17 years, 4 months

Posted on time! Woot!

It’s been a hell of a week – George got robbed half a block from our house at 8:45 in the evening last weekend (he’s okay, just battered and bruised – nothing broken), plus lots of other random crap. I’m happy to say that I’ll be on a cruise ship with a friend for the next week. The boys only have one week of school before spring break, and I think we all just need a break.

17 and one quarter

This year, Mardi Gras fell on the fourth. Mardi Gras Day starts early, so we took this on our way to take the ferry across the river at about 8:30am. However, once we got there, the boys learned their friend wasn’t coming, so they went home. Just as well. I’m pretty sure I would have embarrassed them if they’d come along.

(I was Sally O’Malley because I’M FIFTY. Somehow I managed not to throw my back out stretching and kicking.)

17+2

Again, taken on the right day, posted late. I had to get the pic first thing in the morning, because they had a soccer game 3.5 hours away and didn’t get home until after midnight. But they won the game! Now onto round 3 of the playoffs. This is very stressful.

I kind of like the light crocs/dark pants and dark crocs/light pants symmetry going on here.

Snow!

We had a truly magical day on Tuesday when we got about a foot of snow! It was insane, it was wonderful, it was the break from reality we all needed.

Wednesday was beautiful and sunny and cold, and the snow didn’t melt.

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It’s still on the ground as of Thursday afternoon and it’s still fun to stomp in.

The fires in L.A.

I wrote a post about how the fires in Los Angeles affected my family. I don’t really want to rehash it here, but in a nutshell, my brother and his family are safe, but they lost their home in Altadena.

Jenny and I set up a GoFundMe for them.

They were on the news on Saturday.

I do want to post about my birthday celebrations that happened the weekend before, because they were excellent, but I’m not quite in the mood yet.

2025 can suck it.

17+1

My birthday celebrations started this weekend, so I’m a little late posting, even though I took it on the right day!

Istanbul (not Constantinople)

Earlier this month I went to Istanbul for a work trip and I swore to myself I’d blog about it because it was such a memorable place.

When we weren’t working, we were walking around a lot. We ate delicious food. We petted cats. We shopped. We probably didn’t haggle as much as we should have.

We visited very old buildings. We drank tea and coffee and people tried hard to sell us rugs. We stayed in Europe but visited Asia.

Did I mention there were a lot of cats?

Not a clue. But no complaints!

The street where our coworking spot was located was full of lighting stores. It was really interesting. Lamps and neon and parts and bulbs and everything you could possibly need to provide light. That was every store. There was another street that was all power tools. Another that was shops selling screws and nails and nuts and bolts. I loved that.

It took a long, long time to get there and a long, long time to get home, but it was worth it.

My ten year old puppy

Nine years ago today, Ziggy, the best dog in the whole world*, came to live with us. We guessed he was around 1 when we got him, so in our house, at least, today he is ten years old. A whole decade! And yet he is still my little baby puppy. Funny how that happens.

*except when he pees on things inside the house

Here’s to ten more years! At least!

17 years!

I am in Istanbul right now, so George had to take the picture, which is why you can’t see their feet. I can’t believe my tiny babies are 17! SEVENTEEN. I can’t wait to give them hugs tomorrow night!

16 years, 11 months

Gah! 17 in a month? 17 sounds so old! Blah.

And I’ll be on a work trip for their birthday, which makes me sad. Oh well.

Back to work! (Sabbatical recap)

I will not say the past three months flew by, because they didn’t. They passed at a reasonable speed. I feel like I’ve been away for a long time, and I’m actually ready to go back. Or, at least, I’m not sad to be going back. No matter how much one might love one’s job, not working is still infinitely better. Especially if you’re still getting paid.

(Background: we get 3 months off paid every five years. My last sabbatical was Dec 2018-March 2019.)

First, we went to Baton Rouge where I discovered how good I am at golf and we had dinner with my aunt.

Then, I took a short trip to Canada to hang out with friends. We went to Schitt’s Creek!

My flights were all forked up getting home, but I got to spend a night with Kiki in Virginia!

Which made me a bit late taking the boys’ 200th monthly pic, but we got there.

Then I spent some time getting the boys’ car from their grandparents. (They very generously gave it to them.) I had to transfer the title, get it towed to a mechanic, etc etc.) And now I don’t have to drive to school to pick them up every afternoon! Yay!

I got another tattoo.

I spent some time with Kiki in Virginia. We went to a little town called Sperryville and went on a foggy hike and ate at a fancy restaurant.

Then we went on a quick trip to Chicago to see Pulp (again.)

There was a hurricane threat, and then I went to Florida with my mom and stepdad. I drove a U-Haul. I got to experience The Villages as well as see their new house. And sit on a lot of sofas.

I organized and got rid of stuff and did other random things around the house.

I made things. I got an iPad so I could learn to draw. Still working on that, but there are lots of fun Procreate tutorials out there.

I took the boys to an LSU game for an early birthday present (courtesy of Grandee and Larry)

I saw Johnny Marr in concert with friends.

I snuggled my friend’s new baby.

The boys started in another vaccine trial. I saw friends. I went on walks. Ziggy was cute. I made ice cream. Got a heated jacket for soccer. I sent 200 postcards. I early voted.