Ruple Farms - where a full-time working mom of two manages her mini farm: 2022

Showing posts with label 2022. Show all posts

BUH-BYE 2022

I, for one, am happy to see 2022 come to an end.

I mean, we had some super happy moments.

But it ended on a pretty bad note.

The last 4 months of 2022 are months I don't wish on anyone.

It was so bad that all the happy memories made this year seem like a scam, unfortunately.

As the mom, I'm "taking one for the team" so that means that I'll take the brunt of it so that my kids will not feel one ounce of what I'm feeling.

I recently came across this saying "I saved your reputation by not telling my side of the story...stay humble" and it's never been more true.

Yes, we're making progress.

But it's slow, unsteady, and incredibly frustrating.

I'm just so ready to be OFF this crazy emotional rollercoaster I've been on.

I'm ready to close out this year and start fresh.

I'm ready to reset my priorities and put things in perspective.

But it's hard.

I still don't know what I'm supposed to do.

I know what the "pre-damaged" Lesley would do. I think.

But that person is long gone.

So, here I am.

Taking it day by day.

Day by day, by day, by day. By day. (Anyone know what movie that's from??) lol

But on the serious side, that's the only thing I can do, really, right? Just take things day by day?

I can't even think about what next week will bring.

Sometimes things are great and it feels "normal" but other times, there's a stark divide in the house and it feels so weird. Little things become big.

I told him that when I stop caring...is when he should worry.

I told him he's fucking lucky as hell I love him as much as I do.

So with this new year, I'm hopeful.

There may be exciting things on the horizon.

So many random things have happened to me over the past 3-4 months, and it really puts things in perspective for me.

I've dealt with an incredible amount of trauma this year.

And at the same time, weird opportunities or things are happening that make me feel like I can do anything.

What a fucking rollercoaster.

Two totally different ends of the spectrum here.

Accomplished. Successful. (Professionally)

Defeated. Lost. Broken. (Personally)

Fuck.

But that's what 2023 will be about. Finding myself again and figuring out what I'm going to do.

I can see good things ahead. I really can.

💜

Merry Christmas

We had a lovely Christmas this year.

Low key and exactly what we needed. Maybe it's just what I needed.

I did some baking.

Did a little shopping.

Drove around and saw Christmas lights.

Leading up to Christmas was a little weird, though.

I think maybe it was because it fell on a Sunday this year.

So, like, we completed a full week before having a holiday.

My work is awesome and closed up shop pretty early - like 11:30am, if I recall on Friday.

The day before was my company holiday party so that was pretty low-key as well and a few hours was spent at a "playhouse restaurant" that had arcade games and food/drink.

It was a super cool venue and on a Thursday afternoon, it was virtually empty.

After a few hours hanging with my coworkers, I headed back in time to get the girls off the bus.

The girls ended up having a snow day Friday because of the extremely cold temperatures and high winds.

It went from 40 degrees and raining on Thursday to 1 degree on Friday.

That meant everything froze.

Lots of people lost power. I'm super grateful we did not.

We lost power for all of 3 seconds but then it came back on and stayed on.

We had no concrete plans for Friday or Saturday, so we enjoyed the downtime.

Steve was off o work on Saturday, Christmas Eve, so we each took a kid and did some last-minute shopping.

So, so cold.

I made a big breakfast for Christmas Eve morning. Nothing makes me happier than cooking a big breakfast on a day when I have zero obligations.

Ava's favorite: breakfast potatoes

Homemade sausage gravy

So good!

The girls were antsy with excitement all day.

After shopping, we put Christmas movies on, jammies on, and were grazing on snacks the rest of the day.

It was glorious.

We had to set an alarm to wake up since the girls were insistent on staying up to catch Santa in action.

He was so proud to get his own gift

The sweatshirt Mila got for her.

pure chaos 💗

The most popular gift this year! A hoverboard!

She loved her new wiener blanket!

New squishmellows!

Reading a card from Aunt Lili

meanwhile...

We spent the morning being lazy, cleaning up a bit, and letting the girls play with their new stuff. I never wanted to rush the kids out of the house right after opening a bunch of new gifts and toys!

We headed to my mom's after lunchtime so we could do presents and dinner at her house. The girls wanted to dive in immediately, but I made them wait - I had to at least get the roast in!

Christmas #2. In their glory. Just look at their faces! 💖

She was a little overwhelmed but did great overall.

Ava's turn on the hoverboard and I'm shocked at how quickly they picked up on it!

My office was also closed on Monday the 26th, and I enjoyed a PTO day Tuesday.

I imagine the rest of the week will be very quiet - many folks I know are taking the whole week off.

My office is closed half-day on Friday the 30th and then closed on Monday again for New Year's.

I'm going to enjoy the quiet for as long as I can.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Christmas Cookies

It's that time of year!

I've enjoyed baking and decorating cookies at my mom's house since she's been home.

Saltine cracker bark

I joke that they all look like Ugly Sweaters

My sister makes the royal icing and I make the sugar cookie dough for the cutouts.

And both are delicious!

We spent the entire day with my mom and sister baking cookies and doing all things holiday.

It was such a nice day!

We have less than a week, people!

RIP

Social media is fucking fake ass shit.

The sudden, sad death of Stephen "tWitch" Boss has left so many people reeling.

Wondering what happened.

He seemed happy.

Always smiling.

All his videos show him happily dancing with his beautiful wife, and three children in their beautiful home.

I've been a fan of his since 2008 when he came in second place on So You Think You Can Dance.

I was obsessed with that show and LOVED him on it.

I've followed him on his social channels since then.

Watching as he and his wife welcomed their children.

Dancing into our lives and bringing smiles to our faces.

And then.

On December 13, 2022, just 3 days after celebrating their 9th wedding anniversary, Stephen Boss was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

What the actual fuck.

Obviously, I didn't know this man.

But from the appearances, he seemed happy.

He had it all.

He made it big.

But this just goes to show.

You can seemingly have it all.

And yet, have nothing.

Or feel like you have nothing.

I cannot even start to imagine how he must have felt. That there was no hope left and this was the only thing left.

What's frustrating me the most right now though, is the fact that the news outlets keep referring to him as "Ellen's DJ" - UM HELLO. He joined the Ellen show in 2014.

He had a career before that.

Sure, maybe his gig on Ellen and the fact that he eventually became an Executive Producer on the show gained him popularity later on, but he definitely had a following and fanbase prior to Ellen.

So the headlines "Ellen's DJ sidekick" - wut?

He wasn't even a real DJ for fuck's sake (not from what I've read online). He was a dancer, dance instructor, entertainer, producer, and actor, among others.

And he played music and danced on Ellen's show as an EXECUTIVE PRODUCER.

So there you have it, folks.

Social media, the news.

It's all fucking fake.

Stephen seemed happy on his social platforms and everyone is in shock that he took his own life.

And the fucking news media can't even give him the credit he deserves in his own right.

He was so much more than "Ellen's Sidekick DJ."

RIP Stephen 'tWitch' Boss.

Holiday Birthday Party

Ava's 8th birthday is quickly approaching and each year it sneaks up on me.

It's 5 days before Christmas and it really sucks to have a birthday that close to a major holiday.

We try really hard to separate the two and to never, ever lump them together.

We want to celebrate Ava and the day of her birth. And surviving another year around the sun.

We make sure to wrap presents in birthday wrapping paper and do a theme that's unrelated to Christmas.

BUT.

This year?

This year she made her own real friends this year and we're so excited for her.

She wanted to do a sleepover at our house.

Some sort of activity, craft. Then of course movies, popcorn, snacks, etc. All the snacks. I'm going to make a fun "Snackuterie board" for them.

We were at Walmart the other day picking up a few things.

Steve actually had a good idea. We were brainstorming what craft or activity we could do.

Steve mentioned getting each kid their own Gingerbread House (or whatever). Now, generally, I would not be OK since it's a Christmas activity.

But we asked Ava what she thought and she loved the idea.

Ok, so that's that.

We will be doing a Gingerbread Theme.

I ordered the decorations and have picked up 6 Gingerbread kits so far.

Invites have been sent out.

The Most Beautiful Tree

Last year we waited entirely too long to get our tree.

In fact, we waited so long that most of the places had already closed for the season by the time we went out!

I was super disappointed. How did we wait so long?

As we were driving down our driveway, trying to think of where to go, Mila pointed out a tree in our yard.

"That would be a great tree"

Hm.

"You're right - let's cut it down"

LOL.

That's what happens when you live in the country.

A year later, it's as if it were never there!

Anyway, this year we decided NOT to do that.

As I was driving down to get my tattoo a couple of weeks ago, I drove by a Tree Farm that I had seen before. I told myself to remember to go to this one, it looked beautiful.

So we went.