I watched a super-helpful webinar about financial aid for college. It's a whole different ballgame figuring this out as a parent instead of as a student. And a considerably more stressful ballgame, I might add!
It's pretty intimidating to figure out college for your kid as a divorcing parent who hasn't worked full-time in 18 years and whose spouse once made good money but who got laid off and is currently unemployed. I never thought that would be our situation when John was getting ready to go to college. But I have confidence that things will work out. John was accepted to his first-choice school, Southern Virginia University, a week ago! 🙌 It's an LDS school where he can do NCAA wrestling and where he'll be supported in his desire to serve a mission after his freshman year. It seems like the perfect place for him, and I hope things will work out for him to be able to go there.
I was tempted to get this pretty owl I saw at The Paper Store, but I didn't.
It would make a good sleeping owl, and my current sleeping owl is getting kind of old, but it's still so cozy. Yes, it's true, I sleep with an owl and I have for years. 😁 I use it as a prop for my arm because I'm a side sleeper, and it's more comfortable to have my arm resting on something or wrapped around something when I lay on my side. If it can't be a husband the next best thing is an owl!
I'm a Megyn Kelly fan, and when it's on I listen to her show on Sirius when I'm in the car.
This was the lovely scene of a very delicious dinner for one of my best friends (Meredith) for her 40th birthday. It was cooked entirely by her loving and devoted husband Neil. I think there were five courses! It was a really nice evening of delicious food and great friends.
This is John's first pair of wrestling shoes that he wore in 8th and 9th grades. We didn't know at the time how important wrestling would become in his life!
I made two loaves of iced pumpkin bread that I didn't have the right size pans for so I had to get clever with the cooking times. Luckily I prevailed and other than the mushy middles that I had to throw out, they weren't a failure. They actually turned out much better than I expected!
The missionaries have been coming over to meet with us about once a month for awhile. It's really good for the boys, and it's good for me too. This was our last time meeting with Elder Bontempo, in the gray sweater, before his transfer. He was awesome and we miss him! All of the missionaries are great and I very much admire them for the hard but very important work that they do.
When I go to the temple it's almost always during the day, but I went with some friends from my ward for an evening session and it was really nice. Being there at night makes the temple stand out like the beacon of light that it is even more.
'Tis the season for tons of catalogs!
I want to see the BBC version of the funny show Ghosts. The American version is pretty good, but it has some stuff in it that I don't like. I've heard the BBC version isn't like that, and I want to see it!
I was clothes shopping for the boys and texted this picture to John to see if he wanted this hoodie or not (he did).
I still can't figure out if this is supposed to be an owl or a fox stocking. My instincts say owl but I'm not sure!
This is correct. I think it's so cool that DNA can (kind of) predict things like this!
I saw this at Trader Joe's and for some reason it still cracks me up: "Gingerbread cookie folk" 😂
This is a good idea for a healthy snack 😋
I spent a night at the Cape house to check in on it and get it ready for an upcoming weekend with friends (which will probably be one of my first posts of 2023!).
I'm thankful for the "random" things that bring happiness to my life. I'm thankful that 2022 was a better year in just about every way than 2021 was. I'm thankful to be alive, healthy, and happy. I'm thankful for all of the good people, things, and blessings in my life. Despite the continuing challenges of life, I have so much to be thankful for. I'm looking forward to 2023--in many different ways, I have a feeling that it's going to be a big year!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
