Max Boosted!

 It's been a hard week around here. We had to say goodbye to our cat, Maybel. She hadn't been doing well, and we're all at peace that she's no longer struggling. Maybel wasn't the sweetest or friendliest cat. She knew what she wanted- and what she didn't. And she was not afraid to let anyone know. She basically was ruled the roost around here. All the animals were bigger than her, but they all feared her, and knew to get out of her way. Still, Maybel had her moments. She'd occasionally cuddle with the boys, and you couldn't resist her little face. 

So long, Maybes. We'll miss you. 

On the covid front, things are getting worse, not better, here. And, I'm kind of over it. We're just trying to wait this wave out before we venture out into public again. When we do go out, we've upgraded to better masks.  Calib obviously has work and school, so the rest of us are keeping our pile as small as possible. Hopefully it won't be long before we're back at Disney again. 

But for now, we're not even on our 'Riding the Wave' chart. In fact, we're WAY off the chart. 

Every wave dwarfs the last, but this one is just bananas. Every day a little more than 1,200 Pasco County Residents test positive. Yikes. 

The good news is Hayden is finally eligible for his booster! If the CDC hadn't approved it for 12-15 last week, he would have only had to wait a few more weeks, since he's almost 16 (believe it or not! It is weird when your youngest is turning 16, guys). It took a few days to be able to get an appointment. But, he made it to Publix, and got himself Pfizer boosted! So, now all Waterstrauts are back up to being fully vaccinated (and boosted!) 

In order to stay busy and not get too bored, I've been working with my Cricut a lot. I made a bunch of coasters, since it used little vinyl and I had tiles in the garage. It helped me see how my designs from Gravit worked in the "real world" and to see which ones I might want to turn into a tshirt (answer: all of them). 

And I played around with some other things, too. I added the logo to our tray in our room that houses Lumiere, Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts. 

And, I made sure nobody will steal my phone charger and get away with it. 

I've also made the medals for the Olympic games! Peyton did have to cancel his flight to the UK (AGAIN), so he will be home for the Winter Games, at least that's sort of a bright spot. 

And I also made a Hamilton shirt! 

This one was for me to wear for our Black History series we're doing this year. We're going to learn about 100 Black People who changed the course of history!

So far, we celebrated a Man Named Jemmy, who led the largest slave rebellion in Colonial America. 

And, Phillis Wheately, the first African-American woman published poet. She wrote "On Being Brought from Africa to America", among others. 

And tomorrow we're moving on to James Armistead Lafayette! He was an enslaved man, who worked as a very important spy for the Colonists, under Marquis de Lafayette. 

Of course, we're on to Playoff Football. We've decided to ditch the taco bars in favor of what we ate during the last round of playoffs. Maybe it'll bring us good luck? 

For the wildcard round last year, we got take out from Hungry Harrys BBQ. This time we got some take out (like their beans and corn casserole!) and mixed it with some stuff we made here, like mac and cheese and Italian Beef. 

I also made some pasta salad and put out a few other sides. 

Of course this year, we got to play the wildcard game at home, instead of on the road. I would have loved to have been at Raymond James, but even outdoors makes me iffy if there's too many people around right now. So, we'd be watching from home. 

Hayden did, however, make us Playoff Brownies! It must have been good luck, because the Bucs trounced the Eagles, easily moving on. 

Calib meanwhile, has been bringing Peyton home some Hot N Ready's, since Peyton got that gift card in the auction. 

And, because of the tough week, my mom offered to pay to take us out to dinner at PDQ. They even have one of those fun mobile pick up lockers now! 

It did help brighten some spirits around here too, so thanks mom! 

And since we were over that way anyway, I collected on my BOGO Nothing Bundt Cakes coupon. 

That's it from here. 

Next Up: If nothing else, there's hopefully a giant pizza in our future for the Divisional Round. Tonight we find out if we'll be playing the Cardinals or the Rams! 

Happy New Year 2022!

When I last left you, it was NYE, and we were all hopeful 2022 would be better. So far, things aren't going great. Peyton cancelled his UK trip, yet again. The omicron variant in Florida is EVERYWHERE, causing us some concern for Calib who has to go out into the blizzard of covid for work, and now school. We've upgraded to some good masks, which cost a ridiculous amount these days. On top of that, our cat isn't doing so well, and Peyton is struggling to get through his latest class. Plus, I spent the last week with serious cramps. 

But, it's only day 12 of 2022. It has to turn around, right? 

We finished off 2021 with some good food. 

Mom wasn't here, because, if you read my last blog, you know my uncle who lives with her had covid, and she had to isolate. Thank God she never tested positive as was able to spend the New Year with both my brothers and their families in Cincinnati, but that left us here on our own. She did buy our NYE spread for us though, thanks mom! I never would have sprung for the shrimp cocktail without her. 

We also grabbed another meal wheel (sandwiches) from Publix, and used the other half of the box of all the frozen appetizer stuff from Christmas Eve. 

And of course some charcuterie (complete with Calvin Coolidge Cheese), and desserts. 

I considered the beach for NYE, but Calib had to work, and there's people everywhere. Plus we had to be home before dark set in... for the fireworks. The poor puppies have a hard time with those. 

I did use my cricut to make us all some NYE shirts though. 

And we spent the evening in the blanket fort playing games, watching movies, and keeping the puppies (and now, apparently, Dipper) company. 

However, we were streaming the ball drop in New York City, which meant we were about 30 seconds behind. We didn't realize it until Asa's phone turned midnight before the ball was even down. NYE is always anticlimatic, but that just made it even worse. 

On New Years Day, I apparently didn't even take a single picture. I can't even tell you what we did. Likely watched some Bowl Games and ate leftovers. Calib worked. That's about all I have for you. 

That Sunday, though, I took a picture when I picked the last of the lemons off the tree, except for one loan lemon. 

We had lemon shake ups with our second to last taco bar of the season. 

And Asa was the lucky winner of the 500th taco. We ended week 17 with 503. 

The rest of the week was still a void. We watched movies, and hung out in the blanket fort. 

I played around with my cricut, getting on gravit to make my designs and then transferring them over. I decided to practice on coasters, because it doesn't use a ton of vinyl and I had a box of tiles in the garage that were here when we moved in. 

Asa did have another graduate, so he had a drink in her honor. 

And this past Sunday saw the first week 18 of the NFL season. It would also be our last taco bar. 

So I made sure we had ALL the toppings. 

And we even put out the breakfast taco stuff... my favorite! 

The official taco count of the 2021 NFL Season: 529. That may seem like a lot. But, that's five people over 18 weeks, having tacos for at least lunch AND dinner, but sometimes breakfast too. 

The good news is the Bucs are headed to the playoffs. Though we don't do tacos for playoffs- so I'll have to figure out something else. They are the #2 seed, so that's pretty awesome. Still, somehow I'm nervous about the playoffs. We'll see how it goes. We always say nothing will ever top last year: A Super Bowl Win, at home, in Tampa ON Hayden's birthday. That was amazing. 

This Monday, Calib was off to his first day of school at USF. He's been off school for a year now, after earning his Associates at PHSC and then waiting to be vaccinated- and then a hiccup with admissions. But, he's finally ready to go back into a classroom. He was nice enough to let me take a first day of school picture, which I know is ridiculous, because he's 21, but whatever. Let me have this. 

Because I need something. This latest wave sucks ass, excuse my language. We had just gotten done with Delta. That was supposed to be the last big wave! And here we are with more cases than ever before. We went from 80 cases per 100,000 to 161, IN ONE WEEK. 114 cases per 100,000 was where we topped out last time. We're not only at the top of our chart- we're way off the scales. We finally flattened the curve... but on the Y axis. 

So, anyway, the world is making me a little bitter these days. So, I'm taking a bit of a social media hiatus. So, I don't have any tweets about the world to save for posterity.  It also means I've kept my phone off of my person, so I have way less pictures. Instead I've been working on things like Black History (it's our project of the year!), the photo calendar for 2021, random things for my cricut, and the Olympics which will start in just three weeks! I guess the only good thing about Peyton not going to the UK right now, he'll get to be home for the Winter Games. 

I did finally get around to taking down all things Christmas, and putting the garage back together from all the decoration totes. And sadly, the blanket fort came down yesterday, so we're getting back to some sense of normalcy. 

Anyway, I will leave you with a couple of Ellie pictures. We've found the dinosaur blanket goes well on her. And we can call her "Oooze-a-sarus-Rex". 

That's it from here. Hopefully next time I come around I'll be a bit more entertaining. 

Next Up: Hayden's been approved to be boosted! And, hopefully the Bucs will win their playoff game.