Forget to write yesterday?  Why, yes.  Yes, I did.  After a whirlwind of a day, I slunk into bed 10:30ish and moments later, realized that I had not posted.  I couldn’t get out of bed to post.

Good thing I am not writing each day to get a prize. Why am I writing?

I am writing to remember.

I am writing to relax.

I am writing because I like to write.

I am writing to improve.

I am writing to learn.

I am writing to share my story.

I am writing slow my thoughts.

I am writing because I am a writer.

Why are you writing?

I borrowed this idea from here.

10 things right now:

1. I am currently watching One Tree Hill on Netflix.  I am on season 7 and I just watched the episode where Haley’s mom dies.  Saddest. Episode. Ever.
2. Those Sonic commercial guys crack me up. I have seen those commercials a bazillion times and I still laugh. My husband just rolls his eyes.
3. I like seeing what the CBS sportscasters are wearing.  Suits, shirts and ties are something that I like seeing put together.  And Charles Barkley is hilarious.
4. Even though we aren’t getting together with my husband’s family, I still made my nephew cut-out sugar cookies. He’s 25.
5. The Dollar General has been having random hardback books by really great authors (like Lee Childs, Sandra Brown, Stuart Woods and Sue Grafton) for $3. Today I gave in and bought one.  I mean it’s $3!!
6. I managed to make everything we need for our Sunday dinner today.
7.  I could watch TV all day.
8. One thing that binge watching TV series allows me to do is catch a lot of references to things that I might not catch if I was watching it weekly.  Today I noticed that the writers of One Tree Hill make references to other movies and books in almost every episode. It’s very subtle. Today there was a reference to Dead Poet’s Society.
9. I took a 2 hour nap today.  I am pretty sure I could do that every day.
10. I walked away from school with nothing.  It will all still be there when we return to school on Monday.  Pretty darn proud of myself.

Yesterday in Kansas it was 80 degrees.  The wind was blowing a bazillion miles an hour and there was dirt and dust blowing everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Recess was sketchy because we have some tiny kids in first grade who were in danger of blowing away. Eyes were filled with dust.  Teeth were gritty. We were filthy dirty.  We were happy, but we were dirty.

It made me think about people who lived through the Dust Bowl and how every day would have been incredibly challenging. When I arrived home, a few of my tulips had bloomed. It was the happiest sight for me! Tulips are some of my favorite flowers and these are very dainty.

Normally I wouldn’t cut them.  These are not normal times.  Weather forcasters were telling us to prepare for snow.  I did not want my tulips to be taken from me too soon by snow, so I cut them.  And it did snow overnight.  We woke up to a wind chill of 16 degrees and a very overcast sky. The sun came out later in the day, it warmed up and the wind is only blowing a zillion miles an hour.

It’s kind of like me–my outsides might not be so beautiful but on the inside all is well and beautiful (and yes, that’s my oven it is pink–I have matching push button stove).

We still have a home phone.  Why?

It’s not a cost thing.  If we got rid of the home phone, we would save $6 a month.  Our phone is combined with our cable and internet for a not-so-low price of $190 bucks a month.  Believe me, I have called our provider SEVERAL times trying to lower our bill. But that’s another story.

Who calls us?

Political people.  The pharmacy to remind us to fill our meds. The American Red Cross. My mother-in-law. More political people. Something called SSI. Basically we get no calls from anyone real.  All the calls are automated voice calls.  Not my MIL.  That is her real voice.  We get between 4 and 8 calls a day from these people.

So why do we keep it?  I wish I knew.

My husband and I have been married for 27 years.  With the exception of the year I gave birth on Good Friday and the year I was 8 months pregnant with twins, we have spent Easter with my husband’s people.

His uncle is a priest and he would say Mass for our family at 1 pm on Easter Sunday.  We would have a meal following.  Granny would put together an Easter egg hunt with cash prizes.  When the bulk of the grand kids were younger, she put together real, real nice Easter bags full of treasures from Oriental Trading.

We knew it wouldn’t last forever.

This is the year.  My father-in-law passed away in August 2015.  Christmas was Father Ed’s last Mass.  My mother-in-law moved to assisted living.  Brothers and sisters are navigating new territory.

Easter will not be our traditional get together for many, many reasons.

We will travel the 3 hours on Saturday to see my MIL for the afternoon returning to our house on Saturday night. This will the first time my kids have attended Mass on Easter at our home church.  We are having dinner at our house.  My mom is going to come and be with us for dinner.

It’ll be ok.  We all knew it wouldn’t last forever. Traditions change.  New territory is forged. It’ll will be ok.

.

So my husband and I have these amazing Contigo cups…..

We have had them for about 3 months– 20 oz. upgrades (they do sell 24 oz cups but it were kind of awkward in my hand) from 16 oz. cups because and I quote…’THOSE DO NOT HOLD ENOUGH COFFEE. I NEED A LARGER CUP!’

When I purchased them, I couldn’t buy 2 different colors like I could with the 16 oz cups, so I just bought them the same.  No big deal.  Marked my initials on the bottom of the cup and on the inside of the lid with a sharpie.  Perfect system.

My husband fills his to the rim every morning with coffee.  If you don’t have one of these cups–get one.  It keeps hot stuff HOT for hours and cold stuff COLD for hours–like my ice doesn’t melt all day if I use it for ice water! I put orange and lemon slices in mine and fill it with boiling water to make a citrus tea.  I take it to recess with me each morning at 10:15.  Perfect system.

Until today.

Today when I took my first swig of citrus tea, I almost chucked it right back out.  I quickly checked the bottom of the cup.  No initials.  I had my husbands coffee cup.  Ugh.  My citrus tea had the undertones of coffee.  And really, by undertones, I mean it tasted exactly like orangey, lemony, watered down coffee. Gag.

Apparently, lemon infused coffee isn’t much better.