It’s that time!
Guess what time it is? If you guessed the end of the year and the annual recap, you guessed right! If you didn’t guess that, guess it next year and you’ll be right!
This year was crazy. Honestly, it was packed some months, and boring others. A true roller coaster.
Let’s jump in. Buckle up buttercups.
January: James’s birthday. He was still healing from December. Since I wrote last year so early, I didn’t get to recap that James and I both got super sick in December and then James got a bad infection in his leg. Seriously, it was bad. So, during January we just took time to let him heal more. We did go out for our anniversary. Yuck. The place was not the greatest. Definitely won’t be going there again.
February: My birthday! February was actually a bit busy of a month. In the beginning of the month James’s friend Josh from his old job needed a place to stay for a bit while he and his wife worked out some stuff. Turns out, they just decided they weren’t meant to stay married. So Josh officially moved in for a bit. We also were going to Florida for a book signing and Josh went with us. We also ended up with his two daughters, Lilly and Hadley. It was an okay trip. We met my friend Meredith down there as well. Lilly was sick and only wanted me. Then James and I ended up with food poisoning on the way home.
March: We decided since the girls would be at the house more, they needed their own room. We cleaned the spare room of all the boxes and set it up for the girls. The guys hung a tv in there as well as the tv in our master bedroom. I taught Josh how to make homemade pasta sauce. We went to the Foodies festival in Augusta. NEVER again. That place was overly packed, couldn’t read signs and the area they did it in was horrible. Maybe if they did less food trucks or got a really large area to do it, it would be better. Took the girls to an Augusta market, they loved getting out and doing something fun.
April: Easter is this month. OHHOW (so much more on that later). I had a book release!!! The first one in a while! We had D.R. Horton to the house to fix small issues before our year is up. The guys made fried rice around Easter which was nice. I started apply to other jobs within my company. Hung out with some cute kids. It was a pretty slow month.
May: I was hardcore applying to job within my company now. I needed off my team. They brought in someone who didn’t know what she was doing and then kept trying to tell us to work when we shouldn’t. She almost had us violate HIPAA. We went to the Foodies festival in Aiken. MUCH better! Less trucks, more spread out, less people. Again, got to hang out with some cuties. Josh got the girls a small pool for the backyard, they LOVED it. Lilly loved on James so much! Seriously the cutest thing ever. Almost got Josh and James new jobs, but the hours didn’t work for James and the pay wasn’t exactly what Josh wanted. GOT A NEW JOB!! Got an offer to be a supervisor for the Corro side not the Virtix side of my company. Put in my notice to transfer! Woohoo!! We’ve officially had our new home for a year! Still love it!
June: Started my new position. First impression, eh (more on that later as well). Black Dagger Brotherhood tv series started!!! You have no idea how happy this makes me! Found some amazing chocolate, Reese’s Bark. Even James loves it! Started doing tarot readings (for free). Meredith, James and I sneaked around a few months prior and were able to give Josh a really cute Father’s Day gift. Photos of the girls. One is in a frame with their handprints. Also, something big, we bought a NEW CAR! Chevy Equinox. I lowkey love it! Became a Crone for Unseen Witches (loving it!!)
July: Started to realize this job was NOT what I was told. Not a fan. Fourth of July. Not a ton happened around then. Started getting the girls every other week (not sure if this was this month or not, but I’m assuming so). Went to Jersey!! Took Josh and James and I went to Jersey to visit some family and celebrate my niece’s graduation. Was a really good trip and definitely needed. OHHOW again (and of course, more on that later). Ah, and of course a bitter sweet month. The anniversary of my grandmothers death, my dad’s birthday and the anniversary of my first manuscript getting accepted. All on ONE day.
August: Fairly boring month. I believe this is the month the girls started staying home with me during the weeks they were with Josh. Mainly because it was a HUGE pain in the ass for Josh to drive all the way to his mom’s, then work, then have to leave work earlier than normal to drive back to his moms and home. Especially when James’s office is literally FIVE minutes from his moms. But of course, Ali (his ex-wife), didn’t like that James didn’t talk to her. So to fix that, we just kept them home with me. Took us a bit, but we got a routine down. August was also the anniversary of my dad’s death. So that day we took off, we had the girls and took them to the park.
September: Started Gilmore Girls over. Got Harry Potter donuts. And we decided to take a trip to Maryland to visit my sister and go to the Ren Fest. Josh and Meredith came with us. The Ren Fest has changed a lot since the last time I went, but it was still fun. Started the Cauldron of Scrolls for Witches Owl Exchange! It’s going goo. It is a little slow in the holiday months, but hopefully picks back up. In August and September I was BEGGING for a way out of the department I was in. I hated it. Every piece of it. But I did find out right before our Maryland trip that they would be moving departments around, which meant I would no longer be under Alex and Julie. WIN! So naturally I stayed (more on that later).
October: My favorite month! Naturally when I’m excited for something, I end up sick. Ended up super sick one week with the girls. Didn’t want to send them away to their grandmothers because it was the last week they were living with us. So, I stuck it out. They were angels though and let me rest all day and came to lay with me when they weren’t down for nap time. Got my Count Chocula! Spoiled the girls some more. James and I took them to Sara’s Farm Adventure. They had a blast! Got some great photos and videos. Even though I was still not feeling great, I pushed through. Finally got to move to a new department at work, and I LOVE it. So much better. My manager is amazing, my team is awesome, and I’m just so glad to be away from Alex and Julie’s leadership. Whew. Made pumpkin bread, watched all my favorite movies. Planned to get a gaming room set up with James, and enjoyed Halloween!
November: This month will be long. Keep reading! Kept planning our game room. Went to Savannah for the day for a convention. Got two more autographs for Halloweentown! Now I’m up to four total. Went to a training thing with James. It was super boring, but at least I kept him away the whole time. Got some AMAZING items from Sarahlee’s shop! Seriously, so many goodies. Had to meet up with Josh and Meredith and the girls since Josh left something here. Lilly was over the moon to see us. So, we took her home for the night so she could spend some time with us. She was living it up! Thanksgiving came and then Black Friday! We got the game room set up!! So in love with it. OHHOW was earlier in the month. Remember me saying, “more on that later?” Yep. Here’s the more. Turns out one of the admins was going to ‘step back’ for a bit. I kinda figured she was stepping down by the way she talked, and it’s no secret that she and I didn’t see eye to eye often. I was lowkey kinda glad. While she did a lot for OHHOW, I just hated meetings, hating bringing things up in our admin chat because I just didn’t want to deal with another argument. Another of the admins also decided to step down. Now this one was a little more of a surprise, but not a huge surprise. She hadn’t been active in prep work in some time. She did stream, but that was basically it. So, we lost two admins, but we GAINED three amazing admins. I am so excited to see where OHHOW goes.
December: That brings us to now. December. Ugh. I swear. This month just never seems ‘good’. Last year, James and I were sick, and he had an infection in his leg. The year prior to that (2023), we got sick in December during the cruise from hell (I mean it was completely horrible, but it was pretty sucky). Then we have this year. It’s only the 16th as I write this and it’s already sucked.
December 2nd is the anniversary of Daniel’s death (for those of you who don’t know, Daniel is someone James served with. One of his best friends). It’s been 21 years this year. So the day is already crappy. December 3rd, Daniel’s mom Kim passed away. Hearts shattered. Especially for James who considered her a second mom. He immediately came home that day, and we just existed. Her Celebration of Life was the following Thursday (December 11th). So thankfully Meredith offered to come stay here with the boys and work from here so James and I can save some money and head to TN. We just got back on Saturday. It was nice to see Doug (Kim’s husband), Christi (her niece), Josh (her son), and some military people (Meara and someone I just met Mike), but the circumstances sucked. So here we are. Still December. I’m going to add to this as the month goes on and then post it right after the new year. Had a birthday party for Lilly on the 20th. It was super cute. James baked a cake. Made fried rice with chicken, veggies and sausages (mainly because Lilly loves the sausages!) Ended up having her overnight which was fun. Then we had our five days off (currently on day five!) It’s been pretty nice. Just hanging out and gaming, relaxing, etc. We did go be adults on Friday. Got haircuts, an oil change, car wash. Just have a few more days of the month left.
Supposed to be Sunday!
