I always enjoy celebrating Chinese New Year, usually by getting Chinese takeout for dinner. But since we haven't found a decent Chinese restaurant since we moved to Colorado, I opted to go on the Girls Just Want To Have Fun outing to a Chinese supermarket. It was a bit strange, to say the least. I thought this might be one of those Asian novelty stores like they have in Seattle, but no... it was hard-core Chinese-style groceries with frozen lamb heads and beef feet (among other assorted "delicacies"). There were a few tables in the deli section, so we all sat down to lunch together. I skipped the exotic menu options and went with the orange chicken. 2022 is the year of the tiger. If I knew where my MIZZOU t-shirt was, I probably could have worn it.
2022 is also a milestone year as it is the end of a decade for many members of my family starting with Melissa. Last week she celebrated her 39th birthday. I thought these pictures that they posted on Facebook were so good (made both she and my sister look really young), but then Janet told me she used a filter on them. I'll have to find out where she got that filter and start using it on myself.
The weather in Denver has been bouncing back and forth - one day sunny and 60°, and the next snowing and -1°. When we first moved here, I bought a new snow shovel thinking it would be no big deal to shovel our driveway by hand, since it's about a quarter of the size of the driveway we had in St Louis. But after shoveling out the second 6-inch snowfall, I realized I'm not tall enough to heft the shovel over the snow already piled up alongside the drive.
So I came inside and ordered a Snow Joe electric snow blower off Amazon. It arrived today just in time, because we're getting another big snow fall tonight. This cute little thing has a chute that should blow the snow right up over those piles we've already built up. I just hope I don't screw up and blow the snow back into the garage.
Yesterday, I met my third group of ladies for lunch. We started the Ladies Out To Lunch club as a way to meet new people. The members in each group are supposed to rotate every 3 months, but all the women in my previous 2 groups get along so well that we decided to keep meeting. It's certainly fun having women to go to lunch with; it's just a little hard keeping the different groups straight on days and restaurants. I haven't seen any of them since December with the Omicron quarantine, but it seems like things are loosening up a bit now. Yesterday's restaurant was a breakfast-served-all-day kind of place, which is always one of my favorites.
The St Louis Urban Sketchers have gone back to meeting on Zoom, partly due to the quarantine and partly due to the cold weather. I certainly don't mind painting from photos on Zoom. I just have trouble keeping my eyes open enough to concentrate in the evenings. I like it a lot better when Courtney and I paint together on Saturday mornings.
