February is usually one of my favorite months. Two of my dearest loves (husband and youngest daughter) celebrate birthdays. Well, let’s be honest. Ever since my daughter made her arrival onto the scene on the day after my husband’s birthday, he gets overshadowed.
So we are thankful for it and continue to persevere through it.
Chuck has chosen to personalize this journey in every way possible. He is using stickers on his radiation mask to count down his sessions and makes the medical staff laugh as often as he can. His good humored relatives make this easy with wearable gifts to lift his spirits. Some are self-explanatory. If you aren’t a comic book nerd, you may have to search the recesses of your memory to recall how Spider Man got his spidey powers (radiation).
He has now gone on full leave of absence from work for the remainder of his regimen. I’m so thankful he has the ability to focus on rest and self-care. And I had my own – although markedly minor – health issue. A tennis elbow flare up that sent me to the doc for a second cortizone shot and a brace for my wrist (of all things). This is not, however, unusual for me. As my friend Terri says, “I’ve got more issues than Time Magazine”.
We had two little ice storms here in Texas. Nothing as severe and inconvenient as last years’, but they did shut down school and most businesses for 2 days and 1 day respectively. The first came right on the heels of a two day school closure the week before to try to slow down the spread of Omicron. People, we have too much going on to have the kids underfoot so much!
The Super Bowl brought me some much needed socialization when one of our favorite neighbor couples came over to watch the game. We had no horse in the race and really only cheered for the commercials. My Valentine and I had a low-key Feb 14th and just went to sit at the lake with our girls and my in-laws for a while.
We took Allie and a couple of friends to hibachi to celebrate her 17th and then Chuck’s parents cooked us dinner complete with Spiderman cake the next evening for his plenty-ninth. He can taste almost nothing now and has some food aversions thanks to radiation, but we still managed to have a good time. 
February Entertainment
Please don’t cancel me, but I am about to say something fairly unAmerican. The Winter Olympics have been a snooze fest. There. I said it. Most evenings we turned it on, but never lasted longer than a few minutes. Where are the attention-grabbing stories and personalities? It makes me nostalgic for the days when we didn’t have so many other choices. When everyone watched with bated breath and talked about the athletes and events at work and school the next day. Is it just me? If you still love the Olympics and can’t get enough, tell me about it in the comments below.
What did excite me? The movie adaptation of Francine Rivers’ Redeeming Love. I know it got very mixed reviews, but it captivated me. For anyone unfamiliar with the book, it only comes off as a western love story. But I know it is a retelling of the biblical book of Hosea. And I could hardly stop crying for the beautiful picture it presents of the mercy and grace of God. Warning: very mature content and much racier than most Christian films. Have you seen it? If so, give me your thoughts.
I also watched Red Notice on Netflix. A much less spiritual or emotional experience. But enjoyable none the less. I love me a wise-cracking Ryan Reynolds (especially when he’s not in a rated R format) and Gal Gadot is always stunning to look at. I can’t resist a rom-com so we went to the theater for Marry Me.
The hubs and I started a new to us series on Netflix. All American reminded us a lot of Friday Night Lights, which is one of our very favorite shows. But although the concept is interesting, I can’t really recommend it due to some inappropriate content. Disappointing.
With everything else going on, a beach read in the winter was the perfect distraction. Before the Crown by Flora Harding explores (fictionally, but based on facts) what the beginning of the relationship between Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip was like. If you like The Crown, you will like this book.
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Laura Thomas’ Why Waiting Matters spoke straight to my fast food, high speed internet heart. Plus you still have three days to get in on her giveaway!
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MAREE DEE – Embracing the Unexpected
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