Dinner and Dessert

Nate and I made a special Christmas themed dinner (thanks to Hello Fresh)

And I made caramel apple cheesecake pie for dessert. 

Delicious, but both recipes were pretty time consuming. 

Rewards, Please

I would love for the hotels I book for staff to go through my rewards programs so I can rack up free stuff.  I don't go on the trips, but I do book them.  Who should be getting the rewards points?  I think the person who gets paid the least amount of money in the situation. That would be me.  I might be biased.

Korra's Sense of Humor

Korra: don't toss my things into my room!

Me: you can't tell me what to do. You're not my mom. 

Korra: but I am your mom!  Plot-twist!

The Boy and the Heron

We went to see the new Studio Ghibli movie at our favorite local theater tonight. 

Bathroom Etiquette

There is a lady who works at another office on my floor who I sometimes chat with as we pass in the bathroom.  Today she started talking to me when I walked in, but didn't stop after I closed the stall door.  She kept talking, telling me a story, and even asking me questions.  I don't have a shy bladder by any means, but I could not pee while she was chatting me up. A closed stall door clearly means we're done talking, right?

Snowflakes

Korra and I cut out paper snowflakes, as is our tradition. We both get better every year!

Aquarium

13 years ago this month, Nate and I took our 6th grade foster son, Austin, to the Georgia Aquarium. 

Today we took our 6th grade daughter. 

I know I have a picture somewhere of him standing in the same spot...

Time flies. 

Socks!

Korra's school is doing a sock drive. Using money my grandpa sent me (for the purpose of supporting us in giving to unhoused people we meet), Korra and I purchased 72 pairs of new socks!

Thanks, Grandpa!  Korra can't wait to walk into school tomorrow with all these socks to donate!

Saturday Recap

This morning Korra and I ran a few errands and then she went to climbing practice. After lunch at home, we walked around a neighborhood winter festival. From there we met our friends at a brewery before grabbing Mexican for dinner and then going to their house to hang out for a while. 

Migraine

Today was a haze of laying in bed, wishing my head would just go ahead and explode, and begging my stomach not to barf. 

Thankfully it's downgraded to a normal headache. Also thankful for sick leave so I didn't have to worry about work today. 

Alex's New Favorite Toys

Alex enjoys playing with some Halloween spider rings.  He especially enjoys dropping them on one side of the bathroom door and then walking around to the other side so he can bat at them from under the door. The result is that he often closes himself in the bathroom.  He's a real dufus.  

Holiday Party

Tonight was my work's holiday party. This year we had dinner at Antica Posta, a fancy Italian restaurant. Our wonderful friend Hannah came to "hang out" with Korra (obviously she's too old for a babysitter). I wore my new jumpsuit (thanks, Gail!) and felt quite pretty. 

We really enjoyed the food and I enjoyed chatting with my coworkers and their spouses. 

COVID Booster

I woke up at 5 am with a headache.  I think it was because I got my COVID booster yesterday.  I decided to come home at lunchtime and take a little nap... and ended up sleeping for 2 hours.  Whoops.  Guess I was feeling yuckier than I thought!  The good news is, it was easy enough to catch up on work and I feel much better!

CD player saga

I really want to listen to my Sufjan Stevens Christmas albums. The problem is, we only have them on CD and we don't own anything that plays CDs. Nate suggested buying a CD burner for our computer so we can save the music digitally. The issue with that is that I want to listen to my music NOW and I'd have to rip the CDs to the computer and then plug my phone into the computer to put them on my phone. 

My solution was to buy myself an inexpensive CD player. It arrived and I was ready to listen to my CDs. I dove under our bed to pull out the giant CD binder. I looked through the while thing twice and couldn't find the Christmas CDs I was looking for. I swear we had a second CD binder. I looked all over the house and I can't find it. 

I just want to listen to my favorite Christmas album. 

Korra’s Band Concert

This evening Korra had her first band concert. My parents were able to come down from Asheville and my brother Todd and his wife Sarah came, too. 

It was a (blessedly) short concert- 3 songs for the 6th grade band and another 3 for the combined 7th and 8th grade band. They did a really good job considering what a short time they've been playing their instruments. The venue (the cafeteria) was lacking but the parent support made up for it. 

After, we walked to Ladybird for dinner (delicious food but very loud) before heading home. I'm so thankful family was able to visit and support Korra. 

Stay Home

One of my coworkers walked into work coughing and looking ROUGH. I asked if she was feeling ok and she said, "I've been really under the weather.  I think I have that cold that everybody has."  Um, no. Everyone does NOT have it.  I do not want it.  Our company has an excellent work-from-home policy AND generous sick leave. GO HOME.  Do not share those nasty germs with me and everyone else. 

Under the Tree

He knows he's not supposed to bite or play with the tree, but he lays close so he can try to get away with it. 

Zoo

A coworker gave us zoo tickets so we went this afternoon. The weather was perfect. We saw the anaconda and the gorillas being fed and got to hear and see the lions roaring. Plus most of the other animals were visible, active, and it wasn't crowded!

Sleepy Heads

It's 10:30. Korra and Nate are both still sleeping. I've already made a batch of cranberry orange muffins and finished my book. 

Girl Scouts and Board Games

Yesterday Korra went to an all-day Girl Scout event (Think Like an Engineer journey at Camp Timber Ridge).  In the afternoon our friend Kyle came over to hang out and join us for dinner (Nate made flautas) and board games. 

Pickle Accident

I dropped a full jar of pickles on the carpeted dining room floor. The lid wasn't securely on, grabbed it wrong, and the next thing I knew, there was a huge puddle of pickle juice seeping into the carpet. I cleaned it the best I could, but I am so incredibly happy we're getting new flooring the next few weeks. Not only will it rid us of the lingering pickle smell, but the new dining room floor won't be carpet and thus easier to clean when situations like this inevitably occur again. 

Christmas Tree

Listened to a Christmas record and decorated the tree this evening. 

New Floors

The contractor is here to fix a shower leak.  He's also the guy who is redoing our floors.  He said the homeowner told him to choose the flooring, so he asked if I'd like to pick it!  Pretty excited that I get to have a say.  Now it has me thinking about painting the walls...

Leftovers

There was an office party last night.  I didn't stay much after I set it up, but I did go into the office this morning to do a bit of clean-up.  It got left in a pretty rough state (cups and cans left everywhere, dishwasher full but not run).  After I finished cleaning, I checked on the state of the leftovers and decided to take some home.  Now I have BBQ, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, and coleslaw for dinner tonight!  Not a bad trade-off. 

Sick Kid, Bad Mom

Korra was being extra whiney this morning while getting ready for school.  I was annoyed with her and told her to stop dragging her feet and complaining and just get ready for school.  Seconds later she threw up.  So she's actually sick and not just being a grump and I'm a terrible mother for not being compassionate.