A few highlights from the weekend!

Friday

• Getting our Christmas tree out the door. We took it to the forest preserve to have it turned into wood chips that will be used on the trails and for landscaping. It’s so nice to have the house back to normal! I think this is the longest we’ve had a tree – from November 26 to January 13.
• Opening a package from Katja. My friend Katja told me on Thursday that she sent gifts to people for Christmas and they still hadn’t received them. Then of course, I got mine that night.
• An easy drive to Iowa. I went for our youngest nephews 4th and 6th birthday party on Saturday.
• Our nephews loving the gifts we gave them. I painted them some rocks, and had a Yoshi toy for Leo, and transforming dinosaurs for William. The Yoshi toy plays this cute/catchy song that was stuck in our heads all weekend… because we played it all weekend. Ha.
• Chili for dinner.
• Playing dinos with William.
• Practicing the “Wednesday” dance with Dad.
• Eating a vegan cupcake snis got me.
• My snister giving me my shots. She gave me all my shots (one in the morning and one in the evening) while I was there, and did such a great job. William was interested in it, so he watched for the last two. “Mommy, you’re really good at that!” He’s so sweet.
• Painting before bed. I didn’t get to paint much the previous week and really wanted to!

Saturday

• Painting early in the morning.
• Going on a walk with Dad. GAH. It was so cold. It was going to be warmer later in the day but we wouldn’t have time to walk so we went when it was in the low 20s and windy.
• Filming another dancing reel with Dad.
• Getting my first Starbucks chai of the year with snis!
• The birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. I mostly hung out and chatted with people at the tables, but did play a bit of Skee-Ball and a fun game where you throw balls at clowns to knock them down.
• Seeing and chatting with my younger brother’s ex-wife. She brought their son to the party and I hadn’t seen her in quite a few years and it was nice to catch up.
• How much fun the boys had at the party.
• Making and eating guacamole.
• Seeing my older brother and his wife.
• Painting after dinner then chatting with my brother-in-law’s brother, who was also staying at the house.

Sunday

• Getting donuts from Icon Bakery.
• More painting.
• A walk with Dad, Christina (snis), and Ella. It was a little warmer than the day before!
• Running into my younger brother while we were out.
• Delicious Burger King for lunch. Ha, I don’t know why it was so good but it was.
• Seeing my younger brother for a bit back at the house.
• An uneventful drive home. I listened to Molly Shannon’s’ memoir, Hello, Molly! I don’t think I am actually a Molly Shannon fan (like of her work, she seems like a nice person), but it was interesting to listen to.
• Steven having El Famous ready to eat when I got home!
• Chilling with Steven and the cats.

Monday

• My INR being back in range so I could go off the shots. It was 2.7.
• Getting so much done?
• Painting at night.

Lowlights

• Being so busy and out of it Monday. I had planned on Monday being this chill day for me but having a 9:00 am INR appointment at a new-to-me hospital threw me off. I forgot a few things I needed for the appointment (including my work phone, so I accidentally planned by Monday follow-up next week during a meeting, oops) and felt so scattered. I went to Fake Meats to film some things (I am handling the Fake Meats Instagram this year) and just felt off. I will need to refilm a bit when I feel more with it. Then I got groceries at two stores, came home and prepped the produce for the week, then took photos and made a reel (I had told the paint pen company I would make it and they were asking for it asap) in abysmal lighting, opened a bunch of packages I had received, unpacked, walked on the treadmill, then uploaded all the weekend photos on my computer. It doesn’t seem like a lot but… I just wanted to sit on the couch all day and paint. At least I got to paint at night!