My January 2014

January 31, 2014

It has been a rather eventful month and I'm afraid that if I wait till the end of the year to write about it, I'll forget half of what happened.

So, starting from New Year's Day. Vladi and I cleaned up after our fun New Year's Eve Party. For the party we had Ralph and Janeen, Ron and Mary Jo, and Richard and Cher over. I served a bunch of hors d'oevres and snacks (which was really easy and well received). We played a game that Tracy C had given me for Christmas, called Logo Party. We had played Logo before but this was more suited to a big group and we had a lot of fun. We played teams, boys against girls, as usual, and I think the boys won. The game had some similarity to Cranium in that it had cards you had to act out, cards you had to draw something and cards that you just gave verbal clues. There was also an all play category where a card was slowly revealed and whoever guessed it first, won the round. Everything had to do with advertising slogans, old and new.

Our TV service provider offers a bunch of music stations so you can pick whatever type of music you want to play and I put on "party favorites." With this group, especially Ron, there are always comments about the songs. We watched the ball in Times Square drop when the time came and Olya called us with the tremendous news that we will be grandparents this year. (I don't know if she really said it that way but that was the way that Vladi announced it to me.) Actually, he came in the kitchen as everyone was getting ready to leave and came up to me and said "Congratulations! You're going to be a grandma!" In the first moment the assembled group all thought that Christy or Ben was going to be a parent. But then they all realized that it probably wouldn't be Vladi telling me the news it that were the case. So of course, there were congratulations all around and I could tell Vladi was just SO excited. We have discussed it since and plan on making a trip to see the baby soon after it's born. (Not TOO soon, but soon).

Anyway, so New Year's Day was pretty laid back. We cleaned up and put things away. We aren't really into the rose parade or football so we didn't watch any of that. I had to get to bed early because I had to go in at 1 a.m. the next morning for ad night at work. Christy left for her trip to Redding. This was the second trip she made there for a seminar about relationships. She got a lot out of the first one and decided to go again. She really felt comfortable in Redding and is considering moving there later in the year.

The next day Ben flew home for a visit from Portland. He was with us for 3 full days and 2 partial days. During his stay, he met Zuli for the first time, we played lots of "Settlers of Catan", (which I never won once, although in our last game I was only one turn away when Ben snatched the victory away from me). We saw the movie "Hunger Games:Catching Fire" which we all enjoyed very much. Ben and I went on a hike together, which gave us a chance to catch up with each other's lives, he saw several of his old friends, and he spent a little time with Christy when she got back the day he was heading back home. That was when she took this picture

It cracks me up every time I look at it.

On our drive home from taking Ben to the airport, Christy told us about her trip to Redding. She enjoyed it very much and feels like she wants to make Redding her home. It makes me a little sad to think of her being so far away, but I want very much for her to find her place in the world and if this helps her in that process, I don't want to hold her back.

That week, I went to the first of my appointments in preparation for having foot surgery.

It was Sammy's 19th birthday on the 7th so we made plans to take him to the Cheesecake Factory (at his request) on Saturday 1/11. Of course, that was also the anniversary of Caleb's passing away. On facebook that day, there were many tributes to Caleb and Jessica happened to mention that she was going to go to the Cheesecake Factory to have a slice of cheesecake in honor of Caleb. She said "Wouldn't it be great if everyone who knew Caleb and has a Cheesecake Factory near them went to the there tonight to celebrate Caleb. That boy loved him some cheesecake. He would think that was pretty cool." I was so excited that Sammy had actually requested that. The thing is, we have been taking him to BJs the last few times we've gone out, so it really was his idea and I just thought it was so cool that it coincided with Jessica's suggestion. So Vladi, Christy, Sammy and I went there and had a wonderful meal and celebrated Sammy's birthday and toasted Caleb.

 The following week was pretty quiet. We celebrated my birthday on 1/18 (because it was a Saturday.)

I've gotta say, it was an awesome birthday. Two weeks before it, Vladi and Christy asked if I wanted to do a party. They kind of caught me off guard and I said let me think about it. I knew I didn't want to have to cook so I started thinking about ordering something. As it got closer I started having 2nd thoughts because if you host a party there is always some kind of work involved, even if you do order the food. At one point I was thinking "I need to say something about not wanting to do this kind of thing on my birthday ever again." But I kept my mouth shut and I'm glad I did. I settled on ordering my favorite Mexican food from the Latino Market (carne asada, rice and beans) and I got all the stuff to go with it from my store. We set up the table in the living room, just like we did for the New Year's Eve party and the house was still pretty clean from that. All the same friends from New Year came over (except Richard and Cher because they were sick.)

We played some games, had a lot of laughs and I got some great gifts!

I was blown away when I opened my daughter's gift. She bought me 2 tickets to see my hero, Cesar Millan, at the Civic Arts Plaza in April. I am so excited! She had been asking me recently to give her an idea of what I wanted, even if she couldn't afford it, she just wanted to know. I had mentioned that I would love to attend one of Cesar's training camps since his "Dog Psychology Center" is not too far away. I had no idea that he was doing a tour of seminars and that he's coming here, to TO. I can't wait!

Then Vladi gave me a gift certificate for an hour and a half massage and an hour facial. Awesome!

I also got gift cards to Olive Garden and Home Goods.

Lisa had been making something for me for Christmas but when she didn't finish it in time, she said it would be my birthday gift. She still wasn't finished for my birthday but she finally brought it over on Super Bowl Sunday(Feb. 2). It's a very cool dog house for Zuli. (I love the personalization.)

So I would say that this year I got the best birthday gifts I can remember. Love them!!!!

The  Friday after we celebrated I had surgery on my foot. I didn't want to make a big deal about it, so I didn't tell anyone (except work and Vladi of course) but my daughter got very upset with me for not telling her and I promised I wouldn't do anything like that again. I can see her point, and it made me feel pretty good that she cared so much.

So I got the joint replaced in the big toe of my right foot. I'd been having trouble with it to the point where I wasn't able to do my brisk walk for exercise anymore because it hurt too much. It was very arthritic and I'm hoping that the replacement will heal well and I'll be able to get back to my exercising again. I want to walk with my Zuli.

Vladi did a great job of taking care of me (as always) and it's been so pleasant to have this time at home together that it's going to be really hard to go back to work when the time comes. I so wish we could just retire now! It's nice to be able to stay up late and sleep in and putter around the house. And watch all the shows I've recorded. The first two days I was laid up I watched a Dog Whisperer marathon and an Ellen marathon and I got caught up on Parenthood by streaming all the shows from the current season. I never do that! And it was fun.

So that was my January.