December already?

Hey there! Just wanted to check in and see how everyone is doing on this fine December morning.

I continue to be good, life is busy, Christmas is right around the corner. Yikes!

Actually, I'm pretty ready for Christmas. Chris and I have been out shopping for the kids and I think we have pretty much everything bought including stocking stuffers. I have presents for Chris sitting in my office and I've already exchanged presents with my little sister so I'm going to sit back and enjoy the next few weeks.

We went out as a family last weekend to cut down our Christmas tree - my first time to do that! It was an almost magical experience walking through the rows of trees with the most beautiful sunset in the background. We found the perfect tree for us and we'll be decorating it this week with the kids. Perfect!

In other news, we're busy renovating a house for us to move into. We desperately need more space so we found a real fixer-upper with 4 large bedrooms but it needs a LOT of TLC before we can move in so that's pretty much what we've been doing each weekend. We had hoped to move in on December 1 but, because of an old trailer and trash the previous people left behind, we can't get the electric company out to turn the power on yet. Now I'm a go with the flow kind of person (for the most part) but I can't live in a house with no power...and it has no toilets right now either. So we wait. At this point we're praying that we can get in there right before Christmas. We get the kids Christmas morning and we'd love to have everything ready to bring them straight to the new house on that morning with everything ready to live there. Wish us luck!

I had a little artwork put on my back this past weekend, my birthday present to myself. That's Kuromi. She's a Hello Kitty character with an edge - she's sweet and mischievous, just like me. I had her drawn as a sugar skull because I love them. I love the tattoo but man, there were parts of it that hurt like hell because they had to be colored in. Yikes, I almost cried!

My family came to visit this weekend, it was the first time we'd seen each other in a while not counting the quickie lunch my sister and I had back in August. 

We had our holiday dinner yesterday, my brother in law made turkey and dressing and my sister did her famous hash brown casserole. I was able to just sit around and enjoy, what a treat! It was all delicious and I have enough leftovers to make my lunch all week. It was such a thoughtful thing for them to do and I really appreciate it. I wish we lived closer. They got to meet Chris at dinner on Friday night and they said they were very happy for me so that's another hurdle passed. 

I continue to have a good relationship with Chris's kids and his grandson which makes me very happy.

In fact I now take the kids to school 2-3 mornings a week, one more step on my motherhood road. If you'd told me a year ago that I'd be doing things like that, I would have thought you were kinda crazy but it just seems right and natural.

It's beginning to look like Christmas at my house too. I'll be putting it on the market in January (already looking at offers from those "we'll buy your home" kind of places) but I really want to enjoy one last Christmas in there before I have to say goodbye.

Merry Christmas y'all!

October

 

Yikes, it's been almost 2 months since I posted - bad Jonni.

I'm not even sure I remember everything that has happened in the last 2 months but it's all been good. Chris and I are still happy, still planning a future together, still enjoying family life with the kids, still moving ahead on selling my house and now we're renovating one for us to move into by the end of the year. We've been on a very long road trip to Texas and back, right through a hurricane, and we never had a cross word between us, maybe because we were too busy laughing and joking or maybe because we had very little sleep so we were just too exhausted to fight - who knows. LOL

 My man doing something manly with a circular saw in the backyard.

New puppy #1 

They lifted the nursing home restrictions a bit so I finally got to visit with my mother in person after not being able to for 6 months. Of course, each time they get a new COVID case they lock the place down for 2 weeks so in 2 months we've only had 2 visits but I've got another one scheduled for this week. I totally understand and agree with all the restrictions, it's kept the residents safe, but I also know that her precarious mental health was slipping and it's been good for her to see me.

Our new house is a bit of a hot mess right now (and I'm being overly complimentary, believe me) but we're making (slow) progress and I can't wait to share "after" pictures with you in a couple of months. It's SO much bigger than where we're currently living - 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, huge living room and a nice sized dining room. It's going to be awesome and it sits on a big piece of land with so many possibilities. My favorite part of the renovation process is sitting with Chris and dreaming about all improvements we want to make. My least favorite part is standing for hours in a house with no air conditioning (or electricity or running water - no toilets!) painting and cleaning - I was not cut out for manual labor. LOL And yet, I love that we're doing it together. Chris probably wishes I could learn to love it quietly with no grumbling...yeah, like that's going to happen. Dream on, big guy.

At the beginning of October we celebrated this guy's 6th birthday with a weekend at my place and everybody loved spending hours in the swimming pool. All along I wanted to have my house back to myself for a couple of months so that I could make some happy family memories before having to sell so this weekend was everything I could have hoped for. The fact that we've done it another time since then and we have another weekend coming up is just icing on the cake. Speaking of cake, the birthday boy's oldest sister made this cake for him and it was amazing.

The birthday boy got a puppy as a gift so that's new puppy #2. She's teeny tiny and a bundle of energy with a BIG personality. The two puppies together are double trouble, believe me. By the way, I literally "woke up like this" because the kids thought it would be funny to open the bedroom door and let the puppies in while I was still sleeping and then take a picture. Have I mentioned how "adorable" they are? Yeah, I'm loving every minute.

Scenes of hurricane damage on our way home from Texas.

Us before leaving for Texas and us 80 hours later on the side of the road with a blown tire 25 miles from home just being goofy for the camera. We got about 4 hours sleep in the truck in a Waffle House parking lot during the whole trip, I think I changed my shirt but I don't think he changed clothes the whole time. My hair was horrible and I was tired and hungry but I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat.

My first drive-in movie! We did have another child with us but she was in the bathroom when we took the picture. It was fun but a little hot, the kids couldn't see from the backseat so I switched places with them so then I could barely see so we ended up out at the picnic table by the concession stand which kind of defeats the whole purpose of a drive-in, I think. At least now I can say I've done it.

We took the kids to Legoland and had such a great time that we ended up getting annual passes so we can go back as often as we'd like. It was my first time in any sort of theme park since the pandemic and I can see they are taking precautions to keep people distanced and safe. It's hot wearing a mask all day in Florida but we did it - the kids were even better at it than the adults were.

There, I think you're all caught up now. In between home renovation and fun, I'm at work every day, keeping my head above water, dreading next month's 2 year anniversary a bit, trying out my cooking skills, figuring out I really don't have any cooking skills, waiting for the cooler weather to start and looking forward to Halloween this weekend even if it will look different than it usually does. It's still my favorite holiday and will be even more fun with kids this year!

road trip!

Good morning!
I really am trying to be better about writing but apparently they like to have me do a little work at the office rather than sit around writing blog posts...who knew?
So, I finally went on my long anticipated road trip to Georgia this past weekend. Remember way back here I talked about my research project and mentioned that I needed to take a road trip to a WWII Flight Training museum in Georgia? That was a whole year ago and things kept coming up to keep me from going - first it was a hurricane, then I broke my arm and dealt with that pain for months, then I got new roommates and then COVID closed down the museum.
Well, I finally got off my ass and drove up there last Saturday and it was awesome!

The museum was exactly what I'd hoped it would be and gave me a very good feel for what pilot training would have been like in WWII. The volunteer on duty was knowledgeable and friendly and I had the whole place to myself so I could linger as long as I wanted and take lots of pictures.

My research deals with women who trained as military pilots during WWII but the museum that covers that is in Texas which is too far for a day trip. Since the women followed the same training regimen as the guys I figured this would be a good way to start my research and at least it made me feel like I was making some progress.

I started my trip at 7am and made sure I had all the necessities with me - mask, sunglasses, adorable hat, notebook for notes and, of course, road snacks. Doritos make a great breakfast, don't let anyone tell you any different!

By far, though, the best part of the day was meeting up with my little sister for lunch. I'd driven 4 hours up to the museum then I drove an hour back to the restaurant. She drove 4 hours from her home in Alabama just so that we could see each other for the first time since November. I have missed her so much even though we've kept in touch; there's no substitute for sitting across from each other and talking in person.

We spent a couple of hours talking and eating and although it wasn't nearly long enough, it was perfect. We had so much fun that we've decided to make it a regular event so that we can keep updated on each other's lives.

The sweetest part of the day was that the waiter left a buttload of these little minty chocolate candies and Lisa didn't want any so I took them all. Nearly a week later and I'm still enjoying a couple each day.

I got back home by 7pm so it was 12 hours away from home and 8 hours of actual driving. I guess that's a pretty long day but I wasn't tired at all. I really felt energized by doing something fun, something outside of my normal routine. It makes me want to hit the road again soon!

There was a surprise waiting for me when I got home to Chris's place but that's a story for another post.

family

I'm back!

I know I've been missing in action here for a few weeks but I've been busy living life rather than writing about it. Now it's time for me to figure out how to do both because I really do love to write.

I'm still blissfully happy about almost everything in my life. One really great thing that happened a little over a week ago is that my mother was FINALLY approved for Medicaid so now she'll be able to stay in her long-term nursing home facility without the threat of being kicked out. I am so happy and relieved about that! It was a lot of work, filled with frustration but it finally got done.

My weekdays and weekends are filled with laughter and love, I come home to someone that wants to spend time with me, loves to cook for me, tries to appreciate what I cook for him (let's face it, cooking has never been my best skill and we have different tastes) and never walks out the door or ends a phone call without saying I love you. This means more to me than I can ever fully express. Y'all know how frustrating internet dating was for me but somehow, after all the frogs, I found a prince who never makes me question his commitment to our relationship or the future.

Work continues to be (mostly) fun and even on the days when it increases my stress level, I am grateful to have a workplace that's safe and consistent, grateful to continue to have a paycheck (paltry as it may be) and co-workers who delight me even from a distance. Our video staff meetings are fun every week and we all look forward to the day when we can meet in person again. 

One sad thing that the pandemic has brought about is that I have to make decisions about my house that I never wanted to make. I've really tried to make it work but I just can't sustain the mortgage on my own anymore and I don't want to fall so far behind that they take it from me and I lose out on the equity I've been earning for 20 years so I've had to face the reality that I must put it on the market and hope someone wants to buy it quickly. It's going to hurt to say goodbye to it, I've tried so hard to keep it and I have no idea what I'm going to do with my stuff, more loss, but it's the only option I have right now. It's not a good or convenient option for any of us, I do realize that, but who could have foreseen these circumstances?

Luckily I have something wonderful in my life to distract me - I have a family. One thing I haven't mentioned is that Chris came with kids and they have accepted me into their world so that the 4 of us are a family unit...at least every other weekend. He hadn't planned on letting any woman meet them quickly, in fact, I think he thought 6 months of dating was the appropriate amount of time to wait...then he met me and that timeline went out the window. Neither of us have any regrets, though, and the kids seem happy.

From the first moment I met these two, we were best friends. They have my heart and my soul and I would protect them with my life. I'm not their mom but I couldn't love them more and I hope they are learning to love me too. I know we have a lot of fun together and I'm looking forward to celebrating birthdays and holidays and all the milestones of life together. They have given me something I was missing - a little family of my own.

They are my little goofballs, my adventure buddies, and the next time we get together they will be my sous chefs because we are going to bake cookies together which will be quite an adventure.

And here's the rest of the family!

love

Love - it's a supercharged word, right?

I heard about a woman, a sister of a co-worker, who had been dating this guy for over 2 years and he was kind of lukewarm about their relationship. He liked her, liked going out with her from time to time, slept with her but wasn't nearly ready to commit to her in any way. They would do things for a while and then he would be too busy to get together for weeks. Keep in mind, these are people in their 50s, not 20s.

I really don't understand that, I don't know why anyone - man or woman - would want that for a relationship. I'm all about taking your time getting to know someone but really spend that time getting to know them, don't play around at a relationship when it suits you. And at my age, I don't want to waste time with someone that I'm not sure about or somebody that I have to talk myself into...or even worse, somebody that I have to convince or cajole into loving me.

I am not a person that agonizes over decisions. I trust my instincts always and they've really never failed me. When I fall in love, I love. I don't second guess it, I enjoy it.

Taz and I were friends for about a year, hanging out in a big group, before we started hanging out just the 2 of us. Our first few dates were fun but we didn't jump into romance...until we did. Once we crossed that line, we were together every day until he died. We stayed over at his place most of the time until his roommates objected and then we decided to get a place of our own. After a little while of that we decided to get married. There was little angst, it was all a natural progression. I never had to worry about whether or not he wanted to make a commitment. The way I look at it, either the other person wants to be with you or they don't and if they don't, it's not worth hanging about hoping they'll change their mind. They're already telling you they don't really want to be with you. I would NEVER want to be with someone that wasn't 100% about me.

So that's my experience with love and it worked pretty well the first time so I don't see a need to change my approach this time. I don't want to be cautious, counting days, weeks and months before next steps are taken. I'm not stupidly reckless but I don't want to be so careful that I miss out on amazing moments.

The words have been said and we're finding it difficult to be apart so much of the time during the week. Weekends are amazing, it's like we live in our own little world and it's always a slap in the face when Monday comes and we have to go back to reality.

But love shouldn't exist only in a vacuum so I think we're getting closer to the point where we have to meet families and make decisions about the near future. We've both expressed our commitment to each other and I'm not afraid to say that I love this man. And I know it's quick but when you know, you know and I've learned that life is unpredictable so I don't intend to waste time worrying about what other people may think.

He makes me laugh, he listens to my worries and offers support, he shares his heart with me, he makes sitting on the couch watching TV the most fun activity in the world, he loves his children and shares them with me, he dreams about our future, he wants to take care of me but also appreciates when I take care of him, he has an ego the size of Texas but can also laugh at himself, he makes my toes curl when he holds me in his arms, he makes me feel delicate, he makes me feel safe and protected but he's also willing to be vulnerable, he always lets me know how much I mean to him, he listens to me babble, he rocks my world when he turns and grins at me, he encourages me to try new things but never pushes me into something that makes me uncomfortable...except vegetables. LOL He is a bit of a health nut but can unbend enough to do a junk food run with me on a Saturday night. He thinks it's funny that I need to be fed on a regular basis or else I get faint but it's never a good idea to put too much on my plate at any sitting or it'll go to waste. He knows the road to my heart is through my favorite soda and an assortment of chips and freshly baked cupcakes never hurt either. He makes me feel like I always matter. He tells me I'm beautiful on a regular basis. He loves Charlie and she loves him. He had a strict no sharing food with a dog policy but sneaks food to Charlie when he thinks I'm not watching. He leaves little gifts and cards on my pillow so that I know he's been thinking about me when we're not together. He makes me happy.

boyfriend

So I guess it's past time to share my latest news - I am no longer alone in the world and I'm so happy.

Chris says we've blown right past the boyfriend/girlfriend stage, whatever dude. It's been a million years since I got to call someone my boyfriend and I'm damn well doing it! LOL

So yeah, Chris, the guy who I was just being friends with turned into something deeper and eventually we decided to try a first date which went really, really well and turned into more dates which turned into weekends.

So for most everybody else 2020 sucks but for me, it's been a good year. Weird, right? And I know this is still early days but I have a pretty good instinct about most things and I'm feeling happy and calm and very loved and that means everything to me.

He, on the other hand, is in for a wild ride because I am not nearly as organized as he is and I consider it my mission to shake his life up a bit. (giggle)

And just in case anybody is keeping track - my virtue has finally been shot to hell and I couldn't be happier.

Charlie is pretty happy too.

happy

Just checking in to say that I'm still good, really happy. I smile a lot more these days.

Taz and I used to eat a lot of this gelato, he had pistachio and I bounced around between a few different flavors. He could never bring himself to throw out any of the containers and they are really nice. I think he had plans to repurpose them to hold nails and screws and things. I eventually had to throw out a bunch of them last year because I needed the cabinet space. I haven't eaten any of this stuff in over a year and a half but finally bought some last week and I remember why we liked it so much. So far I'm still working on this first container, I just enjoy a little taste every couple of days. Taz and I had to work real hard to not eat all of this in just one sitting and it rarely lasted more than 2-3 days. Things change.

Had an unexpected day off from work last week so I made a trip out to a cute little Florida town that I haven't visited in 9 years to get a new shower sponge. They have amazing Greek food there so, of course, I had to have lunch. The tzatziki sauce was just as life-changing as I remembered. It is seriously the best.

Have you ever showered with a natural sponge? There is really nothing like it. I got my first sponge when we visited Tarpon Springs back in 2011 and I loved it so much that I would travel with it from California to Florida every time. I used that thing until it literally fell apart last year. I got another one from Amazon and it's nice but when I showered with my new one from TS last weekend I knew that there was really no comparison. I will only get my sponges from Spongeorama from now on. I know that seems silly but there's just something about the feel of that sponge over my body, kind of a sensual experience. Yeah, I know it's weird but true.

It was HOT there! Summer is definitely here in Florida and I'm not thrilled about that. I really hate summer here.

Except for the pool, I LOVE the pool in summer. The kids and I spent a lot of time in the water on Saturday and it's the perfect way to pass the time since we can't do much of anything else these days.

That's about it from me. There are other things to share but I just want to hold them close to my heart for a little while longer.

good

Just checking in to say that everything is good and I'm in a happy place.

And it feels good to be there after so long of being either in a bad place or just being so numb that it took too much energy to feel much of anything.

I did a little socializing on Saturday with a coworker. We tried to be very safe with masks before and after the food and kept our distance from each other as we caught up. We used to go out to lunch every couple of weeks back in the pre-pandemic days so we had months of gossip to catch up on. It was nice. And the sushi was THE BOMB...literally, mine was called an Avocado Sushi Bomb. LOL

I decided I needed a little pick me up in the form of new clothes. There's a store not too far from my office that has cute clothes that are affordable. I first discovered one of their stores on a trip to Alabama to see my family last summer. I'd never been in before but I got into town earlier than expected and decided to do a little shopping. I walked out of the store $100 poorer but with a big bag of clothes which seemed like a bargain. I even brought my little sis back with me a day later, she'd never been in there either, and we both found things.

So when I came back to Florida I visited the store near me and found a couple more cute things. I've been in a few more times but never repeated that first experience. But last week I decided to indulge in a little retail therapy and get some cute things for summer. I walked out with another big bag but when I tried them on at home (because the dressing rooms were closed at the store) I didn't like any of them and decided to return all of them which was disappointing.

Monday after work I put Charlie in her bag and back to the store we went. I returned everything but asked for store credit rather than a refund because I was determined to indulge myself with new stuff.

And guys, I found all the cute things I had missed last week! I found 3 dresses and 3 tops including 2 that I'd seen online and looked for in the store last week but couldn't find. I'm going to be freakin' adorable this summer! I also managed to use up all of my store credit AND owe them an additional $3 because I'm awesome like that.

I could hardly wait to get home and try them on, kinda fearful I wouldn't like them either, but I loved everything. 

And hopefully I'll have occasion to wear all those clothes this summer while I'm hanging out with Chris...and that's all I'm going to say about that. ;-)