Happy New Year! We got back from Death Valley on New Year’s Eve, around 7pm. We immediately unpacked the van, putting everything in our downstairs unit. We pulled out of the camp ground relatively early that morning, so our packing job was haphazard. I spent much of that evening really unpacking, and even did a load of laundry. The 15yo went to a friends’ house for New Year’s Eve but came home after midnight. The husband was zonked (even though I drove the whole way home), so he went to bed early and I waited up for the 15yo alone, with a couple cocktails, some furikake popcorn and a Spanish language show I’ve been wanting to start on Netflix. Luckily it was raining, so there weren’t too many neighborhood fireworks going off to freak out the cats.
On New Year’s Day we had to take the van back in the morning. It’s a 40 minute drive one way, and both of us need to go, so it was a time suck. Then we spent the early afternoon with the in-laws, who got back from their six weeks in Texas on the day we drove to Death Valley. The kids opened their Christmas presents from their grandparents, we ate yummy chilequiles, then played a bunch of games (Tenzi is surprisingly super fun! I will definitely be getting it for my mom for her birthday). Later that evening we watched some more Stranger Things. We’re only on season 4 and each episode is almost 80 minutes! So it’s slow going…
So where does that leave me on Friday, January 2nd, with less than three days left of the break?
Packing away Christmas
Christmas is usually solidly in my rear view mirror by the new year, but I had enough going on the 26th and 27th that I didn’t think I could get it all done, so I just shelved it until after our trip. Yesterday I packed away all the ornaments and took the lights off the tree. I shoved the new mantel garland back into its box and packed away the Christmas clothes. Today I jostled the tree back into its bag and dragged it out to the shed. I need to wash one more Christmas sweater and then I can close the Christmas clothes box and put it in the shed. I have the giant Christmas decorations box mostly packed up, but I’m leaving it out today so that random things I’ve forgotten around the house can make their way inside before I hoist it into the storage space over the trash cans in the garage. Basically I’ve done the most arduous tasks, but sometimes the final push can be really tedious.
UPDATE: Everything has been packed up and all the boxes are in their proper places!
Around the house
I have a couple projects for the next few days. Today I will hang 4-5 shelves in the 12yo’s room so he can display some of his Christmas presents and organize other stuff cluttering his desk and chest of drawers. I have big plans to clear the floors upstairs today so I can vacuum and steam clean them tomorrow morning. This will be a hug task and I really hope I get it done. You may remember I was supposed to clean the floors over the Thanksgiving break, but then the cat was throwing up everywhere so I didn’t. I am highly motivated to get this done before I head back to work, and I really don’t want it to bleed into date night on Saturday.
UPDATE:
UPDATE: I steam cleaned my floors today! It took FOUR HOURS and I finished right as my parents picked up the kids. I am so happy that I got it done!
On the blog
I’m writing this post! My Death Valley recap is about half done (maybe 2/3rds?) I hope to write a 2025 recap, because I like reading those later and I think it’s a valuable exercise to reflect on the year. I also have goals to write out for 2026, per Best Laid Plans, and some seasonal and monthly planning?! This actually feels really overwhelming for me right now, but I’m reminding myself that I can start small and don’t need to go overboard. I don’t usually write out new year’s resolutions, so I want my goals to be very concrete. I have been thinking about them abstractly for over a week now, and I hope that some convos with the husband this weekend will help solidify a few things for me/us too.
UPDATE: I got my Death Valley post up!
Work reentry
I have not thought about work for almost two weeks and it’s been marvelous. We have a professional development day on Monday, which means I will have time (during boring meetings) to get some planning done then (I love this!) so all I need to do before Monday is look at my 1B student reflections and score some late work in the 1A classes. This isn’t a horrible amount of work, but I don’t have a lot of time to get it done before Monday. This is because…
Anniversary date night
Our anniversary is on the 4th and the kids are spending Saturday day and night at my parents’ house so we can spend some time together just the two of us. I am really looking forward to this, and I don’t want any lingering obligations to mess with this time. My parents will probably bring the kids back relatively early on Sunday, because it’s their last day of break too and we want them to have some time to mentally prepare for the transition back to school (this will be especially hard for the 12yo, because he really dislikes school right now). So there will be time to get some stuff done on Sunday afternoon/evening. I also know how quickly that kind of time slips through my fingers, so I need to be intentional about what I leave for those hours.
Without further ado, I need to get started on some of these projects. It’s already 12:07 (how!?) and I also need to workout today (and Saturday, and Sunday!) so I need to start hanging some shelves!
Hey, hey, friend! We only have ONE thing left from Christmas- the actual Christmas tree. It is now free of any tinsel or decorations, it just needs to be taken down and placed in the box.
I go back on the 5th, and for us, it’s pedal to the metal. First period, Spanish 3 honors, let’s goooo (ugh) AND a faculty meeting after work. Bruh.
Tomorrow and Sunday it’s prep work: lesson plans for the next two weeks (mainly copy and paste, with some alterations). And soak up the last of this vacation…
totally reasonable to do space out the seasonal / monthly goal setting a bit – do seasonal in a week or so, and january a week later – or even wait until Feb 🙂 There are no hard and fast rules just a lot of ideas of how to make things work!
Congratulations early on your anniversary and I am glad you two will have some alone time together. Always seems to refresh you both. Sounds like it has been a delightful and productive two weeks.
When you steam clean your carpets (I assume carpets not wood floors) how long does it take them to dry? Because that was always the problem I ran into and this weekend it is wet outside so for me that would compound the problem into mold. But maybe you are using a steam cleaner on tile or some such non-porous material. Thanks for an answer but I know your time is short so not a pressure item.
Hope the coming week at schools/job goes smoothly in your family. Happy wishes for the new year to all.
I actually am steam cleaning the hardwood floors. And the tile on the kitchen. I have steam cleaned carpet (at my parents’ house), but only one room in our house has carpet and I haven’t attempted to steam clean it yet.
I did not know that was possible. Thank you for teaching me. MUCH appreciate!!!
We started steam cleaning the floors during the bed bug fiasco. I have to admit, they look and feel so clean after, and there is no cleaning product residue. I only steam clean them a couple times a year, and I always love how they look afterward.
You are a worker bee. I’m not sure yet when I’m gonna take down our Christmas decor. I have to pack up all the Christmas houses and that’s a chore and a half. I will have two college kids home this week, which helps me ease back into daycare mode because I can still run errands or get them to help if I decide to take down the decorations at nap time, etc. I hope you enjoyed your date night with your hubs. Happy anniversary. Oh, and your son’s room looks so cool and full of the things he loves. I’m sad he dislikes school so much. Here’s hoping for a shift on that front soon.
Happy anniversary! So glad you’ll be celebrating and the kids are with your parents. It sounds like you got some things accomplished upon your return. Off to read your Death Valley recap!