Life Lately – January 2022

Hello, friends, and Happy New Year (10 days late)! I hope everyone had a restful and joyful December, Christmas, and holiday season.

1. I took an unintentional blog break in December because things were pretty hectic. Since I finished up my second semester with a class weekend in December, we combined our Christmas traveling with class. It was nice to visit family, and we were able to see my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. They’ve had two more kids since we last saw them in 2018. We had a double-date night at a Capitals game, ate lots of food we don’t have in El Paso, and caught up. We also spent a few days with my family in Pennsylvania. My niece is a hoot, so it’s great to see her. We came back to Texas, spent Christmas in our home for the first time in our entire relationship, and had a low-key New Years’ Eve because Mac was on duty and had to work.
2. I’m enjoying a short break between semester before the spring starts. Sadly, winter break doesn’t seem to last as long when you work full time. I had all sorts of things I wanted to do (read all of the books, clean all of things), but I’m not doing any of that. Just some rest and relaxation (and wondering why I feel like I have so much free time) until class starts back up again.
3. In very exciting news, Purrburger is on the road to recovery. I mentioned back in November that she hadn’t been doing well. After a lot of vet visits, testing, ultrasounds, and blood work, she was diagnosed with hepatic lipidosis. Essentially, she stopped eating, so her liver stopped working correctly. She spent a weekend in the hospital where they placed a feeding tube in her neck. We fed her through a tube for about 7 weeks until she decided to remove it herself last week. So we took her back to the vet and (surprisingly and gratefully) received a very positive check-up. We’re keeping an eye on her, but she’s doing much better.
4. And a new year means a new home! We’re moving this year (yes, again), and we’re waiting for orders. This will be our 8th move in the 12 years we’ve lived together. It’ll also be our second move in the pandemic world, so I’m curious to see how things compare to our 2020 move. I’m going to get started on our moving to-do list and then start crossing things off shortly.
5. Finally, on to our new flavors! I tried more than these, but these were the only photos I had. First up are the Snowball M&MS. These are white chocolate pretzel, and you’d like them if you are a fan of white chocolate. I liked the contrast of the salty pretzel with the white chocolate. Next are the gingerbread Oreos. The gingerbread cookie was nice and light, and they had a solid cream cheese-ish filling. A good winter Oreo selection. I also found gingerbread Kit Kats. These were white chocolate coating with a spicy gingerbread-type flavor. Overall, not bad if you like that sort of spiced white chocolate (I prefer not white chocolate Kit Kats). And, last but certainly not least, CHOCOLATE DR. PEPPER. Dr. Pepper’s newest flavor was only available to Dr. Pepper Rewards members. I thought the soda straight out of the can was a bit sweet, but it made amazing ice cream floats.

What are your big plans for this year?