Family photo

I got around to printing and hanging a family photo from E's wedding.

Trying to sketch

We recently had a group of "sketchers" visit the museum. They spread out throughthe museum and drew whatever aught their eye. I introduced myself to the group leader and asked if it was all right to take photos to post later. She agreed and suggested I join them. I declined, imagining the boss might not love the idea of me sitting aroind drawing for an hour and a half. Later, when I told my coworker R about the encounter and mentioned that I used to draw, she said I should have joined in. I pointed out that I haven’t drawn anything in years (maybe decades) but she insisted it’s the kind of skill that never really disappears. I’m not so sure. Still, I recently bought a sketchbook to find out.

This is a picture I took of the group's sketches.

Here's my first sketch - my view of the TV, shelves and stairway from the recliner I was sitting in. It will take some practice to reach their level.

Caught in the act

Piper got caught chewing the strings on my winter coat. These two cats are chewers and not much is safe from them.

My good deed

I cleaned out our linen closet the other day and decided to get rid of two bags full of bath towels. Two people do not need a closet full of towels. We still have plenty and these bags got dropped off at the local animal shelter where they'll have a useful, but messy, existence.

Bad start to dinner

Dammit. Once I cleaned up the glass, the cats enjoyed the spilt sour cream.

Cookbook puzzle

Yes, Ruby likes to sleep in puzzle boxes.

I was almost done with the puzzle when Piper decided she likes the box too.

This was a fun one that I picked up from a neighbor on Christmas Eve. It had all of its pieces!

Let’s exercise

My Christmas present feom Andy has been set up in the basement and is ready to go. L bought a walking pad last year (2025) and likes it so I figured if I had one maybe I could get into more of a habit of walking. It's not easy to go outside when it's raining or dark, too hot, too cold, etc. I don't even need to put shoes on (probably should though) and Andy got the downstairs TV all ready for me. Let's do this.

Some sale success

I haven't had much luck at the after-Christmas sales this year - I bought two rolls of wrapping paper, lip balm and some food-storage containers. I stopped in at Hobby Lobby on a whim and they had Christmas marked down to 90 percent off. Many of the items were broken or missing pieces, but I did get 10 of these popcorn garland strands for 90 cents each, marked down from $8.99. They're short, only six feet each, so better to get too many than not enough. These poinsettias were on sale too, marked down to $1.20 from $12.99. I'd never pay $13 for fake flowers but for just over $1 they had to come home with me.

Honeymoon gift

E and D gave me these coffee chocolate macadamia nuts on Christmas (they might have out them in my stocking?) but I was so busy I didn't get a good chance to look at them until days later when I was straightening up and noticed that they're from Hawaii. They picked them out for me (and Andy, I suppose) when they were on their honeymoon. Aw! They leave today to fly back home.

I also took a closer look at this horse from D's parents. It has Ecuador-25 written on it. What a cool remembrance of their wedding year. And, so far, it's been on our mantel and safe from the cats.

New Year’s Eve

As we did to ring in 2025, we did the same to ring in 2026. It was dinner with the golf buddies and the golf widows. We were expecting a group of 14 but three couples had at least one person who was sick. There's something going around. We went to Maya Del Sol for dinner.

They had a prix fixe menu for ala carte or $82 a person so, as a couple, we got two appetizers, two drinks, two entrees and one dessert. I usually don't have an appetizer or dessert when we go out but we splurged. It's only New Year's Eve once a year, right? For the appetizer, we shared the tamales and nachos. No, we didn't finish the nachos.

We could have stopped eating after the appetizer, but the filet and mashed potatoes were amazing, especially the sangria reduction.

We certainly could have done without dessert but we had a few bites of this cookie with ice cream.

For the "after party" we went to our friends C and M's house to ring in the New Year. It was nice having the smaller group because we could all participate in the same conversation, and as the hostess said, there was seating for everyone!

Cheers to 2026. We not only stayed up for the celebration in New York, but Chicago too and talked until 1:15 a.m. We haven't stayed up that late in a long time lol.

Group selfie taken shortly after midnight.