Week 1

Welcome to a New Year!  2026 has officially started and I'm already running late but it has been a crazy start so it is what it is.  

Here are the pictures from a long week 1 because of a few extra days:

Day 1- Thursday, 1/1/26

Happy New Year!  We have the whole family here enjoying a New Year's feast on this beautiful, sunny, first day of 2026.

Day 2- Friday, 1/2/26

TGIF!  We're still officially on winter break for a few more days so enjoying the extra time at home but also getting a few things done around the house and yard before a storm moves in.  John made us some festive winter blue drinks that we enjoyed while watching the latest Steven King movie which was brutal but also well done. 

Day 3- Saturday, 1/3/26

It poured today and was cold so I got in some good warming cat cuddles between loads of laundry.

 

Day 4- Sunday, 1/4/26

LOL!  Another rainy and cold day.  At least we are home and able to just hunker down.  It will be brutal going back to work tomorrow.

 

 

Day 5- Monday, 1/5/26

When I got home from work today this is how I found these 2--must be nice!  Yes, John is over there covered up in the corner of the couch.  At least Bailey was happy to get up and go out for a walk with me even in the rain.  Her waterproof jacket was worth every penny today.

Day 6- Tuesday, 1/6/26

 I spied this pretty orange flower at the beginning of our walk and then this beautiful orange sunset at the end.  Thankfully the rain has passed.

Day 7- Wednesday, 1/7/26

I'm enjoying my new wildlife themed calendar card set at my work desk that I got for Christmas.  They were painted by a Canadian artist and are so wonderfully done.  I look forward to enjoying each month's picture as the year passes.  After work I made a Target run for pet essentials (cat & dog).  Rusty approved as he sniffed out the evening treats I tossed down for him before bed.

Day 8- Thursday, 1/8/26

This morning there was a package out front so I caught the neighborhood sunrise before heading to work.  Later when I returned home again Bailey was eager and ready to play.

Day 9- Friday, 1/9/26

Happy Friday again!  At work I'm bulking up my cultures for a harvest next week so I spent a lot of time in the hood today.  Back at home we have been working through the final season of Strangers Things and we're able to finish the last episode tonight.  It's kind of sad it's over but was fun to see how the kid actors have grown an changed over the years.

Day 10- Saturday, 1/10/26 

Well, it started out as a peaceful morning but then John who has been sick with what we thought was a stomach bug ended up fainting due of low blood pressure and hit his head pretty bad in the fall to the floor. I took him to the ER and it turned out he had a really bad gall bladder infection that was messing with his system plus his fall had caused a skull fracture with small brain bleed. Yikes! They are keeping him overnight in ICU on fluids and antibiotics before deciding if he needs surgery or not.  Poor Bailey is wondering where her dad is.  She was there when he fainted and is still quite concerned.

Day 11- Sunday, 1/11/26

This hospital is all too familiar but I'm here for a happy visit now.  John has been moved to a regular room and is doing much better. They still want to keep him for a couple more days to run more tests and decide if the gall bladder needs to come out or not.  He is in good spirits, was happy to catch the second half  of the 49er's game with Tyler after a head scan, and has his normal coloring back aside from the nasty head bruise that will take awhile to fade.  Thank goodness this wasn't something much worse.  Now Bailey and I can both rest better without excessive worry.  How's that for a start to the new year?

 Thanks for stopping by and baring with me as I try to catch up.

Week 52 and 1/2

. . . and here we are sharing he rest of the pictures from the final days in 2025. This is a long week-and-a-half post with a lot of pictures in each day so we're going out with a bang!

Day 356- Monday, 12/22/25

I'm off this whole week so enjoying spending more time with the boys while they are home.  Once Rusty let Justin get up for the day he and I went out to run errands including a trip to the mall to pick up an online order that never got delivered.  I haven't been to the mall in ages and hardly recognize most the store there no.  Just was happy to tag along because he has fond memories of their holiday decoration but sadly it appears they have scaled back quite a bit and only the visit Santa area had decorations.  After that we headed to a dr visit for Justin where the parking lot turned out to be more impressive than the mall with it's colorful pavement litter with millions of tiny yellow leaves which had dropped because of recent rain.  It really was a wonderful sight.  Finally back at home I whipped up some Penne pasta with chicken in Vodka sauce to help warm all from the inside out on this chilly day.

Day 357- Tuesday, 12/23/25

 

Time to back some Christmas goodies with my baking elf.  This is one of his favorite things about Christmas and he always does a great job.  We pretty much spent all day in the kitchen and can't even count how many times we needed to wash dishes.  But it all turned out great and was fun too.  Later I spied Rusty on the stairs hiding from the dog and lit up by the banister holiday lights.  Ever now and then he'll peek around the corner to see if Bailey is fast asleep yet so he can go downstairs to his favorite room in peace.  One day she'll stop trying to chase his and learn to just let him be.

Day 358- Wednesday, 12/24/25

Happy Christmas Eve!  Today was Christmas cookie plate delivery day and all the neighbors look forward to it and some also give us treats in return.  We have storm brewing so Christmas for us will be a wet one but at least the clouds are pretty and kind of look like snow drifts up in the sky.  We made our tradtional pizza dinner to enjoy tonight just before opening one gift and heading to bed.

add dinner pic

Day 359- Thursday, 12/25/25

Merry Christmas!  It's actually a bit sunnier than we were expecting because it seems like the rain storm passed mostly overnight.  We had a nice relaxing and fun day starting with an eggnog french toast brunch before opening presents. and we ended with a nice prime-rib dinner and Christmas cake for dessert.  Hope everyone else had a great day with family and or friends.

 

 

Day 360- Friday, 12/26/25

Happy Friday!  I did have to head into the lab this morning to feed my cultures but thankfully it doesn't take too long. I'm usually able to get back home before anyone else is up.  LOL!  Pretty much spent the rest of the day relaxing with the pup and enjoying gifts received.  These are Bailey's new toys that she has managed to already start breaking in which how we know she likes them.  Later we enjoyed a festive holiday drink by tree light and then watched this movie I had heard good things about.  It was pretty interesting based on a true story the evolution of dating apps.

 

Day 361- Saturday, 12/27/25

Day 362- Sunday, 12/28/25

Day 363 - Monday 12/29/25

Bailey's 2nd birthday

Day 364- Tuesday 12/30/25

Day 365- Wednesday 12/31/25

NYE!