It snowed.

 I mean, it snowed a LOT. A historic a LOT. We thought it was a classic Portland snow, with some flakes and nothing sticking, and then rain, but then the rain turned back into snow, and the snow started sticking and it just kept snowing. Luckily I was working from home and the kids' schools are walking distance. Cook made it almost all the way home by bike, and then had to walk the last mile, but he's very fortunate that he wasn't driving, as many people's car commutes home turned pretty nightmarish.

We have no dramatic stories. It just snowed A LOT. The kids had two days off school. They shoveled a bunch. 

In other news, I went by myself on a lovely weekend trip to visit another family with teenage daughters - I snuggled a cat, ate new food, watched a Korean drama, got the full social analysis of a middle school dance, and enjoyed myself enormously.

That's about all. My job continues to be good. Duchess has been accepted to TWO colleges so she's going to have to make at least once choice. Both kids have signed up to do track in the spring. Life goes on!

2023 is not boring so far

 Oh, hey, it's been a while. As forecasted, it's been a busy month - Duchess wrapped up college applications, I started my new job, and we moved to our temporary home. 

My new job is good and interesting, but a bunch of factors converged to make my first month much more chaotic and intense than I was anticipating. I also go into the office twice a week, and deal with all the human interactions that involves, which is delightful and tiring. (Though I am really happy to have bus buddies again - I missed having a little cast of characters I see on a regular schedule.) 

Our temporary home is fine. It's interesting how living in a different physical environment pushes us into different patterns - in this house the girls have adjacent bedrooms on the main floor and share a bathroom, which means they have more contact with each other. We don't have room upstairs for a dining table, so we cook dinner on the main floor and then carry our food to the basement to eat dinner at the table there. (The basement is finished and furnished; this isn't as squalid as it sounds.) There's no good grocery store nearby, so we grocery shop less often. 

Duchess got her first college acceptance letter, relieving her fear that she wouldn't get in anywhere. She'll get the rest of her responses over the next two months, and there will be a lot of Feelings. 

Anyway, we're all fine. I think things will be a little more serene for a bit, but I make no assumptions.