January 3, 2016
Expect a Ziggy-heavy 366 project this time around. He’s a much more willing subject, even though I don’t think he likes it when I have my camera up to my face.
January 2, 2016
We went by Ellie’s house today on our walk, and they greeted each other like long-lost friends. Ellie was especially excited.
Resolutions
I honestly am not all that bothered by new year’s resolutions. I pretty much make them and then forget them. And it’s not like I ever make really original resolutions anyway. It’s always, “focus on health” or some other such nonsense.
But it’s not like that’s going to stop me from making them.
So some things I want to focus on in 2016:
- Getting back into running. Now this is really all dependent on taking care of my ankle (Achilles tendonitis.) And because that is exacerbated by a lack of flexibility, this year I want to start yoga. So my fitness resolution is to start yoga so I can run without pain again.
- Get to a good place, food-wise. I’m not going to say I want to do Weight Watchers or any other kind of diet, but really just take control. Figure out what that means for me. I think that means talking to a nutritionist and working on something that fits my life and my personality.
- But let’s face it, I do want to lose weight, and money does motivate me, so I set up a DietBet. Join me! It starts on my birthday, January 9. Maybe it will stop me from overdoing it. Unlikely.
- Get our house in order. I mean that literally. I spent too much time in 2015 fantasizing about moving – I do mean fantasizing. We did the research and now we know for sure – we won’t be able to move into a bigger house and stay in our neighborhood unless we win the lottery. And we don’t buy lottery tickets. So this means just doing the projects we’d have to do to sell our house, but not to sell our house. Instead, to make it the home I will want to spend the next 20 years in. That means fixing the floors once and for all. Painting. That kind of thing.
- Get rid of stuff. I’ve gotten better about this, and it’s obviously related to the point above this, but I’m ready to purge like crazy.
- Cook more. The boys are getting less picky, I got my awesome Instant Pot, and I want to be better about feeding everyone (including myself) more real foods.
There. No numbers. No “I’m going to run X miles, I’m going to lose X pounds.” Just general improvements.
Well, except for my 366 project. That’s a number. A photo a day, every day. Just like I did in 2010, 2011, 2012, and part of 2014. I’m not going to force myself to post all of them in separate posts like I have in the past. I’ll probably post a few at a time every few days. We’ll see.
January 1, 2016
Yeah, I’m trying it again. A photo a day for 366 days. This one was taken at 12:14 am, watching the fireworks in our robes on the street in front of our house. (Yet another reason I love our neighborhood.)
2015 in review
Man, did this year go by fast, or what?
January
Beckett bought me a birthday crown!
Me
I turned 40!
In Barcelona!
Then celebrated again with my friends once I was back home.
February
Lots of high school friends
This lady drives us to school?!??
Not much besides Mardi Gras, really.
My Achilles’ tendon started hurting.
Went to Vegas for Kiki’s 40th.
March
Ellie, Emily, Linus, Oliver, Miles
The traditional pre-race selfie.
Spoke at my first WordCamp, in Dayton.
Ran the Shamrockin’ Run for the third time.
Scott Bakula was in our front yard.
April
The kids made a poster for her, and the adults made a few too.
Kiki came to visit and we had a garage sale.
We also went on a big boat and watched missed seeing Heather finish her first Ironman triathlon.
It was…a slow month.
May
My ankle got x-rayed.
I took the boys to Virginia.
The boys made a movie.
Miles danced.
I wrote a v popular post for the New Orleans Moms Blog.
Started physical therapy for my Achilles’ tendon.
June
But still, I’m happy.
Cockermouth flooded. A lot.
George and I gallivanted around England.
July
I went to NYC for BlogHer.
Completed my third (and last) triathlon.
August
Got the attic insulated.
I photographed my friends’ wedding.
The boys started 2nd grade.
I went uber-Goth for the NOMB Mom’s Night Out.
September
We got a new fridge!
I was volunteer coordinator at WordCamp DFW.
The boys started playing soccer.
October
We were devastated by the loss of our dear friend Gareth.
I went to Park City again for the Automattic Grand Meetup
I got another tattoo.
Ran my twelfth half marathon.
November
Breakfast gluttony
There’s the boat.
The first ice cream of many.
Breakfast at the kid’s cafe
George and I celebrated our tenth anniversary!
We went on a big cruise.
December
The boys turned 8!
We got a dog!
My ankle still hurts.
In blogging news…
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 190,000 times in 2015. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 8 days for that many people to see it.
Star Trek 2: Electric Boogaloo
Two years ago, we took a photo of the boys in George’s Star Trek shirt and shooter thingy from his childhood. Since we had the backdrop out anyway, we made them do it one last time. (The shirt barely fit over their heads.)
Today:
October 2013:
I can hardly stand how old they look now. It’s insane! They look like bored teenagers now! Gah!
(And yes, extensive use was made of Photoshop since we only have one shirt and one toy.)
2 out of 3 ain’t bad
We went to City Park today where the boys had their photos taken for a local charity, and since they were dressed nicely, I made them be still for photos. It was not a resounding success.
At least they were good for the other photographer.
More attempts at cute photos:
Ah, here we go. The trick is to not make them pose. (Duh.)
At least Ziggy is easy.
Quick Christmas recap
Christmas 2015: It was hot.
There.
Oh, well, there’s more.
I made us all steak and crispy gnocchi for Christmas Eve dinner (and now I’ve found that they love gnocchi so win!) and put a batch of eggnog French Toast in the fridge to soak overnight. And then drank the rest of the eggnog with Winter Pimm’s, which I’m sorry to say is impossible to buy in the US but is really good in eggnog.
I also spent made lemon cake and lemon bars from the lemons on our tree in the backyard. I am quite proud of that, I have to say.
Christmas morning, the boys were kind enough to not leave their room until 7 am (remember that one Christmas when I got up before them and got to enjoy my coffee and sit in front of the fire? (Of course I mean “the fire channel on TV.”) Yeah, that was nice. Maybe it’ll happen again when they’re teenagers.
So at the stroke of 7, the gift opening commenced!
Gifts from Santa were opened first…Linus got a 3DS game that he’d been coveting, Oliver a couple of books and a Rubic’s cube, and Miles got some accessories for his faux GoPro. I think Oliver got a bit cheated, Santa-wise. Dang that Santa. Sigh.
Their favorite part is opening the gifts from each other. Miles got Linus an Amiibo, Oliver got Miles a DVD with the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books and some kinetic sand, and Linus got Oliver a Diary of a Wimpy kid activity book and a little binder for Pokemon cards.
I got to open my gifts next. A silly ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ mug, some dog toys (well, they’re for me in that…the dog will stay occupied while I work?) and an Instant Pot. I’m really excited by that, I’ve been wanting a pressure cooker for a while. I made hard boiled eggs in it (easy!) and a pot roast (may have overcooked that.) So if you have any pressure cooker recipes that you like, send ’em my way.
My mom and Larry came over for Christmas dinner, which was delicious.
It snowed!
Later, we went to Chris and Steph’s house where we, you know, ate a little more, and Ziggy wore himself out playing with the other dogs.
All in all a pretty calm (I was going to say “chill” but it was SO FREAKING HOT AND HUMID I cannot even use that word) Christmas, and hopefully next year the boys won’t be so dang hard to shop for.
Merry Christmas 2015
My cards this year were such a debacle, I hardly ended up sending any out. Hopefully next year I’ll do better.
It’s Christmas Eve Eve!
And the boys’ Christmas present is feeling much better. Which equals more hyper and more chewing on random things, like my favorite pillow that I brought back from London, and the loop on Oliver’s stocking.
I mean, nothing too bad, nothing that can’t be clumsily repaired or anything. But still. My main concern is my beloved ottoman that I got this summer. I’m sure it’s extremely tasty. Oh, and his harness. So that means we can’t go for a walk until I go get a new one, which means he has a lot of energy that he may funnel into chewing inappropriate things.
We’re just learning as we go along. But even with the occasional accidents (Ziggy does not like going outside in the rain, I mean, I don’t blame him or anything, and it’s been raining all week) he’s been a good doggy.
He also keeps my treadmill warm for me.
In other news, I’ve taken all three boys shopping for gifts for a brother and Daddy, and it was nice yet again to get that one on one time with them. For my records: Oliver went first, and shopped for Miles; Miles went second and shopped for Linus; and finally, Linus shopped for Oliver.
We also watched Home Alone for the first time, which the boys found hysterical.
Oliver said it sounded scary, because being left home alone is basically his worst nightmare, so I had to prove that it actually isn’t a horror film.
Holiday decorating has taken somewhat of a backseat this year, between Ziggy and annoyingly warm temps, but I did get this adorable Wapuu ornament. Awwww!
We took the boys to see Star Wars last weekend. It was entertaining! High praise considering I’m generally not a fan of the franchise or anything. It was very bright when we took this picture. Heh.
Today I’m off work and the boys are at holiday camp, so I am going to enjoy my day with some solo shopping (for a dog harness) and a movie with a friend.
Things I hear as a mom of triplets
At our company’s Grand Meetup every year, we have to give a short (max 4 minutes) talk on anything we want. I basically repurposed an old blog post for this year’s.
Also, someone should tell me to not move around so much while I’m talking.
Here’s a link to the video I played for last year’s flash talk.
Well, this has been a week
And it’s only Thursday? Argh.
Monday was possibly the worst, with sickness of the human and canine variety, but Tuesday came in a close second. I drove the kids to school (each trip is about an hour round trip – longer during rush hour, maybe a little shorter when it’s not) in the morning. And then a couple of hours later, I got a call from the school nurse. No, not Linus. This time it was Oliver.
I was in the middle of the first of two interviews I had scheduled, so I asked if he could hang out in the nurse’s office until I was free. She said okay, so around lunchtime, I made the trek to get Oliver.
He just needed a little medicine and a breathing treatment, but before too long, he was fine. Whew.
And then two hours later, we had to make the trip again, this time in afternoon rush hour, to pick up from school. (I don’t usually drive in the mornings, only when Mary Catherine travels for work, which fortunately isn’t that often. And it’s fine because I travel for work too.)
Okay, driving to school three times in a day probably didn’t warrant four paragraphs. I’m being overly dramatic.
Wednesday was fine. No one was sick. Ziggy’s digestive system is definitely responding to his meds and disgusting wet food. Yay! Finally got my correct Christmas cards in the mail (from the other family, not Minted) so now I just have to go stand in a very long line to get postcard stamps.
I did write a scathing (well, for me) review on google of the place the boys had their party at last weekend. I’m not ready to think about that yet, much less blog about it.
But how in the world is it only Thursday?
Tomorrow will be good. I don’t have to drive to school at all! Ziggy has a vet appointment, and fingers crossed he gets the all-clear and his vaccinations so we can start going on walks again!
In other news, happy birthday to my mom! Since we gave her her birthday gift last weekend (a giant framed copy of this), now I can share:
My mom’s birthday gift 7 years ago was an engagement ring from Larry. So glad she said yes, and not just because we got a free cruise. Ha!
pyjammy dot blog 
