Bedtime & Birthday

I've been going to bed way too late recently. I do this in waves (fighting my nightowl tendencies). During the summer and early fall, I was actually making myself get into bed no later than 9:00 PM, just reading with a yellow-toned lightbulb in my lamp, and avoiding any electronics. That worked like a charm and I usually fell asleep before 10:00. I would usually wake up naturally at 5:00 AM without even trying. But then Andy and I went to Texas in October for my brother's wedding, and when we got home we had to self-quarantine for 2 weeks. As soon as our 2 weeks was up, the stupid COVID virus got crazy here in Pennsylvania, so we couldn't do anything but stay home to avoid it. Andy was already working from home, and I postponed going back to my volunteer lunch lady job indefinitely. I'm also a CASA volunteer* and have had to visit my foster child and attend court through Zoom for the last 3 months. We have our groceries delivered and shop Amazon Prime. We don't go anywhere. We do go out for daily walks regardless of the weather - it is the only thing keeping me somewhat sane right now. We also attend Sunday mass in the parking lot, streamed through the radio. Father brings the Eucharist out to our car for us. We appreciate him so much. The only people we have really seen since October has been our own kids who live in PA and the grandkids. Being "stuck at home," Andy and I started bingeing on some TV shows: The Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead, and Vikings. (I was so surprised how good TWD is, I was not expecting that.) Now after we've gotten everything done for the day, we sit down in the living room by the fireplace and watch these shows until we're all droopy eyed. I've been falling into bed between 11:00 and midnight. It's such a bad habit. So anyway, I'm blaming it on coronavirus. I'm so sick of it.

Yesterday was Andy's birthday and I made carnitas tacos for dinner and celebrated with an easy ice cream cake that I made. I made the pork in the Instant Pot in the morning, shredded it and kept it warm during the day while I got other stuff done. Then I spread it out on a baking sheet and crisped it up under the broiler before serving. It turned out really good!

We eat low-carb most of the time now days, but I'm not so strict that we never eat sugar or carbs on special occasions. I try not to get carried away when we indulge because carbs are so addicting and they make me tired and hungry and fat, so I'm back to normal today. Since Whitney has a newborn, we took the cake over to her house so we could celebrate with the grandkids.

We have 4 grandkids now. River is 11 (how did that even happen), Austen is 9, Chase is 6, and Wilder was born in November.

Then we came home and watched two Vikings shows and went to bed way too late. Again.

*CASA - court-appointed special advocate for a foster child.