11/11: The northern lights were visible in Tucson.
11/13: I went to Mesquite Valley Growers and Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens
11/17: I went back to Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens
11/19: I went to Reid Park Rose Garden
11/20: I went to Home Depot to photograph the flowers
11/22: I was the photographer at Dean And Karen Sjogren's 50th anniversary party. I tried to tell them that I am not a portrait photographer, but Karen insisted that she wanted me to take the pictures. I took pictures with my DSLR and my phone just in case the DSLR pictures didn't turn out well. That evening Nathan made us German potatoes with his counter top electric cooking device.
11/27: For Thanksgiving, Paul and I went to the Desert Museum. Nathan didn't want to go so we let him stay home.
12/1: I went to Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens and Green Things Nursery.
12/4: I went to Home Depot to photograph the flowers.
12/11: I went to Pima County Cooperative Extension Gardens and Tucson Cactus and Koi.
12/15: Nathan turned 16! He has not had drivers ed yet so he does not have his drivers license. Paul didn't want him driving yet so probably junior year he will take drivers ed. Grandma and Grandpa came to town to celebrate Nathan's birthday. They got here a couple of days before his birthday. They stayed for about a week, but I requested that they stay in a hotel this time. Nathan was still in school most of the time they were here, doing finals and finishing up the semester. Them being here was somewhat of a distraction for him trying to concentrate on that last week of school before the holiday break. Paul was also working most of the time while they were here. He only took one day off to go up to the Phoenix area with us. The visit ended on a sour note, however.
12/17: Nathan made his German potatoes for grandma and grandpa.
12/18: We took grandma and grandpa to Vivace. Mary Bell was supposed to join us, but she ended up not being able to come to Tucson. She was having shots in her back and couldn't drive.
12/19: Paul took (most of) the day off and we all went up to Scottsdale to meet Bob & Ann Alvir at Grimaldi's for lunch. Afterward, we took grandma and grandpa shopping in Scottsdale to try and find resale shops for grandma. She didn't find what she was looking for, but she spent some significant time in a wig shop. Later that night, I arranged to do a drive through holiday light show in Tempe put on by World of Illumination with Rockin' Christmas as the theme. The lights were synched to Christmas music. I sat in the back and let grandma sit in the front to have more room which meant I didn't have the best viewing point to take pictures. Plus, the venue was right off the highway so the background wasn't the best. But, it was a good experience.
On the last night that my parents were here, everything went sour. My dad sulked at the kitchen table while the rest of us watched Christmas Vacation. Then after the movie, they briefly said goodbye and left. I noticed that one of them left their glasses so I went out to catch them. I asked them if they were upset about something. My mom said they were hurt. I asked why, thinking that it was because Nathan didn't spend much time with them on their last day and was playing on his computer most of the day. That is when my dad ripped into me and said it was because of me. That he asked me a direct question about a cactus, that I knew the answer, but that I deliberately would not tell him what it was. I told him what I told him when we had the original conversation, that I had no idea what he was talking about. He kept accusing me and I finally had enough. I couldn't believe that he was mad about something so trivial and was willing to ruin the whole week because of it. He accused me of something I didn't even do. After years of this kind of behavior, this was the last straw. I told him to just leave then. So he took off like a bat out of hell and nearly ran me over in the process because I was right next to the car. I was so upset after that. Upset by his childish behavior and that he was actually doing this to me again. I vowed to never have contact with him again. Paul agreed with me. He said he was there for the cactus conversation and he had no idea what my dad was talking about either. He couldn't believe that my dad was actually mad about it. Mad at me. Not at Paul for not knowing what he was talking about either. He excused Nathan's behavior saying he is a teenager. But me he gets mad at over something I didn't even do. The only good thing that came out of that evening, is that Paul has been really nice to me ever since. Our marriage hasn't been good for years because Paul has ignored and neglected me, putting all of his focus on work. He saw how upset I was that night and realized that I was not at all to blame. He said he was on my side. So he has been spending more time with me and finally treating me how a husband should treat his wife.
12/22: Paul and I went to Winterhaven. Again, Nathan didn't want to go so we let him stay home. It was good, but there was no Christmas Vacation house! I looked it up after the fact and that house was recently sold so they are no longer decorating it as the Christmas Vacation house :(
12/23: Paul and I went to Agua Caliente Park to see the saw-whet owl that has been hanging out there recently. The owl was sleeping most of the time we were there so I didn't get any pictures of it with its eyes open, but I got a picture of it with it's head turned and eyes closed. Something is better than nothing I guess.
Christmas was very low key. Nathan's big birthday/Christmas present was an acoustic-electric guitar that we split the cost with his grandparents and Aunt Lisa and Aunt Tracy. So there wasn't much for Nathan to open up on Christmas Day.
12/26: Paul and I went to Sabino Canyon. By the time we got there, the trams were booked up until like 4 in the afternoon. I think it was around 11 when we got there so we just started walking. We ended up going to about tram stop 5 or 6 and then walked back down. There was a little bit of Fall color left and a little bit of water flowing. I got over 20k steps for the day.
For the first time in years, we all stayed up until midnight to celebrate the New Year. I always try to come up with a few New Year's Resolutions:
1) Good Health in 2026. Continue to lose weight. Unfortunately, I have to find a new doctor again. The new doctor I just started seeing in 2025 and loved is leaving the practice. He supposedly is going to be working at Northwest Urgent Care in charge of the whole Tucson area. A promotion for him, but not good for me:(
2) I am removing toxic people from my life.
3) I am no longer being a people pleaser. I am not putting forth extended effort to those who put zero effort back. I am not trying to sound selfish or cold, but I don't have the energy for it. I don't care anymore if people like me or not or if they think I post too much on Facebook either. I am who I am. I strive to always be a better version of myself, but God is the one who I need to please.
1/2: I turned 51. I had recently had the stomach flu or something so I really wasn't up to eating at Grimaldi's, but we all went up to the Wildlife World Zoo. We had a nice day. Nathan didn't enjoy it that much, but at least he got to see a lot of pufferfish! We ate lunch there at Dillon's and had a nice meal.
1/4: I picked up my sloth birthday cake at church that Kelly Price made and Linda Almeter paid for. It was amazing! That evening, I went to the last night of the Reid Park Zoo Lights! It was nice not having as many people there, but there were actually more than I expected.
1/6: Nathan went back to school. There still isn't a report card in the system for the 2nd quarter and 1st semester, but I think he ended up with a B in German, a B in Marketing, an A (89.9) in AP World History, a C in Pre-AP Chemistry, an A in Pre-Calculus and a B (89.6) for Q2 Pre-AP English and an A (89.6) for the semester. So she bumped up his semester grade for English since it was so close to an A, but his quarter grade was a B. It is the semester grades that really matter, though. Now his Marketing grade was disappointing. Right up to the end of the semester he had over 99% in there. Then during finals week it changed to 87.1. He said it was because he was unable to do a final project where they were to evaluate group projects. He said the group they were to evaluate didn't do their project so there was nothing to evaluate. Furthermore, that is a significant drop to go from 99% to 87.1%. He said he was going to talk to his counselor or someone in administration about it, but I don't know if he actually will or if anything will come out of such a conversation. I told him that he should talk to someone about it, though, because I agree it was not fair. However, I am not going to fight this battle for him. He needs to start sticking up for himself and handling these things on his own.
1/8: Paul and Nathan went up to Phoenix to see the Fiesta Bowl game between Miami and Old Miss. Miami ended up winning so Paul was happy. They didn't get home until after midnight, though and Nathan had to go to school the next day.
1/10: Nathan went to Greg Lyons' house for a nerf day. Colin and his brother were there. Amelia and Amber Davis were there. Even a friend of Nathan's from Mountain View High School was there. While Nathan had fun there, Paul and I went to Madera Canyon. We watched the birds at Santa Rita Lodge. There were a lot of turkeys. I didn't see any hummingbirds, but Paul said he saw one. I got an awesome iced eggnog latte there. We drove further up the road and there was actually a little bit of snow on the sides. I had overheard a woman saying that she saw the coppery-tailed trogon earlier in the day along the Proctor trail so then we headed back down the road to go to that trail to find the trogon. Along the way we stopped in a parking lot to let another car pass and there was a group of deer in there. We photographed them for awhile then headed down to the Proctor trail. It was getting late in the day. We prayed about seeing the trogon because I had never seen one before. They are somewhat common at Madera Canyon, but not as much during the winter. We were fortunate because as we started on the trail I looked up and there it was! It wasn't facing me, but I knew it was the bird. Paul almost walked right by it. He put on a show for us flying from branch to branch, but always staying close to the trail. Most of my pictures came out dark because there was so much shade along the trail and it was later in the day. I also didn't get a lot of head on shots showing his beautiful colors, but I got a couple of decent shots. I was just excited to finally see the bird in person. I heard that there was a bear sighting there I think the same day, but we never saw one. Bears have been sighted in the canyon recently so I was on the lookout. While it would be cool to see one, I think it would be a little scary, too.
This morning, 1/12, Nathan was getting ready for school and started coughing up blood while he was taking a shower. Paul looked it up and said it could be the start of pneumonia so we let him stay home. Hopefully, he will be able to return to school tomorrow.
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