january 2022

i think most people would agree that january is the most blah month ever. the holidays are over. it’s still cold and gray. there’s nothing exciting to look forward to for a really long time. and it seems like it lasts for like 75 days. such was the case for this january around here in 2022.

we did have some moments of excitement. for example, early in january, we had snow. wet, icy, gross snow. the kind that downs power lines and causes cars to skid into ditches. the girls were sort of excited. anna made a snowman that ruby promptly attacked and ruined. hazel went out in slides and shorts, because she’s hazel. isaac was mostly mad that school was canceled and he couldn’t see his friends.

in other exciting new, we got a new refrigerator. it’s currently located in an area in our between the stupid built in table and the counter pennisula, so when it is open, there’s a huge bottleneck and traffic flow situation that i find maddening. the old one (aside from being ugly and old and gross and broken and missing several parts) stuck out into the bottleneck zone quite a bit. so we bought a counter depth fridge, which has helped significantly. and it’s like the only upgrade to our kitchen that doesn’t start us down a rabbit hole of renovations that ends in taking out a second mortgage. so, hooray. i hate the house one fraction of a percentage less.

i did manage to escape the confines of the stupid house and my job as a glorified chauffer for the kiddos to take a little hike with my friend heather at stone mountain. it was a lovely day and a lovely hike and a good respite for me. i love stone mountain. and heather isn’t all that bad. 🙂

in recent years, unlike dozens of those preceding them, january has been a time of great hope and excitement, as we cheer on our beloved buffalo bills in the playoffs. this year, expectations were high, and we were committed to our very best fandom. we kicked off game days with bowls of josh’s jaqs cereal. we decorated and wore our luckiest outfits. we ate buffalo wings with josh allen hot sauce and blue cheese. we didn’t take any chances. as you may already know, the first game was the most perfect game of football every played by one team and the bills destroyed the dreaded patriots. we just knew they were going to run the table after that.

for their next game, we performed all of the same rituals, but this time i whipped up some bills cupcakes, and the kids were allowed to have one after each bills touchdown. and the game against the chiefs was another almost perfect performance. so exciting. and probably a lot of fun for non bills fans to watch. but, thanks to 13 seconds and an overtime coin flip that will go down in bills lore with “wide right” and the “music city miracle” (and “his foot was in the crease” if you want to drag hockey into this), the bills did not prevail and the season screeched to an unexpected halt. and i am still quite sad about it.

the day after the heartbreaking bills loss was isaac’s birthday. he’s 15. he didn’t have class that morning, and requested a full pound of bacon for his breakfast, and he sure did eat it all. things sort of took a turn from there and he had some social life drama, so when it was time for cake that evening, he really wasn’t feeling it. but he allowed us to sing to him, before heading to his room while we had cake and ice cream without him. teenagers are hard.

in birthday adjacent news, i received my birthday gift from isaac, a preordered lumineers record. and as long as we are talking about preordered gifts, a fabric bundle that derek ordered me for christmas also arrived. and as long as we are talking about fabrics, i definitely impulse purchased ruby star’s stay gold bundle and justified it as a gift for myself for isaac’s birthday. all moms of teens should get gifts on their kids birthdays. i decree it.

and now, for all the miscellaneous january happenings. i’ve been going to a local brewery for music bingo on thursdays with my other heather friend (my friends are all named heather and jennifer, if you’re wondering). this time, i had to switch from delicious IPAs to stupid hard seltzers, because new years resolutions and all. with all the snow days, the girls have rediscovered their love of play doh. more specifically, pretending to be a food network baking/cooking competition. and the best highlight of the month for them, for sure, has been the massive refrigerator box that i have allowed to inhabit the cavernous entryway for most of the month. they have gone all out turning it into a spaceship fort.

hazel is currently VERY into my little ponies. (she’s watching it on tv as i type this). between her bday and christmas, she received dozens of pony figurines, which i often find set up all over the house, leaving me to wonder exactly what is going on in her pretend world. in a strange turn of events, anna has made a decision to not be the worlds biggest slob and hoarder and instead be tidy and organized, but still maybe more hoarder than minimalist. while she worked on this effort, this sign was on her door, and NNR stands for “neat new room”. fingers crossed it sticks. and for that next photo. oh, that’s just a fake laptop on a zoom call, as designed by anna.

and then there’s shirtless hazel. she still prefers not to wear clothes, so i have to be creative with my photo taking. :). after several weather related postponements, both girls got their second covid vaccination and are feeling quite proud. for that second picture, that’s the sort of thing that happens inside of the fridge box spaceship fort, which i have dubbed boschtopia. strange things go down in there. don’t ask questions. and lastly, shirtless art class, with all of the paints hazel received for christmas that she didn’t even remember.

obviously, every month needs a ruby recap. she’s still the worlds best dog and very good at making herself cozy. and always up for belly scratches and derpy faces.

so, there you have it. january 2022. or as i’m thinking of it. month twenty three of the pandemic. ugh.

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