21!!

Logan will turn 21 in a few days. It's a bummer he is at school and we won't be able to celebrate with him. 

I will be putting together a birthday package to mail him this week. Plus, will give him cash to buy what he wants. I screen shot some photos he posted on Instagram from his past weekend. I'll have to post when my photos decide to upload. 

We had a fun weekend. Went to Madelyn's preschool party Friday night. Saturday we checked out the New Mexican grocery store in AV, and then went to get a turkey in Cannon falls stopping at a few breweries along the way. 

 

Sunday we went to Kaia's house warming party where we filled out post cards for voting on the school board members. I also mowed the front yard, mulching up the leaves. We watched some of the football game/ Vikings VS Packers and that was about it. 

Tomorrow is Halloween. We are going to play Bingo, not handing out candy since Zoey is hard to manage with all the kids at the door etc. We would rather avoid that whole issue. 

It's another few chilly fall days below normal 40/50 degree temps. We will get back up into the 40's by mid week! Thankfully, no snow yet! It sure was overly cold this weekend! Halloween is going to be a cold one too with wind! 

It's just working this week, going to the gym and doing a few house project, mulching the leave and doing paint touch ups. I'll be doing more advertising the end of the week, when it's not windy or raining. We also have zero plans for the weekend as of right now. I'm always on the lookout for something to do. Maybe just a back yard bonfire? 

 

Sunday.. Another chilly fall day

 Our Saturday of no plans turned into a busy, full Saturday. We started the day going to the gym for a quick 30 min workout followed by a chair massage. Love the reward massage at the end. It's definately  worth the extra $15 per month just to relax after a workout or to get myself there in the first place. 

After that we stopped quick to look for throw away paint brushes at the Dollar Store, which they were out of. I wanted to do some paint touch ups around the house on the trim and cabinets where the paint has chipped off. I'll look again for brushes or just use some tiny old brushes left over from the kids paint stuff. 

After that we tried fixing my vacuum. It was making this extra loud noise from the motor. We took the whole thing apart as much as possible. I cleaned it up a bit, and then decided to just take it to the repair shop. I switched out the roller and another part before taking it to get repaired. They quoted a $20 fan part and labor charge of $89, plus I need another roller since I put that other one on my old back up vacuum. Good thing I did all that because it will be in the shop for a week! Yikes! Oh the roller is another $45, so there is that added expense too. I've got to have a vacuum, so its either fix it, or get a new one for 3 times that amount. 

We were off to Cannon Falls to get a turkey. Before we got there we stopped to have a beer at Northern 20. We liked their Octoberfest, only to find out it was all gone. The other beer isn't as good, so it was one and done. We then stopped at Tilton Brewery in Cannon falls after getting our turkey and a few other item at the Turkey farm. I had a sour beer and then we went to Merics in Hampton to warm up at the bar across from the pizza wood fire oven. A good place to sit on a cold afternoon. We resisted the temptation to get a pizza because I had put together more carnitas in the crockpot before leaving. Used the other half of the pork tenderloin. 

I forgot, after dropping off the vacuum, we went to check out the new Mexican grocery store and restaurant that opened last week in Apple Valley. We bought two pastries that were kind of dry and not very good at all. Then went to the deli counter and purchased a empanadas and a chicken rolled ? They were both deep fried and super crispy. Both had great flavor with their roasted salsa which we also purchased and ate all with our taco crockpot dinner. So delicious! I'd go back for those items which both were cheap which was $3.50 for both items and $5.50 for the container of fresh salsa. I think the pastries were on the cheap side too at $1.99 each? 

I also had to feed the cat two times in the morning and evening. I finally got to pet the cat and hold him. He kept running away from me the first two times an then I was able to use the food to get him to come to me. Nice cat once he settled down. 

Today, we have a house warming party at 10:30am. I plan to go to the gym after and do the paint touch ups. We need to mulch up the leaves in the yard with the mower and blow the leaves off the deck too. I think Steve's dad has a blower that we can just borrow instead of buying our own. 

Logan's and Kendra's birthdays are coming up. I need to get birthday stuff to mail out to Logan, and pick up a gift card for Kendra. I already bough cards, so a little is already done. I'll just send money to Logan since it's easier then buying him stuff. This way he can get what he wants or use it on whatever this next month. 

Nothing much else planned for today. There is the Viking game at noon. Not sure if we will watch any or much of that? 

Then the work week starts again. It's not a very busy week for me. I need to do some advertising again. I'm hoping to pick up a few more new customers. I did pick up one new for 1 time a month. The other 3 jobs were just a one time deal. Steve also needs to line up more work. He does still have a few jobs, but then will be out of work. He did have an estimate on Friday which he needs to put together a quote. So there is some potential work too. Just need to keep the jobs lined up. 

Friday night, Grand kids parties...

 
Madelyn's Fall Party at her preschool. We had walking taco's which was a first for both Steve and I. Really  good and super easy to make and eat. This might need to be a camping meal. 

Each room had a game to do and the kids got some candy. 

There was also a dance party room. 

A fun night. We didn't get to Evan's school that was having truck or treat, but we had a great time with Madelyn and Paul. 

Kendra sent this photo of her truck or treat. Turned out super cute! 

Today, I'm cat sitting/feeding both morning and evening. I also need to get my vacuum fixed. Something is wrong with the motor!! Yikes!! it's only 1-1/2 years old. I really don't want to have to purchase a new vacuum. My old one isn't that great, so I don't want to have to use that either! 

It's too cold to be outside much at all today. 34*F for the high! It will warm back up into the 40's by Wednesday, but it's also supposed to be somewhat windy until then. Looks like a chance of snow Monday night, but less than one inch and it won't stick around since we are back up in temps. 

I'll be going to the gym and getting in a workout and I'm hoping we can get some home projects started??? 

The first really cold Friday!

 It's our first super chilly fall day. Guess it was coming so I'd better just get over it and move on because winter is coming. 

I had a super lazy Thursday afternoon. Zero motivation to do anything, so I didn't. I pretty much just stayed on the couch all day then finally went up to bed to catch up on some TV shows that I had missed early in the week. Even after all that laziness, I still was able to sleep for the 2nd night in a row great! How does that even happen? I'll take it because most nights I'm up around 2:30/3am for a few hours. 

I'm cat sitting this weekend, well tonight and just Saturday. Its easy, just stop in to feed the cat and leave. I also don't work today till 1pm, which is late! I won't even feel like working at that time and it's a new client. Double ugh! 

Steve is bringing the boat to storage today. Yep already that time of year. We will pick up again some time in April. That seems far away right now. I counted the days until spring 180! 6 full months of weather where we are pretty much inside 24-7. Which sounds awful long right now! 

We have the grandkids school parties to attend tonight. I'm looking forward to that! I also need to make a trip to Costco as we are out of tide pods, paper towels and Montreal seasoning, which we use on everything. I'm forced to stop at the store, so might as well go after I workout at the gym this morning. I was planning on going soon to the gym, but now will wait till around 9am to head out. 

Thursday... rain and lots of it!

 today is half off coffee drinks at Starbucks. Since it's raining, I might have to treat myself to an afternoon Pumpkin spiced coffee!! I've been drinking ice mocha and it's not the same. 

Out our window this morning. The leaves are falling fast on the maple tree. We are getting rain all day. Well, at least it's not snow! That's coming on Saturday, but it won't stick around as we will be in the mid to low 40's all next week. Not as nice as upper 50's, but I'll take it since its still on the warmer side of winter temps! 

I just have work this morning and then I'll probably go to the gym in the afternoon to lift some weights. I'll have to treat myself to a massage in both the chair and hydro-jet beds. Its that kind of day. I'm guessing that will be all for the day since I won't be trying to tackle any house organizing projects. I just don't feel like doing any of it right now. 

I did do a lot of cooking and baking yesterday. Made banana bread mini loafs, some pb rice crispy bars with chocolate on top which are sooo good! I also made carnitas (pork) in the crockpot for taco's, only I didn't put it on high and only had it set to warm for hours. I noticed too late, so dinner was Culver's. I'll be having taco's for dinner tonight and having more of my fried rice for lunch, all leftovers. I do need to make a trip to Costco. I forgot to pick up paper towels and tide pods when there yesterday. Ugh!! Might wait till Friday when it's not raining to go get that stuff as its not urgent. I can get more window cleaner refill at the dollar store today since I'll be right next to it when I go to the gym. I think that's about all I'll want to do after working on a lazy rain filled day! 

No plans yet for the weekend other then I want Steve to do our bathroom project of getting a new countertop for the vanity and new sink faucets. It should be a days project. Maybe Saturday picking up the countertop and Sunday do the install? Next week, I can paint and do other white paint touch ups around the house. We do have plans Friday night to do some Halloween school party stuff with the grandkids. That should be fun and I'll have photos to share. Looking forward to that! 

Next week, we also won't be handing out candy. The dog is just too crazy and hard to manage with kids coming the the door. We will just go to Bingo and have a fun Halloween night out. Might even dress up a bit in costumes, or just wigs?? I'll have to think about that?? I do know there will be others dressed up as well, so we won't be the odd people dressing up. 

I do need to start a diet. I keep saying tomorrow. I'd better start soon this way I have until spring to drop weight again for summer. 

Pantry...

 I didn't take a before picture, but our pantry floor was full of stuff and now it's up on the very top. We added one more shelf up high to give us more room for storage of the stuff we don't use that often. I could still use at least one more shelf, but we are out of room to add more and I don't want to make the shelves shorter! 

Yes, we do have our microwave in the pantry which I highly recommend! Out of sight! I'd love it if we could have an entire shelf for the toaster, microwave and air fryer. We just don't have a big enough pantry for all that stuff. 

I now need to go through our spice cabinets. Yes, we have two that are full of spices. I need to add another shelf to our spices since we have too many! That's the next house project this week. I'm hoping the big master bathroom project takes place this weekend! Fingers crossed Steve wants to start this! 

The bathroom project is just replacing the vanity countertop along with two sinks. We currently have one and want 2. We will raise up the vanity a few inches to make it taller and also allow us to still keep the drawers and add an additional sink. We will also need 2 new faucets and I'll have to do some painting of the vanity where it was raised up. After that, I'm hoping to get back to finishing the main floor quarter round trim and then once we save up a bit more finish the tile and shower in the master bathroom too. It's a work in progress! 

I'm still looking for lights to put in the closets that look better because Steve has taken all the covers off when he changes the lights. Plus, they are just ugly light fixtures. Time for something new and not too much money. I can easily find those on FB market place. 

What else am I doing? Started going to the gym again in the mornings. Just to lift weights. A quick workout, but needed. I need to start going in the afternoons to and walk on the stairs and get in a massage. It's always on my todo list, but for now I'm just working on getting back in the habit of going in the mornings. I have home projects in the afternoons for now. 

Fall...

I took this photo of Evan from FB at the pumpkin patch.  

Making some apple spiced mock -cocktails. It's been nice enough to sit outside on the deck with 60*F temps. 

Yesterday's walk at Whitetail deer park in Farmington. I could have been in shorts, and a tank top it was sooo nice out! 

The week is moving right along, Tuesday and it's still going to be 60*F, unfortunately cloudy and rain on and off all day. I won't be getting in a park walk today with Zoey. 

We did find a fat tick on Zoey's back last night. I probably should have put more tick meds on her, but figure it's only a few more days till we get a hard freeze and it looks like rain the last few nice days in the 60's. She has a lot of burrs on her from walking in the tall grass. I'll have to comb out her ears as they are a mess. She is almost ready for another fur cut too. I'll wait a bit longer before I groom her. She could use a bath too! It's on my todo list! 

What else is on my todo list? The pantry!!! I cleared out the top shelf and took the mixers off the floor so Steve could get in there and put up one more high up shelf. It will be for stuff we don't use often. This will give us a lot more room in the pantry, which we need for all the stuff we put in there. I'm now excited to go through the whole pantry and re-arrange it. I also bought another set of 5 hooks for my closet. I like to hang up my workout clothes on hooks and not hang them up since I use them daily. I already have 5 hooks but need more. I'm hoping this will be enough, so I don't keep putting my clothes on the bedroom chair. Should have done this project years ago!! 

Still need to figure out where to put all our cook books that were on the shelf  in the porch. We gave the shelf to Logan to use at college. So now we need to figure out where to put all those books. I don't want to get another shelf since I'm sure once college is done in 2 years, it will be right back home! 

In other news. Our mortgage payment went up almost $200 per month just in the increase in home owners insurance and taxes! Yikes!!! Good news is that we only have until Dec of 2026 and it's paid off. We only will have taxes and insurance to pay every month which will save at least $1400 per month! Wish it was more and we didn't have to pay so much in taxes, but it's a good chunk of savings. I can not wait till the day we pay it off. It will be a day to celebrate. We will end up paying it off 4 years early and considering we refinanced it, this is a big savings! I might be in a rush to pay off our mortgage, but not in a rush to be a few more years older and closer to 60! Yikes!!! At least we will have paid off the mortgage before retirement which is a good goal! Would have liked to had it paid off before Logan went to college since he is the most expensive kid yet for his education. Only 18 more months to pay for him and we are done. A light at the end of the tunnel!! Seems we are always waiting to pay off something, wether a car or other bills then we just start paying on something else and can't wait to pay that off too! A life long cycle for pretty much everyone that has bills. 

Weekend.. October!

62*F and windy didn't feel very warm. We still went for a walk again around Lake Jensen. 

After our walk, we went right to breweries. Stopped in Prescott for a drink then on to River Falls. 

Funny picture in the bathroom.

This morning We went to the gym once again and I just lifted weights. I figure we will go for a walk later with Zoey. Today we are also tackling the garage, putting away all the summer camping stuff. 

A few more photos from our fall walk around the lake yesterday. 

 

Hello Saturday and an Ice pumpkin spice coffee.

 

This was a coffee fail idea. You put whipped cream on the cup to look like a ghost and fill with coffee. The eyes are just a black sharpie on the outside of the cup. Maybe if I used cool whip it would actually have worked? Whipped cream in a can just didn't hold up! Cute idea if it actually would work! 

I had another coffee fail. I made coffee today, then added in my cold brew pumpkin spiced coffee and then iced it. Turned out to water logged, so I took out all the ice that wasn't melted. Added more whipped cream because it's not sweet enough and more iced coffee. It still doesn't taste very good, but I'll drink it. I probably should have stuck with warm coffee instead of trying to ice it. At least adding whipped cream adds less calorie then adding straight sugar. Once I'm done drinking the iced coffees that I purchased, I'll just go back to not drinking coffee. 

I did see these new Holiday flavored whipped cream toppings to try. I might have to buy all three!! I'm sure we could find some desserts to make and use them up or just add to coffee/hot chocolates. 

Our maple out front is finally getting red, little by little. It's also losing leaves fast. The colors right now are so pretty. It's going to be sad when all the trees are bare and I will be craving just seeing "green"! We might even get snow next week depending on how this storm system plays out. I'm just going to enjoy today's 60*F temps with sun shine. 

Steve is working this morning for a little bit to get ahead on this job. He wasn't able to work Thursday due to an eye appointment that took forever. Celina and Don are doing a 4 mile race out in Bloomington this morning. I'll go to the gym and walk Zoey at the park. 

I also want to pick up one more shelf and bracket for our panty. I want to clean that out and re-organize.  There is room for one more shelf up high where we can store stuff hardly used. Our pantry is pretty full, so this extra shelf will help, plus get me motivated to do this clean out project. 

I haven't done much in purging our house junk lately, but Sunday we will tackle putting away all the camping stuff in the garage and get that all cleaned out so we can park in the garage this winter. We keep all the camping stuff down in the summer to get to easily since we use it all the time. 

I'd better get going and get to the gym. It's already close to 9am and I'm still on the couch! 

Happy Fall Saturday! 

Lake Jensen fall walk

Celina and I took Zoey for a walk around Lake Jensen yesterday afternoon.  It's part of Lebanon park the area I've never walked around off Pilot knob road. It was a 2.5 mile walk around the lake. Too bad I didn't know about this path/lake sooner, because it would have been a great other running path option. 

There were a lot of ducks and geese on this lake. 

I bought more iced coffees and whipped cream flavors. 

I bought little chalk boards to make my own flights. This was my first sloppy attempt to do a coffee flight. I just wanted to try it out quickly. 

Peak Fall colors, October 19th

 We are finally at Peak fall colors and the fall weather is perfect. Close to 60+F and even warmer upper 60's on Friday. The warmer weather will be around till next week and the weekend temps will drop to the low 40s. I was really hoping to do one last lake get away this weekend. The night temps say 38*F and then there is the wind, up to 25mph on Saturday. Looks like our plans are going to change! I was really looking forward to one last get away too. 

New flight

 Celina and I went to try this new coffee shop attached to a brewery out in Minnetonka this morning.

We shared the flight and Celina got a coffee. 

The flights were kind of expensive at $20, but they let you choose iced or hot and what type of milk which was oat. 

I liked two of the four. We are thinking of making our own flights from now on as they are a lot of $$. 

I also like it when they add little desserts on the side or candies. This one was kind of boring! 

Acid Reflux?

 So here I might have acid reflux! I've been coughing every morning and mostly after I eat for maybe a year? or longer? I finally went to the doctor to see what she thought I had. I also had blood work to rule out thyroid issues, which the Dr didn't think I had. So now I'm taking Prilosec for a week or two to see if that helps. I also have some nasal over the counter spray to also try the following week. So far I think the Prilosec is helping after just one pill! I didn't realize I would have acid reflux since I'm not getting heart burn all the time. Who knew!! Glad I'm not feeling like I need to cough and get my throat cleared from drainage. That feels awful, like you have a cold in your throat all the time. I will be put on some other not  bad for your liver meds for acid reflux if the Prilosec works. I just didn't really want to be on pills forever. Ugh!! Well, it's either that or don't eat anything spicy, etc.. which I just want to eat what I want. 

I've also discovered I like having iced coffee. I started out wanting to try some coffee flights a year ago and then last week I bought some pumpkin spiced coffee and some whipped cream spiced. What a great combo. Now I want to drink a coffee every day. I did try a hot coffee today and found out I really like it iced and diluted better. I've been a hold out coffee drinker for years and now I finally tried it and gave in. Might as well have something to enjoy in the mornings. I just don't like feeling dependent on anything, so it has to be a once in a while treat, not an every day one. 

I also need to get back to weight loss. I gained some, not all my weight that was lost over last winter. Time to get back to taking care of myself. Which means going to the gym in the afternoons, sit less and move more. Eat less, back to popcorn, fruit, veggies. I have all winter to work on weight loss and there is no better time to start. Might as well be this week! 

I still can have treats, but will save them for the weekends. I need to start counting calories, making better choices and make sure I don't go above 1500 cal for the day. Mostly it's getting back to the gym and working out daily to burn more calories. Plus, working on house purge/clean up! 

Today, I'm working in the morning, it's going to be 64+F today which is warm for October 17th. I should get in a bike ride or walk the dog around Lebanon lakes. Plus, go lift weights tonight after 6pm at the gym. I should also do some advertising, but I'll wait till next week. I want to enjoy the nice few days left we have this year because it will be a long winter! It's also supposed to rain Wed night, so no since advertising , right? Plus,  Steve got two calls yesterday for work and picked up more jobs. Not huge jobs but more work to keep him busy for the next 3 weeks. We are still okay for October, November and part of December right now and longer if we need without more jobs. I also have a client that needs a lot of work done and they will call, just is when they figure out paint color. They tend to drag their feet on home projects so?? It will be a big job if he gets it. I was pushing for Nov/Dec work! Fingers crossed!! I'll still need to do more advertising till his schedule is booked out months again. 

I also want Steve to do our house projects. Our master bathroom needs an update. New counter, raised vanity and new tile for the floor and re-do the shower. A full bathroom make-over! We need to finish up projects that have been on hold for years. Just little things like nail the trim on the walls, finish the quarter round trim on the main level. Finish the upstair nook. Re-paint the half bathroom to freshen it up. Touch up the cabinets, trim /paint. 

I'm still in purge mode. Plus, I want to redecorate our shelves in the family room and photos on the wall. I'd like to do all this before we have everyone over for T-day. I'll have to look for 8 x 10 photos to print in Black and white. Time to get cracking on that project. 

Eras tour..and pumpkin patches

Saturday we checked out two local pumpkin patches in Rosemount that were down the street from one another. Brand Farms and Crazy legs. Each had a little something different to offer. We didn't get anything but did take photos.  

We should have checked out the back of the farm in the pumpkin patch as there were more photo opportunities. 

Cute decorations. I need a selfie stick to take better photos! 

The pumpkins were huge! It was nice that the vines were still a little alive. We haven't had a hard frost yet so it still looked good with some green. 

Then it was off to the Taylor Swift Eras tour movie. Tickets were kind of expensive for a movie at $25 each. I originally was going with Steve but he changed his mind and Celina along with Tim's gf Amanda came to watch the movie with me. It was 3 hours, but sooo good. It reminded me of a theater play with all the costume/set and dancing/story telling. I'd highly recommend going to see this tour. Even though the tickets were $25 it was by far much cheaper then actually going to the concert and we got up and close which you can't do at a concert unless you want to pay thousands of dollars. I hope other artists with productions like this also do movies after the concert. Seems like a smart business plan for the artist and theaters since October is a slow movie month. 

We took photos before the show. I was disappointed that we didn't have anyone to exchange our bracelets with or give away. We got there kind of early, and not many people waiting around. They did have a table set up to make bracelets and the movie theatre was exchanging bracelets too, which I did. 

I would have liked to give away a few bracelets, but gave three to Madelyn. 

Steve and I stopped on Sunday at the river / Spring lake park overlooking the Mississippi River. We went to Hastings to soak up the sun and have a beer in the afternoon. 

Just a few Zoey fall photos from my google memories from last year. 

I've been enjoying this fall iced pumpkin spice coffee with spiced whipped cream. Too good! I might have to try this hot too! Which I just did, but wasn't as flavorful. I'll stick to iced! Unless I'm freezing cold! 

Not sure if it will be warm enough to go to the lake one more time this weekend. It's going to be at least 57*F cloudy during the day on Saturday but get down to 43*F at night which is going to be COLD! I was thinking car camping, but Steve thinks setting up the tent would be better. We will just bring the smaller/instant tent with lights. I would like to purchase one more cot and not have to use the air mattresses. The mattress gets cold, but we can top with thick foam layer and then put the sleeping bags and huge comforter on top. I also tested out the hot water bottle idea. It lasts for about 3 hours which will add warmth to our feet. I just tried it with a normal water bottle but will pick up two flat bottles at Walmart for $6 each. All we need to do is boil water and pour inside then put then in our sleeping bags at night. If your feet are warm then it will be warmer to sleep! I've been wanting to try this out and this is the time to do it. I keep saying that 50 is the coldest I'd want to camp without electricity. Well, we are pushing that at 43*F!! We will see how or if we sleep! I figure we can always go to the car blast the heat for bit to warm up. We can at least try this for one night! 

It's a busy work week, with a doctor appointment today to figure out what is going on with my throat. I always have to cough after I eat, feels like mucus dripping in the back of my throat that I need to clear out. It does eventually clear. It is allergies, thyroid? Not really sure?? Hopefully its nothing to be concerned with and just nasal drip. Guess we will find out today! 

I also need to do more advertising this week and in the next few weeks until Steve builds up clients again. He has been booked out since before Covid non stop. Is is finally getting towards the last of his booked jobs. I think only two weeks, maybe 3 weeks of jobs left to complete. Which makes me nervous, so need to advertise as much as possible the next few weeks. He does have an estimate tonight, but it for a smaller type job. Everything helps! Seems when I do advertise, he gets at least a few calls which turn into a few new jobs to line up. I just dislike advertising and glad I don't have to do it that often. I do know every spring gets super busy, it's just this time of year all slows down till after the holidays. 

I'm thinking we can get some home projects done that I've been wanting to do for years. We have our master bathroom tile and shower along with vanity counter to re-do. It's been needing a fresh update for a few years and the last of the bathrooms to update! We have Menards rebate money that will cover the cost of a new vanity and maybe the cost of faucets. It won't be enough for the tile, but we might just do that anyway if he has the time. We also need to finish the quarter trim on the main level from re-doing the floors. We also need to purchase more trim and we need to finish nailing the trim upstairs and add some in our master bathroom. In all, I don't think the tile or adding trim will cost that much out of pocket. Just projects he never gets to while working on other customers houses. 

We also need to add a shelf to our pantry and re-paint the half bathroom. Maybe finally install the front closet light and finish the upstairs nook. A few projects that have gone unfinished for years. Of course not working and spending extra for projects around the holidays is not ideal, but this is the time to do it. There will always be more jobs so we aren't worried till we have to be. 

We are also trying to eat more meals at home. It's been easy so far, just like to go out for a beer here and there. It still saves money by not eating out as much. Plus, we make better food at home. We do have gift cards to use up, so we still can enjoy a meal out and save money at the same time,  a win/win. 

I need to book Logan a train ride home for Thanksgiving weekend. The ticket costs have gone up $50. Plane tickets are up $200, so train it is! Unfortunately, the train schedule isn't the best and he won't get in till midnight on the Wedneaday 22nd and will have to leave at 8am on Sunday. A short time home, but home at least for the holiday. We won't see him again till Christmas break which is over a month long! It would be nice to just pick him up, but that would be a 10 - 12 hour day of driving at least! No savings and you just don't know the weather situation if it will snow. I'm at least thankful we have the train option! 

Other than working and advertising, I'm still working on purging our house room by room. I have completed the kitchen frig/freezer and under the sink. I still have the pantry to go though. I'd like to add one additional shelf before doing that project. 

My room is also finished with hanging up all my clothes and cleaning under the bed, going through the bathroom drawers and cabinets in both bathrooms. I still have the spare room or Steve's closet room to go through. That's a project for another time this winter. 

I have the office and the porch to tackle this week. We gave the bookshelf to Logan, so I have books to find a new home for or purge. The office also needs to be cleared out with stuff to sell or find a new place to store. 

I'm in need of two new rugs one for the front sitting room and the other for the entry. I keep looking for a low cost rugs that are on clearance that I like. Plus, looking for new chairs to get rid of the old ones that aren't the best quality. 

I did list a few items for sale on Craigslist. I should post of FB market place too. Time to list more for sale! Plus, I need to make a few trips to Goodwill and purge more clothes. I think once I go through the spare room, we will have plenty to take to goodwill. It's my all winter project! 

I'm also wanting to redecorate the book shelves in the family room/new dining room. I've had the same photos for years and it's time for a change up! Plus, I have a wall of awards that need to be taken down as its been years for that too. I'll replace with black and white prints of family photo or just nature? Not really sure just yet. It's time to start working on this too. 

December 2026 our house will be full paid off. I can not wait. Well, I can wait to get older, but it would be nice to no longer have a mortgage. We will still be paying at least $800 per month in taxes and homeowners insurance. So that will never change only increase but that's cheap for expenses every month! That's the only cost I see going down. We will probably always have some car payment. Just as we get rid of one, we purchase another vehicle. Steve will need a new truck next once my SUV is paid off. It's nice to only have one car payment and not two! We seem to trade off with maybe having a year or two with zero payments. It is what it is! Eventually, we won't have Logan's cell to pay for and college expenses will be done when he graduates in two years. That alone will save $1000 a month or more! We are looking at at least $2600 in savings! That money will go towards a cabin build, which we plan to rent out when not using. It will be nice to make some passive income for a change. I'd like to rent out the house too and do some traveling. I'd like to build out some van and then travel. Steve thinks an SUV would be better suited. Seems we could sell a van build easily and make money off it. Guess that's an idea in progress!! We have a plan at least for the future. Seems I've been waiting for the future all my life. It will be here one day and then I'll be waiting for something else. I'm just going to live in the moment now and enjoy that my family is all near and Celina is still at home and Logan back in the summer. Kendra and grandkids live near, but that could all change fast. Kendra has a job opportunity in Texas which might require moving. Celina will eventually move out and Logan might have a job this summer somewhere else. Steve and I have our health right now, hopefully for a long time to come. We are getting older as retirement age is creeping up sooner and sooner. Although, I want to keep working to stay active and get paid exercise. I also want to do more traveling and have less expenses to be able to do that. I want adventure and some thing to look forward to as we age.