3 of 52 of 2022

This week was kinda crazy for me. From a work front, I'm still trying to get motivated for the coming year. It's been hard because the work has been blah and the people I work with are a little high maintenance. From a home perspective, it's been a little rough. It was my first full week at moms and it was a little rough. The first half of the week I was doing morning, day, night and overnight duty because Paul came in contact with Jackie who is covid positive. Luckily he was able to resume dinner duty on Wednesday.  I've also been buying camping stuff for Tyler's 6th grade camp.  We are almost ready to go. He has almost everything he needs and we did a dry run with packing his bag. He did good with packing and unpacking his bedroll.  We are waiting on his hiking day pack and nausea meds. Once we have all that on Monday we can pack him up completely. And he'll be off to camp and on the bus at 8am on Tuesday.  I'm sure I will be counting down the days and hours until he returns Friday at noon.  This is the first time he will be away from us. I'm extremely worried due to covid and the fact that he's such a picky eater. The picture attached to this post is of Tyler sleeping in his sleeping bag for the first time...at Lola's house.   

2 of 52 of 2022

Today is my first day back to spending the night at mom's house.  I'll have 13 nights here before Jim and the gals come down on the 21st and stay 2 nights.  Unfortunately Paul isn't able to help for at least the next 14 days since Jackie tested positive for covid and they've been in contact with her.  So what does this mean for and my family?  It means my time at home gets cut short by 2 hours because I need to be back at mom's by 630p to give her dinner and medicine. It's awfully convenient that all this goes down when Ralph leaves and there's no one else to help.  This is one of the many reasons I don't want to stay in contact with them after mom dies.  When I first found out about this inconveniently timed covid result, I was extremely angry because I always get the shit end of the stick when it comes to my brothers.  None of them understand the time I'm sacrificing from my family. I think Ralph has an idea but doesn't understand it completely.  Once mom dies, all my time and attention will be finally directed towards my family to make up for lost time.  Until then I'll have buckle down and get thru it.  So much for thinking 2022 will be better. It's off to shity start.   

1 of 52 of 2022

Today is the first day of 2022.  My goal is to complete a blog for each week of this year. I successfully blogged each week of 2021 and hope to do this longterm. 

To end 2021, Hannah got her ears pierced by Enigma Piercing in Normal Heights.  She did amazing.  She has been wanting her ears pierced since she was in kindergarten.  She was super nervous.  Our piercer, Rubi, was awesome.  She talked Hannah through every step.  Hannah didn't really feel any pain and was surprised at how quickly it went.  Her first earrings are of a weiner dog and a wishbone. 

Our last adventure of 2021 was exploring Annie's Canyon Trail in Solana Beach.  Tyler wasn't as excited about it as I thought he would be.  Hannah, on the other hand, loved it.  We went up the easy trail which was switchbacks up to the lookout point.  Hannah and I plan to go back to do the difficult trail thru the actual canyon. 

I'm hoping 2022 will be a little better than 2021.  But if 2021 teached me anything it was to not have any expectations to minimize disappointment.  

52 of 52 of 2021

Today is Christmas.  I remembered to take a family photo this morning and another with the kids and lola. 

The kids got all the presents on their wish list and then some.  Dan and I cooked 24 pounds of prime rib, Texas hash, green bean casserole, stuffed mushrooms, bacon wrapped stuffing and rice.  The food was a hit....as usual!

51 of 52 of 2021

Today is my 41st birthday. I spent the morning at my mom's house since it was bath day. She didn't remember it was my birthday. I was able to head home before 1pm which is awesome. It means more time with thr family. Dan bought me a seafood feast for dinner and I enjoyed every bit of it. Now I'm relaxing on the couch digesting my meals and doing nothing.  

Maybe next year we will celebrate more.  This year's low key plan nothing and do nothing birthday was just fine. 

50 of 52 of 2021

This week was a bit of a cluster. It went by fast.  Work was super busy and home life was also super busy. 

The highlight of the week was today. Spending time with my girl on Friday and Saturday nights are what I look forward to each week I have lola duty. 

Today, Hannah tried balut for the first time. Surprisingly she liked it.  Her lola and her shared her first balut.  It was nice to see them both happy while sharing this experience. 

49 of 52 of 2021

At the top of this rock wall is Hannah.  She kept at this wall for about 15 minutes and made it to the top. This was the first time she ever did this. 

She was upset she didn't make totally to the top but this was still a pretty huge accomplishment for her. She went at it again to try to make it to the very very top. She worked at for almost 30 minutes before being that high scared her.  

Shes really hard on herself when she sets her mind to accomplishing something and falls short.  

I wish she can find it in herself to be proud of her accomplishments even though she falls short of her goal.  It's always good to celebrate your wins no matter the journey.