OMG, y'all. Last night was INSANE.

OMG, y'all. Last night was INSANE and I had a migraine due to stress almost all day.

I'm a light sleeper and I kept hearing the garage door trying to open. The dogs weren't barking because we're the only ones who come and go through that part of the house. I told Shaun, but he was slow to wake up. He's bigger and stronger, but I'm smaller and faster (faster when I want / need to be), so I made it downstairs first.

In my rush to go investigate I forgot my glasses so I really couldn't see shit. I did, however, think to grab my phone in case there was an emergency. So I made it downstairs despite the fact that I couldn't see and I saw someone standing down there. 

As I approached them I repeatedly tried the "chop" motion with my phone which was supposed to turn on the flashlight, but it wasn't working. I quietly asked who was there and no one replied so I kept moving closer. After getting stupid close to this unknown person I see that it's Shadow with a bag of snacks and he's recoiled away from me because I've just run blindly down the stairs looking crazy as hell.

I told him about hearing the garage door open and he said that Kira had found it open and just closed it. So I was like "Wtf, what if we just closed an intruder in the house?!" So I went to check because duh - we don't want that.

As I'm walking, (still blindly in the dark), I'm steadily "chopping" my phone and getting increasingly pissed off that of all times the flashlight chooses NOW not to work. By this time Shaun had made it downstairs and was talking to the kids. Meanwhile, I was mustering up my balls and having a "Say it with your chest" type of moment. So in defense of my house and to find out if someone was there I screamed "HELLO!" at the top of my lungs.

It was at that moment I felt Adrian (cat) leap off the back of my neck and Shaun's hand on my shoulder with him saying "Blu! Blu! Are you ok?"

Apparently... I was having a nightmare and screamed "HELLO!" so loud that I woke not only myself up, but Shaun as well - despite the fact that he sleeps with a Bluetooth headband on. He told me to text the kids and let them know things were ok in case they heard that so I did. I found out this morning that they definitely did hear me - they were looking out the windows to see what was going on before they got my message. 

Y'all. I think the snow might've triggered me. When I lived in Anniston as the only adult with Shadow and the animals I would ALWAYS see footprints in the snow outside of my house. Not just in the yard or near the road, but up close and on the porch. Either I was being pranked or drug addicts aren't smart enough to realize that they left a trail. It always made me feel even more unsafe knowing that someone was prowling around. 

Anyway, Shaun fell back to sleep almost immediately after the screaming hello incident. I, on the other hand, laid there for a while wondering how dogs live like this and getting an increasingly bad headache until I eventually had to take my migraine meds. For the life of me I could not relax and get to sleep. Waking myself up like that was a first for me so I was weirded out completely on top of the stress. I can laugh at it now, but in that dream I was so, so scared.

Kira didn't bake last night...

Kira didn't bake last night, but did fancy up some delicious strawberries. I could have eaten every one of them by myself. 😂

Long Update:

It snowed all day and is still snowing. 😳

Shaun has been super happy every time he looked outside and the snow was still falling. I usually don't care for it, but it's not the wet slushy kind that I'm used to in AL. It actually looks pretty nice because the ground is covered (for now). Maybe it's not the snow I dislike, but the messy way it looks when it's walked upon or is melting. Anyway.

Shaun made a snowball and brought it in and gave it to Cubba. Cubba then took the snowball outside, proceeded to put it down (on the snow-covered ground), and ate it... and the surrounding snow. 😂😂😂 I guess that was a treat that kept on giving. 😜 Thankfully, the dogs don't seem to mind this weather. They've both gone out and played today so I'm grateful it wasn't scary for Rose. 

The electrician came this morning and finished the sunroom. He wired one thing weird (which we would have pointed out before he left had he given us the opportunity, but he didn't) so he's coming back tomorrow - weather permitting, I guess. Shaun could fix it, but this guy has already been paid to do the work so we're going to let him. 

Shaun and I cleaned up the sunroom and moved some stuff in there. My plants are in totes in there. I'll probably have a post sometime in the next few days where I will need help identifying who can be saved and who is definitely dead so plant friends - please look out for that.

We also moved the litter boxes to the sunroom so we're all thrilled with that. The boxes were in the supposed "dining room" area that we weren't using. Now it's just a big open space that we don't know what to do with. 😂 I'll get pics soon. It's got nice windows so maybe it would be a good sitting area. We're definitely not going to put another big table in there. That seems so redundant.

Anyway, I vacuumed and shampooed the carpet so it's nice and clean in the "dining room." I also shampooed part of the couch downstairs before I crapped out. THEN, I did some minor nail art. 😁😁😁 (It's literally been years since I've done more than just paint my nails. I can hardly believe that.) In any case - I earned it today. I'm planning to get photos sometime tomorrow.

That's all I have to talk about for now. Wait - I lied. I got the call today that we'll be getting our solar panels installed next week so we're excited and ready for that. 😁 Now I'm done.

Goodnight, friends! ❤️

View from the front door.

Part of the front yard.

Quickie Update:

I went to bed early and I haven't been awake long, but it's snowing and the electrician is here.

Also, Shaun said he had trouble getting Rose in and out last night and this morning. The big, scary difference in the sunroom? An outlet. 🙄

We have a fun couple of weeks ahead.

Today was less great...

Today was less great, but I'll admit that a lot of it was due to my attitude.

I woke up early because I heard Rose barking like she does when she needs to go out in the morning.  Hey, props to her for letting us know - we appreciate it.  I hate to admit that Shaun is usually the one to get up with them and let me sleep in.  I don't know how that became the norm, but I've been going to bed earlier lately and today I was like "Nah, he can sleep and I'll deal with the dogs."

I got up and let them out.  Made my normal breakfast of oatmeal and fog tea.  Took my meds and drank a bunch of water.  Let the dogs back in and watched Rose eat a whole bowl of food (thank goodness).  Then we settled in on the couch where I mindlessly and unhappily scrolled because I didn't know what to do with myself.  😂😂😂

I guess the mindless scrolling wasn't hitting the spot because later I woke up to the doorbell ringing and it was the electrician here to work on the sunroom.  Shaun woke up and came down in case the electrician had questions for him.  Shaun seemed frazzled because I'm sure he just stood up and threw on clothes when he heard the doorbell ring.  It also doesn't help his anxiety when people are working on the house.  Since we are both big into doing things ourselves it feels really awkward to be sitting here while someone else works.

Anyway, I sent Shaun to his game room and told him I'd keep and ear / eye out on the dogs.  Rose barked pretty constantly the whole day no matter what any of us did.  It wasn't super fun.  I managed to get a few things done on my Lappy that I'd been meaning to do so I guess that's something.

I got an alert on my phone that we're having some winter storm weather starting early tomorrow morning.  We might be getting some snow.  So... our sunroom might not be finished until later this week because the electrician left today without completing the job.  He left early yesterday having barely done anything.  I'm pretty frustrated and ready for this to be over with.

Look, the sunroom has places pre-made into it for the wires and conduit to run.  He just needed to put in some boxes and wire some switches and I'm failing to see how this should be a 3-day job.  No, I'm not an electrician or an expert in the field, but I've watched Shaun do some pretty intense electrical work (he learned from his dad) in far less time than this without even having all of the proper tools.

I'm not about to go all "Karen" on anyone, but my gosh I'm allowed to say that my patience is running thin.  I want to get this stupid dog adjusted to the sunroom and calm before she has surgery.  I want to put my plants on shelves and see who's gonna live.  We want to move the litterboxes out there, and I want to shampoo the carpeted area where they were once we move them.  We can't do any of that until the sunroom is completed and I'm not enjoying trying to psych myself up to do this work (especially because the dumb dog and the plants are going to mess with me emotionally) only to keep having the date I actually have to confront all of this moved on me.

Anyway, I suppose this turned into a vent / rant and I didn't mean for it to, but like I said - my attitude isn't the best today.  I don't know why.  It was cloudy and maybe I missed my sunbeams.  I don't really care for days without sunbeams, I've found.

Well, I'm going away.  Hopefully my bad attitude doesn't rub off on anyone else.  Be better than I am today.  You can do it!

Mish-Mash of updates.

Today has been pretty good.

The electrician came to run electricity in the sunroom today, but didn't finish.  He'll be back tomorrow.  I'm good with that.

I officially finished moving 11 Januarys worth of posts to my blog(s) using Facebook Memories.  I realized that I, uh... I really tell y'all just about everything.  I'm an open book and you don't even have to ask!  Haha.  Oh well.  After I get all of that moved I will need to find a better way to manage it all, but that's a problem for another day.

It was gorgeous out and I actually skated for the first time in a few weeks.  My booty butt hasn't hurt recently so I thought it was probably safe to go out.  I wore the butt-pads that my mom got me to be extra careful, though.  Thankfully, it was like I didn't miss any time at all.  I still need to work on transitions, but overall I'm happy with how I did today and I can turn a decently tight circle so I'm not mad about that!

After that Shaun and I had a late lunch and then watched our show with the kids.  Then I came upstairs and re-painted my nails and painted Shaun's toes while we watched something together.  I should really get photos of Shaun's paint before he messes his up.  Magnetic gel on his hands, regular polish on his feet.  I'm wearing a really pretty polish and want a picture of it, too.  But I also want to try some stamping because it's been AGES.  Maybe I'll get some pics of my nubs soon.  We'll see.

Also, I love that some of y'all trust me enough to ask me animal questions.  It makes me feel special and lately my struggle with Rose has had me feeling like a failure so I think I kind of needed to be reminded that I know other stuff sometimes.  And some of you have been super supportive of me as we try to figure out how to best care of this dog and I really, truly, from the bottom of my heart thank you.

Anyway, I've been up since early and I exercised my body and it's been a productive day and I'm tired now so I'm turning in.  I hope you all are doing well.  ❤

WELL, about those pods...

I'm still not 100%, but part of that is just because I have straight up felt like crap today.  Let me tell you what happened.

Last night Kira made some cookies.  Two batches:  a batch of sugar cookies and a batch of chocolate walnut cookies.

She used her silicon baking mat for the first batch of cookies and I heard her in the kitchen talking about "What's that smell?" but I thought nothing of it.

Later she asked me to try her sugar cookie and warned me that it tasted weird.  I tried it.  Kind of tasted floral, but not in a bad way.  I ended up eating two of them.

She decided to bake the other cookies on a regular baking sheet because a floral smell was coming from her silicon baking mat, which I had loaded into the dishwasher the day before.

We all pile dishes in the dishwasher until it's full and then when it's full one of us will put in the detergent pods and run it.

WELL, about those pods...

When we get them I like to put them in a glass jar because when you open a crinkly bag around here all of the animals come running.  And because it keeps the bag from being chewed when the cats go places that they shouldn't (as they all do).  And because it looks nice.  

Shaun was the person who ended up running the dishwasher and he used a weird, big pod that we've had for a while.  It was a sample that came with one of our Wal-Mart pickup orders.  I remember putting it in the jar of dishwasher pods because the cats tore up the packaging it came in.  It, uh... didn't cross my mind that it may not have been a dishwasher pod. 😬😳

Do y'all see where this is going?  Shaun washed the dishes with a Persil Laundry Disc.  It was the last pod-thing in the jar and it fit in the dishwasher so he was like "Okie dokie." and ran that shit. 😂😂😂 

The kids were smart enough not to finish a whole cookie.  I was not; I actually liked them.

But anyway, my stomach has been slightly off today and I've had a headache.  I can really only blame the two Laundry Disc Sugar Cookies I ate that were somehow still delicious. 😂😂😂 That should speak volumes about Kira's ability to make tasty treats. 

These are the chocolate walnut, btw, and they are delicious, also. Very buttery and soft, and not at all unexpectedly floral. 😂