Tornado thoughts in a post

It's cold here.  Feels like temp is -26 degrees.  Thankfully, it's a holiday so we don't actually have to go anywhere unless we want to.  Sadly, our fireplace doesn't work and it's so cold that the heater is struggling to heat the house warmer than 66 degrees.  Random thought but, every time I drive downtown I see homeless camps set up and whenever it gets cold like this I wonder, "how are they keeping warm?"  It makes me really grateful to have a house, warm socks, coats, jackets, heated blankets, etc.  

It looks like we are getting a dog.  We always told the girls we could consider one when we weren't renting and weren't overseas and here we are.  I haven't really been an animal lover, ever.  Somehow, living in Japan slowly changed me.  The dogs in Japan are so well behaved, quiet, cute.  Most of them are tiny little guys and I especially hate small yappy dogs but the dogs in Japan are so well trained that none of them jump or bark.  Anyway, the slobber, wet noses, shedding hair, dog smell--all unpleasant to me.  It was weird when we visited some friends who just had puppies and when their puppy licked my hand and put it's wet nose all over my face it didn't bother me at all.  I thought, "well shoot, that's different." I was still pretty opposed to the idea but over time it has begun to feel like the right thing for the girls.  I think I've just accepted that it will come with annoyances for me.  Mike hopes it will help with depression and I think taking care of a tiny creature will add to it.  Hahaha. Reports forthcoming. 

Eli's wrestling season is still underway.  It's been a long season and we are all ready for it to be over.  His tournaments are all far away and last about 12 hours.  He actually has more duels and tournaments to do because he moved into the JV spot, which requires a lot more.  I think I already noted that his team is giant and his teammates have all been wrestling for 4-7 years.  Eli came in with only one year behind him and wrestling a different style.  He's had to learn a new style of wrestling and somehow has managed to end up in the second spot for his weight class.  He was third but the second spot guy got injured.  While tournament days are long and uncomfortable, it's been a blessing for me to spend so much time with him and to support him.  I took him to Walsenburg, CO in December.  We left the ward Christmas party early and got to the hotel in time to go to bed.  An early morning followed and Eli wrestled hard.  There are always long segments of time between matches so I went for a lot of walks around Walsenburg.  It's a tiny, old town but I enjoyed seeing all the buildings.  I like seeing new things and places.  He ended up getting second place at this tournament and the one following he won.  I'm very proud of his progress.  He's a beast.

Well, another random post with a bunch of random photos from December.  

I told Mike that my brain is a little bit like a tornado with random thoughts swirling around all the time.  With that said, I'm getting tested for ADHD next week.  Also, have an MRI tomorrow so I can address headaches (an arnold chiari malformation) and my eye appointment next week as well.  I'm a hot mess all the time.  sigh

Life marches on.