5 on a Friday: Complaints and Obsessions

 1. I LOVED LOVE LOVE a newly discovered drugstore lip stain: Milani Color Fetish Hydrating Lip Stain in Pink About It. It goes on glossy and then dries to a long-wear stain. As I have gotten older, my mouth has become really hard to make up. My lips are sort of just melting into the skin around them, and all the teeny wrinkles from my smoking days in the 90s make it REALLY HARD to wear lipstick, especially bold, matte colors (my favorites) I have been using Laneige lip mask every night and THIS wonderful local-ish lip balm when I put my makeup on, but for color? Things have been grim outside my long time stand by Lancome Sugared Maple WHICH HAS BEEN DISCONTINUED. Anyway-- this stuff is great, and I will be back for more colors.

2. Minnie has been sick this week. Not a shock after Dorothy's strep and Coop's strep and influenza-a. And also all of the kids at her school are hacking little snot balls (which drives me up a WALL because it is a 3-hour school day. KEEP YOUR SICK KID HOME. Like I am doing. Even though keeping her home makes me  see in STARK RELIEF how inequitable Ben's and my current work/life balance situation is. **shakes fist at universe**. Plus, when she has a cough (WHICH SHE DOES), I can't sleep and have major flash backs to when she was SO SICK last winter. She got swabbed for All of the Things and has none of them, so she went to dance, where everyone was hacking and blowing snot bubbles and they tired on their ballet costumes. (She felt crappy but was fever-free until Thursday AM when I has been planning to send her back to school so I could attend a bunch of meetings. Sigh.)

3. Maybe related to my sickness anxiety: my hot flashes are OFF THE CHAIN this week. Which makes me think my hormones are well and truly fucked-- which explains my general anger and anxiety/ insomnia. Also! MY FINGERS ARE TOO FAT FOR MY WEDDING RINGS. I am going to HAVE to get my rings resized. And commit to life with sausage fingers.

4. This week was a rough one in terms of news. On Wednesday, I ate 2 donuts and part of a third in the random mid-afternoon and then had a kiddie meal from Culvers for dinner. I CANNOT HANDLE MY FEELINGS LIKE THIS. One day? Funny. Habitually? NOT AT ALL FUNNY. Especially since early-ish menopause raises my risk for heart disease and my cholesterol is already kinds high and I am VERY ANXIOUS ABOUT MY HEALTH. And my sausage fingers.

5. Thanks to Annabel, I see all the pretty sunrises. Also! Minnie is her favorite chew toy.

January goals check in

Something that is becoming a bit of a pain point is PLANNING. I am starting to miss one-off Zoom meetings ( this frustrates me to no end, especially when I am just, like, SITTING IN MY OFFICE), and I have missed yoga a few times (LOTS OF TIME YOU GUYS). One of the items on my list was to develop an evening ritual that included my planner, and this is FOR SURE something I was to make sure I do every night in February.

I also want to hit my yoga goal, especially on the WEEKENDS, and I want to work in more writing time. These are really related-- I do a bad job of working most kinds of self care into my weekend because my routine gets thrown off, and we get busy. I am going to reflect on this problem in February and try to figure it out. Choosing a yoga video (Adriene all the way!) and making sure my mat is ready to go would go a really long way.

We had one day of ludicrous spending with many new non-necessary items (not all the kid stuff I complained about-- that was obvi all necessary, even the sequined Valentine skirt), and you know what? I TRACKED THEM ALL-- go me!!

I also can already check off my blogger meet up! (But I want more of these in 2025).

I fell short of my pomodoro goal, but I did use them to do some writing and also some work stuff that I hope I can tell you about later. I have set up a simple tracker going forward to make sure I get them all in.

January Kindle books: Ward D by Freida McFadden. I mean. You guys know I liked this one. The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery: this was for Engie's CBBC, so I will save my notes for those comments.

January new release: What Happened to the McCrays by Tracey Lange

January Albums: DeBi TiRAR MaS FOToS by Bad Bunny: This was GREAT cooking dinner/getting dressed music. (Also the title translates to I should have taken more photos, which,YES, I feel that). My favorite track is "El Club." I also listened to Lower by Benjamin Booker-- good writing music. I also think SZA's SOS Deluxe: LANA should count since it came out the last week in December, My favorite is 30 for 30.

January Cookies: Browned butter chocolate chip-- these were delish. Brownie cookies- YES PLEASE.

January word games: I randomly spaced out on completing Wordle (left with 2 guesses on the table and never came back!!), so instead of declaring the whole year a lost cause (first instinct, natch), I am going to track per month. 30/31 Wordle for Jan; perfect score on Connections; 28/31 Geniuses on Spelling Bee (forgot to play a few).

January date: We went out to breakfast, which was lovely. We will definitely do that again-- a great use of preschool time and rare morning lull. 

January restaurant: Old Glory in Clarksville, TN on our way home from Hilton Head.

January yoga tally: 18/25. I could not remember to practice on the weekends.

1/25 bags of donations are at the thrift store! Go me!

I BOUGHT PLANE TICKETS!! You guys!!! To go to Portland in April!!! More about this soon.

Minnie is FEELING her new clothes, and I love it so much

Money Monday: FAILS

 I think because I have been in more of a general funk about WORLD AFFAIRS this week and because I was distracted by impending WORLD AFFAIRS most of the month, my tracking has been… not the best, and I am buying WAY TOO MUCH.

Speaking of buying way too much, I would like to go back in time and un-buy some of this kinetic sand. (Just kidding— I love kinetic sand, and it is way less of a pain than other kiddie crafts).

Cooper demolished the zipper on his North Face coat (which, to be fair, was Very Old (hand-me downs for the win) and can be repaired for future use) which is also leaking feathers, AND it was so cold that school was cancelled. Sooooo, we had to buy him a coat STAT— which was trickier than you might think because most stores are all done selling coats in person, so sizes were hard to come by and Coop is very picky. But also! Most stuff is on sale, so the slim pickings were cheap. He got one for just under thirty dollars (SEVENTY PERCENT OFF ARE YOU KIDDING ME).

Then Cooper’s very favorite Speedo sprung a few teeny holes (too much washing! Too much wearing!). I found it on sale HALF PRICE, so he got 2 new ones for another fifty five dollars (when I am paying for shipping— which I freaking hate to do— I think ordering more is the best idea).

I noticed that Jack went out to shovel the sidewalk in a North Face fleece and I was all you should wear your winter coat, and he was all this is the only coat I have. OOPS. Kids grow, and you need to replaced their stuff, it turns out. Unlike Cooper, who is extremely picky and must try new things on unless he is getting an exact replica of something he already has— and even then it could be a few millimeters off and make him stabby— Jack is happy to order online. NOW is the very best time to buy a coat from Land’s End, so he got a down puffer for fifty bucks.

Speaking of growing!! Minnie Jedd! Is all of the sudden too big for all her clothes— too tall, arms too long, the whole nine yards. (Happened over night. One day she looked darling on her way to school, and the next day, she looked like she got dressed out of the oops-I-peed-my-pants bin in her classroom) This is sad because NO MORE TODDLER CLOTHES— she has to shop the big kids’ sections. But! It was a kick to take her shopping for… everything? She got 3 dresses, a sweatshirt, a pair of wide-legged lavender pull-on jeans, 3 pairs of leggings, 2 henleys, a sweater, and three skirts. Plus some cute tights and a pair of cowboy boots. For one hundred fifty bucks! (Dorothy and Minnie have not lined up well in terms of seasons and sizes, and Dorothy was a little girls 6 for like 3 years, so not much survived that size).

Even though these were good deals, that’s still like three hundred bones. Plus we had to buy Harry a new pair of Dunks ($130) because we literally THREW HIS AWAY when he came home (because they got tossed from his dirty clothes duffel bag into the garage in a Target bag, and we often toss trash into the garage for a kid to take to the can, and we use Target bags as trash can liners. I think a pair of Nike waffles got tossed, too, but they are discontinued? I don’t know— we are on the hook for another pair of sneakers is my takeaway) Also I had to refill my parking pass ($50). And Dorothy’s lunch account ($30). Plus there was a detour to the co-op for Naked Juice for Coop that turned int o a $70 trip and yielded some excellent wine. And! WORLD AFFAIRS made me go buy baskets and candles and pillows at Home Goods ($75).

IT WAS AN EXPENSIVE WEEK is what I am saying. And also I spent money every single day. I also blew my no-spend the week before. Blergh. I like the idea of this challenge, though, so I am going to extend it into next month.

Happy little shopper (in THE BEST reversible $8 coat from Costco— this is the second year we have bought this coat, and I hope they have it in her size next year, too).

5 on a Friday: Things I will miss about Harry

 1. It was SO WONDERFUL to wake up every day for the past 5 weeks and know that all my kids were also waking up in the same house and I knew where every one was and I could feed them and take care of them and this is why people hate their mothers in law, isn’t it.

2. It was also WONDERFUL to have another drive and another big bro, although I will say that Jack has really stepped up in this regard since Harry moved out.

3. Harry is even more terminally online than I am, so it was SO NICE to have another person LOCKED IN to everything political happening and reading all the breaking news headlines. Ben has zero patience for my doom scrolling, and I will very much miss having a partner in crime, even though I will probably be better off without an internet enabler.

4.  Harry has been eating crappy dorm food for months, so he was VERY HAPPY to eat home food, whereas the rest of us are just used to it and complain about it. 

5.  Harry, Jack, Ben and I played SO MUCH euchre! This is not the same without him because we play in life partnerships, and he and Jack are brothers, best friends, and colleagues, so it’s perfect.

BREAK IS OVER, and he drove his own self back to campus like a grown up. He’s in Minnesota for a speech tourney this weekend and is committed 3 weekends next month, but still! He has promised to come home one weekend in February, and we will see him over Spring break in March. Not sure about April, but he will be home for the summer in May! That’s practically tomorrow.

I will not wish these days away

 Minnie will be eight years old by the time there is a new administration in the White House.

Dorothy will have a learner's permit, and Cooper will be driving a car. Annabel will be rolling into midlife. Jack will be in college. Harry will be almost done with college. Ben and I will be on the cusp of a new decade.

These are happy golden years. Not, say, the good old days with 4 little kids under one roof and Ben and me volunteering in their elementary school classrooms and loose teeth and basements full of single-digit kids and their friends who all thought they were so big and cool but were really all so squishy and silly and darling. BUT STILL. I love being this particular mix of young/old and having big kids and a dose of preschooler with 75% of our parents and 100% of our combined aunts and uncles. 

I was on the massage table, knowing that Harry was driving back to his campus and still reeling from breaking news I listened to in the car on the way to the wellness spa wishing I could wake up in like 1400 days, but it was Minnie! The thought of preschool Minnie as Big Kid Minne that made me stop. I want to drink in every single day with her-- she's going to read and tie her shoes and learn to multiply and change out most of her teeth-- and with 4 kids still at home (only 2 more years for that **sob**), before Dorothy and Cooper are too cool for me and Jack flies the coop.  These are the days to remember.

Today, we are ok. We have a warm cozy house filled with nutritious food. We have fun plans to look forward to when the kids get home from school. We have work that we love and that fulfills us. We have everything we need and want and are able to help others, too.

(I found the best massage therapist ever and have seen her twice in 2 weeks).

Question: How to be present and shelve worry to enjoy the good that is right in front of me but also not devolve into complete solipsism? 

But listen, things are not completely awesome. I burned the eff out of my forehead straightening my bangs DAYS AGO, and it is still very red and very angry.

 

Weekend Updates

 Dorothy's friends yelled EAT when they saw my new shoes, so I think that's good. Also, yes I do plan to wear these out of the house.

Cooper also has influenza-A in addition to strep, so that's been terrible for him. He feels like trash, and he is allergic to ibuprofen, so he can only take tylenol every 6 or so hours. SUCH A BUMMER.

(also amoxicillin and tamiflu)

I am teaching a public speaking workshop for law students this week, and I got a whole afternoon in a quiet and fairly clean house to work on it.

 Woof is it cold here, you guys. I crammed my Comfy under my coat for Annabel's Sunday morning dog walk

Or should I say muppet walk?

FROZEN LAKE!! A kid pick-up treat

Minnie can change he earrings-- she HATES putting new ones in and out, but she loves the way they look:

This is Harry's last week at home because winter break has flown by! (We can get through this winter and the the season after that and the next one and the next-- I am studiously avoiding the news and gobbling all your blogs.)

Money Monday: A Grocery Haul

 Last week, we spent $490 on our weekly grocery haul. This is maybe a bit higher than normal because Harry is home, so we are buying more stuff (the week before that, we went through nine half-gallons of Fairlife chocolate milk, for example), and we bought some Costco Big Things, which will (hopefully) last awhile. Sadly, we only got 5 dinners out of this haul, but we knew that going in and planned to get take-and-bake pizza and fresh salad stuff (plus more cookie dough bites) from Whole Foods on Friday night.

The meals:

Sunday: Burgers (turkey and beef), fries, salad, and brown butter brown sugar cookies

Monday: Chicken parmesan, green beans, kale caesar salad, garlic bread

Tuesday: Eggs, turkey sausage, protein pancakes, fruit

Wednesday: Ham or salami sandwiches, veggies and dip, assorted fruit, chips, chocolate chip cookies

Thursday: Last call on any leftover anything/ another round of random sandwiches/ whatever you want in the freezer (THURSDAY NIGHTS ARE BUSY)

Here's what we got:

First, a Whole Foods delivery of fave things plus orange juice and yogurt that were cheaper there than the regular store: $62

This stuff! OMG. It's in the frozens-- you gotta get it.

THIS IS THE BEST SALAD KIT EVER

This is currently all Dorothy eats.

Next, a Costco delivery of Big Stuff for $164

Cooper is currently devouring both egg whites and Go Go Squeeze applesauce pouches at a rate that only Costco sizes can sustain. Do you buy your vanilla extract at Costco? It is only $11 for  that huge giant bottle. Strawberries, grapes, bananas, and spinach are the only produce weekly staples we consume at a warehouse rate. The kids love pancakes and waffles, and I am trying to make this Kodiak stuff happen becuase if you sub water for milk and one egg, it has a crazy amount of protein. WE SHALL SEE if it catches on. We ate a regular size box in a week, so maybe... I have never tried those toaster grilled cheeses, but both Harry and Jack are ready for another meal around 11pm, so these could be a great option maybe?(I also got bagel dogs at Whole Foods).

The 45 packs of Goldfish should last a couple few weeks? And they inspired m to sort our laundry room grab-on-the-way-out-the-door snacks into goldfish an not goldfish. The not goldfish box is sooooo very random, everything from Airhead Extremes to freeze dried strawberries to beef sticks.

We got pick up for our largest order of the day, but only because we have a child (Jack-- he's the sweetest) who is always up for going to get it. Here's $253 from Metro Market, which is most of the dinner stuff, plus most breakfast and lunch options.

We usually consume like 3 bags of chocolate chips a week, and SO MANY DIFFERENT kinds of bread-- whole grain white for the kids, sourdough for Jack when he wants a sandwich, French for garlic bread, thin-sliced sprouted wheat for me. The kids are obsessed with Jack's-brand frozen cheese pizza and eat them at all hours. Minnie is going through a Danimals and dill pickles moment. There is much cheese. (Which is funny because Ben always hits the wine and cheese store on Thursdays). I buy tomatoes, honey crisp apples, red and green onion, cucumbers, mini sweet peppers, apples, and blueberries every week, plus usually a clamshell of salad greens and whatever hot veggies we plan to make. Coop drinks Naked Juice smoothies on the way to dive practice (eye roll), and we buy at least 3 bags of chocolate covered pretzels a week.

This is why I love to grocery shop online-- my cart is so easy to just re-order.

I think I am not saving money on groceries (lol-- ya think?!) but I am saving SO MUCH TIME. And! Both Costco and Whole Foods order shoppers do an excellent job with produce selection (both of those stores have great options on the shelves all the time. Metro Market is less awesome with produce-- especially berries and grapes-- so I shop accordingly). For me, it is worth the slight mark up at Costco and the tips both places to have my groceries come to me. What about you-- do you still shop online post-panny?

ETA: We ended up with another $100 Whole Foods delivery on Friday to top us off before the weekend:

ONE HUNDRED GROCERY DOLLARS DO NOT STRETCH FAR MY FRIENDS.

5 on a Friday: VERY RANDOM THINGS

 1. Minnie and I are listening to Stockard Channing read the Ramona books, and we just heard the part in Ramona and her Mother where Beezus and Ramona get their hair cut at a beauty shop for the first time. And! Minnie demanded to go and get a haircut like Ramona (only she ended up more like Beezus, who got a bad hairdo in the book. But! Like Beezus, Minnie's just needed better styling). As luck would have it, my stylist and another were free at the same time, so we booked simultaneous appointments, AND WE BOTH GOT BANGS!

2. Dorothy grew up. I let her out of the car at dance, and there she was with flat ironed hair and Selena Gomez Rare Beauty makeup and her Scuba and Stanley and iPhone and Uggs and omg! SHE was my little Ramona just the other day, I swear.

3. Dorothy had strep on Sunday, and Coop just tested positive today. Booooooooooo.

4. I got to have lunch with Anne and Engie last weekend (MEET AT LEAST TWO BLOGGERS CHECK), and then Engie came over to meet Annabel and take a walk and drink a cup of tea, and we had so much fun!

5.THURSDAYS! Can be my library days! Minnie stays later at school, and we have time to run to the library before we have to get Dorothy adn Cooper, and it is magical! I can finally pick up all my holds on time!

Annabel at 4-ish Months

 Annabel celebrated her 4 month birthday on December 24th, so she's already midway to five months, which seems hard to believe. 

Day one:

A couple weeks ago:

She came to us a 2.1-pound ball of fur, and now she is an 8.3-pound ball of fur. She is incredibly sweet and inquisitive. Unlike Beatrix, she is spunky and energetic and open to new experiences. The broom and vacuum cleaner, for example, are not enemies or tormentors. They are fun loud, friends she likes to play with. I adore this attitude of hers.

She also DOES NOT SHED AT ALL, and this is a life-changer. Beatrix's short hair came out in giant clumps. You could not pet her without developing werewolf hands. Her hair was EVERYWHERE. She did this funny thing where she'd get scared (often by the broom or vacuum) and drop, like, a whole dog's worth of hair on the spot. It was pretty gross.

Annabel has eaten a couple of pairs of Minnie's shoes (my bad, honestly, for leaving them on the laundry room floor) and a pair of Ben's slippers (but you guys they said PAPA BEAR on them. so good riddance, you know?) the plastic coffee cup out of a Fisher Price Little People guy's hand, and Pocahontas' torso. Plus a tiny section of a wall in the bathroom and a small piece of trim in the living room (LOL-- both look like. mouse bibbled them, which would be WAY MORE TERRIBLE, IMO). But really this is all NBD because she is so tiny.

TINY DOGS ARE WHERE IT'S AT.

Because she is a poodle, she is prone to having a sensitive stomach. She does great if she eats Hill's Science Diet kibble and beef and barley wet food (BLECH) and NOTHING ELSE. But! She patrols the crumbs under the kids' counter stool pretty aggressively, eats a piece of cheese every now and then, and really likes collagen sticks, Blue Buffalo puppy treats, and protein rings. She's fine, though, and very very very good at going outside to use the bathroom.

We hung bells by the back door, and she loves ringing them to go out. Lately, she has been ringing them for the pleasure of going out, going in, going out, going in, etc etc etc. That's how we made an amazing discovery: SHE NEEDS TO GO ON LOTS OF WALKS!! I love this for me! I take her for a quick 15- minute walk first thing in the morning and another before I pick up Minnie. Then Minnie and I bundle up and walk her to the park in our neighborhood in the afternoon, and she and I do laps around the park while Minnie plays, and we all walk home-- this is WONDERFUL! I look forward to nicer weather and longer walks.

The kids play with her in the evening, when she gets the zoomies and goes around and around the living room couch. She is good at fetch and tug of war, and both of these games tire her right out. She sleeps all night long and through my morning exercise routine. She is less fond of riding in the car than she was when she was super tiny, but she is happy to lie down in her crate while I do the afternoon kid run. I have been too tired and cold to take her for a night walk when we get home (and the girls have been too hungry), but I can see how this would be a good addition to her schedule. I am not sure I can swing it the nights Ben is away, but I am going to give it a try. (Honestly, it would be good for me because it is my very crabbiest time of day-- I am going to try to make this work).

(It's hard right now because Jack is the rail manager for the spring musical, plus it is diving season for his high school team, plus the speech season is starting, plus he has a job teaching swim lessons 4 nights a week, plus he has 2 AP classes and it's the end of the semester, so he is not often home to watch kids for me. And! Cooper dives until 8 4 nights a week. Maybe I could take her out at 8 after Minnie is in bed??)

I look forward to her being confident in her ability to go up and down stairs (very scared of them right now), so she can play in the backyard. Spring maybe??

Money Monday: January Goal

 Ideally, this would be the first money post of the month, but, alas.

Okay. My goal for January is to have 2 days every week where I spend ZERO DOLLARS. I think Ben is also going to do this, but our days might not sync up because it is easier for me to do it when he is gone and probably easier for him when he is home.

A few things:

• We share all of our money, so when one of us spends, we both spend, and these days are totally arbitrary, and I KNOW THAT at least.
• I am not going to make Ben buy things on my zero days because this seems like a loophole I could really use. Hey can you run to Target and grab…
• It actually probably matters more that I spend/don't spend since I am the one buying ALL OF THE THINGS for the kids and the house and paying school fees, etc etc etc, so if Ben wants to play along, I love that, but I am the one with $1500 latte problem or whatever the hell Suze Orman says.
• Obviously, if someone NEEDS something I will buy it, but also, I like how this goal is structuring my spending. For instance, I was planning a no-spend day on Tuesday. But! The middle school sent a notice about ordering yearbooks. I know from my experience in this school district that yearbook ordering is a shitshow until high school, and I will be bombarded with emails about ordering for the rest of the semester and I can never remember if I actually did it and it is all outsourced to a vendor so no one at school can confirm (high school yearbooks are purchased at registration right there in my Infinite Campus account, and this is heaven). SO ANYWAY, my new policy (a few years old) is to just order the damn books the minute I first see an email. That happened on Tuesday. So, I pulled the trigger on a Target pick up and also stopped by the pharmacy to grab a script for a kid and then declared Wednesday and Thursday no-spend days. Bonus: errand consolidation. 
• I am, as you can tell by the bullet above, an abstainer, not a moderator. If I do any spending on no-spend, I will do all of the spending, so the fewer loopholes the better.

Will no-spend days bring my weekly spending down, or will I just spend MORE on the other days? Who knows-- I will keep you posted.

Dumbest thing I bought last week:

 Probably a shirt to match my planner. But! It was only $4 at Old Navy, so I really think I have bought less responsible things. This is just, like, super silly.

(Also, on the topic of frugality-- I found the jeans I am wearing in that picture in the back of Cooper and Jack's closet. I think they used to be Harry's, and they no longer fit anyone, so I chopped off the legs to just above the ankle, and I am in love. Stay tuned for this summer because I made 3 more pairs of old boy jeans into awkward jorts)

Best thing I bought last week:

Last year, I was too slow on the add-to-cart (NOT MY USUAL PROBLEM), and I missed out on Target's cute v-day sweatshirts. NOT THIS YEAR, FRIENDS.

(Also I will wear this year-round because I heart hearts.)

5 on a Friday: Favorite Things

 1. Maybelline SuperStay Ink Crayon lipstick: I have this in Be Bold Be You and Change Is Good, and I love them both so much.

2. My weighted vest: It's only 12 pounds, so I will need to level up eventually, but this thing is great! My nirmal elliptical workout makes me sweat again! (lol) I wear it to walk the dog, and I leave it on while I do light housework in the morning. I think it is helping my posture, too!

3. Vicks Vaporub on my feet all day. I love putting a layer of this stuff on under my socks. My doc said the tea tree oil can help prevent toenail fungus (I am never not wearing polish on my toes), and my heels are perfect since I started this practice. Plus, it tingles!

4. Pasta casserole on repeat. This is SO EASY to make, and you can use different pasta and veggies every week. This week, I made one with penne pasta, and sauteed mushrooms, spinach, and broccoli. I used 2 jars of Whole Foods store-brand tomato basil sauce and added spices to the veggies and fresh chopped basil, ricotta cheese, and mozzarella to the mix. Pre-cook the pasta. Pre-cook the veggies and spices (I use minced garlic, olive oil, and frozen chopped onions, plus italian seasoning, etc, to cook the veggies), and then mix it all together with sauce and cheese, throw it in a casserole dish, sprinkle with parm, and bake. SO GOOD.

5. Whole Foods 365-brand Pleasant Morning Buzz coffee. Coffee has been making me feel PANICKED lately, BUT NOT THIS STUFF. The label is no lie— the buzz is pleasant.

Bonus: Minnie in sweats.

Winter break vacation is the best idea ever!

 We totally cut out the whole part of break where everyone just loafs around the house and gets mad at each other and screams that they’re bored and breaks all their new toys. It was awesome! We had a fun family celebration, went to the beach, and then everyone went to school and I am on breeeaaaaak— it’s perfect.

We rolled into Madison on Saturday to unpack the car (required a ladder— car topper **eye roll**) and immediately hit the grocery store for chicken and salad. (We ordered one more garbage dinner for the kids and cooked for ourselves because after our final pizza lunch we just could not even with the fattening restaurant food). We shoveled out and restocked on Sunday and then the kids went back to school Monday. Harry still has 2 more weeks at home, and I have 3. **chef’s kiss**

Ben! Had a winter break! For the first time since he was a professor at Blackhawk Tech! And this made aaaall the difference. We are already talking about where we’ll go next year (WILL I BE A FREQUENT FLYER BY THEN? I HOPE SO).

This photo series is definitely my favorite memento from the trip

 Jack got a fancy camera and tripod for Christmas, so he brought it along to take awesome family pictures

We ate at our favorite IL pizza place on the way down and then ate there one more time on our way home (mostly to pick up Minnie’s Owala, accidentally abandoned on 12/28). We played euchre, pool, Cards Against Humanity, lots of Go Fish, and even Candy Land in a TN hotel lobby. Ben and I listened to a book in the car, and we all enjoyed Stockard Channing reading Ramona and her Father. Harry and Jack got to do a few things on their own, as did Ben and I. Everyone doted on Minnie. Car fighting was minimal. All three bros played on Cooper’s MetaQuest the whole trip.

EVERYTHING WAS AWESOME.

And now we’re back to reality. Sigh.

I will say we really screwed ourselves over by leaving the house kind of a mess. It looked clean when we first walked in, but then we noticed the overflowing laundry hamper, all of the trashes in the house that needed to be emptied, a fridge full of expired food, coffee dregs in both pots, etc. Next time, I will take care of Future Me before I go. It would have been wonderful to have a Costco Instacart scheduled to arrive and also a casserole or a pan of enchiladas in the freezer waiting to be cooked. Also! I forgot to water my wonderful plant ladies before we left and they were very sad and wilty.

Oof— and we left Minnie’s lovey in TN (and I could not call the (really awful— will never stay there again— if you are reading this blog, you are too old for Tru by Hilton) hotel to ask for her because I used my actual real name to leave them a 1-star (pretty snarky) review. SO I had to rush order a new one. Plus the Ziploc bag of kid medicine got drenched in liquid ibuprofen, and Coop is allergic to ibuprofen, so we had to throw it all away and start from scratch (meds, ointments, etc). But! Still! Plus one for winter break vacation!