Well, that was a fast month

I've opened this up to write a blog post several times over the past few weeks, but there's really not much to talk about. We're staying busy, but it's minutiae-type stuff.

Mal had his first friend sleepover last weekend (as opposed to the time his grandma stayed here several years ago, he would like to point out) and that went well. 

D has a learner's permit and has a driver's test scheduled in about six weeks.

It's maybe our last freeze of the winter, and everything is closed down for a couple of days due to ice accumulation. Today, the surface roads weren't terrible, but anything up in the air was treacherous (including our porches), and tomorrow will undoubtedly be worse.

(It's "tomorrow" now. I'm NOT closing down this window without posting this time!)

Today, we do have icicles, which will make Mal happy. He won't wake up for a couple of hours, but it's supposed to be cloudy all day, so the icicles should hold out. I might try to get out and get pictures, but see above about our porch. I might send D out to snap some shots instead. You know, youthful balance and ability to recover from minor falls. 

We're also in tax prep time, and James got his W2 last week. This happens every year, but I just cannot fathom how people afford health insurance if they don't get it through their employer and don't qualify for reduced rates in the Marketplace. We pay a few hundred dollars a month for D, Mal, and me; and James working for Indeed has been the first time that we've been able to afford it. He's had other employers before who offered lower rates than market and we still couldn't swing it. So we're lucky. But the shocking part to me is that James's work's portion of our health insurance is more than 10% of his gross income. Ten percent! Call me a socialist all you want, but access to healthcare should be a basic human right (along with safe shelter, food, and water). It's not fair at all that I can be on a maintenance plan for my asthma and someone else can't, simply because of finances. It's been three years that we've been able to handle this for me, and it's a life-changer. I wouldn't die without it, but I'd be shelling out $30 a month for a rescue inhaler and using it 4-6 times a day, as opposed to using it maybe once or twice a month. 

I need to empty the dishwasher and get dressed for the day. It's super dark because of the clouds, so I feel like this is going to be a sleepy one. I'm mostly off caffeine but am partaking at the moment because I only got 7 hours of sleep last night (my average is just under 8) as Mal and I both slept in the master bedroom with James since Mal's new rule is if it's below freezing, that's what we do. We have all camped out in there when it's been in the 20s because Mal's room has drafty windows on 2 sides, and it gets super chilly. I have a space heater in there to help out during the day, but Mal doesn't want to sleep with it on (even though once I'm under my blankets, I'm fine and being cold doesn't seem to keep Mal from sleeping at all). But sleeping with two people who both go to sleep later than I do and also getting punched in the face when my son rolls in bed doesn't lend to a super night's rest. Here's hoping for an afternoon nap, after I crash from the caffeine hit. 

Happy February, friends!