  

I also worked on Ralph's room. It almost app packed but now we need to move it all to storage.  I found some cool old photos that I was looking for, so im glad I found them.  

12 of 52 of 2026

This was a pretty busy week.  From a work perspective its been a cluster of fire drills each day.  On Thursday I learned about new scope to my work so I'll will spend next week figuring that out. 

From a home perspective I went thru most of the boxes from moms house that were from my room. I have 2 more to go thru from the stereo cabinet.  

Tyler attended a business and ethics conference in El Cajon and received an Osha certificate and was recognized by the state of CA and county of San Diego.  Hannah got a Principal's list award.  She's received one every semester since 7th grade. 

We dropped Hannah off at the airport for her 8th grade East Coast trip. She was super excited and is having a great time.  

Tyler and I went to moms to clean out Ralph's room. We are about a third of the way.  

Che's kids cleaned out a lot of the house and boxed things up already. Now we need to go thru it and figure out what we are going to keep and not keep.

11 of 52 of 2026

This was a really busy week again at work.  A few longs days this week and a dozen or so firedrills. 

Tyler asked Devin and Erika to go to pack day with him this year.  He really enjoyed their company.  

Hannah is gearing up for her trip.  We got to hang out on Saturday. We had AYCE sushi at Itacho in Kearny Mesa then we shopped for last minute stuff at Target before coming home. 

Dan and I went to the gym for thr 2nd week in a row.  Hopefully we can work our way up to going both days of thr weekend. We also cleaned out some of the man cave.  

10 of 52 of 2026

This was another busy week at work. Worked until 5pm on Friday.  I have a feeling this is going to be the norm until October.  

I did a solo trip to see mom and dad this weekend. It was kind of nice to go by myself.

9 of 52 of 2026

This week was uneventful I think.  Work was crazy as per usual. 

The kids didn't have anything crazy going on with school. 

Che's son, Michael, moved into moms house. 

8 of 52 of 2026

Another busy week at work. I presented a deck to some leaders which resulted in a request to present the deck to additional leaders at the beginning of next month.  I also facilitated a meeting on a coworkers behalf cause she was out again.  I suspect the next time she will be out yet again.  

We kicked off the weekend by going to the SD Tet Festival at Liberty Station.  We had dinner at Liberty Public Market then strolled over to the festival.  It wasn't in full swing as we hoped it would be. We called it a night around 7pm. 

On Saturday we went to moms and completed the 2nd bedroom. We were there from 8am until 5pm. Painted and put new flooring in.  It went pretty quick with everyone there.  Che also redid moms altar and found a load of cash.  We still need to complete Ralph's room and moms room. Then we need to think about redoing the bathrooms. But first we need to start going thru her belongings and figuring out what's what. 

On Sunday we took Tyler to PB Shore Club for lunch while Hannah went to a birthday party.  She and I got into another tiff because of her attitude. Itll be at least 2 weeks before she and I speak again.  We are having these tiff about once a month now. 

I felt like I didnt get to recharge my batteries before heading into another crazy work week. 

7 of 52 of 2026

This was another super busy week for me at work.  I got my Year End review and was rated Excellent.  I marked myself successfull because I didnt actually lead any bodies of work. Instead I used it as a learning year and leaned in to learn Shared Services and did some Optimization and Realization work as a stretch goal.  Leaning in and assisting others led to my Excellent rating.  Looking ahead for this year im hoping to get promoted to VI and look for a new department.  We will see how things shake out. 

Saturday was my dads 92nd birthday. Its wild that hes been gone for 7 years already. I miss him and mom so much.  I really hope theyre liking what we're doing to the house.  Spent a lot of the weekend cleaning out my room and on today we painted it and laid flooring. Next weekend I'll empty my room of furniture then paint and lay flooring down in it too. Once its done Rachelles kids will move in. Then we will work on Ralph's room and moms room then the rest of the house. At least there will be people staying there so its not empty anymore. 

6 of 52 of 2026

Super busy week.  I started the week traveling to Portland for the 1st time since well before Covid.  The airport changed with a lot more improvements. The weather was cold with no rain, thankfully.  I went with a coworker to learn a new skillset for my job.  It was time worth spent and now Im more valuable at work.  The kids weren't thrilled about me traveling but they made it thru. 

We cleaned out the middle room at moms house.  Filled all the holes.    Next week I will paint and put in flooring.  Che's son will move in at the end of the month.

We took the kids to Kobey's swapmeet today. We spent about 2 hours there.  The kids scored some knick nacks.  We had lunch at Mr. Moto's.  Then came home and took Sophie a much needed bath.