22

We went to moms Tuesday, January 23, 2018 to pick up the dryer.  I stayed behind and took the keys to moms car to Kevin so that he could get them to the new owner. I also loaded up all moms old flower vases to donate to a flower shop.

We had church on Wednesday, January 24, 2018. 

I had a doctor appointment on Thursday, January 25, 2018.  I also cooked dinner for the Roberts as well as cooking side dishes to go with the pork chops that Stroker grilled out for us.

Darlene came with us for dinner at Dipsy Doodle on Friday, January 26, 2018.

Lilly and Stroker wrestled for a while when we got back home.

Brooke and I took off for a shopping trip on Saturday, january 27, 2018.

We wound up at Cool Springs. She did most of the shopping and I did all of the paying. She apparently thinks our family is made of money.

Lunch at the Cheesecake Factory was a treat though.

 Shopping at Evereve was a real treat. They wrapped her purchase like a gift and even folded the receipt and put it in it's own little envelope. 😲 We are not used to that.

We had lunch at Outback after church on Sunday, January 28, 2018.

Later in the day, I had a hair appointment where I got just a little more hair cut off. I also lightened it back up (just a little).

Maleigha and I hit a 500 day streak on Sunday too.😀

Again, On Monday, January 29, 2018, my car sounded like the wheel was going to fall off. I took it straight to the shop.

 The guy told me that I had one brake caliper that had been stuck for so long that it wore the whole thing down to the metal. 

He said that now that it has been fixed, I should even get better gas mileage because that one brake won't be holding me back. 

 

Crazy that I have had a brake on for a year and a half. Thank goodness it didn't mess up while we were in Nashville two days earlier.

Also on Monday, I also cooked a home cooked meal for my family. 😊

I'm doing better at cooking this winter.

It's a win win. We get food and the stove helps warm me up.

Tuesday, January 30, 2018, Devin turned 22.

I couldn't think of anything for his birthday cake, so I just ordered one of him doing what he loves...laying in the bed listening to music.

 

I cooked Alice Springs Chicken and baked potatos for Devin's birthday. We ate dinner on moms brown plates because she would have loved to been part of his birthday.

Darlene and Gary came by for cake and ice cream too.

I dropped Lilly off to be spayed on Wednesday, January 31, 2018.

She seemed so excited. Poor thing had no idea what was happening.

We had church and dinner at Cracker Barrel . And just like that...January ended.

Snow Days

I tried to make the most of MLK Jr. Day, Monday, January 15, 2018.

 I repaired the shelf in the bedroom closet, 

took down a kitchen cabinet, 

painted the bare spot it left 

and put a new cupboard in its place.

 Well, this still looks a little junky...I'll have to work on that 😌

I came home at noon on Tuesday, January 16, 2018 because the roads were getting slick.  

When I got home, Brooke asked me to video some snow scenes for her so she could make a short montage.

It was Lilly's first snow too. She played in it, at it, tried to chase it and rolled in it.

TTU cancelled classes too.

I love a good snow day...when it actually snows.

I stayed home on Wednesday, January 17, 2018 too. Probably 80% of the state stayed home that day. It was freezing outside and that snow was going nowhere.

Brooke and I trudged our way to IHOP for pancakes, but it was a mess out.

The snow plow was behind me, so it wasn't doing me any good. 🙅

Devin, Brooke and I went to dinner at Cheddar's and then came right back home because it was too cold for anything else.

Church was even cancelled Wednesday evening.

I stopped on my way home Thursday, January 18, 2018 and got supplies to make chili dogs for dinner. It is so cold this week that I want to stay inside 24/7.

Brookelynn has been in this position for 6 days now. I honestly don't know how she can sit and binge watch Grey's Anatomy for daaayyyzzzz

The temperature still has not gotten above freezing, so our street still looks like this.

Devin, Brooke and I went to lunch at Ruby Tuesday's on Friday, January 19, 2018.  

I am so blessed to get to spend lunches, days at home, and spur of the moment time with my kids. (Thanks God)

I got my desk organized on Friday. That's about it. When it's cold, I don't wanna move.  This has been the coldest couple of weeks I can remember.

We had dinner at O'Charleys Friday night and then back home to get warm.

(I think I am turning into my mother)

It finally warmed up on Saturday, January 20, 2018.  Brooke and I went to moms to clean a little. Brooke vacuumed the living room rug and the front bedroom.

I got the brown dishes that we used to eat off of when I was growing up.

I also got the TV stand since someone had taken the TV from it.

Oh, and I got the little round table that used to sit in front of the picture window when I was growing up. 

In moms new house, she used it as her bedside table.

I visited daddy for a while on Saturday too. 

When we got back home, I was gonna wash the table cloth that I got off moms dining room table, but the dryer never would heat up.😟

Stroker said that maybe it was just the heating element and he could fix it, but turned out that was not the problem.

He decided to test the thermostats, but said that would have to wait until Monday.

 We had lunch with the Paramore's and Robert's at Rib City after church on Sunday, January 21. 2018.

We had to make a trip to Livingston at 2pm.

We had a teacher meeting at church at 6pm and then went to dinner at Cracker Barrell.

Monday, January 22, 2018 came and the thermostats tested good. 😨

Looks like we are out of a dryer

....but wait....

I remembered that mom has a perfectly good working dryer that she would love for me to have. (Thanks Mom).

I am so glad that I thought of that before we went out and spent hundreds on a new one.

Brookelynn cooked dinner on Monday night. It was called a sheet pan meal. Parmesan Chicken, green beans, red potato's and rolls all on a sheet pan.

😋It was tasty too.

I sold a headboard that we didn't use on Monday, so the day turned out to be a good day after all.

The Deep Freeze

It was only 23° on Saturday, January 6, 2018.  I ran by moms to drop some empty boxes off. As I hurried in the door to put them in the kitchen, I noticed that it was freezing in her house.  Apparently, the heat has not been kicking on.

I went by Kevin's for a little while. I told him that moms house was freezing. He said he had the heat working a couple of weeks ago, but something must have made it quit.  

I visited dad for while too.  He and Phyllis have been staying in where it's warm. He got a new car last month. A Ford Escape. I knew he needed something that sat a little higher off the ground. 

Sunday, January 7th was Maleigha's birthday.  Every year about this time, she catches up with me.

After church on Sunday, I made Taco Soup and we stayed in because the weather outside is frightful.

We had rain on Monday, January 8, 2018. 

The schools used their 2nd snow day, even though there was no snow. It was 42°

My new little weather station is being put to good use. 

Devin stayed in where it was warm too...as usual

I went grocery shopping on Tuesday, January 9, 2017.
I hate when I come home with a bunch of junk food and empty pockets 😒

'

I went by the post office too and didn't come home with much from there either.

I did manage to get enough ingredients at the grocery store to cook dinner Tuesday evening. I made a cheeseburger casserole.

I think they finally finished up the paving on Wednesday, January 10, 2018 on Willow Avenue.

They had the roads partially blocked and were working feverishly to finish up.

Traffic was a nightmare during lunch hour.

I had lunch with Bridgett at Ruby Tuesday's, and then Brooke brought Ramen's by the office later that day to share a snack with me. 😁

We had church Wednesday night. Stroker gets there early because kids come early.

Brooke and I usually get there about five minutes before class.

It can be a challenge getting such a wide age groups attention, but every Wednesday, it seems to work out.

A complete weather turn around happened on Thursday, January 11, 2018.

It was 65° 

Devin and I went to lunch together. I tried to sneak a picture, but he was too quick.

I went shopping for some new black ankle boots.

I cooked ziti and corn casserole for dinner too.

We knew the spring-like weather wouldn't last long, and as a matter of fact, Schools closed on Friday, January 12, 2018 because of snow. The office closed at noon because the roads were supposed to get slick quickly when the snow started. 

A few of us girls went to Longhorns for lunch before heading home. 

Just as we were leaving the restaurant, the snow was beginning to fall.

Although it was 20° outside on Saturday, January 13, 2018, we still had three rentals 😨

Noone cancelled....One of them was outside too 😳

People never cease to amaze me.
The day could have been worse...the people in Hawaii had the scare of their lives today when a emergency alert went to all mobile phones that a nuclear missile was headed for them.

Turns out that an employee hit the wrong button. 

Other than 2 deliveries and helping a guy load the back of his truck, we spent the day inside.

I had breakfast duty at church Sunday, January 14, 2018. We went to lunch with the Paramore's after church at Olive Garden. It was so stinkin' cold outside. I went home and took a nap because it was too cold to do anything else.

Stoker can't stand it when I get to take a nap. He sent me this snap-chat.

I eventually got up, went grocery shopping, and cooked dinner for my family (like good moms/wives do)😘

New Year,...Same Me

These guys must have partied too hard on New Years. They took long naps on Monday, January 1, 2018

 It was 6° when we got up Monday. 

I had to go grocery shopping because there was no food in the house. 

We tried to stay warm all day, but the heat just couldn't keep up. 

It ran all day too.

We made a trip to Nashville Monday night to pick up our pastor from the airport. He flew back in from Bimigi MN. He said this was the warmest that he has been in 3 days. 😁

 Brooke and I kept the roads hot on Tuesday, January 2, 2018.  Brooke drove me around, which was nice.

 We went to Sam's Club, where I got me this handy little weather clock.

We went to Starbucks, TJ Maxx and Kirklands too.
Wednesday, January 3, 2018 was the day that everything got back to normal.
The holiday's were over, the decorations stored away, the days of sleeping in and lounging around were over.
This year, I just have not gotten a "gut feeling" for what 2018 has in store.
I remember feeling sooo good about 2016.
I didn't know why, I just felt like it was going to be a good year for some reason. (And it was)
Last year, when the new year rang in, something about it gave me a sick feeling.
That may sound weird, but every-time I thought about 2017 and what it had in store, I got that yucky "worried" feeling in my stomach.
Turns out, I lost my mom just 3 & 1/2 months into the year.
And, here we are in 2018. Waiting on a feeling.

I sure hope it's a good year.

I cooked dinner on Thursday, January 4, 2018.

It was so cold outside that we just needed to stay in where it's warm.

It was cold on Friday, January 5, 2018 too. Brookelynn's new sheets were delivered and Lilly decided to go ahead and open the package. When I arrived home, there was tiny shreds of cardboard all over the front yard. The plastic zipper cover of the sheets had the zipper torn out and the flat sheet and pillow cases were strewn across the front yard.

When I finally got the mess picked up, I could not find the fitted sheet.

I took a walk around the house and found that Lilly had drug it to the back yard.

The good news is that the sheets were just dirty. I put them in the washer and they were okay.

I ordered 12 winter jam tickets on Friday morning.

The concert will be here before we know it.