Yesterday, I shared the nature photos from taking the unpaved and paved trails at the nature park.

Today, I’ll share the trees I went to see. You can go back to yesterday’s post to see one more of these trees.

As I mentioned yesterday, as part of a fundraiser for a local charitable organization, individuals purchase and decorate a wooden shape. Usually, winter or Christmas themed, these shapes then go on display at George Owens Nature Park in early December until the end of January.  I like to try and get out there each year and view them. Last year, they did gingerbread houses.

This year, trees. I took photos of the ones that caught my eye.

First tree on the trail

While not my favorite, I was a bit partial to the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom theme of it since I work with preschool kids.

Spoons and Money!

These two were interesting based on their design subject matter.

I didn’t get that this tree was designed with spoons until I passed it a second time on the way back to my car.

Hope that’s not real money on this tree! Glad no one took any to test the theory.

Understated themes on these.

I really liked a few of them.

Random but fun designs

If you don’t know, Kansas City is one of the host cities for the 2026 World Cup.

Gone Fishing.

Ice cream anyone?

Trees painted on trees. I thought this one was so beautiful! Also, in a way, it made me think of Narnia. Not sure if that was the intent?

How about a shoe tree?

Christmas Themed Trees

Some of these are truly astounding and beautiful as well.

Close up of the Christmas specials tree. Look at the details! 

My favorite of the Christmas themed trees:

The Happy Little Tree

This was my favorite of all the trees. Made me laugh out loud when I saw it. Such a cute idea.

Which tree is your favorite?

(And just a note here: yesterday I mentioned the warm weather with the highs in the mid 50’s. It snowed overnight, just a dusting. And is now 33 degrees. Typical Midwestern weather I suppose)

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day 12/365

Today was a bit busy but not really. I finished up my long week and a day of subbing yesterday. And I’m already missing the kids a bit.

However, it was nice to have time to do some much overdue chores around here. The house is slightly cleaner than it was yesterday.

Early this morning I went to Sam’s Club. Thought I’d just share what I bought there for today’s post. I like seeing what other people are buying so thought you might like to see what was in my cart.

First the fun stuff.

Clearance Finds!

This blanket is probably going to be an argument with my husband. A cozy soft argument but still an argument. He somehow thinks we have too many blankets. I think not. Is that even a thing to have too many blankets?

We had an issue with 2 Kohls blankets I bought around Christmas (one was a gift to him). When I washed them, they did not do well. Full of fuzz!  Anyone else ever have issues like that with the Big One blankets? All my other blankets from there have always been fine in the washer/dryer.

Anyway, he told me to stop buying cheap blankets and just get a good one. So I did. Sort of. I was browsing online deal sites a while back and these are supposed to be like duplicates of some super expensive brand called Barefoot Dreams. It’s pretty, soft, cozy, and since it was on clearance, I thought I’d give it a try. It really ended up costing less than the Kohl’s blankets at their regular prices.

My other clearance find was this cardigan sweater with a Christmas tree design. For my birthday, my husband gifted me the same style sweater in a red/white deer type pattern. I really like this green one though. Can already envision wearing it over Christmas tee-shirts with jeans or even with a pretty simple red dress (not that I own one).

Groceries

Bottled water. Reason for the trip. 

Cooked chicken to add to freezer (not whole) so I can have already cooked chicken on hand for a few meals or as a last minute option.

Meatballs. The secret ingredient in a few of my recipes. I can make my own but the family likes these just as well. Time saver for the win.

Blueberries, plain potato chips, and croissants. Husband takes blueberries in his lunch almost every day. Sometimes you just need basic chips. And I can’t say no to the croissants. Probably my favorite form of bread. Or are they a pastry with the flaky layers? I don’t know. They are just good!

I guess the question to end this becomes are you a Sam’s Club or a Cosco person? Or do you not do the warehouse stores? I’d honestly probably be okay without but they are convenient at times.

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day 10/365

I’ve been picking a word of the year for 11 years now (counting 2023).  Just for fun, I took a look back at my word choices:

Way back in 2012, my word was No. It was a time of lots of PTA volunteering, I think. And I was done.

I suppose it makes sense that the following year, I chose present for my word.

Then, there were a few years of less than memorable word choices. The words were nice but I didn’t do too much or think too much on them. Some years are like that and it’s okay.

Here’s a brief list of words for the years 2014-2016.

2014:Action

2015:Chapter

2016:Celebrate

The year of 2017 was a doozy with me choosing a whole phrase for the year:

Rediscover, Revive, and Renew

Yeah, no pressure with that choice. Can you see me rolling my eyes behind the computer here?

Just a Few More

I think my favorite of all my words of the year, occured in 2018. The word Embrace just worked wonders for me. And if I recall, 2018 was actually a pretty good year.

Did you know you can change your word of the year if it’s not working for you? My words, my rules. Ha. I did change my word in 2019. Started with the word Time. Oh, the pressure of that word. I felt it almost immediately. My second attempt worked so much better and I saw things so much clearer from a perspective of Gratitude.

While 2020 wasn’t in any way humorous, the word of the year I picked ended up being one of those situational comedy kind of choices. Why not pick the word Home and then have a worldwide pandemic that forces you to be there. SIGH.

Less in 2021 seemed like a good idea at the time. By the way, I guess the family does kind of notice things after all. “Oh, look the Christmas presents under the tree look like it used to be” spoken by G on Christmas Eve after I had hardly anything under there in 2021 because of my word of the year. And less was fine but it’s not me.

And then for the past year of 2022, my word was Heal. Started out okay but honestly, I kind of fizzled out on it. Lots going on in the household. However, I do think from a mental space, I did find myself dealing with and having a few points of clarification. Let’s see how vague I can be, huh? Anyway, it wasn’t the greatest word but it wasn’t terrible either.

My 2023 Word Deserves Another Post

I’ve found a wonderful word for 2023 but I want it to be another post. After all with 363 days of posting to go, I think I have the space.

A few words I considered for this year: Space, Wait, Air, Relish, Anticipate, Breathe, Timing.

Yet none of those quite captured what I wanted for this year. There’s a hint about my word in this post.

Do you pick a word for the year? Or have a guess what my word of the year is going to be?

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Day 3 of 365