Yuletide Carols and all that stuff

Jan 6th. 2023

I put the correct date. Its always hard to write the correct year in Jan…like through June.

So I need to do an update and I think I’m going to make it quick and to the point.

I went ahead and gifted my kids something quite original and after the committments were made…I began to wonder what Mark would have thought. I decided to go forth with the plan because the kids were all excited and since we weren’t breaking the law or anything…why not. Life IS short…is it not?

The 3 youngest selected messages from Mark in his handwriting that were important or meaningful to them and we sent them ahead to Mark’s cousin who is an artist. I took the kids for a short weekend and we headed over to the other side of the state to her shop and the kids got those personal messages tatooed on their bodies. I didn’t announce it to the world, I’m sure many would disagree, but it didn’t matter to me. It’s funny though…Mark was not a huge fan of tatoos but not against them either. Not only did I let them (well Cora and Aly can legally do what they want), I took them and I PAID for it! They all look really cool on them. When you see them you’ll need to ask them about theirs.

Christmas was Christmas. I pulled a total Dusty and went and decided last minute that I was making a coffee table for Karson and Abby and so I was working away in the garage that week. I used floor boards I kept from my parents farmhouse (over 120 yrs old!) for the top and remnants of the ladders from the apartment for the sides. It’s pretty cool but I don’t have any good photos of it. Someone reached out to me and I worked with her to take some of Mark’s clothes and have pillows made with some scripture on them..to make this more memorable. The girls got the bracelets from Wear Felicity, where you can put a photo into this little circle “gem” and when you look into it, you can see the photo. They each had a photo of them and Mark. I think overall the kids enjoyed their gifts and Christmas felt …ok. We went to my brothers at night…I saw my inlaws for a hot second…since she hurt her foot that morning and had to go to the ER to see if it was broken. We did all the normal Christmas Eve activities….but church was cancelled. We went sledding at my mom and dads which was an added bonus and just stayed close to home since the roads weren’t awesome anyways but the snow was pretty.

I never do much for New Years. We used to do this huge Euchre party with several other couples but that died down years ago and never picked back up. Last year it was me, Cora, Jaylee Long and Jaxi Long with Mark in the living room watching the ball drop. This year I watched my grandbaby and went over and watched football at the Longs. I was home just after 10pm and in bed shortly after. I can say “I was never much for New Years” but the truth is I just wasn’t feeling it. 2023 will be a Mark-less year and I don’t know how I feel about that. I will have no photos and no memories made with him this year or ever again. Its sad to me.

So in order to be all legal and honest…I emailed the city to make sure there wasn’t anything I was suppose to do before renting out my space…(We rented this house for many many years so I never anticipated a problem)…and the “code enforcer” got back with me and we met. Guess what? I’m not zoned for this. Ha! Of course there is something. We are trying to find loopholes in the “rules” but I might need to be rezoned (I’m surrounded by B-1 properties anyways) to Community Business so that I can run a business out of my property. So..that’s the direction I’m headed in. Also I learned there is a homeless man in one of the communities around here who lives in the laundry room. Pees in the washing machine. Awesome huh. Gross!

I decided to finally finish off the gravetone for Mark and emailed Postemas with my final edits. Guess what? They don’t have anyone to do that right now and so I need to wait til March. Sometimes I think I can never shake some things. So much for just being done with that.

Cora went to Pennsylvania to attend a wedding of her roommate from last year. Aly is still home but headed back to school next week for practices. Pray for her as she tries to heal her adrenals etc….it sometimes causes her BP to go to low and her body can’t get enough oxygen….and she passes out. Like on treadmills while running. Not cool! Cora will be home one more week. Hatcher went back Tuesday and is filling his extra time with banjo playing and lifting.

Short and Sweet. I did it.