Jumping from a 6 to a 12

J. finally convinced me to upgrade my phone.  I've been eligible for an upgrade for FOREVER - gave one of my upgrades to H. way back when but re-qualified years ago.  I just didn't see the need for the latest and greatest when what I had worked fine.  But - we take a lot of pictures here and I was really excited about having a phone with multiple lenses - including a telephoto.  

And my phone was an iPhone 6 that I upgraded last in 2012 so it was more than time.  

I seriously dreaded the trek to the AT&T store - dreaded the waiting around.  I told the cats 'we'll be back in seven hours hopefully'. J. laughed. But one good thing about COVID: they had plenty of staff and we only had to wait about 5 minutes in the car before it was our turn.  The rep was stellar and while he wasn't technically 'supposed to' assist with the phone-to-phone transfer onsite, he helped us get it done.  We weren't all that keen on taking our old phones with us, making the transfer at home and then having to bring the old phones back - so he made it all happen onsite.  And I felt more comfortable with doing it all there because we saw him clear our old phones so we know our data was removed once things transferred to the new phone.  They were incredibly careful about disinfecting everything they touched and wore gloves.  I got $350 credit for my old phone and J. got $750 - credits that will be applied monthly to offset the charge for the new phone.  

Our bill will be higher and I really didn't want that - but it's not any kind of issue so I figured why not.  It is pretty awesome to have a new phone.  I was long overdue for a fancy new phone and I am super happy we made the change.  

I feel young, hip and fresh!  (That's what H. always says when I say 'I'm getting old').  

J. booked a massage at Atlantis tomorrow so I will accompany him and play a bit while he's in the spa.  And I will return again on Saturday for a Chinese New Year event - you know me, I'm a sucker for free play.  

Next weekend, we'll spend Friday and Saturday nights there - J. will play in a Black Jack tournament on Saturday.  We likely won't stay Saturday night but we'll see.

The weather keeps warming up and then turning cold again - I get the urge to head outside to work in the yard and then realize it's freezing cold.  Today, we had to turn the heat way up because I was super cold - and I'm usually running so warm that I run the ceiling fan in the study most of the day.  

H. is in Texas where there is a super duper cold front - power outages all over the place.  He used a friends phone to call me yesterday because there is an AT&T outage near the house he's staying in and he has had no phone for days.  (I verified the outage via the AT&T website).  Hopefully, things will warm up there and the power grid will be restored.  What a mess.

Acknowledgements of Age

J. made tuna salad sandwiches for lunch today.  I started to note 'tuna' on our Costco list - but then didn't.  Added one can to our Walmart cart. 

I feel old.  Acknowledging that we are at the point where we don't need to buy 8 cans of tuna when having two on hand (replacing the one we used with just one can) is plenty.  

I trekked to Target for the first time in months - we found some additional pictures we bought when we were in Hawaii (years and years ago) and we need frames for them so we can hang them in the guest room.  I looked online at Target and didn't see much but I decided to start there first to see what they had before making a second stop at Michael's.  Found the perfect frames at Target for 1/2 what I would have paid at Michael's so that was a 'win'.  Also got a few toiletry items we needed.  And (true confession) two small mini cartons of mini robins eggs.  They were prepping Easter candy and I couldn't resist. 

We've decided to go ahead and upgrade our phones.  I've had my phone since 2012 - it's an iPhone 6s.  J. has an iPhone 8.  We're going for the new iPhone 12 Pro Max.  Woot woot!  We get a decent trade in value for our old phones and will return to having the monthly payment for the phone back in our monthly bill - it's been nice for some months to have no phone cost in the payment - but it's OK.  When discussing what storage size to get, J. said 'I know you're worried about our monthly payment so we can go low'.  And I said 'there is absolutely no issue with how much the payment will be - we can manage whatever it is.  And considering we're getting new phones with amazing new camera technology, I think I'd like to err on getting as much storage as we can - I think we're very likely to enjoy taking a lot more pics using the telephoto lense. 

Working to get the guest room ready because B. is coming for a visit - he arrives on March 5th and is here for a week.  He's hoping to have some California friends drive up this way to spend a day or two with him but we're leaving those plans flexible.  One of the friends' wife has a daycare out of their home and they are moving to a new home and the logistics of that big move (with all the re-inspections that go into running a licensed daycare) are still being worked through.  Hoping they can come up but we'll see.  Can't wait to see B.!  

Things with H. are OK.  Sometimes feels like too OK.  It all seems so easy for him at times....wreak havoc on the lives of your family yet again but just move forward.  I realize (having written it) there's really not much else to do but move forward - but then I had a conversation with him yesterday and was quickly overwhelmed with tracking what he was saying and trying to figure out truth vs. story.  And upon realizing that, I sort of immediately felt 'so I'm not sure I want to continue to have frequent conversations with him about 'his life'.  Maybe it's time to request that he text weekly to confirm he's fine and we do a catch up call every week to ten days or so apart.  Maybe that sounds stupid - to put frequency constraints around talking to a close family member - but truly, my psyche no longer has the energy or desire to attempt to keep up with figuring out the machinations of his day to day life.  

We had a very nice stay at Atlantis - I lost overall but had some good wins on Thursday evening and Friday morning that restored some of what I'd lost.  The regrouping around winning back some always feels so good - even though in the end, I was in the red.  Oh well.  I will be there twice a week for the rest of the month AND we have a two night stay again on the last weekend of the month - J.'s going to do a Black Jack tournament so we decided to use the room that came with the entry into the tournament.  That will be a lot of fun - I love long days of play knowing there's a room available for breaks.

I made bread yesterday - a 'rustic' loaf.  It turned out OK but had lots of issues.  I Googled the issues I experienced and they literally said 'dough was too wet; dough was too dry; dough was under proofed; dough was over proofed; dough was under-kneaded; dough was over-kneaded.  You see the issue?  Really not sure which way to go - but I do think the dough was a bit moist and I didn't knead it very much.  (Recipe said not to over-handle the dough but I think I should have kneaded it a bit).  We ate it with turkey noodle soup that we thawed from Thanksgiving.  Next, we'll use the bread to make maple bread for breakfast one day this week and then we'll turn it into croutons. 

And I'm going to bake it again this coming Sunday - practice makes perfect!

The Big Thaw

 It was 60 degrees outside today - felt like Spring!  I ran an errand and didn't need a coat!  

The earth is warming as well and I was super stoked to see hints of green in our front yard - unfortunately, it appears to be weeds and/or grass growing around all the plants.  We have a lot of work to do - I'm hoping for another warm day tomorrow so I can head outside for a bit and work in the yard. 

The backyard is still a complete winter wonderland - tons of snow still there because it doesn't get much direct sunlight.  It will take a good long while to melt it all.  

We went to Atlantis yesterday for Super Bowl - unfortunately, we missed being included in the event but we had fun anyway.  J. watched the game sitting in a bar near where I was playing slots.  I played until around 8PM and headed up to our room.  As I was contemplating getting ready for bed, I said 'I really just want to go home'.  So we did!  Left the room keys on the dresser, mussed up the beds and some towels so it look like we'd been there and were home around 9.  Took some time to unwind and we didn't head to bed until after 11. 

We're heading back there on Wednesday for our Valentine's Day celebration - early - but within the range of dates we could choose.  We'll get some comps for a nice dinner and a Macy's gift card - only often they let you choose free play instead of the gift card so I'm hoping for that!  (I could shop Macy's online I supposed but we don't shop there, so....free play would be great).  We will spend Wednesday night there for sure 'cuz J. booked a massage on Thursday morning.  He'll have to head to Carson 'cuz he's got hair appointment on Thursday afternoon - he'll likely stay home.  I will decide - if I play into the evening, I might stay there for the night - I've always wanted to play in to the wee hours of the morning.  

It will be a nice mid-week break.

We've heard from H. a bit and know he is OK.  Has been attending NA meetings and got a lead on a job so we'll see.  We did a question and answer text session and while I truly have no idea if his answers are true, getting any new information on the recent events is welcome.  

We started binge watching Designated Survivor and it's great.  Tonight, we switched to "Sinner" because Season 3 is FINALLY available on Netflix - we've waited over a year to watch the last 3 episodes.  (We had access to the first three on USA when we lived in the town house but we didn't have Dish then so....) - we started watching from the first episode since it's been so long.  

J. played golf on Saturday and had a fun time.  He was pretty sore when he got home - it's been months since he's played.  

J. gets his first Covid vaccination tomorrow!  We are so glad!  Unfortunately, I'm not in the current tier so I have to wait.  B. is hoping to be vaccinated later this month - and he may be visiting us in early March for a week.  Really hoping it will work out.