March was still very chaotic with family-related activity. We were working against the clock to prepare Kelly’s biological father for Medicaid provided care. A year after COVID’s arrival, Kelly finally took his first rapid COVID test. It was a requirement for visiting his father in the care home. (He tested negative!) Plano Fire-Rescue made several […]
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2021 Word of the Year: Centered
It’s a hard thing to acknowledge your normal life will probably not be normal for the foreseeable future. Yet here we are. 2020 taught us anything was – and is – possible and that flexibility, adaptability and resiliency were important character qualities. Kelly and I think 2021 will bring much of the same. Political disruption […]
Reflections on a Most Unusual Year
Last year my word of the year was RETURNING. I thought it would be a year of returning to (as I wrote in January 2020): returning to a simpler home life. returning to the marathon distance. returning to fitness and nutrition discipline. returning to the other-focused activities that bring us joy. returning to a structured Bible study program. Turns out, […]
September 2020 Wrap Up
Ah….September. AKA a much better month than August. Example One: Oliver finished his medication regime and started being sassy and healthy again. And his surgery shaved legs were ever-so-cute. Example Two: Mom sent me a box of my letters from college and I realized just how much I’ve grown up. I also wish I could […]
Happy Hour in a Box – Delivered
I really miss seeing my team every day. I also miss our lunches at Urban Crust, jokes and happy hours. So I decided to deliver Happy Hour in a Box to everyone for us to enjoy via Zoom. And it was EPIC. The boxes contained pita strips, kalamata tapenade, tomato spread, red pepper hummus, dark […]
August 2020 Wrap Up
August was a forgettable month. By that I don’t mean I can’t remember what happened. I mean I’d like to forget August ever happened, because so very much negativity happened. We kicked off the month celebrating 3 months with our Glory. Then a terrible random murder happened on the trail right by our home. A […]
July 2020 Wrap Up
It’s hard to believe July has come and gone. We’re heading into “end of summer” and mentally I’m still living in March. The master bedroom is slowly coming together. Art is (mostly) on the walls, new soft furnishings are being added and at some point I’ll find and hang my dream curtains. Subsaharan sands for […]
June 2020 Wrap Up
June was here and then gone. We blame COVID for our lack of awareness of the passing of time and the ability to get much accomplished. My Grandma Alloway’s inexplicable overbuying of rubbing alcohol really came in handy – who knew this would be a hot commodity due to COVID? More PPE weirdness …. our […]
May 2020 Wrap Up
May marked a major turning point in our lives in two important ways. First, we got rid of Old Glory. Second, the same day we rehomed Old Glory we opened our home to Glory. A dog. We’re cat people. Major change. We tried to rehome Glory. It didn’t work – we wanted her back – […]
April 2020 Wrap Up
April 2020. AKA the month where everything stopped and simultaneously I’ve never been busier or more stressed. COVID-19, you restructured life in a way we’d never experienced before. The EOC became my new office. Ironically closer to home than my normal office, but I was away from home more than ever. Gave up wearing my […]