Money DOES Buy Happiness

I got a wake up call when I realized all the loans I took out for school actually went for school. I'm only working part-time at Menards now which is just enough to pay the rent and bills. My phase of being poor wasn't really a phase, but actually permanent. I took out another loan so I would have extra cash to feed me (being poor is the best diet). I won't see that money for another month which means no time off for a Christmas break. I have to wait a few more days to find out if I even get Christmas Eve off. This is by far the sadest Christmas ever for me.

It doesn't even feel like Christmas. Only one house on my street put lights up, I'm used to everyone in my whole town putting up lights. Plus we don't have a tree or any decorations and we haven't had any snow yet. I did get a Christmas present from Menards, 55 dollars in Menards money and this.

In two weeks someone I love and care about very deeply will be in London for 5 months and I only get to see him for 2 more days. It's going to be a rough half year, but I'm hopeful. This is a good time for any visitors.

Next semester I get to start taking baking classes, I can't wait. Maybe I'll gain back all the weight I lost. For the first time in my entire life I'm finally getting A's and I actually enjoy going to school.

I wish I had a friend here that liked to do crafts as much as I do. I'm going to start devoting one evening a week to doing crafts and catching up on a lot of unfinished projects. I know, I'm a grandma sometimes.

A Texas-Louisiana-Arkansas Hipcamp Road Trip: Back to Arkansas and a Night in Iowa

I hadn't really planned on driving through Mississippi, so I found a route that took us back through Lousiana and into Arkansas. Before we made it to the Land of the Downriver People we stopped in Monroe for some soul food.

A Smoky Weekend at the Cottage and a Stop at Ladysmith's Northland Mardi Gras

This summer we decided to go to the cottage any weekend we had nothing else going on. This week, due to fires in the Boundary Waters and Canada, the air quality was pretty terrible. We debated if we should still go, but it looked like it would clear up by Saturday. So we took the chance. And by terrible, we mean the worst air quality we'd ever seen. Along the way we decided to stop at John and Heidi's Happy Daze . We've passed this place probably 100 times. It was about time to stop by. I ordered the prime rib sandwich special. Yummy. The sandwich that is. Everybody's food was really good, but Brooke's was the star of the show. I want to get back here asap. Now if only this pesky smoke would go away.

Japan Family Trip - Part II: Exploring the Shrines and Wilds of Nikko

We had originally planned on taking the bullet train down from Tokyo to Kyoto for a day or two. While being epically fast, it was a bit spendy for the four of us. After talking to Brooke's coworker we settled on a two day trip to Nikko and its World Heritage Sites to break up our week in Tokyo. This turned out to be an amazing decision. The town is teaming with beauty from ancient shrines to epic waterfalls and some of the best meals we had on our trip. Kyoto didn't seem all that appealing to me when I started researching which location to go to. I too am glad we chose to head north to Nikko. When we booked our Tobu Nikko Spacia X tickets I upgraded to the premium seats thinking that we'd be sitting facing one another. Instead we ended up with 4 individual seats, two in the first two rows and two in the last two rows. It turned out just fine with the kids sitting in front of us in two groups. Meadow and I were seated at the front of the car. Once in awhile we'd pas...

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