wittenlover

March came roaring in with an $800 plumbing repair for the house. Blah. On the other hand, I leave for Vegas next week for the annual sojourn westward. Looking forward to the week with my "sisters from another mister". I bake the pile of cookies for our pit crew guys this Saturday. May have to have them start forking over moolah for those eggs... LOL

We were thrilled to hit 20* here today...

Most around me are closing. I don't hit Joann's often but I will miss them still for the times I did find stuff I needed there.

Happy early birthday! I have a dear friend who is also a Valentine's baby. Baking him his fave cookies and shipping them his way later this week.

Yes. SOOOOO many people don't realize just how much you can do in Vegas without it involving gambling (or drinking, as our group chooses not to partake of alcohol). There are so many interesting things to do, including some that we -still- haven't gotten around to (like the Neon Boneyard/Museum) that are truly worth the time if you enjoy those kinds of things. For an aquarium lover like me, Mandalay Bay's Shark Reef is a must visit every trip, for example.

We go out west for a week. Tuesday-Tuesday, usually.

Happy February, y'all! Some might recall I got rear-ended right before Thanksgiving (can't remember who all I told at this point). Well, I decided to not go the insurance claim route for a number of reasons. Instead, I am using a trusted small business auto repair shop (owner's name was given to me by both my dad and my insurance agent - though they don't know one another, so had no way of knowing they were recommending the same person to me - ha!). Since my car was drivable with the damage, I had the flexibility to wait until he could accommodate the needed work in his schedule. Well, the time has finally arrived! My car is in his capable hands as of this past Saturday morning and he expects to have the work done before the weekend. Good stuff. I am excited to have Blue (as I call her) back in one piece and looking good again soon. In other news, I am counting down to the annual Vegas run, coming up here in about a month or so. We've got all of our travel arrangements booked and can't wait to get back out that way for our first race trip of the year. That also means it'll be cookie baking time again soon for my pit crew buddies. Good times. Typically when we go out that way, we take one day for a "field trip" that alternates between the south rim of the Grand Canyon and the greater LA area. This year would have been an LA year but, with the recent fires and resulting devastation, we're heading back to the canyon. We know we'll enjoy it and the last thing we want to do is be in anyone's way or end up in a bad spot ourselves by trekking anywhere near the fire ravaged areas there in CA.

Same. While not quite to felony level with my job, similar legal limitations exist for me as well.

Not necessarily true... There are legal limitations/ramifications on parts of my job that I simply cannot do from home. I'm OK with that. That said, "just running to my office" to accomplish some tasks would waste half my day in packing up office/driving/resetting first in my office then back home because of where I live in proximity to my office. Sooooo.... I'm actually more productive being in just one place or the other on any given day. Fixed hybrid schedule gives my plants that I deal with the confidence of knowing when I'll be in office to accomplish tasks there vs when things might need to wait a day because I'm WFH. Urgent matters are always the exception to the rule and I will drop everything else on a WFH day to attend to those types of things, no matter the inconvenience. (Comes with the territory of my job and something I've known would be the nature of it from the very beginning.)

While we officially started back up for work last Thursday, today was first day back in the office. So, of course I woke up with a splitting headache. On a WFH day, I would've simply taken some ibuprofen, left most of my lights off, turned the brightness down on my laptop screen and been fine. But noooooo... I had to come into the office where every last stinkin light is on, the air is drier than heck, and people were being noisier than normal (since it was our first day back). I've made it through but I truly cannot wait to get home and become a hermit for the night. It's been a LONG day... That said, hope everyone that got snow/ice dumped on them in the last few days is OK. My bestie down in Indiana definitely got hammered, though she was blessed to not lose power (truly insult to injury for those that did with the frigid temps).

Dang... Lost 10 already... That's a shame. December does tend to get away from us quickly, though. That said, Happy New Year, GD fam! Rang in the new year with a bunch of the church family at our annual NYE party (that I host). Good times were had by all and, if anyone left hungry, it was ABSOLUTELY their own fault. We had a huge spread of snacks and treats to enjoy and the largest group since pre-covid days. Yay! Christmas was enjoyed with my dad at a local Chinese buffet. He got a kick out of the fact that I bought him exactly what he said he wanted (an electric staple gun) - guess he wasn't sure his daughter was paying attention when he mentioned it was something he could really use. LOL Winter will be returning with a vengeance in the next week or so, so I am very glad my outdoor decorations come down even more quickly than they go up. That will all come down early next week. Tree will be down by end of next week, most likely. The winter/holiday painting that my grandmother made years ago will remain on my wall till spring when it'll get switched out for one of her other paintings more reflective of warmer weather. (It was one of her many hobbies and I am blessed to have several of her canvases to enjoy and remind me of her. ) Officially back to work today, though we are WFH today and tomorrow with a return to our normal hybrid work schedule next week. Allows us to ease back in a bit before we jump back in to the full regular routine and all of us are appreciating that.

Pre/post unwrapping pics Thanks so much, ytmomof4!!! Such fun stuff! Lotions are already coming in handy and I will get great use out of the pot holder/oven mitt/towel set. Those Andes mints won’t last long, either… The NKOTB sticker was a great add-on, too - now to find it a good home on display somewhere… Merry Christmas! (Cats very much enjoying chasing the balled up wrapping paper as well )

Got my box today! Waiting till Christmas to open! Thanks, SS!!!

Congrats, winners!!!

Same, but I'll be putting the ornaments on mine throughout the week this week. The boxes of ornaments are in a handy location for easy access. Finished my outdoor decor yesterday since it was 50+ degrees out. Perfect to get the inflatables set up and staked down properly.