January Lookback

The month of January of the new year 2014 was pretty par for the course. Looking back, as boring as the month may have seemed there are still a few notable moments I want to document.

Toby and I "celebrated" our 14 year anniversary on January 10th. Technically, I like to call it our 15 year anniversary because of the fact that we lived together ( in sin) for a year before we took on that piece of paper that signifies to society were are "married".

No staring into each other's eyes over a glass of wine professing our love for each other or enjoying a nice dinner on the town. My little family was all sick with the flu. We spent our anniversary day rotating nursing responsibilities. This is what real marriage looks like. We took it like pros....mostly Toby. Ironically, it was that experience that only reinforced to me that our relationship is sturdy and strong...

I've spent a lot of time crocheting recently. I like the fact that it's an activity I can do sitting on the sofa while hanging out with Toby and Skye.....

Skye requested that I make her an octopus. This is what I came up with....

She also asked me to teach her how to crochet. I had attempted to teach her a couple of years ago to no avail, but when she had an inkling for it she picked up on it nicely. This only proves to me that when somebody wants to learn something it doesn't take much coercion.....

Nice Yoga pose....

Me sick in bed. The concerned look in his eyes leads me to believe animals do really care about the owners who save them from demise....or maybe he just was wondering when I might get my ass out of bed and take him for his morning walk....

One morning while out on my run with Bo I spotted a yard sale. I snagged this wrought iron bench and lounger for $20 bucks!! I will need to find (or sew) some cushions for the bench but I think I got an excellent deal....

Apparently dogs know how to tell time. I feed Bo twice a day, in the morning and 3:00pm in the afternoon. Sometimes I lose track of time but he's always there to let me know it's 3:00pm and it's time for dinner...

Lots of cold/ice/sleet and snow this year.  Bo takes residence in front of my foot heater most of the day....

I like cooler weather but I'm not real impressed with anything that plummets lower than 50 degrees....

Skye's southern snowman

Must you constantly take pictures of me?...............

Bo and Skye sharing a moment 

I know my pictures can't even come close to depicting how beautiful my backyard sunsets are but.....

Airports and Aquariums

Last week we took a drive to San Marcos to the Commemorative Air force Museum. I had come across this place and had planned on taking Lucas there while he was in town for Christmas but we never got around to it.

The day was windy and cool so we didn't hang around outside or in the hangar too long. Skye and I spotted the indoor museum and spent our time warming up in there while half-ass looking at all the history/war memorabilia.

I'm sure this place would have been interesting to someone like my son who works on airplanes or someone who is interested in the history of  the military or war, but I found it a bit boring.

I'm pretty sure we didn't spend more than 30 minutes there...hardly worth the drive but we took some unfamiliar back roads (new scenery) home to spice the trip up a bit.

This week we visited the new Austin Aquarium that just opened a couple of months ago. There has been a lot of controversy over owners of this particular aquarium and it doesn't have very good reviews but I'm always willing to see for myself. I know that my standards aren't as high as most folks when it comes to entertainment.

When we arrived at the aquarium I took note that it was in a strip mall nestled in between a Salvation Army Thrift Store and Half Price Books.

We paid our entrance fee of a whopping $46 for the three of us. The entrance area had an "unprofessional" feel to it.  In it's defense, I'm sure I was mentally comparing it to some of the larger more established aquariums I have been to in the past.

Because they are only recently opened and operating there was still some tanks being worked on and a few were empty.

As we walked from tank to tank I wasn't really all that impressed until we came upon the "touch pool".  The sting rays, sharks and fish were so interactive with the humans coming right up to our hands and letting us touch them.

They also had an aviary full of Lori's. Toby was the only one to brave the aviary....

They also had some other non-aquatic animals....

Would I recommend this place to someone? Maybe. Maybe not, depending on who the person was. I will say that the touch pool and the aviary is what made this place worthy of the entrance fee we paid. Most importantly I think Skye enjoyed it. These days, that says a lot.

A Day of Play

I laced up my running shoes and took my first good morning run in what seems like 2 weeks this morning. Although we are all still hacking I felt I was was well enough - and anxious enough - to get back to my morning routine.

After about a mile I caught a hacking fit and stopped to cough up a lung. I'm pretty sure the little Hispanic lady sitting out on her porch having her morning java was debating on calling the paramedics. Bo wasn't concerned in the least. It enabled him to take an extra long sniff and pee at the light post. I took it a little easier on the loop back home.

Skye has had a case of cabin fever. She has been sick longer than any of us. She already had cedar allergies before she contracted the bug and I think she has been feeling a bit trapped lately.

The day was forecasted to be a sunny 70 degree day. A perfect day to spend outdoors after 2 weeks indoors.  I planned for us to spend the day at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. This is one of the very first attractions we ever visited after moving to Austin. Oddly enough we have been there a few times but never during the peak of wildflower season when everything is in bloom....most likely because entrance fee is free in the month of January. I'm an el-cheapo and always look for the deals. I made a mental note today to visit again in the spring when the flowers are in bloom even if it means I have to fork out an entrance fee.

Our first stop was the new In and Out Burger. In and Out is one of those places that gets a lot of hype and although it was good, I personally didn't think the burgers tasted extraordinary...but then again, I'm not really a big meat lover. The place was packed but we lucked up on a booth right away after we placed our order.

The first thing we did when we got to the Wildflower Center was take a hike down the arboretum trail. I'm assuming this trail must have been a new addition or either I had never noticed it before.

Halfway down the trail there was a section with many different kinds of swings. It felt awesome to be a kid again....

Skye pushing me high!

What I loved most about the day is we all got two things we had been needing: Time outdoors and some fun!

Back From Hell...Almost

I'm hoping how a new year begins is no indication of how the rest of the year will go.

It's only the beginning of January and already all three of us have been shot down with some kind of flu bug. Skye has been sick for most of the new year coughing, sniffling and sneezing and just all around not feeling up to par. I attributed hers to cedar allergies in the beginning.

A few days ago Toby came down with a cough that quickly morphed into fever and body aches that sent him to the bed for a whole day. I spent the whole day playing nurse maid to him only to come down with the same affliction then next day myself. I spent a full day in bed oblivious to the goings on around me and so weak that I was only able to get out of the bed to go to the bathroom.

Luckily, I was only down for one day. I woke up the next day feeling human again. I'd like to attribute it to the fact that I had taken all the natural home remedies suggested to shorten the stay of cold/flu viruses before I got sick.

This was rather an unusual incident in our home. Although Skye has a tendency to catch the occasional cold or virus, Toby and I rarely get sick and certainly haven't been bedridden sick in many years.

As of this moment I write Skye is in the bed with a fever and Abraham Lincoln. She is the only one besides myself that I know hallucinates when feverish.  Even as an adult I still hallucinate when I have a fever.

When it all boils down I believe that there has been way too much work and not enough play going on in our family the last year.

Now that the tattoo shop business is flowing well and we have a good, reliable artist to help out, my goal is to put a little more fun back into our lives.

Christmas Holiday 2013

Five days before Christmas Lucas arrived for his annual Christmas holiday visit. At 5;00am this morning, New Year's day he headed back out on the long drive back home to Alabama.

I wave goodbye as he drives away and as always it's a bittersweet experience. Bitter because I ALWAYS hate to say goodbye when I know the distance and time between us few and far between and sweet because the chaos of a full house of activity has come to a calm.

For seven days we:

Drank Peppermint schnapps while listening to carolers on the front porch.

Played video games..

Watched Christmas movies

Made memories.....

Played UNO.

Listened to music.

Ate....and cooked.....

....and drank....

Enjoyed the great outdoors....

Celebrated Christmas day together....

Family 2013 Christmas photo. Yes, we are a very informal kind of family.....

Toby and I got a night out on the town and a show at Esther's Follies.....

And of course, rock climbing.....

It was a wonderful week full of making memories.