January/February 2022

[jedimentat]

...Is it even winter if you aren't kicking snow at your sister??



Sledding at the farm!







ATV-transport back up the hill








Celebrated Kingfox's birthday, then my birthday. No Hot Pot excursion, but in-house treasure hunts and Carvel cake.









Got ears pierced for bday; third holes and a snug



Making sushi with the kids








Went to a trendy plant-shop in Somerville and made plantscapes to brighten/green our winter















Hanging around Clinton



making Valentines' Day cards



(seriously Liberty is just *such* a sweetie).







looking through VDay treats from their classmates





Going to the Mall







Rec Basketball on Saturday mornings







Kirk and his dad did the Pinewood Derby for the first time





Scout Sunday



Liberty

trying on a costume for SKIT (it's nothin'' but theatre on the weekends from now til May!)






Liberty lost like three molar teeth in two months, and has major holes in her mouth!





Excited about their new suitcases for an upcoming trip!







Kirk



















100th Day of School (and so grateful for that, honestly)











Asian market trip with stratfordgal, but no fun pics just this pic of sweet-and-salty kelp chips



The solar project got completed, and the garage got wired for electricity; so happy that this is complete! Somehow, somehow! my dad managed to come over the second that the ditch-stuff was done, and we covered the trench juuuuust before the dirt froze solid, and then covered the chunky-mud-mess in hay.






My chickens got a new insulating blanket for their coop for winter



Winter Olympics in Beijing





Lots of pics of dogs these two months. So many. I feel like *ALL* I did this winter was take pics of the dogs.















Bodhi got a little bit bigger but he is still smaller than Porter


















Get up, Mom!...They sleep all day, but can they let me sleep? Noooo...



Here's me, painting the front entryway in February and making a giant mess. So much wood to look out for. (Plus, I re-painted the ceiling. I was really dreading doing the ceiling but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be).







Also the hall closet got stuck and my dad rescued us by cutting through the lock...






Dyed my hair red in January, and got a new piercing for my bday. Here are lots of selfies I took as I was trying to adjust to redhead-life...























Cartoonify!





January was a crazy time, because after Christmas in our area, it seemed like every.person.we.literally.knew. got Covid at the end of Christmas into January. It was a real Omicron sweep. So it was very stressful, especially as the children re-started school. We kept them home the first week of January, then sent them in, but every day the kids would list how many kids were out in their class or participating virtually, (which was kind of handy, since there were no more notifications to parents of any kind about that sort of thing). We scaled all social things way way back, but, even so, it seems nuts that we didn't get Covid that we know of, since it was so pervasive and got even very very cautious families that we are close to, etc. I suspect that we had it and were asymptomatic and just didn't know. Who can say?? We tested several times throughout the past two months, and I had a wonderfully embarassing snafu one time where I took a rapid test, MISREAD it as positive, and started contacting my contacts, until a friend was like, "Um, idiot, the pic you sent shows neg"..I was like a guy in a movie who thinks he got shot and is flouncing all over dramatically until the hero pulls back his coat and is like, 'No, it was only a graze!'. DERP. We still participated in ballet, gymnastics, basketball, and Cub Scouts, but it was all more nerve-wracking and double-masky, to be sure. There was been a wide variety and big span in terms of pandemic news coverage...the messaging ranges from cautionary discussion of next waves and emerging variants, to complete return-to-normalcy. Here are my random collection of memes and whatnot from these two months. There has also been the Trucker Protest in Canada and the looming Russia-Ukraine War. It was also Chinese New Year, Valentines' Day, the Winter Olympics (all these things sort of happened at once); the Olympics were in Beijing and we didn't really watch them very much. I completed my two year term on the Environmental Commission, and now am working on Sustainability stuff for the local Green Team. Did some Room Mom stuff and got to teach a guest art lesson to the first graders in February.

Lastly, I feel like we were indoors *waay* too much during January/February. We've seen ALL the tv at this point.

Castle Explanation




it seems like a lot more discussion of LongCovid is starting to gain attention










Actual photo of me in the morning during wintertime



Started working out again for like the first time in two years, some Pilates and re (re) (re) starting heavy. Please enjoy this unrelated walrus article




Some downer-graphics aside, I am RIDICULOUSLY giddy and hyper when I see people and have no chill whatsoever, and also OVER-THE-TOP happy when there is sunshine and springtime, even fake-spring.