2022: A Year in Review (10 Year Anniversary)
It’s already been a decade since I’ve done my 20xx: A Year in Review posts (we don’t talk about how I lost the 2016 one). I’m starting this on December 12, so we’ll see if it gets posted on New Year’s Eve this year, since it’s been late for the past five years (Update: it most certainly will not. I got too busy with work, life, and unmotivation. Meh... so it’s getting posted on me and Russell’s fifth anniversary instead)
Let’s just jump in. There’s a lot to talk about this year. As I’ve said the past ten years, you don’t have to read if you don’t want to. It’s all just for me to read back on. Trigger warnings ahead!
January
January 1st started with Russell and me kissing, like always. We then went to bed because we both had to go to work in the morning.
January 9th: Bob Saget passed. I found out on Facebook because I saw someone post “rip bob saget.” I thought it was sarcastic at first, like maybe he said something offensive or something. I then googled it to check, and found out it was real.
Around the middle of this month, I noticed Bram from front-end was training with my department at Undisclosed Grocery Store (UGS). I asked Jessica why Bram was learning everything, and she mentioned that she was getting promoted on January 31st, so Bram was going to take her place as manager. We’d still have Michaela as assistant manager though.
Winter Storm Izzy hit us on January 16th. I called out that morning because my driveway was a sheet of ice and it was not safe for me to make the half hour drive to work. The MOD told me to try to drive when it got a little warmer, but I gave myself a snow day instead. I didn’t get in trouble for it, so it’s ok.
Also, we had someone from corporate named TL come in to change up how we do our job. The good part was we no longer had to use Baymax devices to stage our totes or destage orders, and we no longer had to use MPOS devices to check out orders. Everything we needed was on our Zebra devices. The bad part was we could no longer cheat the system to stage orders, had to have our totes bagged a certain way, and orders had to be bagged in a certain way. I was annoyed by it since I have my way of doing things, but I got over it.
January 24th: I came back from break, and Jessica said, “You’re not gonna like this, but you’re taking over someone’s trolley. I gotta take this person upstairs.” I was confused why she said I wasn’t going to like it, but said it was fine. I wanted to ask who was going upstairs, but didn’t since I knew that was information she couldn’t tell me. We started walking to find whoever, and she eventually asked if I’d seen Steven. I was immediately sad since Steven was my buddy. I said no, but then we spotted him. Jessica informed him I was taking over because she had to talk to him upstairs, and Steven looked at me in fear and asked what he did. I shook my head and said I didn’t know. They walked away, and I knew he was about to get fired. I learned that he was caught putting “paid” stickers on items he didn’t pay for and that we were all getting a talk to make sure we put receipts on with “paid” stickers.
My maternal Grandpa turned 90 on January 27th, and the party for him was January 29th. I couldn’t go since COVID numbers were spiking and I didn’t want to risk potentially giving him COVID for his birthday, but I did video chat him for a while at the party. It was nice to talk to him and see him.
January 27th was also me and Russell’s fourth anniversary, and we went out to dinner together on January 28th.
On January 31st, Bram took over as manager. I hoped he’d stick around for a while...
February
My dad’s birthday was the 13th and I called him and talked to him for a bit.
We didn’t do anything special for Valentine’s Day, but Russell did get me a balloon that came with chocolate peanut butter candies.
I got a haircut that month
I had my one year anniversary at UGS, and became officially eligible for a vacation week and 2 personal days.
February 20th: Chickengate.
Quick little story. I was at work and picking an oversize. When I got to the end of the trolley, I noticed a chicken tender order asking for double fries and a roll. I thought it was a service counter at first and went to move it to review for the marshals to get, but the option said “out of stock” instead of “item not ready.” I finished picking as normal, then went to the back. I asked Kathy about the chicken tender order, and she wasn’t sure what to do either. She then asked Bram, and he didn’t know, so he went to the deli to see if they knew. After lots of back and forth between Bram, the deli, and upper management, they concluded that the chicken tenders shouldn’t have been ordered through our department.
March
Again, not much happened
Tee finally got a job after being unemployed since quitting her last job. She later got moved from her original department to another one.
On March 29th, Russell had a college reunion at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. When he first mentioned it, I thought it was a trick. I went to his university’s website and, sure enough, there was an event for alums who lived around Atlanta. We met several people and ate some good food, but it was all appetizer finger food and we were still hungry when we left.
(NSFW warning) Before going to the reunion, after I came home from work, we thought we had some time before Tee came home, so we went to our room to bang. I thought I heard the front door open at one point, but Russell told me he didn’t hear it and I probably was just hearing things. When we were done, I went into the bathroom to clean up and dress up, and I heard Russell talking to someone. As it turns out, Tee came home and heard us. I didn’t see the look on her face, but this event now has Tee calling us when she’s on the way home.
I sincerely thought 2022 was going to be a chill year...
There was just a lot of preparations for the vacation we had coming up.
April
April 1st: my 28th birthday. I had to work (surprise!), but I enjoyed my day. My vacation was approved (albeit last second because UGS was in the process of changing software and my vacation request got lost, but I brought it up to Bram and he fixed it right away), work wasn’t too busy, and I got to have Mexican for my birthday dinner. Also, my birthday was on a Friday, which was funny because I was born on a Friday.
The only person to remember my birthday at work was Florence. Rude!
April 2nd: We went to get COVID tests prior to going on vacation, since they were required. We went to the urgent care where Tracy (Russell’s aunt) worked, and they were able to see us as soon as we showed up. I was nervous about my COVID tests since I was a little stuffy from my allergies. Mine came back negative and so did Russell’s, but Tee’s came back positive. We thought there was no way since we all live in the same house, use the same silverware, etc. They told us we could come back in the morning to retest, which would’ve made us arriving to our destination late and unable to do what we have planned, but we agreed. However, when Tee told Tracy what happened, she told them to rerun the sample. The rerun came back negative, and the people at urgent care gave Tee the negative result.
Also, my paternal Grandpa had surgery for an intestinal obstruction on April 2nd. Everything went well.
April 3rd-April 8th: vacation!
April 3rd: the original plan was to get up at 3am, and my alarms went off as so. I rolled over towards Russell, and he told me that because Tee didn’t go to bed until late (after we told her MANY times to go to bed early) that we were going to sleep another hour. I set my alarms for 4am. We then got up, ready to hit the road. We made our way down to our hotel in Cocoa, FL, stopping at RaceTrac to get breakfast sandwiches, getting gas and Starbucks in Savannah, and getting lunch at Buc-ee’s in St. Augustine. We arrived at the hotel around 3:30pm, a little too early for check-in, but they had our room ready and let us check-in. We decided to spend “20 minutes” relaxing, which turned into 45 minutes. We then made the drive to Orlando to go to FunSpot. We drove past ICON Park, and it was chilling seeing the crowds by Orlando FreeFall, the ride where a 14 year old fell off and passed. We got to FunSpot, rode a few rides (including a new coaster credit, White Lightning), and walked through an animal display with reptiles and birds. We then went to get dinner at Friendly’s (which was my idea since it had been my go-to place for birthday dinners for YEARS before all of them shut down in Ohio). I was shocked with how expensive it was, but it was totally worth it. We then went to Super Target to get a few items we forgot to bring with us before going back to our hotel, getting showers, and going to bed, excited for the rest of the week.
April 4th: we got up around 8am, since we had stuff we needed to do before heading to Cape Canaveral. We got breakfast at C’s Waffles, and I was elated with all the Steelers decor. Our waiter told us the founder was a huge Steelers fan and they kept it up in his honor. I had a waffle with chocolate, peanut butter, and whipped cream, which reminded me of the waffle I’d get at Wally Waffle when we lived in Ohio. After eating, we stopped to get Starbucks (of course) and then made our way to Cape Canaveral. We got to the port and parked, then Russell revealed he’d paid for The Key, which allowed us to have express access through customs and boarding. We got through quickly, and when we got on the boat (Independence of the Seas), we found out that we got free lunch from Chops Grille in the Main Ballroom. I had a goat cheese salad, grilled branzino, and chocolate cake. After lunch, we got to our room, which had a balcony. We thought the room had a pull-out bed from the couch, but the pull-out was actually from the ceiling. None of us wanted to climb up the ladder, and I refused to sleep in the bed with Tee, so I spent the week sleeping on the couch while Russell and Tee got the bed (which ended up ok anyway since the couch was MUCH comfier). After getting settled into the room, we put on our bathing suits, put clothes on over them, and went to explore the boat. We got the first of MANY drinks we’d consume, made reservations at Chops Grille and Giovanni’s Table (Russell also paid for the dining pass, which we’d learn was a waste since the buffets, pizza, coffee shop, and ice cream were free), completed the muster drill, and made our way to the hot tub in the adults-only section as the boat made its way out of the port. We later got dinner at Giovanni’s Table, where I had Tonno Crudo, Gnocchi al Gorgonzola, and Tiramisu Alla Giovanni. After dinner, we spent the night relaxing. Also, I started experiencing some seasickness. I wasn’t nauseous, but I was feeling the rocking of the boat hard. Thankfully, we packed some Dramamine, just in case.
April 5th: I woke up around 7:45am, though Russell and Tee had been up longer. Russell invited me over to the balcony, and we had a nice view of The Bahamas as we slowly made our way to the port. It was a gorgeous view, and it already felt hot outside, which made me happy. We got breakfast delivered to our door (I don’t remember what I ate, but it doesn’t matter), got dressed for the day, and made sure we had everything we needed packed in the bag we were taking to the beach. After we were docked, we made our way off the boat to meet up with the group for our excursion. The Bahamas still had strict COVID rules at the time, so we had to wear a mask as we walked off the pier. We then got on an air-conditioned bus and had a tour of Nassau before getting to Cable Beach. The bus drivers told us they’d be back to get us at 2pm, and if we weren’t on the bus, we’d have to find our own way back to the port. We made our way to the folding chairs, set up our area, and stripped down to our bathing suits to put on sunscreen and swim in the ocean. The water was cold at first, but we adapted to it quick. While in the water, we met a couple my parents’ age from New Hampshire, and we talked about the weather up north and sports teams. The area of the beach we were on also had a nearby restaurant called The Poop Deck that provided complimentary lunch to us, and I had an exuma wrap (which was snapper, romaine, pepper jack cheese, and tartar sauce. I asked for no tomato, but they put it on anyway, so I picked it off as I ate). I also drank Island Punch and water. I kept my eye on the time and set an alarm on my phone to go off at 1:45pm so we could make it to the bus on time. After the bus ride back to the port, we had some time before the boat was to leave, so we decided to stop in one of the stores I’d heard about called Del Sol. I found a t-shirt with a turtle and knew that was the shirt I wanted. Russell picked out a shirt too. We paid for the shirts and then went through the customs on the pier to get back to the boat. Once we put everything back in our room, we went to the adults-only hot tubs to relax. We went to Chops Grille for dinner that night, where I had the crispy goat cheese salad, crab and shrimp cake, grilled branzino, and chocolate cake. We went to If You Know It, Dance It, and it was a fun time.
April 6th: I randomly woke up around 4am after a nightmare, needing to pee. I quietly navigated to the bathroom in the dark and did my business. (TMI warning) When I wiped, I noticed the toilet paper was red. I became startled, wondering if it was my kidneys since I’d been drinking more alcohol than I’d ever really drank before. I got a clean piece of toilet paper and discovered it was, in fact, my period... two days early! I was kinda agitated since, even though I had packed a few supplies just in case, I was not prepared for it to be THAT early. I quietly slipped out of the bathroom to grab a tampon and, once everything was done, went back to the couch to sleep a little longer. (Ok, that’s done now). When morning came, we went to Windjammer for breakfast. As we ate breakfast, we docked at Royal Caribbean’s private island, Coco Cay, and saw other ships arriving to the port as well. After we finished breakfast, we went to get dressed for the day and went to have a “Perfect Day.” I put that in parenthesis because it was not that great, the worst part being we were due to be back on the boat by 3pm. First thing we did after getting off the boat was find a place that sold tampons, and they sold them in individual units for $2/each, so I bought enough to last me the rest of the cruise. Once they were bought, we went to the waterpark, which was packed. We only rode one slide, and it wasn’t even the tallest one. After the slide, we went to get lunch, which was pathetic. There were no vegetarian options, which was very annoying. I ended up eating a cheese, lettuce, and sour cream wrap, nachos, and an ice cream cone (remember this). After lunch, we went to do our zipline excursion. Russell, unfortunately, couldn’t participate due to being over the weight limit, so Tee and I went. I was nervous at first, but after the first leg of the excursion, I had fun. After the second leg, I went to the top to board for the third leg, and Tee was nowhere to be found. The attendant loaded me on and asked if I was alone. I said no, and the attendant asked the other one at the bottom of the second leg if he’d seen Tee. He shrugged, and then we saw her walking on the ground. The attendant called out to her, and Tee saw me at the top and ran. By that point, another group came for the third leg, so the attendant sent me off on my own. After it was done, I went back to the base to return my equipment. I then went to find Russell where he said he’d be, and he was nowhere to be found. There was a lot of people and I tried looking for him, but I couldn’t find him. I started panicking, and a worker saw me and gave me a water bottle to calm me down. Tee made her way back to base after a while, and asked where Russell was. I said I didn’t see him. Tee wanted to go check around the island, and I told her that wasn’t a good idea because we had to board the boat soon and I didn’t want us to be stranded. Eventually, Russell found us and demanded to know why we didn’t go to where he said he’d be. I informed him that I did and didn’t see him, and he should’ve kept an eye out when he knew he was hidden in the crowd where it was hard to see AND I wasn’t wearing my glasses during the excursion. We went to the boat in silence and got to the room. I kept my back to him as I put on a clean bathing suit and my long t-shirt since we were planning on going to the adult pool (we spent a lot of time at the pool). Russell admitted that I was right and apologized to me for yelling. We went into the adult pool and sat at the in-pool bar on the deep end. I originally got a Bahama Mama, but it wasn’t mixed right, so it tasted awful. Against my better judgment, I downed the drink and ordered a Blue Hawaiian, since that drink had been my favorite. Russell warned me to not go crazy since I had very little to eat for lunch. I then decided that I was going to swim around the deep end. I thought I looked great, but the lifeguard was staring me down and wouldn’t take his eyes off me. I kept telling him I was fine and I’d ask for help if I needed it, but he wasn’t taking the risk. After a while longer, we decided to dry off for dinner. When we got to the room, I went to put my wet bathing suit on the balcony, and Russell kept his eye on me since I was drunk. We cancelled our reservation at Giovanni’s Table so we could try out Windjammer for dinner. I sobered up once I had food in my system, and Russell asked me how much I remembered. I remembered it all. There was a Don’t Forget the Lyrics type of event that we watched that evening.
April 7th: we woke up that morning in no rush, since we were going to be at sea that day. We got breakfast at Windjammer again, and walked around the boat, stopping in the Arcade to find souvenirs for my family. I bought things for my parents and nephew. For lunch, we went to Johnny Rockets, and I had a veggie burger and a milkshake. Hang On Sloopy played a couple times, and every time it came on, I did the O-H-I-O, which embarrassed Russell and he kept telling me that nobody would join me on it. After lunch, we debated looking into the Next Cruise kiosk in the Arcade area since we knew this was something we wanted to do again, but we knew the agent would rope us into booking if we asked, so we grabbed information pamphlets instead for Hawaii and Alaska for us to look at and decide later. We then went to go play Bingo. We didn’t win shit, but I was annoyed because kids were allowed to participate even though the set-up was gambling. Oh, and speaking of gambling, there was a casino on the boat, and since we were using my tax-refund to pay for things on the boat, I let Russell have $40 to play. He doubled the money, and I told him to stop and either cash out or pick a different machine. Instead, he kept playing the same one until he had pennies left. I then told him he wasn’t getting any more money. We had dinner that night at Chops Grille, and I realized how full I felt. I wasn’t hungry at all, so I tried to eat lighter. I had lobster bisque (which I didn’t enjoy because it was made with brandy and I forgot that I don’t like brandy), crab cake, grilled Atlantic salmon, and apple pie. After dinner, we went to pack up everything and relax, enjoying our last evening before going back to reality.
April 8th: we woke up at 8am. We were already back at the port and had to get off. Because we’d gotten everything ready prior to bed, we went to get breakfast in the Main Ballroom. After we were done eating, we met up with The Key to get express access through deboarding and customs. Going through customs was a little bit of a hassle since the face recognition wouldn’t recognize my face, but we eventually made it out. Once we got to the car, we went to Target, with the first stop being the bathroom. After I was done, we grabbed Starbucks, then left Target to go check out the nearby Dollar General/pOpshelf. While in the Dollar General, I bought a box of tampons since I only had one left and home was 10 hours away. Afterwards, we started the drive to Jacksonville, since Tee is a Jaguars fan and wanted to see her team’s stadium. On the way, we stopped at Buc-ee’s in Daytona Beach to buy souvenirs for my sisters and future brother-in-law. When we got back on I-95, I realized I needed to pee, so we stopped at Buc-ee’s in St. Augustine. After that, we made it to TIAA Bank Stadium. We couldn’t get too close since there was some concert going on that night and the parking lot was roped off, but we took pictures the best we could. We then went on I-95, and the GPS decided to take us a different path. It took us to I-10, and I started getting hungry. We eventually stopped to get lunch in Lake City, FL (I don’t remember where. Probably Wendy’s). After lunch, we got on I-75 and followed it all the way up through Florida and up Georgia. We wanted to get dinner at Denny’s by Tanger Outlets Locust Grove, but it was closed. We ended up just getting McDonald’s for dinner. After dinner, we didn’t stop again until we got home. As sad as I was that vacation was over, it was SOOO nice to be back home and see the cats and dogs.
April 10th was my first day back at work after vacation. I missed the beach already.
My parents and Bridgid came down to visit April 16th-April 18th
April 16th: they arrived that afternoon, and we invited them to get dinner with us at O’Charley’s, since they couldn’t come in the house since they’re all allergic to cats and we figured we’d take them to one of our go-to’s. After dinner, they went to their hotel for the night to relax.
April 17th: I originally had to work, and I did for two hours. Bram overheard me joking about asking to leave early, and when he told me I could leave if I wanted, I asked if he was sure. He mentioned since we were so slow, he wanted to cut people anyway. I took it and ran. I called my mom to let her know I got off work and asked if they wanted to get lunch. She said they already ate, so I got lunch with Russell and Tee at Panera. After lunch, I went home to change out of my work uniform and called my mom to see what they wanted to do. We ended up playing mini golf. Afterwards, we were hungry for dinner, and since I had a gift card, we went to LongHorn. After dinner, we went home for the night.
April 18th: I was off work that day, and my parents wanted to check out the Buford Dam. Russell and Tee both had work, so I went with them by myself. We went to the park by the dam and hiked on the path. I mentioned that Sugar would love it down here. After the hike, I showed my parents where I work, then we went back to my parents’ hotel room, since there was nothing really better to do. When Tee got off work, we met her at Loretta’s for dinner. My parents really enjoyed it, but Bridgid, who eats like a bird, didn’t finish her food. After dinner, I said “goodbye for now” to my parents and Bridgid, since they were going down to Savannah the next morning and I had to work.
The rest of the month was pretty chill...
Also, my paternal Grandma turned 87 on the 26th. I had my dad pass along a “happy birthday” to her since she and Grandpa don’t live in the same house due to my Grandma being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and I no longer have a number to contact them.
May
(TW: pet death) May 4th: Spud passed away
We knew Spud was going to the vet that day, and we were prepared to be told that Spud was at the end of his life. He had been diagnosed with bone cancer, and he could no longer play with Sugar, walk down the road, or sit properly. We were told he’d have 12-18 months left without amputating the leg that the cancer originated in (we chose not to amputate because we felt the surgery was too risky for a 14 year old dog), and this around the 12 month mark. We explained to the vet everything, and he told us that we had two options: increase Spud’s pain meds to help him do things properly and buy him more time (though he mentioned this would damage Spud’s kidneys) or put him down that day. We cried a lot because we knew the right decision was to put him down. We all gave Spud lots of hugs and kisses, and I showed Spud a picture of Seamus and told him to say hi to him for me when he crossed the rainbow bridge. The vet came in to do the procedure, then Tee and I left the room while Russell stayed with Spud during the procedure. The vet assistant led us out the back door and offered to make paw prints as a souvenir for Spud, and we said yes. After a little bit, Russell joined us outside, telling us that Spud went quickly and peacefully.
I was numb the next morning, not sure what to do since Sugar was the only dog. Russell texted me to see if I was awake, and after I told him I was, he asked me if I wanted to go with him to give Sugar a walk. I said yes, and I was sad the whole time. I couldn’t believe Spud was actually gone.
I talked to my mom on Mother’s Day.
May 16th was Russell’s 31st birthday, and also Lemmy and Rufus’s first birthday. Russell had to work at his second job, so he didn’t get to spend time with us that night, but we surprised him with a birthday cake. We picked out a yellow cake with white icing and a rainbow, and Tee asked Sherri (the lady who works the bakery that I see every morning) if she could write a message on it, and Sherri at first thought it was for a kid. She asked if it was for a boy or a girl, and Tee said boy. Sherri then asked how old the boy was turning, and Tee said 31. Sherri laughed and said she wouldn’t put the age on it. Lemmy and Rufus, on the other hand, got soft cat food for their birthday. They loved it.
On May 19th, Sugar and Wacko went to the vet. Sugar was due for shots, but we knew something was wrong with Wacko. He had lost weight, would only eat soft cat food and kitty treats, was having accidents, and there was blood in his urine and stool. The vet ran two blood tests on him, and they both came back inconclusive. The vet could only guess that Wacko had a UTI, and gave us an antibiotic to help.
And we thought the antibiotic WAS helping. Wacko suddenly became more energetic, was eating more, and was doing a lot better...
On May 27th, we went to see a movie, since my mom gave Russell and I AMC gift cards. We agreed on Bob’s Burgers, since I’d never seen the first Top Gun movie and the other movies didn’t seem appealing.
(TW: pet death) Wacko passed away
Upon getting home from the movie, I went to see Wacko, since I hadn’t seen him much that day because I went to work, then had to get ready to go to the movies pretty much immediately upon getting home. I asked him if he was hungry and went to the kitchen. Normally, Wacko would follow me, meowing. That time, he didn’t. He stayed laying on the couch. I thought maybe he had just woken up, so I picked him up, gave him a hug, and put him on the floor. He walked a few steps, then laid down. In that moment, I knew what was going to happen, but I denied it because I couldn’t believe it. I told Russell, and he called for Tee, who’d went up to her room. She came back down, and I picked Wacko up so she could see what he was doing. He walked a few steps again, then laid down, making an unfamiliar noise. Tee asked if that was Wacko, and I said yes. I think she knew what was going to happen too. I tried to bring food to Wacko to see if he would eat, but he turned his nose up to it. Tee then tried to feed him a kitty treat, and Wacko turned his head away from it. Since he wouldn’t eat, we laid him down on the couch. I sat next to him, petting him, kissing him, and telling him that I love him as much as I could when I knew he could still hear me. Wacko must’ve still been mentally there, since he’d give me the tooth every time I kissed him. After a while, he started fading away. He no longer responded to my voice, stopped purring when I would pet him, and wouldn’t duck upon me kissing him. I knew Wacko as I knew him was gone. I gave him a big kiss before going upstairs for bed.
I slept like shit that night. I had unrealistic hope that Wacko would be normal in the morning. I got up when Russell got up to go to his second job. I told him not to tell me if Wacko was dead. When he left the room, I went to the bathroom, riddled with anxiety. After 15 minutes, I was still in the bathroom, and Russell came back into the room. He was nodding, and I was confused at first. I then realized Russell wasn’t going to say anything, so I said it myself, “Wacko’s dead, isn’t he?” Russell kept nodding until he said that Wacko was, indeed, gone. Russell also took the liberty of putting Wacko’s remains in our garage where I couldn’t see since he knew I was still upset over seeing Smokey’s remains in January 2021. I was devastated, especially since I had to go to work. I forced myself to go anyway, hiding in the cooler every so often when a wave of tears would show up.
June
My mom’s birthday was the 2nd. We talked for a while.
I talked to my dad for a while on Father’s Day
Russell got a raise at his job as an accountant, so he quit his second job. Unfortunately, the bills went up after he did.
June was pretty chill otherwise
July
I had to work on the Fourth of July, so we just grilled food at home.
Around here, I asked Bram if I could work more hours at work. I was nervous about it since I knew there weren’t a lot of hours to give, but Bram was more than happy to do it. I started working 40 hours a week, which eventually led to me becoming full-time, which was what I wanted in the first place!
July 15-July 18: Russell and I went to Cedar Point with my family
July 15: we got up super early, not looking forward to the long drive ahead of us. We stopped by my place of employment to get gas with my fuel points, then stopped at Dunkin’ to get breakfast before heading towards I-75 (which was a loooong ways away). We got on I-75 in Cleveland, Tennessee, and took it all the way up to Ohio. We made our first bathroom stop in Williamsburg, Kentucky. We stopped in Richmond, Kentucky to get gas, go to the bathroom, and buy lunch at Buc-ee’s. However, the people at Buc-ee’s seemed to be in no rush to make what I wanted, so I said fuck it and got lunch somewhere else. We stopped for another bathroom break in Monroe, Ohio, and I got some Muddy Buddies out of a vending machine as a snack. After that, we kept going until we got to Sandusky. I called my mom when we were about an hour out to find out what they were up to. She informed me that she and my dad were going to the grocery store near the park to get food for the weekend (my sisters were going to stay at the cabin) and asked if we wanted anything. I asked for sunscreen since I forgot to pack ours, but my mom forgot. We got to the cabin before my parents got back, and the very first thing I did was ask to go to the bathroom. I ended up getting stuck in the bathroom until Bridgid opened it, which resulted in me never closing the bathroom all the way for the rest of the trip. My parents came back from the grocery store, and we hung out, eating pizza and drinking for the night.
July 16: we all got up early to go into the park. We had pancakes, eggs, and toast for breakfast before getting our passes for the park, as well as the drink bands. We got a group picture in front of the carousel before we all split off in groups. Mom and Dad stayed with Moira, Adam, and Duncan, and Bridgid and Fiona went with me and Russell. We went to the back of the park first to get on Steel Vengeance as soon as possible, since we knew it would be a busy wait. It had about a half hour wait when we got there, which wasn’t bad! Fiona was unsure about getting in line since she’s had a fear of coasters since she blacked out on GateKeeper, but I convinced her it’d be ok since I used to work in ride operations. After a little while, I noticed that the line was not moving. We then heard an announcement that the ride was down for a mechanical issue. We decided to wait a little longer, since we were pretty close to the front of the line. When we noticed ride operators evacuating riders from the brake run, we knew it was time to get out of line. Fiona decided to stick with our parents, so the three of us rode rides. Even though the forecast called for rain and low-70s, it was pretty sunny and got to the low-80s. It was a great day! We ate a late lunch at Mac Shack, where I got double broccoli for my protein and parmesan cheese, sour cream, and buffalo sauce for the toppings. It was a wonderful! We did eventually get Bridgid on Steel Vengeance, and she liked it. We ate dinner at the cabin, and I had veggie burgers. After dinner, we chose to stay in the air conditioning for a little while to relax. Moira and Adam went to enjoy the park without Duncan, which caused Duncan to scream and cry (he was almost 2 at the time). Duncan eventually wore himself out, and Russell and I decided it was time to head back into the park so Duncan could have some quiet time to sleep (Bridgid wanted to wait and see if Dad wanted to go back in, since he for some reason drove back to Cleveland to get a pair of shorts just to drive all the way back to Sandusky...). We rode as many rides as we could, but we hit up the ones we liked the most. We did our last ride of the night on Magnum, and it hurt! I was already sore from all the walking around, waiting in line, sitting down, standing up dance, and we sat in Magnum’s “magic seat” without thinking about it (car 1, row 3). It was a long walk back to the cabin.
July 17: we all slept in a little, waking up to a thunderstorm outside. My dad wanted to try to make breakfast on the grill outside, but we told him not to. We instead went to the Perkins at the hotel, where Moira surprised us by paying for everyone’s breakfast, saying it was for our parents’ anniversary. Since it was still raining a little, my family opted to not go back into the park, but Russell and I decided to go in for a little while, even if just to get souvenirs, since we knew we weren’t going to be back up to go into the park before Labor Day. We rode a few flat rides that we didn’t get to ride the day before and took some pictures on the train. We then stopped in the Build-a-Bear that opened recently in the park, and I picked out a pastel rainbow bear that I named Sorbet, and I picked out a Cedar Point shirt for her to wear. After we finished in Build-a-Bear, we knew it was time to leave. We got on the road, making a quick stop to get gas and lunch before heading to Lexington, our “half way” mark home. We did stop at Lion’s Den, a sex shop. I felt a little awkward about it, but we managed to find some fun toys for our bedroom. By 8pm, we were hungry for dinner. Russell said he wanted to wait until we got to the hotel for the night, but I informed him there’d be nothing open by the time we got there. We knew our options were already limited as it was, so we settled on Cracker Barrel. We showed up at 8:30pm, and I felt like an ass since I knew they closed at 9pm. I hoped they weren’t too busy, but they were slammed because there was a large party. Our waitress was very nice to us and kept apologizing to us for the wait. We got our food around 9:45pm, and we ate fast so we could get on the road. We got to our hotel (Quality Inn) around 11pm, and we were just about ready for bed... but not without taking a shower and having some fun with our new toys.
July 18: we woke up semi-early because I found out the nearby McDonald’s had bagels. No McDonald’s near us in Georgia has them, and I was really excited to have my bagel sandwich. We ate breakfast in the hotel room and relaxed for a little bit before getting on the road. We then hit the road, stopping for gas in Berea. Shortly after getting into Tennessee, I was hungry for lunch. Russell promised we’d stop when we got to Cleveland since there looked like a lot of options there. However, without us noticing, the GPS had changed the route from “fastest’ to “most fuel efficient.” When we got out of the Knoxville area, the GPS said we’d be getting off in 20 miles. That didn’t seem right, and I told Russell, but he said it was fine. Imagine the surprise when we ended up getting off the highway at some small town. I told Russell to get back on the highway, but he wanted to drive “for a minute” to see what was there for food. Well, he kept going until we got to some “last chance” area in Tellico Plains. We stopped a small restaurant called Tellicafe, and it was the best meal I’d eaten in a while (though I was absolutely starving by that point, so it could’ve been that too). After lunch, we kept following the GPS... until there was no GPS. We had no cell service at all! I was afraid something might happen to us and we’d have no way to call for help since we were so deep into the Appalachian Mountains. After what seemed like forever (it was probably 30 minutes max), we got cell service back and found ourselves in a touristy tri-state area (Tennessee, Georgia, and North Carolina). We crossed into Georgia and kept following the GPS until we were in a town I recognized. We found a road I knew and followed it without the GPS until we found ourselves near my place of employment. I never thought I’d be happy to see UGS, but after the adventure in the mountains, I was so excited. We bought cat litter at UGS since we needed some and it was on sale, then went home.
The rest of July was chill.
August
Russell got another second job. He tried to get his old job back, but the store manager said no, so he got it at another store in another department- deli instead of produce.
Around here, I noticed I hadn’t seen Bram in a few days. I asked Sean where he was, and Sean informed me that Bram quit. I thought he was lying at first because he was smiling, but he told me that he was, in fact, not lying. Damn...
Tee’s birthday was August 18th. We did her birthday dinner the night before since Russell had to work that evening, and she picked LongHorn.
Russell also learned he had to start wearing glasses while working and driving at night.
(TW: Suicide) August 29th started off as a normal day. I got up that morning and went to work. I arrived a little early, so I sat in the break room and scrolled on Facebook. I came across a post from Rebecca, someone I worked at McDonald’s with, and saw the words “you’ll be missed.” I saw the picture was of her with Jon, her ex-boyfriend/father of her son, and someone I used to work with. I looked to see if anyone had said what happened to him, and nobody had. I was pretty sad since Jon was such a kind guy and I loved working with him because he was so funny. That afternoon, I looked on Facebook again, and Anna shared a picture she had of Jon, and she mentioned that he took his life. I was completely distraught. I had lost touch with Jon since moving out of Ohio, especially after he split with his ex-fiance, Rilee, since I was closer to Rilee than Jon. I was pretty upset about it for days, and I’m still upset about it now.
September
September 8th: I was off work that day. I woke up to news that Queen Elizabeth was “under medical watch.” I knew what was coming, but not when. Russell and I had Chipotle for lunch. After lunch, I was scrolling on my phone, and saw Good Morning America posted on their Facebook group a picture of the double rainbow over Buckingham Palace. I went to the page, and the news had JUST broken that Queen Elizabeth passed. Russell was in a meeting, so I tried not to be loud with my reaction: “oh no!” Russell and his boss were literally just talking about Queen Elizabeth during their Teams meeting and Russell asked what happened. I told him, and Russell relayed what I said to his boss (he couldn’t hear me since I was on the opposite side of the room). NOTE: I know Queen Elizabeth was not a “sweet old lady,” but her passing is still a major news story that I’m sure my future kids will ask me about someday.
We got a “temporary manager” named Kennie. He said he was staying for two weeks, but he was gone after a week.
Our new manager then became Ernie. This made me laugh because we have an upper manager named Bert.
September 23rd was Bridgid’s birthday. I called her and we talked for over an hour.
October
Gatlin left on October 2nd. I was sad, but he still stops by to say hi.
We went to Carowinds from the 14th-16th
October 14th: we got on the road around 12:30pm. After fighting construction traffic, we arrived to our hotel around 5pm. After getting settled, we ate a quick dinner at Culver’s, even though I wasn’t hungry since we had a late lunch. We then made our way to the park, and Russell got directed to park in the grass. After getting our gold passes, we went inside the park. We rode Intimidator first, and it was a great choice for a first coaster. We then made our way all around the park, including making some good timing to get on Copperhead Strike (the ride was literally reopening after going down mechanical), a haunted house, and Fury 325. By 11:30pm, we decided to leave for the night, and it was an easy exit from the grass. Tee wanted Waffle House, so we took a little drive to the nearest one. I really didn’t want to eat at Waffle House because it didn’t sound appetizing, so all I ate was a grilled cheese sandwich. Because Waffle House was so short-staffed and crowded, we were there for two hours. I was pretty bitter about the whole thing.
October 15th: we got up around 9am. The park opened for the day at 11am and we didn’t want to be late. We got dressed, then went to McDonald’s for breakfast. I got the hotcakes platter, a hashbrown, and a mocha frappe. After we were done eating, we made our way to the park. We weren’t allowed to park in the grass like earlier, but we got a good parking spot anyway. After putting on sunscreen, we went inside the park, ready for a day of fun. We even got fast passes to ensure we can ride everything we want to ride. The park shut down at 5pm to prepare for Scarowinds, so we went to eat dinner at TGI Fridays. After dinner, we went back to the park, and ended up getting a worse parking spot then before. We put more focus on the haunted houses than the rides, but still rode a bunch of them anyway. We ended up leaving around 10:30pm because we were tired, but we still had a great time.
October 16th: we got up that morning, and I mentioned we could theoretically go inside Carowinds for a little bit, even though I more wanted to go home. We ended up heading home... but we ended up stopping at Cracker Barrel in Gastonia first. I didn’t want to eat at a sit-down restaurant because I wanted to go home, but because Tee wanted it, we went. I ended up getting a lunch dish since it was about that time anyway. We got home around 6pm, and I was so glad to be home again.
Tee got in a car accident
So, not much of a story, but Russell’s phone was ringing while we were sleeping. I thought we’d overslept and it was an alarm, but realized it was dark outside as soon as I opened my eyes. Russell answered it on speakerphone, and all I could hear was Tee screaming that she crashed her car and admitting fault. We both got out of bed, and I dressed for work because I predicted this was going to take a while and I didn’t want to be late. We met Tee at the scene of the accident, and she explained that she was turning left and hit the other car either because she turned too sharply or the other car was over the line. The damage to her car didn’t seem to be too bad, minus the flat tire. The other person’s car didn’t have a scratch. The police seemed to take their sweet time showing up, saying they “couldn’t find us.” They eventually showed up, and the police let the other person go upon arrival. Tee, on the other hand, was told her car was not safe to drive and was let off with a warning for reckless driving. She got into Russell’s car, and she asked if we could get breakfast and coffee. By that point, I had to get to work, so I said no, and realized I needed to stop at the house to get my work apron. Russell ignored me and stopped for breakfast on the way back to the house. They’re lucky I wasn’t late! As of posting this, we STILL have not gotten the car back. In addition to the flat tire, they had to replace a few internal parts.
October 27th was Moira’s birthday. I called her, but she didn’t answer, so I left a message
Halloween was nothing special. I painted a Tigger pumpkin the day before, I went to work wearing Minnie Mouse ears like I did in 2021, I came home around 6:30pm, I dressed in a Care Bear onesie that I wore in 2017, and I handed out candy.
November
I voted early, and I did not vote for Herschel Walker.
I won the $1.9b Powerball (just kidding!)
My department then got a second manager named Kandace. The best way to explain it was Kandace was our new manager and Ernie was an assistant manager. We hadn’t had anything like that since Michaela left and Bram became the sole manager...
The job ended up being too much for Ernie and he quit.
I bought a dress and Russell bought a suit for his work Christmas party. Russell had to wait a week to get it since it was being tailored.
Thanksgiving was a calm day. We slept in, watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and got dinner at Boston Market. I was still hungry since all I had to eat was mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, cornbread, and pumpkin pie.
Black Friday started off as a normal day. We got up at 7am with a plan: Bath & Body Works, PetSmart, Target, the mall to get Russell’s suit, and Ollie’s. Nowhere else. I spent less than $100 at B&BW, which was a miracle in itself. PetSmart ended up not having the deals we were hoping for, but we bought some cat treats. Target was packed, and we just went in there to look. We ended up not getting much of anything. We then went to the mall, and Russell wanted to go into Petland just to look at the puppies. As I was walking along and looking at the puppies, I caught sight of a miniature schnauzer. She had the same coloring as Seamus did when he was little, and she looked right back at me. I noticed her brother in a different area, but something inside me just couldn’t leave her. Russell knew exactly what I was thinking, and we asked a worker if we could see her. The worker said yes, and loaded us into a stall to see her. I loved her so much right away, and even though I tried telling Russell and Tee that we should not bring her home... we ended up buying her. We tried with my credit first, but I was only approved for in-house financing with payments I wouldn’t be able to make. Russell’s credit, on the other hand, approved him for the full amount at a credit bureau with much more manageable payments that Tee and I would make. Once everything was good to go, we went to get Russell’s suit before bringing the car to the valet area to put all the items in the car and bring the puppy home. We still stopped at Ollie’s, and I stayed outside with the puppy. Once everything was done at Ollie’s, we went home. On the way home, I suggested the name Lilli for the puppy, since Tee wanted to call her Lillipup and I did not want to call her that. The name stuck.
Lilli met the animals. She met Sugar first, and Sugar scared her because she jumped on me while I was holding Lilli. Lilli didn’t seem too offended by it, since by the end of the day, they were best friends. On the other hand, Lilli thought the cats were all puppies like her. She wanted to play with them so badly, but they didn’t appreciate it.
Also, November 25th was my paternal Grandpa’s 89th birthday. They had a party for him. I wished I could’ve went.
November 28th: the shift from Hell. Kandace had a doctor’s appointment and said she’d be back, but she didn’t come back. This left Sean and Noah in the back, with me, Jake, and Caleb picking. Around 4:30pm, I had returned from a pick and saw Noah was by himself. I asked him where Sean was, and Noah said he left. “Left where?” I asked him. “Left to get service counters, left for break, or left-left?” Noah confirmed it was the last one. I asked if he called for help, and Noah said no. I grabbed a radio and went to call for help, but saw Frank walking by. I waved over to him and asked for help. Frank asked what happened, and I had Noah relay what happened. I started panicking because we still had a ton of tickets left. Frank told me to just focus on picking and he’d take care of the rest. I went to run one as fast as I could. As I was walking back with the pick, Caleb ran to catch up to me. We don’t get along well, but he managed to say, “Hey, I called Kandace. She said don’t pick anymore today. Just hang out in the back with us.” Sean tried texting me later that day, but I was too pissed off to say anything.
November 28th was Fiona’s birthday. We talked for a few minutes.
Sean turned in his two weeks the next day. I was very upset about it.
December
I voted in the runoff. I did not vote for Herschel Walker.
Russell’s work Christmas party was on December 9th. I met his coworkers, ate a delicious halibut dish, and had a few drinks. We ended up spending the night in Atlanta at what was allegedly a high-end hotel that his workplace had reserved for employees from out of state/country (Russell got lucky to get a room because someone cancelled their booking). I wasn’t too impressed with it though.
The next day, since I didn’t have to go to work, we stopped by Centennial Park, since I wanted to see the Olympics decor. We rode the SkyView, which made me anxious, especially when we got stuck at the very top for people to get on. After riding the SkyView, we stopped in the World of Coke gift shop to see if we could find Christmas presents for people. We then went home to relax, but not without getting stuck in traffic.
Sean decided to stay after all. Yay!
Speaking of work, because my department couldn’t keep staff, the fulfillment center was going to help us out.
Winter Storm Elliott hit us on December 22nd. We ended up not having any snow or ice at all. Just freezing cold temperatures and a few patches of black ice here and there. I went to work, but because it was cold, my department wasn’t busy. I was sent to help out with grocery stocking instead. I ended up doing a good job.
Christmas started off as a good day. I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast, we opened presents, and we watched A Christmas Story while cooking dinner. As we were cooking, Tee continuously loaded the dishwasher. At one point, we heard running water. Russell asked if I was doing laundry, and I said no. Tee then said it was the dishwasher, and Russell said it wasn’t. We checked every faucet and pipe in the house until Russell went outside and said it was the hose spicket. He shut the water off, and Tee and I went to the Race Trac down the road to buy some water. In some horrible irony, they were closed because they had a burst pipe too! We went to the other Race Trac, and they said they didn’t know the first one was even closed, but said that explained the sudden influx of customers. We bought a case of water bottles and a few gallons. Meanwhile, Russell called a few plumbers to see if anyone could get to our house the next day. After getting home, we ate dinner. Shortly after dinner, family came over to exchange gifts. Outside of having no water, it was a nice, cozy Christmas.
We got very lucky to get a plumber to our house the next morning. THANK GOD! We’re also very lucky that we had minimal damage to the house, since other houses on our street also had pipes burst that ruined their garages. We caught ours early, I think.
Kandace quit. Easy come, easy go. We STILL don’t have a manager as of posting this.
New Year’s Eve was disappointing. I had to work until 6pm, Russell had to work until 11pm, and The Ohio State lost the game against Georgia. Also, I missed the ball drop. I hadn’t missed it in years, so that made it worse. Russell still kissed me at midnight though.
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