Angela Law

animal lover, gardener, knitter, and gourmet cook
 
me

2021: the year in review

Or should we call it 2020, part 2? It was a weird year, for sure, but I haven’t done one of these in a while, so here goes…

I guess the biggest thing for me was being in a relationship for 6 months. It was the first one since my divorce, so that was something. It was definitely fun while it lasted–too bad it couldn’t have lasted longer. Dating at this age is the pits, so I’m not looking forward to doing that again. I’m back on a few online dating apps and I’ve already gone through the available lists of candidates, so let’s hope some new people sign up. Ugh.

On the pet front, early in the year, we lost Buster. He was a difficult dog, but full of personality. We still miss him. Later in the year, we got Tilly. Tilly is definitely something else. Haha. She’s practially a senior (6.5 years), but due to her prior living arrangements, she isn’t housetrained (she’ll go outside if you let her out, but won’t tell you she has to go out, so there’s the occasional accident). Also, she likes to chew stuff up. That makes two dogs and two cats, though Jake will be taking one of each when he moves out, so I’ll be back to normal pet levels at that point.

In entertainment news, despite the ongoing pandemic, 2021 actually had some (live) entertainment. I caught a little bit of Thunder in the Valley, but not as much as I would have liked. There was also the Flood City Music Festival and a really great blues show (featuring Joe Louis Walker) in late fall at the Oilhouse. Speaking of music, I got turned on to Beth Hart early in the year and haven’t stopped listening since.

Jake and I went to see two stand-up comedy shows–Jim Gaffigan and Sebastian Maniscalco. Both were hysterically funny.

I read a bunch of books, fiction and otherwise. My favorite had to be Joyland by Stephen King. He’s just so good. Always. The Daily Stoic was my favorite non-fiction read.

I watched a bunch of movies, too. My favorites were Free Guy, A Quiet Place Part II, and Don’t Look Up.

As far as TV goes, the best thing I watched was Homeland. In fact, it’s one of the best things I’ve ever watched.

Jake and I also went on a relaxing cabin vacation again this year.

I continued to make progress with the house. The biggest project was wrapping up the library. Finally. As far as cosmetic things go, I painted the front door and installed a new handle/doorknob and a smart deadbolt. Also, I paid someone to refinish my bathtub. Outside, I paid someone to remove Jake’s playhouse from the back yard. I also took out my strawberry bed because the wood was rotting. So there are two less things to mow around in the back yard now! I spent a lot of time at the office (pretty much every Sunday morning). We had the basement drywalled last spring and I took on the painting duties, which I finished up in December.

Oh, and I volunteered 85 hours at the Humane Society! This year’s goal: 100. I probably could have hit that last year, but the dog area was closed for over a month due to a kennel cough outbreak.

I can’t say I’m looking forward to 2020, part 3, but we’ll see what the year brings.

movies

don’t look up

This was a pretty great movie. The critics don’t seem to like it, but it had enough star power for me to give it a shot. I mean with Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep (who is making the age of 72 look fantastic), and more, how can you go wrong?

The premise of the movie is that a planet-destroying comet is hurtling towards earth. The scientists who discovered it can’t seem to get anyone interested in this fact. There were a lot of parallels to the current covid situation and previous White House administration, which makes me wonder if covid was the inspiration for the film. But that seems like a pretty tight timeline for getting a movie produced, so maybe not.

Anyway, given how things are going on earth, you can imagine how things end.

Make sure you stick around for the credits as there’s a particularly satisfying scene that isn’t shown until after the credits start rolling.

My rating: 4/5

 

holidays

i’m dreaming of a wet christmas

I guess it’s my lucky year, then. As opposed to last year, maybe it was–we actually got to spend Christmas with others this year, which was a nice change of pace. I did Christmas Eve dinner and my mom did the day of. Jake was around for Christmas Eve, but went to his dad’s around lunchtime on Christmas Day and then to his girlfriend’s for supper.

I had a few days of vacation left so I only worked Monday and Tuesday last week and am doing the same this week. Dare I say it–I was actually a little bored, which doesn’t happen to me a lot. But, unlike last winter, I’m not in the middle of any house projects, so there’s nothing pressing to do around the house.

relationships

back to the drawing board

After 6 months of dating, I broke things off with guy #4 this week. Nothing in particular happened to prompt the breakup, but I came to the realization that we were not going to be able to spend any kind of meaningful time together anytime soon. I kind of knew this going in, but was hoping for better results. There were a few other things that prompted this decision and while I could have made it work if it was just some of the things, the cumulative effect made me come to this decision. He was understanding about it because he recognizes that he doesn’t have a lot of time. So, things ended on good terms and I don’t regret trying to make it work, but I’m still bummed out about it, as would be expected.

Whenever this blows over (perhaps next month), I’ll start the online dating game again. Ugh.

jake

we did it! hooray!

I just paid for Jake’s final semester of school. He’ll be graduating in the spring without any student debt! There were a number of factors that allowed us to do this, but it was mostly us saving for college for the past 21 years and Jake commuting to school, rather than staying on campus. Oh, and the fact that we only had one kid. It also didn’t hurt that he got a couple of scholarships and a tiny bit of aid along the way. The grandparents also helped out.

Anyway, I’m pleased that we were able to do this for him and I hope the fact that he doesn’t have student debt will allow him to have a better financial future.