Deep Freeze

Well, winter has arrived with a vengence! We'll get to that, but first: my week of the blahs. 

It started on Monday and the arrival of my monthly friend. Now, I read something that the womanly monthlies is actually your body protecting itself and as such we should approach with gratitude. I tried that this time, with underwhelming results. I also realized all my midol and ibuprofen were at home, so instead of going to the gym and yoga, I went home and yoga. Apparently I pulled a tendon in my right ankle last week, because I felt it during my first downward facing dog and spent the rest of class trying to baby that ankle. Not easy to do. Tuesday i stopped at the store and brought home tamales, so again no gym. Yoga was more of the same, but with a faster class, so again, ouchie. Wednesday I'd had enough. I went to the gym, did 2.17 miles on the treadmill and came home. The thing is, I don't feel the tendon unless I move a certain way. So Thursday I did sign up for a yoga class, but a nap (or yin) class. I also did end up doing 3.15 miles on the treadmill. No down dogs, just get into a pose and hold for like 2-5 mins. All. Class. Next week I'm thinking more of the same. Weights and cardio at the gym all week, deep stretchy stretchy ya ya classes on wed and thurs. Fri is always recovery day. 

Why the blahs? Dunno. Things are pretty good, really. Work is work, home is cozy, hubbs is lovely, cat is fickle... no reason to be all blah and yet, the blah is here. I want another vacation. Somewhere tropical. Somewhere that the only decision I need to make is where to read/nap, and which restaurant to eat at. It can happen. I should have my car paid off in about a month, then I can save for a trip (and a tattoo). I do know the reason for the blahs... the anniversary is coming up. One year ago we lost my brother in law. Cancer sucks. Very bad.

Then the cold arrived. Friday was rain. All. Day.

Then the rain turned to ice...

... and snow...

Cold day with a high of 24 and a low of 13. Thankfully we kept power, so we started the day watching the great British baking show.

Hubbs, the cat, and I all were goblins!! 

Coffee, sharkie, and kitty!

Sleet most of the day.

Ice ice baby! An overly loud mustang downstairs roared to life a couple times and... didn't move. Lol... and our overly cautious 'plug it in' guy... didn't. It finally got cold enough that plugging in would make a modicum of sense and... nada. That guy REALLY annoys me. As a northern grown person, there are times when you must plug in your vehicle. In Texas, those times DONT GENERALLY EXIST!! I swear that dude brought the cold amongst us and then... disappeared. Jerk. Face. Overly dramatic jerk face. 

Ace is a whole mood. 

he was choosing to snuggle or not...

Snuggle. For a bit. 

I say wine goes with ice day. I also put Baileys in my coffee protein shake cuz fitness. 😁🙃

The shelter has one cat left... a black lady kitty... showed hubbs... he didn't appreciate that. I think Ace needs a buddy and I need a snugglebutt for ME!!! 

He refuses to actually snuggle with me, tho he will snuggle NEAR me as long as hubbs is here, too. 

apparently some areas have thundersleet.

Still cold AF.

It's Sunday and the sun has come our! There isn't much expectation that the ice will melt, as it's not supposed to get above freezing until Tuesday. So texas remains effectively closed for the time being and I shall work from home tomorrow. I have told hubbs if he thinks he's going to work today he has another think coming. I really hope the shop is closed. Ace seems to think this is the best ever since he's getting all the cuddles, loves, and treats he so richly deserves.

I mean, that FACE. 

Anyway, I hope all of you are staying warm and enjoying being goblins as much as I am. I was happy to see door dash suspended services here (no one but emergency personnel need to be out in this crap... well, and inexperienced drivers who need practice on ice in abandoned parking lots). If you do go out remember to go SLOW and don't be like the truck that hit the sign on i-35. It's a great video of what NOT to do (I don't care if you have 4wheel drive). I hope all of you also have power and water, and maybe even some snacks still 😉

MUAH! 😘 Much love, all!! 

Road trip!!

Well, due to a work trip, that is. A group of us went down to a hospital near San Antonio to see how they made THEIR EHR work right since we have the same system and have been having... issues. It's beyond infuriating when I tell someone "hey, your system isn't working right" and then they offer about 3 different solutions that boil down to "you're doing it wrong" until FINALLY they get someone else who looks at it and goes "yeah, the system wasn't working right, we did x and now it should work" and it... does! Yep, I'm gonna be SUPER SALTY about the VTE nightmare for... at least all of 2026, maybe for the rest of the decade... I could plan a restart in 2030. A 4 year salty phase should help keep me aging well, right? Salt is a preserver 😆 Lots wife got NOTHING on me! 🤣 

Since it was near San Antonio, I took the opportunity for a bestie dinner! 

We went to the yard at 1829. 

Made friends with the bartenders, who gave us a shot of purple geko (it was marg-ish).

Food was great! Then checked into the hotel to see my room.

SUPER cute. And then we had drinks at the bar after making friends with the resident cats.

So cute.

Drinks menu

Obligatory selfie #2. My work crew started filtering in as well, so bestie got to meet some of the work people she hears about! The trip was good, but I was happy to come home to my own kitty cat. 

He did NOT enjoy this 😆

The biblical reference is partially due to my Lent book coming in. I got it from ascension press. It's called "crux: a lenten journey of surrender." From what I can tell, it's guided journaling and since I'm doing great making time for working out, I think I should also make time for checking in (spiritually). Too often that gets pushed aside for other pursuits. And yes, confession and weekly mass are gonna be part of it. Might even get a head start.... been a bit of a heathen lately.

Hubbs and I decided that we needed to go back to the Warhammer store in grapevine so he could get a book he saw last week. I figured if we were gonna do THAT we could also enjoy 50% off the whole menu at a Mexican place on the lake. Then HE figured if we're gonna do THAT we should make it an over night stay. Which is exactly what we did! 😁

Big daddys cantina on the lake

Drinks in an igloo!! We got to keep the clay cups!!

Messina hof for wine and Whipped brie.

Harvest hall for fun and a night cap.

wandering downtown on day 2

3d sidewalk art

Visitors center. We debated staying longer, but decided we were ready for home. So we swung by papa murphys for pizza, then came home and baked it 😁

yummy 

Home with the kitty cat.

After a crazy week, it was nice to relax at home with the hubby and the kitty. Today being Sunday, I'm going to make slow cooker Buffalo chicken chili which I'm quite intrigued about. I hope it's good. Then next week is going to be leftover week so we can clean out some of the freezer for SPACE. A and I are going to meet up for lunch, so that will be nice, and hubbs must go to work. Bleh. I hope all of you are staying warm enjoying some good things, and being kind to yourselves. Much love! MUAH! 💋❤️

Cozy cat.

Back to the Grind

This is an accurate representation of my Monday. My attitude adjustment lasted until about 1 when something happened that almost made me sprain my eyes from rolling them too hard. Sigh. I love my job but some people just GET to me. Sigh.

Anyway it's back to the groove. Work, gym, yoga, home, sleep, repeat. Poor hubbs got SICK sick on Sunday, went to work on Monday, and called out on tue. I'm wondering if he got the flu. So far I'm ok (got the shot). I am sore, but that's probably due to the gym, not sickness. Then a belt on the van broke on Wednesday, so he ended up stranded off of i-30 for hours until a tow truck finally came and got him. So after yoga we ran to the auto parts store. Sigh. If it isn't one thing....

Some of the clothes I ordered have come in. I ordered large in pants and med in shirts and... they fit. The shirts are a little weird for me, but probably just because they are long sleeved. I did have to laugh when I modeled the pants for my hubby. Turned around and got an "oh wow." Hehe, I do have a nice backside 😁🤷🏼‍♀️ all the clothes will be washed this weekend (I always wash before wear) and then I can start rocking them! Minimal black, btw. 😉

Fun shirt for yoga, no, these are not the pants. 

On Friday we had to go to hulen mall to pick up my order from Torrid. I'm convinced that Torrid doesn't understand the concept of 'clearance.' Still WAY too expensive for me. Then we walked around the mall and ended up getting some fun stuffs. Lol. Probably a good thing we don't go to malls often. Attic salt is a fun store and EVERYTHING was 50% off. We also had dinner at BJs brewhouse and got drinks from sip (one of those places where you add flavors to sodas or sparkling water. Very yummy).

Saturday we made the LONG journey to the other side of the metroplex to our friends house for their sons 3rd bday party. It was really nice seeing everyone. On our way home we stopped in grapevine to peruse the Warhammer store, then stopped for wine and appetizer at Messina Hof before going to dinner at Napolis. It was a good day.

Whipped brie.

Ricotta dip with tomatoes and balsamic

Eggplant Parmigiano with spaghetti for me, lasagne for hubbs and Italian sangria for us both.

We even had a cannoli!! Then we came home and relaxed with the kitty.

Which brings us to today! We have to go get groceries for the week (I'm gonna make sweet potato hummus with Tuscan bean salad for lunches), then hubby has to go to work. I'm planning on taking the ornaments off the tree and putting it back in the box. Then hubby gets to make the box disappear until next year. LOL. And I'm gonna clean the floors. Sigh. I've got a work trip this week, so thats gonna be fun. I get to see how another hospital does their quality stuffs. 😁 

I hope you are all having a good start to your year. I feel I've set my precedent for a healthy 2026, and we have some pretty exciting things planned for the year. Stay tuned for more Short-Vega shenanigans!! 🥰

Looking Ahead

Since I didn't know what to do with myself during my stay-cation, I did something I haven't done since high school... I stayed up LATE reading a book! Lol. Got the first 3 drangonlance novels at half price books and have been reliving the adventure! (It's been so long, it's like a whole new story.)

Personally, Ive been struggling with accepting things as they are, not how I'd like them to be/how i thought they were. Maybe it was too much reading as a kid, or imagining the world to be other than it is, but I really, really have a hard time accepting how shit things can be sometimes. I want to fight against the suck, but sometimes there's nothing specific (or too much) to fight. It's a hard thing to accept. Sigh. So what I'm going to work on in 2026 is accepting how things are as opposed to focusing on how I'd like them to be. 

Alternatively, I can take life like a cat. Eat, sleep, ZOOMIES, and sleep again. 😁 look at those toe beans!!! 

I made another weight tracker for the new year, here's what the old one looked like

Took until May for anything to move, and of course there was a lot of back and forth depending on all those mysterious factors that affect women. Here's to another 33-45 lbs to go!! I've got this. Right? Right. If I could get there in Korea, I can get there in the US. I will be experimenting with more high protein, high fiber foods in the new year. Wish me luck... I'm gonna try LENTILS! You know the weird thing tho? Every time I go to put on my jeans I think there's no way they will fit... then they do. Is this body dysmorphia? I don't see any change from the beginning of the year, tho I know there has been. The jeans are even a little loose, which totally freaks me out. Eventually ill need to go shopping for clothes and isnt THAT going to be fun. Sigh. Womens sizes are all made up anyway, i dont know why im freaked out at the prospect of shopping for clothes... in a STORE, not online. I love bloomchic but frankly they assume my top must be big if my bottom is and frankly.. no. Big shoulders, small boobs, decent waist, big butt/hips. Yep, gotta try things on to make sure they fit right. No more online shopping. (Other than what I already ordered. Dont judge me! I need to see if these companies are as good as they say. No ordering clothes from Amazon, tho. That i can get behind.) Nothing is real... its all so strange. Strawberry fields forever. 🤪❤️

The cold snap was fun. I sent both seesters their respective Christmas boxes (again, don't judge me), got my oil changed and got gas. Then A and I met up for happy hour which was amazing as always. We met up at Rio mambo in weatherford. It was great. $6 margs and half off appetizers, good convo, honestly some of the best therapy EVER. We need our no-judgement happy hours. Makes life better. The cold wasn't awful, and with my time off I reorganized the closet to bring the sweaters to the front and the sundresses to the back. This being TX, I'll probably just be able to switch back and forth between em. My year of not buying clothes and Getting rid of what I don't wear went well. I have a trash bag full of clothes to donate and PLENTY of new earrings and bracelets cuz apparently I just replace one obsessive shopping category with another. Sigh. I'm trying to fight against American capitalism, but MAN it's tough. 

Bestie came up for some quality time this past weekend. In keeping with my "being gentle" theme, we decided to spend the day with some relaxing soaks at World Springs. We also went to our favorite mexican place for margs. It was exactly what the doctor ordered. Getting to spend time with 2 of my favorite Texans is a blessing and when it happens twice in a week, well, that's nearly unprecedented!!

First drinks of many! 

Beautiful day

Winter margarita 😊

The sun went down. We did a floating sound bath, then went to Anamias for some dinner. Then home to hubbs and kitty cat. 😆

On Saturday we went to the one and only January farmers market! We had a lot of fun, then went to Twisted Sisters for lunch.

The deviant sister and the spicy sister.

I'm proud of us, we've been thru the ringer together. 😁 so happy this lady is in my life and up for adventures. We really need to live CLOSER!!! Tho if we did, we'd probably get in trouble together. 

We had a lazy rest of the day with naps, movies, leftovers, and snuggling the kitty. Sunday bestie headed home. I'm gonna get groceries and... sigh... get ready to return to work on Monday. 😥 it was so nice to not have to worry about it for a week. Sigh. Here's to starting 2026 with 100,000 miles on the car. 🥳🎉🥳