• Ten days later, and these roses are just as beautiful as the day I bought them.

    February 24
  • We attempted an escape room today. Billy and the girls had never done it before and I thought it’d be fun. It turns out we are not all that good at puzzles. It took us almost 20 minutes to solve the first one, which didn’t leave much time for anything else. But I think everyone…

    February 23
  • I went out with some friends and we laughed and ate Mexican food and it was so fun. I don’t have many friends here, and those I do have I don’t see very often, so nights like these mean a lot to me. Also today I made the last ornament for the advent calendar. It…

    February 22
  • This has felt like a very long short week. I have been working without breaks all day, often not bothering to stop and eat, and going directly into cheer and dance schedules without any transitioning. There was a book I used to read to my mom when I was little, called Rest, Rabbit, Rest. Rabbit…

    February 21
  • Tonight we booked an actual vacation in New Orleans for spring break. Robin and I had so much fun there last month and were so sad that Billy and Christina couldn’t join us. I’m glad we’re going now as a family.

    February 20
  • Robin took a tumbling class tonight and added her name to the wall for two more level two skills: back walkover back handspring and roundoff back handspring. She did them all night long and came home happy. I’m so proud of her, and grateful to the coach who quietly and patiently showed her over the…

    February 19
  • We played Mind the Gap tonight, and Christina cried real, actual tears because she felt incapable of rolling a high number on the die. Had we rolled more fives and sixes instead of ones and twos, we might have had a chance. Billy had to ice it by saying she could have as many cookies…

    February 18
  • We went to the zoo today for the first time in years. It was a little chilly, but otherwise a beautiful day to walk around outside. A lot of the exhibits have closed since the last time we were there, but they’re building a new manatee exhibit that looks like it will be pretty cool.…

    February 17
  • I had all the intentions of doing something at least somewhat memorable this weekend, but it has not come to pass. I spent most of the day making an ornament for our advent calendar. We did leave the house once to go out for ice cream, but that’s it. We ended up playing Trivial Pursuit,…

    February 16
  • Christina and I got pedicures today. I also bought myself a bikini – the first one I have dared to buy in probably at least 20 years. Robin and Christina said it looks good on me, and they’re usually pretty quick to say when something doesn’t look good on me. We also went food shopping…

    February 15
  • I had fun with Valentine’s Day this year, which is really a testament to how I’ve been feeling for the last six months or so. I’m not sure which switch flipped or how, but this is probably the first time in my life I have actually felt good for more than a week or two.…

    February 14
  • Sitting outside, waiting for dance class to end.

    February 13
  • It’s been a nice day that has involved no octopuses. If only it also involved no errors in judgment. C’est la vie.

    February 12
  • What a waste of a day. I ran out of medication and the pharmacy couldn’t refill it, so I ended up on the couch all day. I did manage to stay awake long enough to finish making all those octopuses and play a few rounds of Uno Attack (taking short naps while people dealt the…

    February 11
  • The weather was beautiful when I brought Robin to cheer practice. By the time we left, it was like something out of a Stephen King novel. It’s actually cleared up a bit since then. I am so ready for bed.

    February 10