December starting off with 54*F!

 I suppose we should just finish November before moving on to December! Can you tell I'm excited for a 54*F day in December!! Something that hardly ever happens in MN!!! No snow in the forecast for at least 10 day out! That's good and bad. While I love to ski and think snow on Christmas is pretty, I'm still okay without any! 

I'm going to try a dry few weeks of no alcohol. It's time to lose weight and it doesn't help having a few drinks a couple of times a week. I also don't sleep very well after drinking. 

We went out for the last time Sunday to White Bear Lake. I wanted to go shopping in all the cute little shops in that area. I saw lots of cute over priced ideas! So didn't buy anything but had fun looking! 

Saw these chocolate bombs and now I want to make more this year! 

Logan's chair project is due today. Steve and Logan worked on it together over the Thanksgiving weekend. He remade the bottom cushion as I made one just to help, but it wasn't perfect and he also made a back rest pillow. 

Since it's going to be in the high 40's this afternoon, Zoey and I will go for a walk at the park. I also need to put the 1st coat of black enamel on the table I'm painting. I already painted two coats of white primer. I just do a coat of paint a day. I'm sure the table will need at least 3 coats of black paint! Feels good to get some home projects done. This is our spare table we bring up to fit everyone around the table. So it will go back in the basement when done. I have a few more oak furniture pieces to paint when I'm done with the table. I'll be painting our kitchen walls before starting those winter projects! 

I'm starting my diet today! I know every day I say today and later on I say tomorrow and at night I say why didn't I stick to my diet! It's time to drop some weight as I'm not happy with how I feel or look. Can't get a better reason to lose weight than that! 

What's my plan? I'm going to have turkey soup with rice for dinner. Trying to stick with one meal a day. I do have pickles or carrots to snack on if I get hungry before dinner. I just need to keep busy in the afternoons. I will still have one or two PB pretzel nuggets every morning because I just love them. Can't give up everything! 

I'm also lifting weights (15 pound dumb bells) 

Planking bent arm 1 minute

walking the dog daily at least a mile if not running it 

working /moving  M-F in the morning

Afternoon home project

Yoga morning and evenings to stretch and relax and reflect. 

Weekend Plans

 Logan came home with yet another project to work on. Make and build a chair. It's nice to see Steve and Logan work on this together. 

I'm hoping he finishes because it's a late start! Logan goes back to college tomorrow morning at 8am, taking the train back early in the morning. Lucky for us, he will be back in a few short weeks for a month over Christmas vacation! 

I wanted to make banana bread for Logan to take back with him. I forgot the baking soda!!! Ugh!!!

Thankfully, it still tastes good, just blonde and not brown! 

I found a funny photo from 2014 on Christmas of me, Celina and Logan. It was the Christmas we all took a photo with mustaches. 

A Thanksgiving flash back photo! lol...

Happy Thanksgiving!! Happy Birthday Don!

 

Happy 26th Birthday to Don!

F I R E

 We woke up around 2:30am to our fire alarms all going off. Steve jumped up out of bed and yelled Fire!!! Once up we didn't smell smoke, but searched every room for a possible fire. Nothing! False alarm! We figured it must have been a battery going bad and set them all off. We'll be switching out all the batteries today!!! Sure did get us all wired up. I never fell back to sleep! 

Last night was Bingo night. It was a very busy night! Every table was full of bingo players. Steve's luck ran out and he didn't get a Bingo! It was still nice to get out of the house. We played some cribbage and had some dinner/drinks while we waited for the Bingo to start. I should have ordered a glass of water instead of another beer! Lesson learned! 

One more day till T-day! I made pie crust, but not the pie. I'll finish making my pecan pie today and have it all baked this afternoon. I still need to clean up the clutter around the main level and set the table. 

Tuesday and 50*F!!

 Well, only a few more days till Turkey Time! I have so much to do just to get my house in shape for 16 people to feast! 

We host every holiday every year so it shouldn't be a big deal to get it ready for this year. I am not sure why it overwhelms me. I just want my house perfectly clean without having to do much. We just have a lot of stuff accumulated on the main level since 5 people still live here. It's hard to know where to put all the stuff and since it's not mine, I can't just put it somewhere else or get rid of it. 

I should be doing a lot more with my time. I seem to be in a pattern of work, rest and that's it for the day. No energy to do anything else. I did have a bunch of errands yesterday after work and that kept me busy till after 2pm. I felt good enough to make a quiche for dinner but that was it for the day. 

I don't work till 11:30am today and just for an hour, so not much todo. I plan to make a pecan pie which I'm looking forward to making/baking. Probably should clean up the kitchen this morning and get everything organized to do baking this afternoon. First I need to stop at the store to pick up corn syrup! 

I also need to get in some exercise today. Zoey needs a walk and I need to do my plank/weights. 

Every night I think why didn't I diet today. It's time to start losing weight between now and Christmas. I'm not going to wait till after. It needs to start now! Of course I say this on a full stomach after having a ham/cheese and croissant sandwich for breakfast.  

16*F Monday morning! Coldest yet!

 Yep back to Monday morning! A cold 16*F!! Tuesday it's going to warm up to 50*F! Two days in a row, Tuesday and Wednesday it will be in the upper 40's and low 50's for the high. Not sure if we'll have the crazy wind with it, but I'll take the higher temps for the end of November! 

Steve and I found something to do on Sunday. We picked up our turkey down in Cannon Falls at the Turkey farm in the morning. We did a little food shopping for T-day since we needed some root veggies and things to make dinner. The Vikings were playing the packers, so we needed to watch at least the end of the game. We both thought the Vikings would screw up the 4th qtr and lose. We were wrong! Turned out to be a nail bitter the last 4 minutes! A great end to the game! We went to Stillwater, Liftbridge brewery to watch the game, and play cribbage. Probably shouldn't be going out without a mask on. I'm guessing this will be the last weekend since Covid is going crazy in MN. We did get our booster shots a week ago so have extra protection but it's still not 100%. 

Finished my craft. Yep, looks like a Childs art project. It got me doing something other then sit on the couch. So that was the goal. This craft did look better in my head! 

Sunday we went to Stillwater, lift bridge brewery and played some afternoon cribbage and watched the Vikings/Packer game. An exciting 4th quarter! I don't really care about football but we had friend at the game rooting for opposite teams so that made it fun. The last 4 minutes, was anyone's game! The Vikings some how pulled it off! Very unexpected! lol.. 

A little crafting!

In my head this looked a lot better! Kind of like a kid's art project gone wrong! lol.. The glitter is and was a mess! Not sure what I'll do with this gem?? lol.. I still got out of my funk to do something and I enjoyed the painting project somewhat. 

 I still have a few blocks to paint, maybe I'll paint them similar to my rocks I painted during the summer? 

Took the kids and myself out for Coffee this morning at this cute little house coffee shop in Hastings. I drove by it awhile ago and knew they'd like going somewhere new. Coffee really isn't my thing but I got a blended mocha drink with whipped cream. Far too many calories and more like a milk shake which I didn't need but it tasted good. 

The moon was a huge ball of orange last night. My phone camera couldn't capture how it really looked but at least I tried. 

Saw this dead or frozen spider on the sidewalk by the river last night. It doesn't look that big in this photo but it sure was! Gross, but kind of cool looking too! 

Today, we'll be picking up the fresh turkey from the Turkey farm in Cannon Falls this morning. Steve will work for a few hours and during that time I'll do some TJ Maxx returns, a dress I never wore in Texas. I also need to look for a few more Madelyn gifts to give her for her belated birthday which was last Thursday. I am painting our old table black and doing other paint touch ups in the kitchen bar stools and white cabinets. I probably should check the chairs to see if those need to be covered and painted too! 

I'll be busy working all week, being off Thursday for Thanksgiving. I will need to organize my house and set the table for dinner. Might need to make sure we have all matching glass wear and silverware!! 

Saturday!

 

Logan is home for the Thanksgiving week! 

Logan's first time riding the train from Milwalkee to St. Paul. None of us have ever ridden the train so this was all new. Even going to just the train station and figuring out how to pick up him was a learning experience. 

The train station is really large and super pretty. Not very busy at all! 

We picked a spot along the side of the upstairs building window and watched the train slowly come in to the station. Just got to wait inside for Logan to de-board the train. It was like the old days when you picked up people from the airport and could wait at the gait. Kind of nice to pick up someone that way instead of just waiting for them in the car. 

I wanted to hear all the train riding details. Since his train didn't leave till 3:45pm, it was mostly dark looking out the train window. Logan said there was too much light reflection on the windows to see anything out side. He did say the train was very quiet! His roommate was going home, so was able to go to the station with him and sit together for awhile till he had to move to another section. Guess they make you sit according to where you get off. They only stop at this smaller towns for 2 minutes! A quick stop and they are off again! Logan just got a regular seat, but you can upgrade and get a sleeper car for three times the amount. If I were to pay that much, might as well book a plane ride! It was a 6 hour train ride, about the same as driving home and it was only $50 one way. Not bad to get him home safe! Plane ride would have been around $300. A lot more$$

Logan's train didn't get in until 10:05pm, so we had some time to spend before picking him up. We decided to have a drink/play cribbage at a Brewery in Woodbury. After we ate salad and shared a deep dish pizza at Pezzo's. It was perfect timing because we were able to get to the station and still have 15 minute to figure out where to park and go to wait for the train inside. 

Logan's train was going on to Seattle. They let the people in the sleeper cars board first and also let them sit in a separate waiting area from the rest of the passengers that may or may not get a seat to wait for the train. 

Last night while at the brewery, this guy looked like someone I went to H.S with. I still have no idea if it was or not?? 

Found this cute candy idea to try. 

We might not have snow on the deck anymore, but it sure is looking like winter with no more leaves on the trees. I am ready to cross country ski, so we need at least 6" of good snow to have the trails groomed. I either want a lot all at once, not this dusting of snow! At least it didn't stick around long

I've been trying to get out of this funk where I am just blah. Don't have any desire to do anything and just waste away the day.  I have the hardest time finding joy, which is probably a sign of depression. While I don't think its that bad, mostly manageable because I can get myself to do a minimal amount of workout, going to work. Still want to go out on the weekend nights. I'm just going though the motions and nothing is snapping me out of where I'm at. Even on vacation, the only time I was really enjoying myself was when we rode the electric bikes. I didn't want it to end. Am I just bored with everything? I just find myself  doing less and less and being okay with that for the most part. Meanwhile, my house is gathering a bunch of piles of everyone else's stuff. Which makes me not want to do anything because I just can't remove the clutter and when I do, it comes right back. Every day seems to be a battle to just do something in the afternoons and evenings. 

Here is what I've tried and some idea to try! 

Making lists of todo items. 

Telling myself I must limit screen/phone time to 1 hour after work

Getting myself a Fitbit to keep track of my steps to move more

Trying to plan things that I will enjoy, like shopping for something, making a craft, baking. 

I have all these plans to get things done and be productive but I fall back into the "I'll do it tomorrow" or it doesn't need to be done at all. 

I did force myself to start a craft project. I got out all the supplies, set it up and did the first step, painting the blocks. I couldn't wait till I was done with all the blocks and now it's been 2 days and I haven't even though about doing more on this craft project. 

I did bake some rice crispy bars. Which I love baking but then ended up eating them all in two days. Which is not helpful and the reason why I just can't bring myself do bake. I don't want it around to eat! 

I also need to save money instead of spend it. So I am not in a rush to go out and shop. I figure it's easier to just stay home and not spend. So I don't end up going anywhere even though I do need to return some stuff. I just don't want to spend more when I should be saving. 

I should do more exercise, but work kind of zaps my energy. Plus, I'd rather workout in the mornings but need energy to work too!  Lots of times, I just run out of time in the mornings and can't fit in a run, but at least I do my plank and lift weights and always get in my hour plus of floor yoga. So I'm doing something and keeping up with friends by emailing. 

It's a new day and another chance to get out of this funk!

Madelyn is 2!!

 Happy 2nd Birthday Madelyn!

Such a cutie. It was a family water park birthday for her yesterday. Not sure when she will have a all family party but I have a few gifts to give her. 

Thursday feel like winter!!

 The cold air moved in quick yesterday. I decided to wear sandals to Steve's eye appointment since the day before the temps were in the 40's and still felt fine in the morning. The weather quickly changed to very chilly and windy with snow flurries. Burr! 

This was the morning, all sunny and looking just fine till the big switch in the afternoon! 

After Steve's 3 hour long eye appointment, we drove to Malcome yard for dinner and drinks. We always get the chicken sandwich and split it since it's sooo huge! Delicious! Probably could have ate a whole sandwich last night but we also shared one small beef empanada. It was tasty but not big enough like the one we ate from a food truck at Bad Weather brewing. After 2 drinks we left and drove to Venn Brewing. That place doesn't have enough parking spots, so we left and went to the Union 32 close to home with parking! Another drink and we were on our way home. Probably didn't need that last drink since I woke up with heart burn and a headache. 

I'm going to try making my T-day table look something like the photo below. Guess natural items are in this year for decorating! I'm going to try making those dried oranges for the table. 

Steve's 3+ hour eye appointment went well yesterday. His pressure is a little high around 22, so they are discontinuing a steroid drop that contributes to higher pressure. Also found out that it takes 3 months to get the iris implant from Germany. So much for having the surgery in January! It will be sometime in March! Ugh!!! Well, still better to do it when his eye has time to heal before summer. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to go anywhere for a month due to all the eye follow appointments and not being able to get lake water in it till it's healed.