Skipping Town

Final day of winter break. Andrew and I went out for brunch at Butterjoint with Beth and Nate. Then Andrew went grocery shopping, we took Farrah on a walk around the block, the girls and I played Unstable Unicorns (Greta won one round and I won the other), and we all played Splendor (Lucia won). We ordered Mad Mex for dinner and watched a few episodes of Lost. Later, while the kids were getting ready for bed, Andrew and I went through the training videos for the scalp cooling device I'll be using on Wednesday. It's cumbersome, and uncomfortable, but if it actually works it'll be fully worth it.  It started snowing tonight, with the promise of more overnight, but WT did not cancel school; the kids have only a two-hour delay tomorrow.

Final days of winter break for the kids. Andrew and I took down the trees today and packed away the Christmas decorations. I feel like I only enjoyed them halfway this year; we decorated in a fever between Toronto and my surgery, and then I was upstairs recovering for the first two weeks of December. And now we wanted to get everything cleaned up before chemo starts on Wednesday.  The girls and I played two rounds of Unstable Unicorns, and the four of us played Splendor. I love playing games and am sorry that the pace of the regular year--school, sports, hecticness--usually prevents us from playing more often. I made a honey garlic chicken with rice tonight, and then the girls and I watched the first three episodes of Lost--a show I never watched when it was out in the early 2000s. We liked it.  Laundry, plant watering, reading, walking Farrah. A nice Saturday. I'm not ready for this break to end because I like having the kids around all the time, but we need to get this next ...

Andrew and I went first thing in the morning to the appointment for my scalp cooling helmet. I'm glad this is an option for me and hope it makes at least this one element of this upcoming ordeal a bit easier. Then we ran some errands to do the last of my Christmas returns. In the middle, I got a call about the results from my genetic testing: I do not have a gene mutation that could have been passed on to the girls. This is a huge relief.  Some days there just feels like too much information coming at me all at once. I take it all in as best I can. In the afternoon, the girls and I played two rounds of Unstable Unicorns, and then all for of us played Ticket to Ride. Lucia won both games.  It snowed a few inches today--wintry and beautiful. The kids played outside for a while despite the extreme low temperature. Tonight, finally, was the season 3 premiere of The Way Home. Lots of new mysteries and questions. Farrah is still snuggled right up next to me, by the fire, nested in b...

Forgetting what day it is. The day tripped along. A bright spot was that I tested negative for covid and so could rejoin the family without a mask, and begin moving back downstairs from the attic. We all went to B&N so the kids could spend gift cards they'd gotten for their birthdays. We watched a few episodes of The Way Home. Andrew made chicken and dumplings for dinner. I also got news that scalp cooling will be an option during chemo, and made an appointment for a fitting tomorrow. In the meantime, I was instructed to cut my hair above my shoulders--about six inches shorter than it's been. I tried in the afternoon to find a salon with an appointment, then just gave up and did it myself, chopping it off in the bathroom. It's uneven but so be it. My hair hasn't been this short since I was in my early/mid twenties.

I've always disliked January 1, the weight of the upcoming year pushing me down. But we had a nice day together, me still masking with COVID. We played some games (Bananagrams, Unstable Unicorns, Splendor, Ticket to Ride). Andrew took the girls ice skating at the rink in Schenley, and I walked around in the pretty snow around the track. All the activity around the holidays really helped with my surgery recovery, and I'm able to walk around at length now. We watched a few episodes of The Way Home season one in preparation for the start of season two on Friday. We listened to a bunch of songs to help Lucia choose one for her musical audition, revisiting songs from Descendants that we once listened to endlessly. A nice family day.  No resolutions for me this year except getting through the next eighteen weeks and then moving forward and learning to live with this. An appreciation, even a reverence, for daily life is what I'm taking away from the absolute hellscape that was 202...

Tomorrow, the school year begins. There's the night-before-the-first-day-of-school feeling in the air. We have tried to make the most of summer; so many things remain undone. Friday night, Greta went to a sleepover that began with a trip to Sandbox VR in the Strip and dinner at Shake Shack. Andrew went to a baseball game. Lucia and I went shopping at Target then picked up food from How Lee and watched Gilmore Girls. Yesterday Lucia had XC practice and then a birthday party; I picked up Greta from the sleepover; I went to a tennis clinic. Later in the day Lucia worked on Algebra (her packet is due the first day of school) while Andrew, Greta, and I went to the pool. Andrew and a friend played pickleball; Greta and a friend swam; Beth and I floated in the pool and chatted. Then Andrew and the girls and I went to a BBQ at the home of some WT friends. It was a full and fun day.  Today we went to the farmer's market and the grocery store, with the kids, who wanted to pick out some s...

 The kids start school on Monday. I can't believe this summer is almost over. More catching up: We went to a Pirates game with Andrew a couple of weeks ago. We stayed longer than usual (usually when we go with him we leave after the pierogi race) but not till the end, which he was horrified by because it ended up being a really close game. We tried! Andrew and the girls went to Baltimore overnight last weekend to see an Orioles game with family friends. I stayed home with the pets. Graduate Orientation was last week, the culmination of months of planning and preparation. It was exhausting but all went well. Now back to regular working life. We've all been running. Andrew, Lucia, and Greta all ran a 5K last Friday (Lucia was with her team and Andrew and Greta registered as well) and all did great. Lucia came in 2nd in her age group, and Andrew and Greta got medals for their age groups as well. Now that Orientation is over, I'm back to running as well, though it's been ha...