Kept thinking about updating this blog and other things kept getting in the way. Primarily getting rid of Christmas! I absolutely will NOT be putting up so many decorations next year! I finally got all the crates packed up and into the garage just short of a month after Christmas…that’s ridiculous!

To be fair, January is the busiest month of the year for me at work. I felt like doing nothing when I’d get home from work at night so could only work on the cleanup/packup on the weekends. And I’ve had other things going on this month as well. So I’ve decided to cut back on the decorating next year to save myself all this stress. Still don’t have the house itself back to ‘normal.’ I packed up lots of the carnival glass and other chatchki’s and still need to get all that stuff back out.

Went to the Lakers/Mavericks game with Vanessa on MLK Day and had a great time…especially since the Lakers won! It was Vanessa’s first Lakers game which added to the enjoyment of the game. Tickets game from Patrick’s company and they have upgraded the seats this year to the premium seating area complete with waiters to take our drink and snack orders!

On Sunday Vanessa took me to see ‘Wicked’ at the Pantages Theatre. All I can say is WOW! What a fabulous Christmas/Birthday gift from Vanessa! We got home and I found a vase filled with a dozen red roses on the dining room table along with a Kohl’s gift card from Patrick! Later that night Kevin and Soula sent me a video of Robin saying “Happy Birthday, Grandma”! All in all it was one of the best birthdays I’ve had in a long time! Thanks everyone!

Over the past week, I’ve spent close to $1,400 clearing out my medical spending account. My dentist under estimated the cost of a dental procedure last year so I had lots of $$$ remaining to be spent by the end of the plan year. Unfortunately the plan no longer allows me to purchase OTC meds, so I had to get creative. I purchased a year’s worth of contacts, 2 pairs of glasses, 8 bottles of contact lens solution, 7 bottles of eyeglass cleaner, 6 first aid kits, 10 boxes of bandaids and a thermometer! And I still have $46 remaining to be spent! Not having nearly as much money going into the account this year–mostly just enough to cover co-pays for my doctor’s appointments and Rx’s. Will be nice to have a little bit more money in my paycheck.

Not much new with the cats. Now that all the Christmas decorations are down, they are once again learning to be content with playing with the cat toys. They are enjoying going outside more often as the days are getting longer. Additionally, the weather has been so nice and warm and they spend most weekends outside. I’m sure they won’t be happy when I head for Seattle on 2/23 and they have to stay indoors for 10 days.

Three more weeks and I’ll have another grandson. It hardly seems possible that another baby will be born in just a few weeks. I know it’s seemed a lot longer to Soula, but the time went by quickly for me. Kevin is still looking for work. Had one interview with Amazon but that proved to be a bust. He is collecting unemployment. Thankfully he got quite a bit of vacation/severance pay from his other job so they are not in dire straits financially right now.

Time to shut it down tonight. I really do need to do these updates more often than once a month!