This view never gets old. ❤️

This view never gets old. ❤️

Hey, friends, the party is booked!

Hey, friends, the party is booked!  It's going to be on Saturday,  November 25th, 2023 at Sunshine Skate Center in Oxford from 7:30 to 10:30 pm.

They only had party packages on the weekend.  I didn't want to book it on Black Friday and I'm traveling to Alabama the weekend before and back home the weekend after, so this is the best I could do as far as timing.  I'm used to the holiday interfering with my birthday plans so I understand if that is still the case, but I hope I get to see some friendly faces.

If you expressed interest in coming before I'm going to tag you in the comment below to make sure you see this.  I have to bring a guest list with me to the rink so I'll need to know at some point if you were serious about coming.  (And it's ok to come without skating if you just want to say hi - just please let me know if you're coming and if you're skating or not).

I'm so excited to see everyone!  ❤❤❤

I haven't been making food at home...

I haven't been making food at home as much as I should recently because I've been hyperfocused on swatching my polish.  I'm really terrible at keeping my life in a balanced state.  When I have a "project" to do, that project is all I think about.  I don't know why I'm like this, but I've definitely always been this way.  So when all I want to do is swatch polish, I don't want to be bothered with making food.  So we usually end up eating fast food and that is catching up to me.  (Don't get me wrong - I love eating restaurant food, but fast food is hard for me since I eat so little meat.  I don't do cows at all and there are really only a couple of places that do fast food chicken in a way that I like, and one of those places I'd rather not support).

ANYWAY, I haven't been feeling the most healthy lately.  My pants are getting tight and my psoriasis is breaking back out.  Blegh.  Last week I made cornbread and ate canned soup with it for a few days.  Today I made lentils with taco seasoning and had tacos for lunch and I am so excited about how that turned out.  I didn't have to deal with meat at all and they taste so good and are healthy!  I can see me eating that frequently because honestly, I love tacos.  I mean, who doesn't?  But for real.  I'm so happy.

Also, Shaun ordered an Instant Pot for us because it looks pretty handy.  I think it will arrive this weekend.  I'm so excited to make dried beans in it.  For whatever reason I have been a bit put off by canned beans lately.  I can't really pinpoint why and I don't feel like thinking too much about it, but I find it really satisfying to pick through my food before it's cooked because it's easier so I'm down with going through dry beans and lentils and whatnot before I make them.

Super exciting update, right?  LOL  I'm just trying to get making food easier for myself so I'll do it.  I don't mean to be so terrible about food, but it's just the way I'm built.  😝

We went to PetSmart today...

We went to PetSmart today (we really don't go out often so pardon me if this is old news) and saw this advent calendar for dogs. I'm not a holiday person, but it's TMNT and for the puppa! Of course we bought it for Cub. We probably won't wait until December to start giving him the treats, though. 😂

I did these over this past weekend...

I did these over this past weekend and they aren't very decorated, but I like how the color-flips came out. UNFORTUNATELY, I didn't write down which chrome powders I used to get these colors so I have no idea how to get exactly these results again. I'm especially fond of the green and pink ones, so that sucks.

Maybe after I finish swatching my polish I can make a "cheat sheet" with my gels, the silver magnetic polish, and various chrome powders to get an idea of how they'll look all together. That sounds... difficult. And like I'd waste up a lot of gel. 😬 Maybe I'd better start writing my good combos down as I go.

Another Exclusive post...

Another Exclusive post because I don't want anyone to feel judged over their childbearing decisions, but I do have feelings about it.

I'm 40 years old; I'll be 41 next month.  I'm aware that I had my son earlier than most people have their kids, but I've discovered that I'm in a weird place regarding parenthood.  I guess that has probably always been the case, but it's more obvious now than ever.

First of all if I'm asked if I have kids it feels wrong to say "yes."  Mostly because I have adults, not kids.  Neither Shadow nor Kira need a bunch of "parenting" these days.  Yes - they still live with us, but they function on their own.  It's more like living with roommates that need advice or backup in life.  It's pretty chill.  I enjoy having them here and knowing that they are safe and have everything they need.  If either of them decide to move out one day I will be happy for them, but I'm also good with things as they are now.

I've noticed that most of the people I went to high school with either have kids that are younger than Shadow or Kira by a good few years, have one that is almost an adult and one that is brand new, or are grandparents.  None of that sounds good to me.  😆

I don't know if / when I'll have grandkids, but I'm in no hurry.  I'm focused on my career and don't want to be distracted, and also I feel like it's time for me to live for myself.  Ideally, if one of the kids has a kid they will be moved out and more or less self-sufficient because I don't feel that I have it in me to raise another child at this point.  If I did I'd have one with Shaun.  That's one experience that I'd love to share with him, but I don't see it in the cards due to the career thing, my struggles with Psoriatic Arthritis and needing to keep extra weight off my joints, and just, well... the world in general.

I am aware that Shaun and I are conservative as far as taking risks.  We still mask up and get COVID boosters and avoid people for the most part even though most of the world has declared the pandemic to be "over."  The stock market feels like gambling to us so we invest money in other ways.  We're just careful in general and really try to think things through.

Things have changed so much in the last 20-ish years that raising a new child would be a totally different experience.  We would probably want to homeschool because of the increased rate of violence in schools.  Shadow and Kira never had to do active shooter drills and I wouldn't want that for any child of mine.  Obviously, we would not feel safe sending a child to a school or daycare because of the pandemic.  It just doesn't sound like a great time to create a new life.  So I'm glad that we don't have a new child or a grandchild to worry about.

I'm also really glad that Shadow and Kira graduated before the pandemic hit and before they needed to start doing active shooter drills.  If they had been any younger they might not have made it out of high school and that is a sad and terrifying thought.

I don't know.  What other people do isn't really my business, but I honestly can't fathom wanting to bring a child into the world in the state that it's in.  It's deteriorated so much since my childhood and it feels exceedingly fast over the last 20 years.  I guess I mostly just feel really lucky to be in the situation that I'm in with our kids and that me and Shaun are on the same page about (not) having one of our own.  I should be used to being in the minority because doing my own thing has been the story of my life, but it somehow still shocks me when I notice it.  Either way, I'm grateful for the family I have - just as it is.

Two kitty pics:

Two kitty pics:

This is how Club Soda is when she's not being terrible; she's resting up so she can be terrible. 😂😂😂

My boyfriend has discovered the seat next to my work chair, so I guess this is his plan now. 😂❤️