Week 4

Hello and happy Tuesday! Can you believe January is almost over? It was a full and quick month and we're looking forward to what the rest of 2024 brings. I do know for sure February will get a lot more interesting for us and I'll tell you why next week.  For now it was nice that in January I got my birthday trip to the mountains again which was the perfect way to spend time out in nature on and around my special day.

Take a look at last week's pictures:

Day 22- Monday, 1/22/24

Happy Birthday to me and what a great day it was out on the slopes of this beautiful ski area.  John even tried to ski.  The altitude was a bit hard but not his most limiting factor.  He did great trying to make a few strings of consecutive turns but didn't feel safe enough to continue because his one leg just can't turn quite well enough to help him control his speed.  It was worth the try though because now he knows what he needs to work on in PT to give him a better chance of success next year.  Thankfully he didn't mind hanging at the lodge while Tyler and I continued to ski. The best gift of all for me was no lift lines since it's a Monday and  having small spurts for big fluffy snow making it feel like I was truly skiing in a winter wonderland.  Afterward we feasted at the local pizza place for dinner.  There is nothing like a good warm pizza after a full day on the mountain.

Day 23- Tuesday, 1/23/24

Here's our last bit of time in the village before we drove home today from the mountains.  Of course the blue skies and sunshine show up while were leaving but that's ok because we skied on fresh snow which will be better than the icy/melty snow they get today.

Day 24- Wednesday, 1/24/24

It's Wednesday at work where I have 3 days to get 5 days worth of work done which feels daunting but we also had birthday goodies for me at our lab meeting which allowed for a nice break.  My boss's son decorated the box for me too and I got to take the extras home.

Day 25- Thursday, 1/25/24

Rusty is happy we are back.  He's not a fan when we leave him for a few days and tends to be extra clingy when we get back after, of course, he's done ignoring us for the first couple hours to let us know he did not approve of our absence--cats!  Also this pretty ring was my birthday gift from Tyler and Lupe along with a new book to read and I just love how delicate and imperfect the little pearls on the ring are.

Day 26- Friday, 1/26/24

TGIF!  Up in Humboldt even though Justin is no longer an official student he's still able to run his gaming club and lives for his Fridays because of it.  Since it's a new semester he's doing some new recruiting and hoping to find a couple people to run the club after he leaves for good in May.  He's also been busy in the kitchen and I want him to make some of these candied cranberries for me next time he's home. Otherwise not much going on here at home. Our Friday night movie just dropped on Netflix and was actually a pretty good true story depiction of the GameStop stock takeover if you can get past the foul language and certain crud song choices.

Day 27- Saturday, 1/27/24

Today we went out to take in the new Godzilla -1.  We missed it in theaters when the color version was out but they just released the black and white one so we hit that up and it was way better than I was expecting which was a nice surprise.  The story line is really good and compelling.  Even had me in tears near the end.  After we went out to dinner at a nice local place.

Day 28- Sunday, 1/28/24

Go Niners!  You can bet today was all about football in this house.  It was a horrible 1st half but thankfully the 49ers brought their A game in the second half for a win.  Next stop--Super Bowl!

That's it!  See you all next week as we start a new month.  I already feel this year slipping away--how can that be?

Week 3

Welcome back and happy Tuesday!  I wasn't sure I'd make it posting today since we just got back from a quick trip to the mountains but luckily I found the time.  Last week was a full but fun one and now we're back to being empty nesters again until spring break.

Here's what happened last week:

Day 15- Monday, 1/15/24

Today was MLK holiday so I took advantage of the time off to head to the mall for some returns that I could not return by mail and exchanged them for these much better options.  I can't even tell you how long it's been since I've been at the mall but thankfully is was not busy and I was successful in my mission.  

Day 16- Tuesday, 1/16/24

We're expecting some series of rain events over the next several days so I took advantage of the sunny day today to get some weeding and winter pruning done.  While back there I kept seeing pops of red that helped make the winter dead yard seem not so bad and even pretty in its own way.

Day 17- Wednesday, 1/17/24

Wednesday at work was all about results and getting caught up on data entry plus trying to learn the new university-wide purchasing system that has way too many bugs to make it user friendly.  Later at home my computer time was more enjoyable with the start of our 1st monthly zoom meeting for the year long Recollect group photo project I started.  I like the idea of a monthly zoom check in with the group and was happy to hear I'm no more behind already than anyone else.😉

Day 18- Thursday, 1/18/24

Tonight we took Brandon out to dinner since this is his last week with us for awhile and he chose Chinese food.  We had fun looking at the Zodiac sheet and finding the right sign for everyone in our family.  Turns out, according to this, Brandon and Tyler have competing signs and Brandon's sign should watch out for Tyler's.  LOL! This explains a lot in the way the butt heads playing games together.  My sign is the Dog and and it's pretty spot on for me. I like my cookie fortune too and am hoping I can put to good use at work soon.

Day 19- Friday, 1/19/24

TGIF!  I love seeing snapshots of how Justin is doing back in Arcata. Since he's just working on a research project he has a lot more time to have some fun and enjoy his time in his surroundings the next few months.  He's still doing his gaming club, he enjoys baking for his roommates, and he loves being one of the favorite subjects for his artist friend. Now for us here at home it's time for popcorn and a movie. We found this 2018 movie while searching for something free to stream that we haven't already seen.  All the current movies we want to see are not available to stream for free yet.  I hate how Prime has all the good stuff but to rent for $24--ack!  Anyway this was good with great actors and had a similar feel to the The Last of Us series.

Day 20- Saturday, 1/20/24

I dropped Brandon off at the airport this morning so he can head back to LA and start his spring semester next week although it seems there may be a teacher's strike that might delay the start a bit.  We'll see!  Later it was all about the Niner's game in our house and it was a bit of a nail biter but they pulled through in the end.  Tyler and John were happy boys and look forward to the next playoff game.

Day 21- Sunday, 1/21/24

Yay!  Time for a trip to the Sierra mountains.  We drove up in the pouring rain to Northstar ski resort.  The snow coverage at village level is not that great this year but we hear things are much better up at the mountain where we plan to ski tomorrow.  Fingers crossed!  It was great to relax in our condo once we arrived and to go out into the village for dinner after dark.  Tyler is with us and took this cute picture of John and I.  Cheers to getting away for a quick, early-week trip with no real crowds.

That's it!  Catch you back next week.

Week 2

Welcome back and happy Tuesday!  We're plugging through the year and find it hard to believe that January is already half way over.  The boys are getting ready to head back to school and I'm back at work so less time for fun but we do have a trip to the snowy mountains coming up that we're looking forward to.

Until then, here are last week's pictures:

Day 8- Monday, 1/8//24

John fried up some chicken strips outside for dinner tonight.  It's a bit cold and dark but at least it's not raining and he bundled up plus had the new owl lamps lighting his way.  I moved them to the BBQ counters and was delighted to see the cool pattern they made on that surface.

Day 9- Tuesday, 1/9/24

This evening for a nightcap I enjoyed a cranberry winter spritz in one of my new wine glasses that I got for Christmas.  Love the the pretty gold rim on them.

Day 10- Wednesday, 1/10/24

Wednesday at work I wore some of my new socks with some older shoes that show them off well.  It's clear out but the clearer days are the colder days so nice warm wool socks in pretty designs are great to have right now.  Back at home the afternoon sun lit up the backyard and filtered in nicely across the pool table.  Our boys used this table a lot over the holidays which was fun for them but now it's time to put the balls away and cover the table until spring break.

Day 11- Thursday, 1/11/24

John took the older boys out to sushi while Brandon and I did our own thing for dinner and then picked up cookies for all to enjoy after.  That one cookie is a waffle cookie complete with a syrup packet to drizzle on top. They get crazy creative at Crumble.

Day 12- Friday, 1/12/24

TGIF!  I wore my new star sweater and star necklace (representing my 3 boys) and got lots of compliments. When I made it home from work I saw Rusty's tail peeking out from his napping blanket.

Day 13- Saturday, 1/13/24

It was a VERY rainy day as I dropped Justin off at the train station.  The rain on the windshield almost makes the scene look like a painting. Justin will be living in Humboldt the next few months to finish out his lease and wrap up a research project before moving for good to where ever the next great opportunity takes him.  As for us we braved the rain to go out and have dinner with some friends.  At least it was warm comfort food and good drinks.

Day 14- Sunday, 1/14/24

Speaking of warm comfort food.  For Sunday dinner I made lasagna.  When it came out of the oven it was so bubbly, gooey, and perfectly ready to eat. Yum!

That's it! See you next week.

Week 1

Hello and happy Tuesday! Here we are with week one of 2024 done. It was a pretty mellow week for us aside from me heading back to work and others getting appointments taken care of. I haven't gotten around to updating the blog's family photo in the header for this year yet but will hopefully have it ready by next week. 

Here's a peek at our first week: 

Day 1- Monday, 1/1/24

It's New Year's Day and it was a lazy one with a slow start as we recovered from staying up too late for NYE.  Towards the end of today we did rally and make a nice New Year's Day feast complete with steak, lobster, and all the fixings.

Day 2- Tuesday, 1/2/24

Vacation is over so time to get back in the swing of things and back to work routines.  The coffee place on campus is still closed for another week since students are out until the 8th so I had run out and hit up a Starbucks to help get me through the day.  My lab people were here running clinical samples and working hard but many others decided not to come back until next week as well so was pretty dead around here.  Thankfully that meant we could at least head home early--no meeting to bog us down.

Day 3- Wednesday, 1/3/24

 The rain clouds rolled in today and even showed off a nice heart for me as I left work-- the 1st natural heart shape of the year.  Hopefully it means good things to come.  Back at home John and Justin were just sitting down to enjoy lobster rolls they made with leftovers.

 

Day 4- Thursday, 1/4/24

As I headed into work I had to drop my car at the dealer for a recall fix on my key fobs.  Apparently there is a hinge issue that can cause the key to collapse shutting off the car while you are driving --Yikes!  The fix was to lock it in the open position which I'm not a fan of but at least I'll be safe.  So random!  Outside while walking on campus I enjoyed the sun shining through more rain clouds and noticed that the majority of the trees are now are in full winter mode with few if any leaves left--so many bare branches.  They can be creepy yet beautiful at the same time.

 

 

Day 5 - Friday, 1/5/24

Justin and I were having deep conversations in the office about life goals while Rusty was attentively watching on.  He's happy to have more warm bodies in the house to seek out during these cold winter days.  Later our Friday night movie was Maestro which was an interesting life story that had great acting but a super sad ending.

 

Day 6- Saturday, 1/6/24 

The kids sure do enjoy taking pictures of Rusty and then sharing them around.  I love how you can see Brandon's shadow on the wall while he snaps hit shot and Justin always has interesting perspectives.  LOL!  It's hard to tell if the cat likes all the photo attention or not and true to a cat I think it just depends on his mood for the day.  For dinner we needed a nice warm  meal so I made some spicy enchiladas that were a big hit. Tonight's movie was a futuristic AI sci-fi that was a bit confusing and also quite disturbing. I sure hope our world doesn't end up this way.

Day 7- Sunday, 1/7/34

 I'm starting a year long Picture Series project with some online friends where we'll be using pictures we've taken in previous classes to pull together collection books.  Some of the classes I took but not all so I'll use pictures I have for certain months and for others will use the prompts to take the pictures I don't have.  It should be fun and will help keep my creative juices flowing. How cute are the album books recommended for the class found on Amazon--they are so nice with great texture and there are even more colors.  I'll need 4 in all for this project but just received my 1st 2 for now.

That's all.  Not a bad start. See you Next Tuesday.