WATER

 It's not often you have that "We're gonna die!" moment but today sure felt like that.

So there we were, driving back from looking at some Petroglyphs up at Sego Canyon, headed back to Moab where we could see the heavy clouds of a storm coming towards us. Ones that indicated that rain was coming. 

Which there was quite the thunderstorm this morning that woke me up with how loud the thunder was....but we managed to overall do all the 'fun activities' between the rainstorms.

Now though, we were heading right back into one.

Not usually a big deal since it's just rain.

But there was a slight concern because even from a distance the rain looked....heavy. 

Like you could see the wall of water approaching.

And by the time we reached the canyon just before you reach Arches National Park....we got hit with a deluge.

Like Rain so heavy that even with the wipers going at full force you couldn't really see what was in front of you because the rain was so thick.

I was halfway convinced we were going to die or crash because it was so loud, Daddoo--who was driving--- couldn't hear me telling him to GET OVER behind other cars where at least I could see their red lights and he was still going pretty fast I was like "SLOW DOWN MOVE OVER SLOW DOWN"

And we drove through what was the beginning of like a flash flood/mud crossing over the highway too which I could barely see that we were driving through it before Daddoo had plowed through it with the car...which we were lucky because they ended up briefly closing the canyon later on. I'm guessing because of how heavy the rain was and I'm guessing the water crossing the road had gotten deeper and faster and wider. 

In any case.

We made it through down the canyon and to the Entrance of Arches where the weather had rain and hail mixed together but also it was raining heavy enough that we could see waterfalls on the cliffs. So braving the crazy we drove up into the park to see the waterfalls there and it was AWESOME. Especially around the 3 gossips area. 

But also kinda stressful because there was lightening and thunder all around so there was always the thought whenever I stepped out of the car--because I was on the wrong side of the car to get pictures by just rolling down my window- of ''hope I don't get hit by lightening" because some of that sounded so close.

Not deafening but it's always stressful to see the lightening flashing from the corner of your eye. 

Still. A fun experience overall that we don't often get to see when visiting the park. So yay waterfalls!

Until you next find these words;
i'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Helping Hand

 I do have to say, that I'm really impressed with my niblings on how well they've done with hiking on this trip. 

For not knowing how well they would do and worrying that they wouldn't do ANY hiking. It's been Soo gratifying to see them being willing to actually walk with us on the trails. 

Especially with them being under 3 years old. It's nice that they just want to walk with you.

Though it is a much slower hike walking with them and convincing them to not stop and pick up the rocks or play with the sand or sticks....they've overall taken to it pretty well.

Today we did our last hike with the niblings which was to Landscape Arch. 

A nice short hike with a path that's pretty flat so that people of all ages and capabilities can at least make it to the Arch.

The goal?  To get to the Arch and let the babies play in the plentiful sand there for a while while the rest of us who wanted to be a bit more proactive hiked up the steeper part to the arches up above Landscape. Partition Arch and Navajo Arch. 

It was a great mellow day. 

The babies had the time of their life playing in the sand. The older adults who didn't want to clamber all over the rocks enjoyed sitting there watching the babies play and the rest of us who wanted to climb and mess around climbed and messed around for a couple of hours before we headed back out.

It was great. 

What was also fun was like....how many people I helped today?

Like, I had ventured away from the group as everyone was getting settled to get more pictures of Landscape Arch from a slightly different angle and I'd overheard some other hikers/tourists talking about the trails and such so I chimed in with some information I knew since I've been hiking these trails since I was a baby basically....and it kinda steamrolled from there lol I had a few people asking me about conditions of the trails, what the best time to hike is, what routes are good, if it's worth it to go out to Dark Angel.

It was nice to be a bit of a guide for a bit to them. Give them some help and such.

But the more memorable moment was back in the Visitor Center gift shop.

As I have sensitive hearing, and even though I was halfway back in the shop and there were a ton of other people around, I heard a woman up front ask the Cashier up there if they had any pictures of Dark Angel for sale because she hadn't been able to take her own picture because her husband had had her turn back at Double O so she was hoping to get a picture in the gift shop.

Unfortunately Dark Angel...despite seemingly more popular this go around from how often I heard people talking about it...isn't that popular of an attraction as 99.5% of people turn back at Double O and don't go all the way out to Dark Angel.

BUT. Since I've been there a million times....just not there yet this trip...and because I never seem to delete photos from my phone. I was able to quickly pull up a picture I'd taken of Dark Angel on a previous trip a few years ago and tracked down the woman in the shop and asked her "Hey, were you looking for a picture of Dark Angel? I have this one here on my phone I can text you if you want?"

And she did want lol. So I was able to make her day by texting her a picture of Dark Angel. So yay!!! :D 

It was for sure a feel good moment and I was glad to be able to help out so many people today. :D 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

New Adventures

 Today was the day I was more nervous for on our Family Vacation as it was our first Family Vacation since all the babies had been born. So we haven't done any vacations with everyone together in like...3 years or so. 

And with it being a hiking vacation....

I was nervous but excited to see how it would go.

Because it's Arches National Park. My Favorite Place in the world to go on vacation. And I really wanted my baby niblings to have a good enough time here that their parents -my siblings- would be willing to do this sort of vacation again. 

But it was totally unknown how said baby niblings would react to the hiking...or how the parents would react to hiking either with various life events going on and such. 

Like two of my baby niblings have been to Arches before. But they were babies. They weren't even walking yet.

Now they were old enough to walk about on their own if they so desired.

And it was going to be unknown how they would do. If they would want to walk. Or if they would prefer to be carried by their parents in the baby backpacks the entire time. If they would be happy or if they would cry.

So we started out easy. 

With the Windows Section. Where all the Arches are RIGHT THERE and the cars are also RIGHT THERE so that if there were any issues we could turn right around if needed. 

Plus it would allow the parents and the grandparents to gauge their own energy levels on how well they would do with longer hikes than the windows area.

Which really. The kiddos did quite well. The youngest nibling was content to be in the baby backpacks the entire time and the older baby niblings loved to wander around and walk with us.

Lol it was weird that they wanted to hold my hand while walking so I couldn't do quite as many picture as I usually do since I had a hand full. 

But overall they were quite happy to be wandering around and walking and looking about.

They're not quite old enough yet to trust to climb and clamber all over the rocks on their own, but I did really love how my niblings seemed to love being out and about.

It was a good enough experience that we decided to attempted Delicate Arch that evening. 

Which, while it's not a long hike...it is a steep hike with a huge sandstone slab you have to clamber up for a good half mile or so. It's a lung burster for sure...but way more easy to do in the current 60-70 degree weather than when I attempted to do it at the end of September last year when it was 95 degrees out. Yeesh. That was HOT.

The niblings all ended up in their respective baby backpacks for that hike. We let them walk for the first little bit but they were tired and dragging their feet enough the parents decided to just put them in the backpacks so we could move faster....as we were kinda racing the sun to get up to Delicate Arch before sunset and hopefully back down before it got dark.

Heh...we failed on the 'before dark' part as the sun was quite set by the time we all made it down to the parking lot again.

But the babies again did really well on the hike and the adults also did really well on the hike, much better than most of the were expecting.

So overall a success!!!

And we were able to end the day on a high note by driving to a darker spot in the park away from the cars and actually were able to see Comet Lemon!!! 

I'd brought it up as a possibility to look for since Arches is a really good dark zone and I was right! I was great to see the comet but also to see all the stars and the milky way that you can't usually see as well when closer to the city.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

What Do You Mean Meet At A Specific Time?

 With the frustrations I've been experiencing this past week with work and my coworkers...it's kinda no surprise that it carried over into my vacation just a tiny bit.

And really the frustrations just stem from little miscommunications. 

Where plans are talked about and one person thinks the details are one way and another thinks the details are another way and plans get messed up a bit because no one was on the same page like we thought we were.

Like due to the stress of work I'd given myself permission to just...sleep in. 

There was no set timeline to meet in Moab for our Family Vacation today so I gave myself permission to just rest my body and wake up when I woke up and I would get down to the city when I got down there to meet up with everyone. 

Which meant that I actually didn't wake up until nearly 10 and didn't really end up leaving until closer to Noon because getting up and moving and packing took a bit longer than I had planned.

As I'd originally thought I'd be leaving around 9 or 10...but I was more tired than I realized because I slept in so long.

Still not a big deal. One of my siblings wasn't leaving until 11ish anyways either so it wasn't like I was that far behind....and I was still going to be early as it turns out they were leaving later than expected too closer to 1 instead.

So I figured it would be a nice mellow drive down and I could meet up with family that was already there and chill and enjoy the time while waiting for everyone else.

Only to be told like halfway down that the original plan was to meet at 2pm so we could have lunch at my Daddoo's favorite place. 

And I was like ??? since WHEN?

Because I knew that we were going to eat at the favorite place when everyone met up.

But did not recall there ever being a TIME connected to it. It was more of a nebulous "We'll eat there once everyone gets here." 

Plus like I wouldn't be getting down there until AFTER 2 because I had no idea I'd need to be down there by that time.

So plans had to be adjusted to account for everyone's expected arrival.

But it just left me feeling wrong footed and frustrated because like....I try to be on time to things and with the frustrations of plans not going to plan this past few days at work to already have our Moab Trip plans going off the rails was even more frustrating. I just wanted to have a good time and relax with family.

Like I knew things weren't going to go fully to plan. We have multiple families with kids meeting together with various different needs so most of our plans were vague anyway. But still. It's stressful to realize you've thrown off someone's plan. Especially when it's like there was no communication that THAT WAS the plan.

Like I said. We got it figured out. Switched things around and such.

But it was frustrating. And not at all how I wanted to start this vacation.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Look at the People

 It's kinda amazing how quickly something can change. Like literally in an instant the situation can go from being one thing to being something completely different. 

For example today.

After work I was meeting up with a friend at the store because I needed to check with a gift card that I had given them for their birthday.

Because I had discovered the evening after giving them their gift card and while preparing for a trip...that I had somehow ended up with a SECOND gift card in my bag of groceries...when I'd only bought one. 

And I had no idea if the gift card that I had given to my friend was the one I had bought or the one that had stuck to the other when I hadn't realized it. 

I'd tried checking the receipt to see but didn't see any indication of which one was the right one. 

And with me going straight on vacation....we had to wait until I got back and our work schedules lined up enough that we both had time to meet up so that I could figure out which gift card was meant to be theirs.

And today was that day.

And I showed up at the store a little bit late because I had just gotten off work.

And had expected my friend to already to there waiting for me...but they'd been delayed as well.

And when I walked up to the Customer Service thing there was only two people in line.

Nice and short.

but my friend was going to be another 15ish minutes if rush hour was kind to them (it was not kind to them) and I kinda needed both gift cards to make it easier to figure out which one was the one that I had bought.

And it was kinda amazing how in the space of like...10 minutes the line went from having like 2 people in it...to having like 8 people in it. 

To be honest it made me rather frustrated. 

Like. If my friend had been there at the same time as me we would have only had two other people in front of us. But now I was looking at an ever growing line that seemed to have like 15 people now in it and just for seeing it becoming like a 30 minute ordeal just to wait in the line to be helped.

And considering I'd gotten off work right at dinner time....I was tired. I was hungry. And I was just a bit grumpy from work stuff. So to be made to wait longer and to see a long line forming when it could have been avoided.

Yah....I was rather frustrated. 

Especially considering my friend ended up being like 30 minutes late.

But at the same time....it was kinda crazy....because by the time my friend showed up?

The line had vanished.

There was once again just two people in line before us.

So the wait wasn't long at all.

Like I've seen it happen a ton at my own job. Where there's like no one in line for the register and then suddenly you have a dozen people in line out of nowhere.

But it was crazy to see it happen in a different location.

And to have it be like....dead...and then 20 minutes of crazy...and then dead again.

Like my friend had no idea that the line had gotten so long it was heading out into the main part of the store out of the customer service area.....

Only I had known because I was there standing nearby watching the line grow.

Only I was aware how it had gone from 2 people up to like 12 people and back to 2 people in like 30 minutes.

It's crazy.

Crazy how quickly things can change.

And how you have no idea what could have just occurred right before you showed up or right after you left.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Connection Gone

 It's a bit ... bittersweet to lose a connection. 

Like a connection to a plance. To a person. To a memory.

Yesterday I lost a bit of a connection to my Mother Dearest. 

In that one of my fish died.

How is a fish connected to my mom?

Well. 

She had a glofish tank before she passed. 

And one of those glofish was a blue glo rainbow shark. 

It was in with other fish as well. Tiger barbs and other glofish my Mother Dearest enjoyed as well.

And that fish survived so much.

Like Daddoo at one point ended up moving it into a tiny 1 gallon tank because it was killing all his other fish and it survived.

It survived when multiple tanks got sickness that killed most of the fish.

Including when he eventually gave the shark to me to have in my 125 gallon tank when he finally decided to stop keeping a fish tank for good. 

That fish has lived for like...at least a decade by this point.

Which is a good nice long lifespan for a fish.

Especially the glofish because with the genetic modifications to make them glo...I honestly don't quite know how similar their live spans are to normal fish of the same breed.

So the fact that this fish lived at least a decade?

Impressive.

But the last month or so I've noticed him slowing down.

Becoming less aggressive in the tank.

Less likely to chase around his favorite fish to chase around.

More likely to just sit in a cave that I got for the tank and chill.

And the sitting became more common. The swimming became less common.

So I could tell that his time was coming. 

And it's been bittersweet.

Because like my Daddoo called this fish "bad boy" for a reason and I've had to be careful in what type of fish I put in my tank with him because I'm pretty certain he would kill some of the fish he decided he didn't like. 

So like. I'm glad he's finally out of my tank so I can have a bit more freedom in what fish I do want to put tin my tank.

But also like ... this was one of the last fish my mom had before she passed.

It's a small connection to her ... that I don't have anymore. 

I'll look in the tank when I feed the fish and won't see the gloshark anymore. Won't see that little reminder of my Mother Dearest. 

And while one solution would be to 'get another shark of the same color' to kinda make it like the fish never left....

It does also feel like a chapter that has been closed. A time for a new chapter to be written.

But yah.

It's been kinda bittersweet. 

Goodbye Bad Boy. You'll be missed. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Visiting

 Met up with a cousin I haven't seen in a while today.

Like years. Has had two kids since I last saw them a while. 

Which was awesome in being able to see them.

But also so weird in that it feels like no time has passed but at the same time seeing how much time has passed.

Still.

It was a fun visit.

Instigated by them randomly posting last week on Facebook. "Hey! Just drove into the State! Anyone here wanna meet up!" 

And then of course was the added complication of figuring out everyone's schedules. Seeing which days and times and locations would work for everyone. 

But in the end it was so worth it.

Was able to eat delicious food.

Socialize.

Meet the littles. 

And just enjoy a bit of cousin time.

As we don't get as much cousin time anymore now that we're all adults with jobs and lives and families and such.

So being able to meet up, if only for a couple of hours, was so nice.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Reaching the Threshold

I've been thinking about "maximum capacity" today. At least for the last couple of hours since I found out that another family member on my Mom's side has passed away.

Which means since...June of last year...I've lost 5 family members on her side. 

And considering the last funeral before 2023 on that side of the family was for my Mother Dearest....it's kinda crazy that so many deaths have happened in such a short time frame.

On the other hand...it's kinda expected? Like my Aunts and Uncles are all getting up there age wise. Old enough to have great grandkids if not great great grandkids. 

Though of the 5. 3 of those family members were my age or younger. So like....yah....

In any case.

I was thinking about maximum capacity because it seemed like my Mom's side of the family was only getting bigger as time passed. 

Like, we have well over 100 family members on that side from my grandparents (who are both passed) and on down. 

And like we had 5 births in the last year....but also lost 5 family members....

So has my Mom's side of the family reached the 'maximum' size it can get?

Like. Will deaths start outnumbering the births?

Or are we in a lull period where deaths and births will be equal to each and basically cancel it out?

Like I already know that we're expecting at least 3 more family members on that side this year.

But yah...

I'm just wondering...if there's like a threshold that we've reached. And while the family will still continue to grow....will the amount of those passed soon outnumber the ones still alive? Especially with the trend of the younger generations having smaller families?

It will be interesting to see in the next few years.

Though at the same time. I would much prefer to have more time pass before the next funeral.

Only time will tell though.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi 

Over Did It

 There's probably a lesson here somewhere about over extending myself....

But I do get rather tired of getting headaches on my day off. Like...it's my day off. I should be able to relax and enjoy it in peace. 

Yesterday....yesterday I was trying to be stubborn and push through the migraine I ended up with in the morning because I was woken up a bit too suddenly with text from a friend after not enough sleep.

And like....I probably should have gone back to bed for a little bit longer. Try to rest the headache away.

But I was...anxious. 

Because I've been wanting to return my borrowed car to my family for days now. And while yesterday was supposed to have been quite stormy...the weather wasn't actually that bad in college town. 

And radar was showing that the storms would be fading in the afternoon with mostly just like...light drizzles expected if anything. The major snow was gone for now.

And since I don't quite trust the borrowed car in the snow...and since my roomie was available after she got off work to come grab me from my family's house....I figured yesterday was the opportune moment to go and do that. To go see Family and at the same time. Succeed in getting their car dropped off without getting caught in storms.

Except...I tried to push myself too hard. Do too many things.

Like...I often have said that like I have 'one social activity' in me. So trying to do multiple social things in one day? Heh...yah it was a recipe for disaster. 

I can admit that. 

As I had the soft plan to go by the mall before heading over to family to check out a specific store for their sales. And since I was there I thought I would drop by the food court and get food from a couple places there that I've been craving.

It was also instigated with my sibling being like "Yes, I can have you come over, but could you bring me Fresh Squeezed OJ from Jamba?" Because that's a 'hey this helps me feel better' drink for my sibling.

And since that was near the mall I was like "Sure!"

So first I grabbed that drink and one for myself. Then dropped by the mall to look at the store -didn't buy anything- before grabbing food for myself, my sibling, and for my roomie...and then drove all the way over to sibling's house...

And the entire time I'd been fighting a headache. One that would come and go and come and go.

And it....just kept getting worse.

To the point where by the time me and the roomie got home....I was feeling quite nauseous from the migraine pain. To the point where I actually was impressed I managed to make it home without throwing up because the car lights were agonizing and the sounds were agonizing and the motion of driving was agonizing.

So yah...I basically died last night after I got home. Took a shower to try and relax the muscles and then spent the night tossing and turning as the migraine off and on woke me back up throughout the night.

So yah....fun times. So much...fun times.

And honestly....I probably shouldn't have pushed myself so much.

Delayed my leaving the house so I could take a nap.

Maybe gone less places. 

Stopped trying to do too much all at once.

Because it's sooooo so miserable to end up with a major migraine that will not go away no matter what you do so you kinda just have to suffer until it's grip leaves you.

Which makes going to work the next day (today) even more 'fun'

Thankfully I had a mid shift so I could sleep in a bit and I did manage to make the headache go away during my shift. So yay.

But work itself had it's own trials today.

Mostly in the I felt rather weak and shaky from the migraine as my stomach was unsettled enough that I haven't eaten much most of the day. So that left me feeling less confident in my 'do things' abilities.

And when a stupid ship from store order comes in with EIGHT 50lb bags that have to be pulled off the shelf and then put into boxes to ship to the customer....yah no. 400lbs lifted multiple times? Yah. I could only manage it once. 

And beyond that minor hiccup the day was actually pretty mellow. Until like the last hour or so of my shift...when a good 20 orders dropped that needed to be picked and packed before the end of the day.

And unfortunately we ran out of one of box sizes within easy reach.

Which meant that I would need to grab the forklift to get the pallet down from the steel....

Only the pallets of boxes weren't labeled. So I had no idea which size was on which pallet.

So I delayed grabbing them down as long as possible, working on orders that required other sized boxes first.

But then right as I was supposed to be off....our Fish Truck finally showed up. So I had to unload that.

And then I still needed to grab the boxes down because my other closing manager hasn't really been trained on the fork lift yet. So they wouldn't be able to finish the pack orders unless I grabbed down the boxes.

*exhales*

And of course the size that I needed....was on the LAST pallet I checked.

And by this point I'm tired. I'm ready to go home. I've been still recovering from the migraine. And I'm getting irritated that I'm not off yet. And that means I'm getting sloppy.

Which is rather stressful to be at that point of "I don't care anymore" while you're trying to work heavy machinery and lift heavy product off steel that's squished between other pallets....

Like I nearly knocked one pallet off the steel because I misjudged the distance of the pallet I was trying to put back and pushed the other pallet so it was crooked.

Which made it it's own trial to get that down without it falling off the steel but also get it onto the prongs of the forklift....

And it was soooo soooo SOOO frustrating to do all that work to bring the crooked pallet down to have it be the WRONG SIZE. UGH.

ANd of course. OF COURSE It's the LAST pallet that I needed to check.

*exhales*

In any case. Because of everything....I clocked out 45 minutes late.

Which was even more frustrating because my other manager had offered to have us start lunches early so that I could leave early though I declined the need to leave early as my headache was better by that point.

But I just couldn't help but think. "I could have been off 45 minutes ago."

*exhales*

Oh well....I was 10 minutes late today because of my migraine. So it will probably even up a bit over the rest of the week.

Still...I'm glad to be home. Not looking forward to the morning shift tomorrow...but at least I'm home for now. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

In This Weather?

 It's been snowing off and on this past week. 

Which I'm rather mixed feelings about.

Usually I love the snow. And with the absolutely winterless winter we've been having here. (No white Christmas, how disappointing) I've been looking forward to finally having snow on the ground even if it's falling after December. 

However.

That was before my car broke down. 

Which I suppose it's good that we didn't have a wintery winter because who knows if that would have...well made things more problematic on my end driving in the snow.

In any case. My car ended up having weird steering issues Christmas Night. On the literal home stretch before I got home from spending the day from family.

And what should have just been a weird alignment issue turned into both CV Axels needing to be replaced. 

Which ouch.

Glad those didn't fully break apart on the freeway or something but oof. I feel like I dodged a bullet there by near centimeters. I was afraid one of the wheels was going to fall off moving it from one mechanic place (that was $$$ to fix my car) to a different mechanic place (that's $$ to fix my car) 

In any case.

Thankfully, I have wonderful family who were willing to let me borrow their car until mine can get fixed. (Sometime next week is the timeline.) 

But that means I'm driving a car that I...well I'd only driven once before a couple of years ago.

And that was in GOOD weather.

And thankfully for the first little while of borrowing this car, we've had good weather here. It's been cold. But no storms to worry about driving in.

Of course that changed this week with actual snow falling here in the valley. 

And that....that was concerning.

Because I'm used to a car that can switch into 4WD if needed. But the car I'm borrowing? Doesn't have that. It's just front wheel drive.

So understandably I've been nervous this entire week about getting stuck on snow/ice slick roads.

Hasn't happened yet *knock on wood* But the past couple of days of snow have had the roads turning...rather icy.

But it's definitely made me miss my car. Like I'm cautious in bad weather regardless. But I do miss that extra insurance of 4WD helping me out if the roads get worse. 

*fingers crossed* that the snow fall remains light enough here in the valley until I can get my car back.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

It's Only Been Three Days

 You know....how I mentioned...oh it seems like I get into the groove of starting to write and blog again and then something happens....and it all vanishes?

Yah.

Guess what just happened?

But this time, I'm aiming to not let it get to me. Because I'm really tired of just like....letting the bad things get me down.

Am I ready to process things yet? Who knows.

But I don't want to have Bad News keep me silent anymore. I don't want stress to keep me from attempting to rekindle joy in the things I used to enjoy doing. 

But ugh.

It's so frustrating that it feels like I'm not getting an emotional break.

Like we're only THREE days into 2024. 

Could I not have gotten like a FULL MONTH of stressfree 2024 first?

But noooooo

I hope this is just a one off. That Stress won't continue in my life.

Because I honestly don't know how I'll cope if January ends up being like my last October or December. 

In any case.

I received some concerning news today about a Family member.

Medically concerning news.

In the "This could be a Tumor or it could be Cancer" sort of news though the actual diagnoses is still pending until Doctors can get a better look at the issue.

And like...I honestly don't know how to feel about it.

Like I am sad. I'm worried. But I'm also just....feeling so apathetic about how much stressful information I've been having to take in the past couple of months and I just honestly need an emotional break.

I hope the news turns out more benign and treatable. I hope it turns out well.

Because I'm also worried about the future. The mental and emotional health of my other family members because of this news. 

I'm worried about how current plans for life to change...are...well....going to change. Because with this unknown it's unknown if plans are going to stay as they are or will shift to account for potential treatments for this medical thing.

....The main thing I do know...Is I'm going to try to be better this year about not bottling things up. To express them. To not let things get me down and to push through it.

Today I've managed it. Writing this out. Continuing blogging despite past stressful situations causing me to stop.

We'll see if I can keep it up. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi 

Upcoming Upheaval

 I received some ... ... not great news this morning. 

My Grandma Dirchi, the last Grandparent I have....ended up in the ER last night because apparently she's been unable to go to the bathroom for a couple of days. 

Which. Is not good. 

Further testing has shown a mass on her Pancreas. 

And the doctor has confirmed that what he's seeing looks like an Advanced Stage of Pancreatic Cancer with a Tumor that's compressing the vessels that go into her abdomen and liver. 

They're waiting for more results to get a better idea of what's going on.

But there's a strong chance that my grandma won't see the end of the year. She may not even make it to Thanksgiving.

And it's....hard to think about.

Like you never want someone to pass away. Especially family.  

But in another sense I've been.....kinda expecting something like this? Like I've known that my Grandma hasn't been doing the best recently and that she's been in a decline. 

But there's a difference in knowing that she's going to pass away sometime in the future....and in knowing that it's gonna happen sooner rather than later. 

There's also all the thoughts of 'what isn't going to happen now.' 

Like knowing that when I do eventually get married and have kids....my kids will never know any of their great-grandparents. 

But there's also the thoughts of what has happened. Like she's not going to see me married with kids, but at least she has seen my siblings get married and at least my siblings have a couple of pictures of grandma holding their babies. 

It's...yah....it's mixed feelings.

And I honestly don't quite know how to react to it all.

Part of it is because I have a bunch of other stressors on my plate currently. Most of them work related. And this year I've been kinda in a "focus on this crisis and then worry about the next crisis after this crisis is over" mode. 

So my focus this week has been mostly on the Fish Adoption event happening tomorrow and Saturday.

But now I also have the worry of being able to see my Grandma at least once more, but being comforted in the fact that I saw her just a couple of weeks ago as I had dropped by to visit her after I'd finished helping my Brother with a bit of cleaning up of his house and helping him and his family move out. 

There's the stress of knowing that my Daddoo is gonna be returning early from his Summer Home (they were planning to be back next month but the deadline has been greatly pushed up) to be here for his Mom, but at the same time knowing that My Brother and his Family are currently living in my Daddoo's Winter Home as there's been a bit of a gap between them moving out of their old home and moving into their new home. 

There's the pressure knowing that more than likely the two families will be living under the same roof for a couple of weeks. Because there's no way for my brother to move into his house sooner when both he and his wife are working and thought they still had nearly two months to get out of Daddoo's home and that they'll need help moving out quicker but my work schedule prevents me from being able to help when they need help. 

There's the stress of knowing that my godparents will be flying out 'soon' to also see Grandma and that they will be staying with me, but I most likely won't be able to get the time off from work to chauffer them around and might not see much of them because again I've been scheduled mostly closing shifts since my bestie left. So there's a bit of conflict and stress there as well.

There's....just so much going on right now....

I just....I'm not sure how to feel. 

So yah. Rough day. Lots of feelings and thoughts. 

I just hope that it all goes...well...as well as it can go. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves. 
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

I'm Gonna Burnout I Know It

 I can forsee myself getting burnt out and/or overwhelmed in the next month or two. 

And unfortunately...I'm not quite sure how to avoid it. *exhales*

You see, I've been helping my sister recently. Making time to try and come over once a week or once every other week to help out as I can. Whether that's helping with chores, or errands or dinner, or feeding the baby, or just being a venting presence...I'm there to help out my sister. 

Which she's really appreciated. And I figured it was a pretty sustainable thing to do.

But.

Daddoo is vanishing for the next little bit on a cruise. And he's asked me to watch his cat in the meantime. And I was thinking. "Oh sure, I can drop by a couple times to check in." thinking that my Brother, who lives much closer to my Dad's place, would be able to do the main care of the kitty while D&D are out to play. 

Only Daddoo mentioned that my brother is...well busy. Which makes sense. Because a) he's working b) he's in school c) he's having to do some home repair after a pipe leakage and d) he's also preparing to have a baby later this spring.

So yah, it makes sense that he'd be a bit 'busy' to also drop by my Dad's place to make sure the kitty is having enough food, water, attention, and a litter box cleaning.

But that also means that I have to figure out time to drive up there to spend time with the cat and make sure he's cared for.

Obvious solution would be to drive up on my days off. Which are spread far enough apart that I would be able to come up at least twice a week and a few days apart to check in on the cat.

Only it's like an hour drive to my dad's place. And like its through a stressful part of the city -though I don't mind it most of the time- and like....what am I suposed to do up there while keeping the cat company?

Like yes, I'll be by myself (with the cat) and that will give me much needed introverted time that I don't currently get at my place because both my roomies work from home and rarely leave the house long enough or at the same time to enjoy having a place to myself.

It's just.... I'm not sure the stress of driving up is worth the alone time. *exhales*

Add into that the realization of "Oh yah, sounds like my brother is stressed out, maybe I should help out there." 

And I just.... I don't know if I can manage to help my sister, my dad, and my brother out all at the same time without burning myself out.

Like I love to help my family. But I also need my own days where I'm just doing things I want to do.

And it's hard to do things I want to do if I can only help my family on my days off and my days off are only twice a week and if i'm using up both days off to help the family just when am I going to be able to have a day to myself??? 

I'm not.

It doesn't help that I recognize I may need to make the drive north more often for the next little bit to first watch the cat, but also because Daddoo will be getting surgery soon and will probably want some 'care' after that point, and then my brother will be having his baby and I want to try and be as supportive to him with his first child as I've been with my sister and her first child. 

And yah....

PLUS.

I have a work friend who's been struggling recently and I found out that they're moving, so to try and help them and be supportive of them I volunteered to help them with the moving process. Which is going to happen in the next few weeks as well....and since my days off are already being taken up by having to go up to see my Dad's cat for the next little bit....

It means that I'll be helping my friend after work. Which means I won't have much time after work to chill out and recharge. So I'll probably get even more burnt out.

And it just....

I'm trying to not feel overwhelmed.

But I'm already feeling overwhelmed.

Because I want to help out and support everyone.

But at which point can I just take a step back and relax??

*exhales* I definitely need to look into taking a vacation soonish because if I don't let something 'drop' it's not going to end pretty. And since it's a new year and I have plenty of vacation time I need to use up. I should be taking a longer vaca from work sometime soon anyways.

I'll just have to plan it to occur where I won't be as obligated to help everyone. So I can actually just chill for a week and fully recharge myself.

But we'll see.

We'll see. *exhales*

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Trust

 It's kinda an amazing feeling to realize how much trust someone has in you.

Like, today I dropped by my sister's place to help her out, as she needed to drop off a car at a mechanic but needed someone to take her back home. 

Which overall wouldn't have been that big of a deal, except my sister also had her baby with her.

And since it's been cold outside, it was decided that I would have the baby in my car and I would follow my sister in her car to the mechanic. 

And it's...it's just kinda amazing? To realize how much trust my sister has in me, to let me take responsiblity of her baby and watch her as we drove. 

As I think this is the first time that anyone besides her and her husband have had the baby without one of them present.

And sure, my sister was in the car ahead of me so she was 'nearby' 

but still. It's a pretty cool feeling to know that this much trust has been placed in me and that I've passed muster in being able to watch my nibling for just a little while.

Just.

It's awesome.

I love it.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Shopping?

 You know what's interesting about going grocery shopping?

The fact that each person has their unique ways of going grocery shopping.

And like....you never really consider what other people buy....until you have to go shopping for them.

So.

I've gone food shopping for my sister a couple of times now. Just as a way to help support her and her family as they get used to having new little one in the house. 

Which usually involves my sister sending me a list of things she needs from the store.

And me going out to get it.

lol which it usually devolves into a LOT of texting back and forth between her and I.

Because what she usually buys....is not things I usually buy.

Mostly because we have different tastes but also like different family needs at this point.

And like I constantly have to remind myself when I'm shopping for her that I need to buy MORE than I think I should because like I'm used to shopping for me, myself, and I. And my sister...she has her whole family to shop for.

But like she doesn't quite think about the fact that she has a family to shop for? Because in her mind it's 'normal' to shop and buy so much food in so much quantities.

But for me?

Not so much.

So when I see "Bread" on the list....I'm like "Is that one loaf or two?" 

"Milk" Do I need 1 quart or 2 gallons? Do I need 1% or 2% or whole??

It's just interesting really.

To see what details my sister sticks on her list and which ones I have to ask for clarification for.

Like paper towels.

Do you need just one roll? Probably not since you're probably buying for the house hold but how long do paper towels last? Do you need a 2 pack a 4 pack a 6 pack an 8 pack a 24 pack?? 

lol

and despite me having to wander back and forth and take slightly longer in picking up the groceries as I figure out just what and where the food is my sister needs for her family....

I do have fun doing it.

It's fun to see what foods she needs. Fun to discover possibilities I hadn't considered before. 

It's just....different.

Time consuming for sure. But I'm glad I'm able to help her out a bit.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Favorite Food

 I made pepperoni crescent rolls today.

Which normally isn't really a notable thing to blog about.

Except.....

So. My sister has been working on creating a family cookbook.

It's been a 4 year task -one that she started right after Mother Dearest passed away- with a lot of stopping and starting and stopping again.

But she's finally gathered enough reciepes and organized them and got everything formatted enough to have our Family cookbook be sent to print so that each family member can have one.

And for the past....couple weeks or so? She's been giving us little check ins.

Letting us know the progress and such.

And like all last minute things....there were a few last minute recipes that other family members realized that they wanted to be placed in the cookbook. 

Mostly it's Daddoo's recipes that he's recently found and such.

But the most recent 'is this all the recipes you want' check ins.

Daddoo mentioned to Kikay that he'd found a list Mother Dearest had made at some point of some of her favorite family meals. And he wanted to make sure all the meals listed on her list had made it into the family cookbook.

And one of those meals was my Pepperoni Crescent Rolls.

Which it's just a simple meal of Pillsbury crescent roll dough with pepperoni and cheese and some parmesean cheese rolled up together and cooked. 

Nothing too crazy meal wise.

But it was one of the first recipes that I created on my own after I'd moved to college.

Which means Mother Dearest made this list probably in the first year or so of me being at college as other later creations of mine that I knew she liked weren't on my list. 

In any case.

It just....it was just...heart warming in a bittersweet way to know that she loved my little crescent roll creation enough to put it on a list of her 'favorite meals' as I hadn't realized she'd loved them that much.

I mean....it didn't even have any pizza sauce lol since I can't stand red sauce on pizza.

Just cheese bread and pepperoni. Like....it's such a simple meal.

And yet she singled it out as one of her favorites.

And I never realized she liked it so much. 

So yah. It was a bit...nostaligic making the crescent rolls today for lunch as I haven't made them in a while....but they've been on my mind since Kikay brought up that they were on the list.

....yah. Kinda has me missing mother dearest a bit more today.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Over Socialized

 Social interactions, especially since the pandemic began, have been a bit of a double edged sword for me.

Because like. In small groups, I do enjoy talking to people and hanging out and just you know, catching up on what's going on with everyone's lives.

I mean for a long while there was (though it's fading more and more as time passes) that slight paranoia lingering in the back of my head, wondering if interacting with this person is a good idea. Wondering if they're carrying covid. Wondering if I meet up with someone or go somewhere I'll catch the virus.

Again. The fear has faded a bit there.

But I have noticed that it's still....difficult for me to be social.

And like. I'm social all the time at work. I kinda have to be since it's a retail job and I have to help customers.

But like, that's a known social that I do. I know mostly what to expect at work. And I'm comfortable enough at work that while it can be stressful at times....it's not always a bad stressful.

Not like regular social human interaction is. 

Like I'm pretty sure that I shouldn't end up with a headache after any time I hang out with someone somewhere that isn't work or my home.

And it's even more annoying when I try to do prevanative measures to stop me from getting a headache. *exhales* And I still get one.

Like I get there's various factors that do and don't contribute to my headaches.

And social interactions can be one of them...especially ones where my body probably subconsciously decides to be tense when it doesn't need to be tense.

But it could just be....overdoing it.

Today for example...was probably a case of overdoing it. Just a tad.

Like I've often said that I only have interaction for one social interaction in like a week. One social interaction out of work that is. 

And on good weeks I can go out multiple times in a week -though just once a day- and be alright.

Today though.... I suppose you could say I had 4 different social interactions??? 

Like. I met up with Kikay halfway between her home and my home -aka dropping my car off in a random parking lot- so that we could carpool together up to one of our cousin's for her baby shower. 

So that's one social interaction. 

Then there was the baby shower itself. Which while still small aka less than 30 people there....held only a handful of individuals that I knew personally. But like there was 2 hours of socializing and chatting with the various people I did know.

Then Kikay, Skye, and I decided to go grab lunch afterwards at a local fast food place we like in Hometown. Which again is a different environment with different social interactions and complete strangers all around us.

And finally, the parental's, knowing that we were in town for the shower, wanted to know if we would be dropping by today to visit as well.

Which in of itself is familar so it shouldn't be stressful but was stressful this time around because I've already seen the Parentals TWICE this week. Making today the THIRD time I saw them and like....my life is not that crazy and there's not much to catch on in a WEEK especially when it's the third time I've seen them so it's left me floundering on just what we'd be talking about.

*exhales* and I suppose, thinking on it, the final stressor can tie in to the first social stressor in that Kikay and I carpooled back to my car and I hopped onto the freeway....only to get stuck in a major traffic jam for a good 20 minutes where we just inched along the freeway for 2 miles because an accident had closed 3 of the lanes leaving only 2 main lanes and 1 carpool lane open. *exhales* So like....that in of itself was stressful.

And....I guess with all that added socialness I should mention I've also socialized with my roomies today as well.

So basically.....

For trying to only stick to like one social interaction outside of work in a day or a week....I totally knocked it out of the park today.

So getting a headache shouldn't be surprising because like....the cards are all there. 3 different events. Shower. Lunch, Parental Visit. Stressful Driving cus Freeway driving is always stressful....and just like socializing in general. All give good reason why my muscles will be tense enough to cause a headache.

I just wish it wouldn't.

No idea how to fix it though.

Like does exposure help? Do I try and be social more to kinda of numb myself to being social so my body no longer recognizes it as a threat? Because like if even going to Church for an hour can trigger a headache....part of it has to just be social anxiety of a sorts....

But it's also quite discouraging and makes me reluctant to go do anything with people. Because triggering a headache is so bothersome and I want to avoid that particular pain especially when I experience it quite often already....

*shakes head*

No idea honestly.

I'll figure something out....maybe.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Staying Staffed

 So I met up with my Dad and StepMom for lunch today at our favorite Mexican Restaurant over in HomeTown. 

And while we were there the...boss? Owner? Manager? Combination of the three? came over to chat when my Dad noticed her as he used to work there with her when he was younger. Like highschool-college age. (before she ran the place)

And it was interesting....because I'm pretty sure Daddoo instigated a conversation with her because I'd just told him that the Sister restaurant to our Hometown one had closed down suddenly last month.

Like I'm not sure how much warning everyone got, but I only saw the news when it was like "Last day open!!" on a newspage. 

And we were all curious as to why the place closed down.

Because like....both restaurants -each run by two brothers who both have passed on now- are quite popular in the area.

Though I've never been to the sister place. It's in a locaiton that I believe makes it popular.

I mean both places have been open since before I was born so there's decades and decades of history there.

So to have the place close down....was rather surprising.

And while the two families of the brothers don't really....interact anymore due to....differences in how they wanted to run the place.

The boss did know enough to know that basically the place shutting down was due to the children of the Brother squabbling over what to do with /how to run the place.

And apparently they decided to accept an offer to just shut down and sell the place so that the people buying the land could build condos on it.

*exhales*

Which is a bit depressing on multiple fronts.

Like it seems like everything is getting torn down to build more high density housing and while housing is definitely important....it's really only useful if people can afford it.

But the second front it's depressing on is the fact that the siblings just like....tossed decades of history to the wayside in favor of money.

Like I can get it....if the family business wasn't doing well. If there were issues with upkeep. But like....I feel like the place overall would be in the black and not in the red. 

Like I can also understand family contention. If no one can agree on things don't keep it around. 

Still....it's crazy that they just sold the sister place off to be developed. *shakes head*

In any case.

The conversation turned a bit to how the Hometown Restuarant was doing.

And it's.....it's crazy how much this manager/boss/owner is doing to keep the place up and running and running smoothly at that.

Because like a lot of food places....finding good reliable staff is difficult. The pandemic made it really difficult but from all the 'help wanted' signs I see in various food related places....I know it's probably going to be a long recovery rate to try and get everything 'full staffed' again. Especially when people are expecting sooo much from their jobs now. 

And this boss recognizes it. And is doing everything in her power to keep her staff fully staffed. Like she's personally working longer hours, helping out everywhere in the restuarant to make sure her workers feel supported and not overwhelmed.

But she's also offering them free lunches. And to help give them a motive to work the weekends or nights or holidays she also does other things as well. Like allowing them to bring a friend in to eat free so that they can still 'be with their friends.' but she's also doing her best to hand out bonuses to everyone as often as she can as well. 

Like it's crazy the amount of work she's putting in to make sure her workers are happy and willing to stay.

And my heart goes out to her for doing so much. Because even with all that....I know it's not always enough. There's still nights she struggles to have everything running smoothly.

And I wish there were more places like that. More places trying to go above and beyond to care about the WORKER and not the customer.

Because I'm pretty sure the food business in general is suffering because no one wants to work a minimum wage job and get yelled at all the time for 'food being wrong' for long.

People get mean when it comes to their food and it being made correctly.

I don't work food, but I do work retail and I can tell you, customers became really monstorous during the pandemic, and a lot of them have kept the 'my way or i scream and yell at you and make scene until you cry way' since then because they realize if they make a scene chances are they'll get what they want anyways. 

And with the pandemic.....essential workers are tired. Sooo tired of the sassy rude obnoxious customers they have to deal with.

It's probably a lot worse with food. So much worse with the food industry. 

So I'm not surprised that people don't want to tolerate it anymore. That they'd prefer to find jobs where they're unlikely to get yelled at.

My heart goes out to the good managers out there though. The ones like this lady in the hometown restaurant who are going beyond the extra mile to try and look out for her people and keep them happy. I hope she's able to get her own rest soon. Because she seemed so tired while talking about trying to keep her place staffed up. They're doing okay...for now. But I hope she and other good manager/bosses can find the relief and the good staff that they need to take the stress off their backs.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

 

Wait...What's Going On Here?

 I've been thinking off and on about communication this past week.

Just...it's been one of those weeks where I've said something I've thought clearly stated what I needed help with only to realize later on that I only gave partial information in the heat of the moment. 

Most of this realization has happened in regards to work things....since I don't actually interact much with people outside work (yay introvert).

But it's the sort of situation where I've realized that I need to give a bit more detail to situations at work. 

Like one where I requested a back up cashier as I was stuck trying to get a customer on register 2 to comprehend why the dog muzzle they were trying to buy for their dog would not fit and that we did not have any other smaller sizes of the style that they wanted in stock nor did we carry a smaller size.

And I'd requested twice to have someone come back me up....only no one ever came to be the third cashier and I was feeling the pressure from the next customer standing at register 2 paitently waiting for me to finish with the other customer. 

But my coworkers had just seen 2 cashiers at the registers with only one other person in line for each register. So despite the couple of calls I made, no one came up to back up cashier because i hadn't explained that "Hey, I'm dealing with a customer on 2 that's taking a bit, can someone please third cashier?" 

And like I had a similar thing the other day where the curbside pick up was going off but I was busy helping a customer and trying to have a coworker show me what the issues some of the cats were having and I called my VP Manager over the radio to go do the curbside as I figured he was the free-est out of everyone to go grab that.

And he just sounded really miffed over the radio that HE had to do it. Because i basically had just said "Hey VP can you get that curbside" without explaining I was busy.

So like. I'm trying to keep that in mind to give a bit more detail when requesting aid. Though it's a bit of a two edge sword because a lot of my coworkers have issues listening to what's being said over the radio so I often have to repeat myself. But yah....been trying to do a bit more explaining when I request help somewhere.

Along that same "Clarification" vein.

I got a text from my step-mom the other day. Asking me if I would like to join her, my dad, and my grandma for lunch next week.

Which. I would be down for lunch.

EXCEPT. The place they wanted to have lunch at is in a DIFFERENT STATE. It's like an hour long drive to and from this place that they want to go eat at.

And considering it takes like an hour for me to drive up to my dad's house.

The concept of at least 4 hours of driving (if they didn't detour elsewhere) to grab food from one specific restaurant....was NOT appealing at all. 

It just seemed stressful. And I know from experience that I have a way higher chance of triggering a migraine if I drive anywhere for longer periods of time. Like I can get a migraine triggered just driving between my house and my dad's house.

So like the chances were pretty high for me to get a migraine and I didn't see it being worth it to drive to a food place that honestly....I wasn't very impressed with in the first place.

Like yes. Family time is great. But with how burned out I've been and such....it seemed like it would just drain me further and cause me more problems than less.

Especially because I would have no idea HOW LONG this drive up to the restaurant and back home would take. Cus like I'm aware that the leaves in the canyon are changing colors and such and what if Dad and everyone wanted to meander their way back. 

The fact that I didn't have an actual timeline....and the fact that I definitely didn't have the spoons to spend ALL day having to be social.....

I ended up declining my step-mom's invitation. Though I did offer to meet up a different day in Hometown to have dinner at one of the restaurant places there. 

BUT.

Yesterday, I ended up briefly seeing my Daddoo at the church because my sister had her baby shower yesterday and he'd gone over to help Step-Mom set up and such.

And as he was leaving he was like "I was really sad to hear you weren't going to join us to see the leaves in the canyon. I would have had you sit up front with me. We could have grabbed lunch at [restuarant])

And....

I just kinda felt like screaming?

Because I had wondered if seeing the canyon leaves was part of this 'go grab lunch' deal.

But StepMom had mentioned NOTHING about seeing the leaves.

And honestly if I'd been asked "Hey, we're going to go see the leaves in the canyons this week and maybe grab lunch in 'this city' too." that sounds so much more appealing than "Hey! We're having lunch at this place that's TWO HOURS away from you. You want to come!?" 

So like.

A bit more clarification on just what we would have been doing would have helped so much. And like rephrasing rhe request could also have helped as well.

Overall...I'm not sure I would have done it anyways.

Because like I said. I'm burned out. I don't want to do anything. I don't want to be around people. I just want to hermit in my room and pretend no one else is around. 

Because I'm tired of people needing me.

But yah....

Communication. Sometimes rephrasing something or clarifying something helps clear up a lot of misplaced emotions and such....

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Gift Giving

 One of my favorite things to do when giving people gifts is to give them something that they didn't realize they needed. 

Today, my sister had her baby shower.

And, having had slight experience through my friend from work when she had her own baby shower, I was well aware that my friend had lamented the fact that she hadn't gotten things that would be useful for motherhood. Like cute clothes and blankets are great. Toys and books are awesome too.

But like....things that help make motherhood easier?? Those were things she was desperately looking for.

And with my friend I went through her registry and got her a variety of things that would help my friend as a mom and not just help the baby.

I went into shopping for my sister's baby shower with the same mindset. Looking through her items for things she would need that others may not get for her. 

One of those things was a little mini fridge. A tiny thing that probably could only hold two or three baby bottles realistically.

But my sister had decided that she would need because she was thinking about late night feedings with the babies and how echoey her house is in general. And she didn't want to accidentally wake up the household going into the kitchen in the middle of the night to get a bottle for the baby. 

But with a mini fridge in the baby's room and such, she'd be able to easily get a bottle from there without disturbing anyone else. 

So along those lines I also got her a set of baby bottles that she wanted as well that were on her list. lol Kinda pointless to have a fridge to hold bottles if there's no bottles to place in them. 

In any case.

One of the items on my friend's baby registry that she'd wanted that I got for her was a "Bottle Warmer" which was a device that would help warm the baby bottles up faster. 

And that item wasn't on my sister's list.

But it seemed like it was a really helpful thing to have on hand also near the baby so you could grab a bottle of milk from the mini fridge and then warm it up in the bottle warmer.

Because it's kinda pointless to try and not wake up the household to grab a bottle from the kitchen fridge/freezer if you have to go into the kitchen anyways to warm up said bottle.

So I figured that would be a complete set. Bottles. A fridge to keep them cold. A warmer to warm them back up!

Lol and it was so great when she opened my gifts to her.

Because she was super excited about the fridge. As I figured she would be. And she was glad to have the bottles.

But she was so shocked to see the bottle warmer.

Why?

Because she literally had placed one on her registry list this morning lol. 

She was like "HOW DID YOU GET THIS SO QUICK?! I PUT THIS ON MY LIST TODAY!"

And I had to be like: "I got it before you put it on your list." lol. Because again, I had slight experience with my friend and was trying to think of something my sister would need that wasn't on her list.

Funnily enough the bottle warmer I chose to get for my sister -the same one I got for my friend- was also the exact same one that she'd placed on her list. XD lol. 

Best feeling ever. 

Lol as my sister had had a similar insight today or maybe last night in that she would need something to warm up the bottles and that something should probably not be the stove or microwave in the kitchen if she was trying to keep things quiet at night.

So yah.

I love giving surprise gifts that people didn't realize they needed. XD lol. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

Sarnic Dirchi