Our neighbors Yucca is going to bloom!

Our neighbors Yucca is going to bloom! I'll be keeping an eye on that. I've never seen one this large flower!

We tried to have a regular day today.

We tried to have a regular day today. The cats were excited to have their "wet food" routine restored. (They have dry food available all day, every day, but get to share a can of wet food once daily as a treat.)

Meanwhile, I slept until 4 pm which is not too "normal" for me. But I guess I needed the rest after several days of being on the go. 😂😂😂

Pictured are the downstairs cats. From the left: Scar (standing up tall), Harley, Balthazar, Calypso, Tobi, and Ashanti.

Not pictured (but still given treats): Sindar and Adrian, who both live upstairs. Also not pictured is Leon, but that's Kira's son and she is in complete control of what he eats.

Krystahl is heading home tomorrow

Krystahl is heading home tomorrow, so our adventures are done - for now. I really hope she'll be back, though, because there is a ton left to see!

This morning we went to Santa Fe. We had brunch at a restaurant that had some blue corn pancakes she wanted to try. They were really good - and yes, they were a pale blue color. We should've gotten pics! I myself HAD to try this Quattro Leches cupcake while I was there. It was tasty!

After that, we went ahead to Meow Wolf Santa Fe. I'm only sharing a couple of photos because I don't want to ruin it for any future visitors, but needless to say it was just as interesting this time as the last. I don't think it's physically possible to take in everything on the first pass. They don't call it "The House of Eternal Return" for nothing!

Me and Shaun ended up getting some really neat matching reversible jackets from the gift shop before leaving. I guess we are turning into THAT dorky old couple. 😂😂😂 I'm not complaining, though. At least we have style! We'll model the jackets for y'all one of these days. 😆

Then we went back to downtown Santa Fe to check out some of the shops. We saw some neat stuff. There was a ton more to see, but there is only so much time! Shaun bought me some rocks at one of the shops. I'm posting a video of the Rainbow Obsidian because it's so neat, as well as some pics of other cool finds.

We then went back to Albuquerque to meet up with Owen (Krystal's husband) for dinner. He didn't hang out with us a ton this week, but we like that dude. He took us to a Brazilian restaurant called Tucanos this evening. It was a really interesting experience with a lot of great food. Most of the food is buffet-style, but these people bring GIANT skewers of other foods to your table and chop off some into your plate (you have a signal on your table that you can flip to let them know to keep coming or to stop). I got to try some tasty stuff! I had some of the best turkey I've had in my life. My favorite was probably the grilled pineapple. That, or the creme brulee. I don't know. I can't decide. 😂

Anyway, we ate and then all promptly crashed. 😂😂😂 That meant it was time to say our goodbyes, so we did. We all need some rest. It's been 3 days of adventure and it caught up to us. But it was a wonderful time and I am so excited to have had our first visitors here. ❤️

MeowWolf, again.

Wolf Art

Druzy, maybe?

Snail sculpture, because why not?

A Bob Ross tile that regretfully did not come home with us.

MeowWolf, obviously.

Our brunch view at the Plaza Cafe

The most beautiful parking garage we've ever seen.

We got home just after midnight after another long, but exciting day.

We got home just after midnight after another long, but exciting day. I don't have as many photos on my phone as I did yesterday because I drove most of the day (I'm not complaining; I like driving). But I will share some highlights. 😊

We started out heading to the Jemez Mountains. We stopped at a small museum at some ruins. They had the craziest bathroom wall. The ruins in the video are from a church built in the 1700s. The kiva (the thing with the ladders) is an underground pit with stools and a fireplace. There were signs up asking for no photography of the inside of the kiva since it is sacred, so we respected that.

After that we went to see the Valles Caldera. My understanding is that it's an extinct volcano. It's a prairie-like area on top of a mountain which was created when the volcano blew the top of the mountain off. That area is now home to elk (who we didn't see today) and also prairie dogs (who we did see). From Wikipedia: "Valles Caldera is a 13.7-mile wide volcanic caldera in the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico. Hot springs, streams, fumaroles, natural gas seeps and volcanic domes dot the caldera floor landscape." I definitely want to go back there and spend more time exploring.

After THAT, we started heading to the Bisti Badlands... or so we thought. Turns out that there was a road closed on the way which cost us about an hour of time, but we did make it to there... but not before Google helped us to make another bad navigation decision that had us going down almost 30 miles of graveled / dirt roads. 😂

It truly was an adventure, though. We spent most of the day without cell service or internet. We saw unfenced horses (with a foal!) that might have been wild, some cows, a bull who looked like he wanted to attack the car, 3 beautiful calves hanging out near the (obviously barely used) road, and also the Rocky Mountains from a distance. I will share pictures of all of that when I have them available, but for now they're all on Shaun and Krystahl's cameras.

My favorite part of the day was exploring the Badlands. It's an unmarked wildlife area, so you just had to get out there to see what you could see. Unfortunately we were shorter on time than we wanted to be, but we did see some crazy, beautiful formations. I 100% will be going back there. I don't know when, but I will. I need at least a few days in a camper or van because today just wasn't enough. I have tons of photos, but I'll share my best ones here.

From the official government website (because I could not explain it better): "The Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness is a rolling landscape of badlands which offers some of the most unusual scenery found in the Four Corners Region. Time and natural elements have etched a fantasy world of strange rock formations made of interbedded sandstone, shale, mudstone, coal, and silt. The weathering of the sandstone forms hoodoos - weathered rock in the form of pinnacles, spires, cap rocks, and other unusual forms. Fossils occur in this sedimentary landform. Translated from the Navajo language, Bisti (Bis-tie) means "a large area of shale hills." De-Na-Zin (Deh-nah-zin) takes its name from the Navajo words for "cranes.""

The last stop of the day was for food at Gabby's. It looked like a diner from the 1950s and the food was EXCELLENT. It was an adorable and cozy little place to eat and a great way to (almost) end the day. We were still 2 hours from home, but we'll definitely stop there again when we go back to the Badlands.

Next up: Meow Wolf Santa Fe!

Formations at the Badlands

Formations at the Badlands

Still the Badlands

The wall of this bathroom is insane in the best way.

Formations at the Badlands

Formations at the Badlands

Outside of Gabby's

Information about the church

Formations at the Badlands

Part of the caldera

Inside of Gabby's

Information about the kiva

I was trying to get out of the kiva, not look sassy, but I guess I did both. 😂

Formations at the Badlands

Today was a shit-ton of fun.

Today was a shit-ton of fun. We were up at 4 am because we have a friend visiting and TOOK HER ON A BALLOON RIDE. I'm exhausted and dusty so I'll try to keep this short.

The balloon ride was awesome. We didn't get to do the Splash 'n Dash on the Rio Grande this time, but that's how it is when you're at the mercy of the wind. On the bright side we did get to see our house. It's in the picture. 😁

As I tried to climb into the basket, I was like "Push my butt, Shaun!" and the pilot laughed. Shaun also had to help me get back out and that was pretty funny, too. Krystahl Roan has video of that. 😂😂😂 Husbang picked me a pretty flower after we landed. It was a gorgeous morning and we met some cool people. I also love the toast at the end of the ride.

After that, we had breakfast at Weck's and it was delicious as usual. Then we saw a gigantic penis lizard on a house. After that, we decided to head up to Sandia Peak. The tram was closed for maintenance, so we drove up. On the way up the mountain we saw lots of snow. When we got to the peak, it literally snowed on us! Krystahl was super excited about the snow. And we saw some deer on the way down.

After that, we went to see one of the Petroglyph monuments. We have a lot of inactive volcanoes around here and tons of lava rock, many of which have hundreds of years old drawings on them. It was really neat. And windy as fuck! I loved it! I think Krystahl was less impressed with the wind, but it is pretty typical for here - especially in the spring!

We went back to our house to dust off, regroup, and figure out dinner. We ended up going to Fuego505 where Krystahl and Shaun were served meat from a sword-sized skewer. Apparently it was good!

Here are a few photos, a video of the "daisy" at the top of our balloon, and a video of my face in the wind. We have tons more, but I don't want to bore ya - and like I said: I'm exhausted. I gotta rest up for tomorrow. We're going to the Badlands and I can't wait! ❤️

I just liked this view a lot

Lizard-penis hybrid house

Just a nice view with fellow travelers

Some more glyphs

Our house is in this photo.

My handsome husbang

My handsome husbang being snowed upon at Sandia Crest

Getting ready to stand the balloon up

A cactus plant I REALLY like

A shot of some of the glyphs with the rest of the hill we hiked

The "daisy" at the end of the balloon ride.

"Just a breezy day in New Mexico." 😂😂😂

Me and Shaun went to a plant nursery today.

Me and Shaun went to a plant nursery today.

We've been wanting to keep our plants healthy, but we lacked the knowledge on how to care for the things that were planted in our yard, so they've just been doing their natural thing since we got here over a year ago. We started trying to prune them a bit over the weekend and found that some of our yucca, as well as a large portion of our butterfly bush, had died. 🙁 Shaun cut everything that was dead from our butterfly bush. It used to look like a small tree, but now it's about a foot tall (it's the sad thing furthest to the right that I didn't try to photograph, but didn't crop out).

Now we have a giant blank space to the right where our dearly departed yucca was. We would like to get another one to put there. But we also need to figure out if and how we should prune the brown leaves from the remaining yucca. They look like wooly monsters (which I honestly kind of dig), but I don't know what is best for them. I joined a local gardening group on here, though, so I will find out soon.

So at the nursery we bought some Baby Rita prickly pear. They will stay short but grow wider, so that's what we're going to put in front of the yucca. They are often a pretty purple color, so I love that. The pokey plants will help keep Cub from getting up there and jumping into the BACK back yard. (He can jump to there, but not back over and it's annoying). 😂

In the little area to the right framed by rocks is where we're going to plant the agave. I don't know the species of this agave yet, but it was more blue than the others and has black spines. I'm so excited to have succulents, both indoors and pampered, and who will thrive outside!

We have another area of our yard that needs attention, as well. I have got to do some Googling, but I would love nothing more than a big old patch of "big ball cactus" as Shaun calls it. 😂😂😂 I'm pretty sure they are barrel cactus, but like I said - I need to research.

Anyway. I'm excited for spring! 🌵💚

I guess one way...

I guess one way to keep Harley out from under the couch cover is to give him his own tent. 😂😂😂

This is why Shaun goes everywhere with me.

This is why Shaun goes everywhere with me. I need a long being often. 😂😂😂

My nurse for the work day...

My nurse for the work day - sweet little Adrian! ❤️

I have skinned knees.

Haha. I have skinned knees. I fell down this morning on our walk. I rolled my right ankle, and my wrists and palms are sore from landing.

I'm a hot mess. My face is going through something and is peeling and flaky and breaking out. Also, I tried something new on my nails the other day and got too careless with my e-file so my cuticles are mangled up and sore, too.

I'm in good spirits, though, and Shaun is great at first aid (thank you, scouts), so I'm not actually complaining. Just going to take it easy and let my body heal. Thank goodness I can keep my ankle elevated and iced while I work today. ❤️

I am having a headache this evening...

I am having a headache this evening, but thankfully my boys take good care of me. ❤️

My cactus bloomed!

My cactus bloomed! 💛💛💛

Took this handsome boy out for a treat...

Took this handsome boy out for a treat at Piñion Coffee this morning, and then for a ride with us to The Paleta Bar. It was my and Shaun's first Paleta ever, which is ridiculous since we've been here almost 2 years. We'll definitely go back, though.

Shaun had a coffee and dark chocolate milkshake, and I had a Tres Leches paleta with white chocolate dip, graham cracker topping, and strawberries. It was so good! I ate it too fast to get a picture. 😂😂😂

Look at this cat!

Look at this cat! She says "Why are you standing in your chair?"

"BECAUSE YOU'RE DOING A FULL DANGLE, ADRIAN!!!" I love it when she hangs all her legs down like this. 😂😂😂

(I'll reply to the comments on my last post soon. I'm still in my feelings and just need a minute. But I needed this laugh and needed to share it. Adrian hasn't done this in ages. My day is made.)

Today was hard.

Today was hard. We lost Ember (the cat with the gremlin voice).

She was fine last week - even playing. But on Friday I noticed that her stomach was super noisy, and later the poor thing had diarrhea and tried throwing up at the same time. We thought maybe something had upset her stomach and the plan was to take her to the vet today if she wasn't feeling any better.

She ran to the litter box several times over the weekend, trying to use it (but unsuccessfully). Her appetite was low and we still believed she had an upset tummy. This morning, though, she wouldn't even try to eat her stinky treats that she loves.

We got her in at the vet and decided to leave her so they could run some tests. Well, the news was not good. The doctor found a giant tumor in her lung. Shaun is 100% against letting them suffer, as am I, and the vet said that anything we did would be a very short-term solution that may not actually help her feel better. So the hard decision was made, and we let our sweet girl go.

My Alabama rescue peeps will remember her as Boo, the scaredy-cat from the shelter. But she'll always be our sweet, gnarly-voiced Ember who loved punching you in the chin with her head and getting super-squeezy hugs. This was one of her last hugs from her favorite person. She was actually purring (she REALLY loved to be squished). ❤️❤️❤️

Yesterday I woke up and hit the ground running.

Yesterday I woke up and hit the ground running.  There was a bunch of stuff I wanted to accomplish and I did pretty much all of it.  Today has been the opposite.  I slept until 10-something, did Shaun's nails, and just finished stuffing myself on Pizza Hut - which really hit the spot.  I can't believe it's already so late in the day, though.

Shaun told me that this morning he looked out of the window and saw Harley walking along our privacy wall.  Thankfully, Harley saw Shaun come outside and ran back in, then met him inside like "I was here all along."  That is the second or third time we've found Harley outside (where none of the cats are supposed to be).  He's getting out of the dog door.  We've been leaving it unlocked since Cubba's key batteries died, but we have more batteries coming today so this shouldn't be an issue for much longer.  But this totally makes sense for Harley; after all, he was found in the motor of a car from Douglasville in the Oxford PetSmart parking lot.  He clearly has an adventurous streak.

Twice in the last few days, Shaun has pointed out lint on Cubba's belly button.  I legit didn't know that could be a thing for dogs, but I guess it makes sense since the hair swirls all towards one place.  Now I'm going to be looking at his belly button all the time.  😂

I sent Shaun to his game room (or rather, just away from me) because I need some quiet.  I feel sensory-overloaded at the moment and need to be by myself.  I thought I might catch up with some family and friends over the phone today, but I don't think that is going to happen.  I would like to talk more during the week... except that I don't want to.  I've found that I spend a lot of time in meetings for my job and it's oddly social despite being remote work, so I feel like I get a lot of socializing in during work and kind of the last thing I want to do is spend more time talking or messaging back and forth when I'm off.  I'm sorry if anyone feels neglected.  I'm taking care of myself right now.

I don't know what else this days holds for me, but it's gorgeous out.  Maybe I'll at least pot some plants and take a walk.  I don't know.  Gotta let my brain and ears settle first.  😂

I hope you're all having a lovely day.  I see a lot of happy pictures.  I'm glad y'all are enjoying time with your families, but to be honest I'm so relieved that I'm past having to put effort into holidays.  I've openly been an atheist for a long time, and this is the year I stop going through the motions of holidays I don't celebrate or care about for the sake of other people.  The kids are 23 and I'm 40.  I'm just done, and I'd rather be done than be a Grinch.  So Happy Easter or whatever else you might be celebrating.  I will always wish my friends and family the best, no matter our differences.  Love to you all.  ❤

Shadow just came downstairs...

Shadow just came downstairs and said that Kira got in a fight with Leon. 😂😂😂 That child and her child crack me up. How do you get in a fight with a cat!?

Look at this gentleman.

Look at this gentleman. Balthazar is so sweet. But he's got a foot fetish. Always tryna roll and rub and chew on ya toes. 😂😂😂

Adrian "patiently" waiting for me to get up and give her a treat.

Adrian "patiently" waiting for me to get up and give her a treat. 😂😂😂

Poor Shaun.

Poor Shaun. He was woken up today by Adrian launching off his face while running around the room in a craze. He has 3 scratches on his face that are bleeding.

Gotta love cats. 😂😂😂

It was beautiful outside today.

It was beautiful outside today.  It's the first time it's really felt like spring to me.  I never wake up as early as I want to on Monday mornings, but if I had then I would've gone skating before work.  (Note to self for tomorrow:  Wake up and GO!)  Since I didn't, after work I decided to do some light yard work and vacuum the stairs.

I have felt so great lately.  Physically, I feel like I'm finally getting my hormones under control.  My psoriasis is very mild (just a few spots here and there; I don't even bother medicating them), and I haven't had the arthritis flare up in ages.  I've been sleeping well and eating healthier and the energy payoff is noticeable.  Now if I can work some regular skating and other exercise back into my schedule I'll be 100%.

I haven't had any issues with depression or anxiety in a while.  It really took some time to actually SETTLE IN at home once I got back from Cincinnati.  I had nightmares for a while about having to go back or lose my job.  Fortunately, nothing like that is going on in real life and I've been pretty much ok.  I do have a work trip coming up next month.  It is voluntary to go to and I want to go to it.  It's in Las Vegas; I've never been there so I'm looking forward to it.  Also, I miss my coworkers.  Don't get me wrong - I LOVE working from home, but I made lots of friends while working in Cincy and it was bittersweet to leave.

I have some other things coming up that I'm looking forward to, as well.  Besides the work event, I will be visiting a friend in early June.  I also have a friend coming to see me this month, and another in October.  At some point in the midst of all of that me and the kids plan to visit Alabama.  I'm so excited that I can actually do things.  I'm stupid excited that I can afford to!

When I set up stuff for my new job (like 6 months ago) I did something goofy that kind of bit me in the ass.  I really did not think it through.  😂  I guess I was thinking ahead more to retirement-type stuff since I am behind on saving for that, but anyway.  I set 25% of my check to be deducted for the employee stock plan... and that was something that couldn't be changed again until last month.  😬  The change I put through in March should finally take effect this month and I am excited to have a much smaller chunk of my check removed for that.

We also finally paid the last rent payment for the apartment in Cincinnati last month so that's a $1600 bill that we no longer have.  And we're getting performance reviews this week and next, so I think a pay raise is on the horizon.  Our savings have gotten thin, so I'm hoping that this will be the month we can actually hold on to a little bit of what comes in.  We shall see.  We do have a small roof leak that needs tending to.  Thankfully, it doesn't rain much here, but as is the way of life:  It's always something.

I guess my point there was that I'm not really stressed about anything, and I don't think I've ever experienced this level of calm before in my life. I was always worried about money, or about someone taking my kids, or about school... or I had people in my life mistreating me, or I felt unsafe in my neighborhood, or I felt stuck at a dead end. And over the years life has changed so much and I feel a TON better. I feel like my life is just beginning even though I'm 40 years old. It's so weird, but I'm not complaining!

Well, I didn't really know where this post was going when I started it, but here we are. I'm doing really well and I guess I wanted to acknowledge that and throw some gratitude out there into the universe. I wish this kind of peace and contentment upon all of my friends and family. I love you all and I hope you are doing well, too! ❤️

This weekend was pretty good.

This weekend was pretty good. I have been energetic and into getting some stuff done.

Yesterday, Shaun and I cleaned out the closet under the stairs and moved some stuff around. We might have a yard sale next weekend because we have a dining room full of organized junk that we'd like to get rid of. I've been slowly but surely selling some things on Nextdoor, but I want stuff GONE. I'm ready to rip up this carpet so I can skate indoors!