My husband has been part of a Fantasy Football league for nearly 3 decades. I'm not a big football fan, but I liked the sense of togetherness - and competition - that he and his buddies have in their fantasy league. I wanted my own fantasy league, but not football. Hockey! I love hockey. And I love my San Jose Sharks, inconsistent though they are. So, I decided that this was the year to form my own Fantasy Hockey Leaguer, even though I have no real clue what I'm doing. I know enough to make a fool of myself and since I don't care how foolish I look, I jumped in as The Commissioner. And since I am so daring, I invited my family (husband, stepson, daughter) and best friend. None of whom are experts - though my husband has been following hockey longer than I have, and my stepson has more time on his hands than all of us to analyze statistics. SO yeah, I was at a disadvantage from the get-go. We're almost to the All-Star break which I think is about halfway through the season. I'm 17-10 and in 3rd place so far. My stepson is in 1st - no surprise there - and my husband is in second. My daughter is 4th and my best friend is last, but in all fairness they really aren't obsessing over the stats like my stepson is. My daughter has a lot of homework - which I end up helping with while my husband and stepson watch the games - and my best friend has a real job.
The draft was a hoot - the competition between my family members was vicious and my poor best friend was wondering why she signed up for the crazy that is my family. We are a staunch anti-Vegas bunch, so when I drafted a couple of Vegas players (my daughter and best friend took all the Sharks players save for a few), my husband would not speak to me for the better part of a week. And when he did decide he needed something and was forced to speak to me, he referred to me as "Traitor". So rude. But, this is fantasy hockey after all, and it's more tame that what we hear (and yell) and the games. I ended up trading my Vegas players (and my stepson drafted them and now proudly wears the Traitor title), but I still claimed two of the players my husband wanted, and he's still not over it. Which just makes this Fantasy Hockey League so much fun!
It's my most favorite month of the year! Hockey season and Halloween! Which means that my Halloween decorations which have been up since 2019 (pre-pandemic) are finally TIMELY! My obsession with Halloween decorations and planning for the annual party for the neighborhood had gotten to the point that I was out of room in the basement to store anything. So, that which didn't fit in the basement stayed out. Gremlins on the front porch, tombstones in the side yard, talking skull on the patio table. With the paint peeling on my house and a couple of broken windows, my house looks like it’s ready to fall down anyway, so nobody even takes second look at my year-round Halloween "decor". They probably think the place is haunted. I'm not doing the big annual party again this year - thanks to the Delta variant rearing it's ugly head and wanting to just play it safe - but I am having the kids from my daughter's class over for a Halloween movie and some Halloween-inspired cupcakes. So that means that we're decorating like mad again. Ah, my happy time of year! :-)
And hockey! It's still pre-season, but I wanted to kick it up a notch this year so I started a fantasy hockey league with my family. This may not be a good thing. My husband, daughter, stepson and sister-from-another-mother and me. It started to be something fun, but in a nanosecond it went competitive. We still laughed a LOT and had a great time, but The Husband is upset that I've infringed on his Fantasy Football domain. I guess it was my comment about our draft not taking ALL DAY, like his football drafts do. But I don't have anything to do with the football stuff and I honestly don't care. Then I drafted a couple players he absolutely hates and I heard about it every single morning before he had his coffee. Which he now gets on his own. I told you it got competitive quickly. It's going to be a very long season indeed!
Happy New Year everyone! It’s been an odd sort of start to this new year, given that a lot of us are still sheltered-in-place and our holiday “celebrations” looked really different than normal. But, it’s still a new year and there is a lot to look forward to! This pandemic will end at some point, and I’m hopeful that we’ll be a healthier society because of what we learned during it. Post-pandemic, I’m planning on wearing a mask when I go shopping, and especially during flu and allergy season. Now that I have all sorts of fun and outfit-coordinating face masks, I may as well get the maximum use out of them! Plus, with my DIY face mask spray to keep the masks smelling good and adding a boost of immunity, it seems like a win-win.
Speaking of an odd start to this year, we’re still undergoing our kitchen/family room remodel which started in October. I thought we’d be done by now, but no. We are in the wind-down phase - I think. As I’m typing I’m looking at my stove, which is still inoperable for a variety of reasons, but the remodel will have to be it’s own series of posts, because it’s been a comedy of errors from the get-go!
I’m also starting the year with only one dog and one cat. We lost our 17-year old Havanese, Rumba, in September last year (and he was preceded by his nephew, Fuego, in 2018 of heart disease). Between monitoring the aging Rumba and the medical needs of Fuego, the past four years have been a blur of busy mixed with a blur of tears. They saying “A home is not a home without a Havanese” is so true. With the construction quieted down, it feels pretty empty, even with a 10-year old Zooming all day, a 26-year old tech “kid” doing 3D printing, coding and techie computer stuff, and a husband negotiating loans and leases over 14 hours a day. You’d think the German Shepherd (Fritzi) and the Maine Coon (Shamu) would fill the house, just given their size, and they do in their own way, but it’s very different without Rumba and Fuego. They may have been small in size but they were larger than life in personality. I will say that the near-constant vacuuming and the running in circles of Fritzi and Shamu chasing each other - and yes the cat chases the dog - does not leave much time for grieving! So I suppose that’s the silver lining there.
Stay tuned for more on the remodel that never seems to end, and antics from the animals, as well as updates on all things jewelry and essential oils. I hope you all stay healthy, safe and sane!
XO,
Missy
Happy Gobble Gobble everyone! I hope everyone is having, or has had, a wonderful day today. Even if we can’t be with the people we would normally share this day with, it’s still a good time to reflect and remind ourselves of what we are grateful for. I was fortunate to spend a little time with my parents for lunch today, and my mom, as usual, had us all laughing at the strangest things. Being sheltered in place does odd things to people! My daughter ran around like a chicken with her head cut off and my mom kept shouting Happy Halloween! The laughter was good, because this morning I was reflecting on the memories of people and animals that I lost this year, and bringing myself down to a very teary place. But I believe that the people I did lose this year would want me to be happy. I believe my darling Havanese dogs would want me to remember them and be happy for the time with them, not be a sobbing mess. So I was grateful for my mom’s craziness and my daughter’s near lunacy. Sometimes it’s just the little things that make me realize that despite all the not so good things happening in the world, many more good things are happening if I just take the time to look for them.
Wherever you are and whoever you are with, please remember that you matter and that you are loved.
:-)
XOXO,
Missy
#grateful
#thanksgiving
#family
It was 2015. I started out wanting a decent camera to take pictures of my family - toddler, high schooler, hubby, and the animals (dogs, cats and chickens). And, because I'm relatively frugal when it comes to dropping big dollars, I headed to COSTCO. Their website, actually. I searched and read reviews. I searched again, and again, and again. Until there was a sale. More specifically, one day left of a sale. That $200 off did the trick. I bought a Canon EOS 70D with the lens kit. From COSTCO. Thus began my weird passion. Or obsession. Depending on your perspective.
After some candid family photos, the moon became fascinating to me. Full moons, half moons, crescent moons, blood moons, etc. Then, when exhaustion hit from night viewing rather than sleeping, I became intrigued by vultures soaring above my yard, or along the coast. They seem so peaceful (in an odd way) and graceful. When they all started to blend and blur my vision - and when friends stopped returning my calls, sick of hearing about the latest vulture I saw - I turned to hawks. That gave me plenty of subject to obsess over...five were regularly soaring in the skies over my house. One came so close that I could almost touch the barred feathering of the underbelly as it soared a few feet above my SUV. Which was parked in my driveway. With me sitting in it. I learned then to always carry my camera with me. Because THAT would have been a great photo. On one trip back from LA visiting the hubby's family, a bald eagle flew across Highway 101. No joke. Hubby almost crashed the car in his excitement. Of course I didn't believe him. So I scheduled a visit back to a campsite near the supposed bald eagle sighting to see if I could capture one with my camera. And I did. Although with my introductory lens kit (an 18-55MM and a 55-250mm), there wasn't a whole lot of detail. You could kind of see the white head though. Weeks later, in Bodega Bay, the sea lions playing in the oceans were ripe for photos, and I captured some potentially really good shots. But again, the detail wasn't there. If only I had a better telephoto lens, I thought.
And thus, the obsession began.