The Sunday 7

1. Last week, when I was binge-reading that Connilyn Cossette series, I came to a startling realization: I prefer ebooks to physical books. 

What kind of librarian am I??

I read the first two books of the series via Kindle on my phone, but I actually had a physical copy of the last one on my shelf - I must've found it at a thrift store or something - and it was such a pain to haul it around and try to find a place in my house with good enough lighting to read by. Haha. My phone is always in my pocket, and always lit up. The one perk of physical books is that they don't run out of battery power, but I think I can officially say I prefer e-books. 

2. We celebrated New Year's Eve at home, reading books and watching football. Levi went to bed at his normal time because he can't entertain himself like the girls do. Haha. The girls stayed up 'til midnight with us. We flipped from football to the ball drop at 11:59, then toasted the new year with sparkling grape juice. Of course, something important happened in the football game in that one minute, so I didn't get a good family pic once Justin flipped back to the game. Haha.

3. We've now had Stella for a whole week. And it felt weird to type "Stella" because we rarely call her that. Haha. Levi almost exclusively calls her "the kitty," and the rest of us call her "the cat" - with the exception of Lucy, who calls her Sasha solely to get a rise out of Levi. We're all loving her, though - again, with the exception of Lucy who despises animals. Levi is legit obsessed with her and I'm constantly telling him to leave her alone, give her a break, put her down. He's covered in scratches because he doesn't heed her warning signals. Lol. And then he'll cry, "she doesn't like me!" or get mad that she hurt him. He's learning about boundaries and consequences. Haha. Mostly, though, she's very tolerant of his smothering. She's very playful, and Levi adores making her chase the laser pointer or yarn on a stick. We all get a kick out of the "arch and hop" she does when she catches sight of the cat in the mirror. She's constantly trying to attack her own tail. And she's apparently part mountain goat because she's very good at climbing and jumping. When she's not feeling feisty, though, she loves to snuggle and will sit and purr with anyone willing to hold her. I think Justin is her favorite because he's the most calm. Haha. She sleeps on either my pillow or Justin's pillow every night - although she usually starts in Levi's room, which brings him great joy. 

Can you find the kitty in this picture?

He was so excited when she willingly climbed up and laid beside him to watch a show on his tablet.

Skateboarding cat

She always wants to be as close to my face as possible.

4. I got around 6 inches of hair cut off this week. It's what I do - grow it out for a year or two, chop it all off, repeat. 

This is the best I could find for a before pic, since I never wear my hair down.

After

I just went to Fantastic Sam's because I don't need anything special, and I figured it'd be the cheapest around. I figured wrong. That dumb haircut cost me $37 (plus a tip)! I think next time I'm just going to let Justin do it. He's a perfectionist enough (even if he didn't notice that I got it cut until Lena said something - lol).

5. I kicked off the new year by giving up Dr Pepper. I really want to be done with it for real - not just for a month here and there when I get serious about losing weight. So I'm not putting a time cap on it. I'm just trying to give it up, period. I'll probably still drink it on special occasions, but I'm hoping if I avoid it long enough, it won't taste as good after a while? I switched to Diet Dr Pepper, and it's definitely not the same, but at least it keeps the caffeine headaches at bay. I've also tried to eat smaller portions at meals and avoid snacking. That's honestly harder than giving up DP. I really love to snack . . . which is what made me need to diet in the first place. Lol. It's a constant exercise in self control. 

6. I wasn't going to write about this yet since we haven't told our kids, but I don't have anything else to share and I can't keep my mouth shut . . . I just booked a trip to the Grand Canyon for Justin's birthday at the end of this month!! He's always wanted to go, and we've never been on a big trip like this together. We'd already decided not to go to Florida with Justin's family this year like we usually do because we were supposed to go with my family in November 2023. But now it's looking like we're going to push that trip to January 2024, and I had airline miles burning a hole in my pocket. I've been watching for flights to Las Vegas or Phoenix for a while, but nothing was feasible until yesterday when some deals finally popped up! (I originally wrote on facebook that I was going to surprise him with this trip, but I couldn't bear to spend so much money without asking him, so he knows. Lol.) Thanks to said airline miles and good deals, we're going to fly for free. I also got a great deal on a hotel room. But I'm extremely anxious about the whole thing for a variety of reasons. 

- The way I could find the best deal was to fly through separate airlines on the way there and the way back. The tickets from home to Phoenix were only $54 a person on Southwest, but went up a lot when I made it round trip. The tickets from Phoenix to home were only $91 a person through Allegiant, but way more round trip. Not only are we flying separate airlines, but we're flying into/out of separate airports! Apparently Phoenix has two airports. Southwest flies to one and Allegiant flies to the other. Oh man. My stomach is hurting again just thinking about it. Lol.   

- We're also getting a rental car. I specifically found a company that will let us pick up the car from one airport and drop it off at the other, but that still makes me nervous. And when I booked it, the confirmation page said, "We'll send you an email to confirm," but I haven't gotten an email. At least I screenshotted my confirmation code. 

- The hotel room I booked is non-refundable, so we're just out of luck if our flight gets cancelled. 

- The weather in Phoenix is forecasted to be in the 60s for the next two weeks, but in the Grand Canyon, the temps are in the 30s. They close the park if the weather is bad, so I'm nervous about that!

- I have no idea what the best way is to make the most of one day at the Grand Canyon. Do we need to pay $200 a person for a guided tour? Or are the park shuttles good enough? Can I physically handle any hiking at all? Especially if it's only 30 degrees? 

The thing I'm most nervous about, though, is leaving our kids. The only time Justin and I have ever flown without them was on our honeymoon - and they didn't even exist then. So of course I'm having nightmares of plunging to a fiery demise and leaving them orphans. I don't doubt that my family will take excellent care of my kids, and we have a verbal agreement with one of my siblings to take them, but we don't have anything in writing. How big of a deal is that? In reality, I know that we'll be fine. I'll take my xanax before boarding and I'll survive the flights. I'm mostly anxious about Lena's reaction. That's why we haven't told the kids yet. She cries when I leave for Bible study for two hours on Thursday nights. How on earth is she going to handle being away from me for five solid days? And what if we really do die? I don't think Lena will ever recover! Ugh. So you can pray for Lena . . . and you can keep your mouths shut about this trip in front of her. Haha. I think we'll tell her next week and give her a week to prepare. But I don't want to listen to her cry for two solid weeks. 

7. Just a couple more pictures

Lena got Mexican Train dominoes for Christmas. No one warned me it's such a long game!

Justin has always been my crush, and he definitely had this haircut growing up. Lol. I also definitely have "purse ibuprofen" and "home ibuprofen."