While it’s had its moments of happiness, it’s also been a bit of just a weary winter week around here. And no sunshine!  Oh how I miss it!

Just thought I’d pop on here for a little week in review though not much to share. Taking a break from the aggravations of adding up tax numbers. The main aggravation coming from the local utility department insisting we have no account. Computer glitch probably but very annoying.

A few tidbits from my week and sadly, not many pictures as it’s been rainy and foggy so outside photos didn’t happen. Perhaps a sign to work on my indoor photos? Hmm. Something to ponder.

MONDAY and TUESDAY:

Everything started off icy this week. Thankfully, by Monday afternoon the temperature bumped up enough that I felt safe to go get a few things at the grocery store. And J got out to his band class as well. Always good to get out. He also shared with me what was going on so we started on fixing that (Just some college administration things that arrived last week. Somehow they were counting a dual credit class from 2 years ago into last semester’s grades causing all kinds of havoc with financial things.). Tuesday was another bit of an icy start so no classes for J again.  I don’t know what I did, maybe some cleaning and clearing? Oh yes, that is it. I cleaned out our medicine cabinet. So far I’ve cleared the pantry, medicine cabinet, and a few things from our bedroom.

WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY:

Wednesday was a struggle. My solar battery started to wear down very fast. Had a bit of an argument with J. Went to the library and the power went out while I was there. However, they were very kind to write down my books so I could still take them. Had the things to drop off at the donation center in my trunk (still there) but the donation area was closed probably due to weather. My husband did make dinner Wednesday evening (pancakes and bacon) so that helped a bit as well.

Yesterday was much better even though it poured down rain the entire day! J went off to his classes and I spent most the morning making minestrone soup.

Treated myself to a much needed Starbucks chai latte when I had to run to the store for pasta (I’ve decided dinatale pasta is the best for minestrone even though my recipe calls for elbow macaroni).

Last night I went out with friends, never underestimate how much that can help with a down week. We went to the Nelson (how we refer to the main art gallery in town locally) to see a Monet exhibit as well as exhibit of the works of Evelyn Hofer (very interesting!). Our kind friend obtained tickets to the exhibit for us through her work.

And then, we all went out to eat a bit of a Kansas City institution of hamburger restaurants, Winsteads. I’d not been there in years! We were at the original location but they used to have restaurants throughout the city including a couple close to us. Sadly, those restaurants are long gone.

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Today and the rest of the weekend: I’m wearing my lucky red sweater for red Friday today. Trying to remember to wash my lucky long-sleeved red Chiefs shirt so it’ll be dry in time for Sunday (it’s a no dryer item). Our weather is supposed to bump way up in temperature but I’m still going to wear it. J needs to go the college bookstore later.

I’d like to maybe visit a Hallmark store as I’m starting to think on my 2 focus words for February….love and friendship are calling to me. Think I’ve done a decent job with my cleaning and clearing for January–perhaps a blog post is in order. It’s another weekend where we have no big plans (outside of cheering on the Chiefs on Sunday afternoon) but I’m not mad about it. Maybe I’ll spend some time practicing on indoor photos.

If the sun shines, you know I’ll be chasing it. And if it doesn’t, I’m planning to get outside anyway (I can manage anything but ice and pouring rain, I think).

How has your week been? What big or small plans do you have for the weekend?

December is here at last or perhaps suddenly. Feels more like suddenly this year doesn’t it? We have lots on our December calendar and I’m excited for it.

However, first I think I’ll take a minute to look back at the whirlwind last week of November. Isn’t it weird how sometimes a week with nothing special on the calendar can speed by as fast as one that’s super busy?

MONDAY AND TUESDAY

Nothing too exciting happened on Monday except my usual grocery store trip. I guess I’m officially a “regular” as that’s how the lunchmeat counter manager referred to me. “I’m seeing all my regulars today.” HA. It’s true though, I typically shop on Mondays and get the same things from that counter.

Tuesday, J had his class and I took a snowy hike through some of the nature center trails. You can see the post about that here. 

I worked for just a few hours on Tuesday afternoon. It was definitely a bit more chilly in the late afternoon on the playground than it had been on the nature center trails. And so muddy! Ugh. However, I still enjoyed seeing the kids. J didn’t have his evening class so our evening was fairly relaxed, I mostly read in my book and watched a bit of TV.

WEDNESDAY

With lots of sunshine and warmer weather, I opted to drive out to a nature center on the east side of town and do a bit of walking. I didn’t take my boots so mostly stayed on the paved trails. I had the best time seeing a new (to me) bird as well as some eagles flying over head! The eagle picture turned out blurry but here’s my new tiny bird friend:

A bit of real life: Unfortunately, the evening ended on a bit of a sour note as J and I came home starving from his class and my husband had not even bothered to start dinner. He’d been home a decent amount of time, saying “I didn’t know what you wanted.” I’d written two options on our menu board. My temper flared a bit as I made dinner (loudly) but everyone was fed. I ended up making sausage, orzo, & broccoli. 

Maybe I’d come home in a bit of worse mood as I’d finished reading Holly by Stephen King and found myself quite disappointed in it.

Life and dinners go on…

THURSDAY

Yesterday, I went hiking at the closer nature center trails again. Wore my boots and was glad I did as a lot of the snow melted into slippery leaves and mud.

So strange to see how the weather and trails can change in a matter of two days. This is the same spot 2 days apart:

I also finally managed to get to the library and pick up my on hold books (as well as return my overdue ones). Also picked up a few new cookbooks, not sure if I’ve mentioned it but the library is such a great place to grab cookbooks to preview. In my current collection, I have Trisha Yearwood’s cookbook as well as one by Chrissy Teigen plus a couple random ones.

Not from a cookbook but last night we made these banana pancakes for dinner. Whatever you’re planning for your next meal, change it and make these instead! So good. We added mini chocolate chips to ours. They really didn’t even need syrup. Next time, I think I’d like to add blueberries instead of the chocolate chips.

Ended my November watching, not a Christmas movie but an old dateline special about Jonestown. Why? And then, I turned on the football game but fell asleep.

Our Weekend Plans

And now it’s December! Ours is a bit busier than normal but after a few years of quiet holidays, I’m excited about it.

Prior to this post, I took a moment to enjoy a cup of hazelnut coffee as the Keurig is plugged in for the holiday season. It only comes out for hunting season/Christmas, the rest of the year is the regular coffee maker coffee which I also had a cup of earlier in the morning.

And read the first day of Simply Christmas, a favorite devotional for this month. While it’s geared to moms with younger children, I still find wisdom in the pages.

Tonight we have J’s college Christmas concert to attend. Tomorrow, our first of the month dinner/game night with friends. We’ve not had a proper game night in a while so I do hope we actually play a few games tomorrow. And then, Sunday night is the Chiefs game. Between all that fun, I am hoping to get the rest of the house decorated for Christmas, maybe do a bit of shopping or baking, and taking some time to enjoy the start of the Christmas season.

If the sun shines, you know I’ll be out taking a walk with my camera soaking it in while I can. I’ve told myself every time I can be out walking and enjoying the sunshine in the next few months, I’m going to do it.

Do you have any exciting weekend plans?

I’m having a bit of a red, green, and black Friday over here. Shopping or not, it’s still red Friday for the Chiefs game on Sunday. Of course, all my Chiefs gear is in the wash so I’m wearing a red Grinch t-shirt. Bit of a green Friday happening as well since I have no intention of leaving the house today & have added a green cardigan with a Christmas tree design to my ensemble since it’s chilly in here. Finally, I am doing a bit of online black Friday bargaining. Mostly, it involves streaming deals.

However, I thought I’d take a quick break from not really doing much to share about my week.

Monday and Tuesday

The weather was fairly nice to start the week. I worked on Monday and Tuesday both. Though I only worked in the afternoon on Tuesday, it felt like a full day. Those kids were a bit crazy! It was nice that I was able to enjoy afternoon birthday celebrations both days. However, can I just suggest…IF you want to make your child’s birthday treat (it’s fine and allowed at our school) and make some sort of bars/cake/rice krispie treats, PLEASE cut them into pieces before bringing them to school. Couldn’t really help the teacher with the kids during the celebration as I was cutting the birthday treats into 20 servings. Anyway, did I mention Tuesday was a crazy day at my work? The main teacher actually sent me a text later that night thanking me for my help. A super nice thing to do.

Pre-Thanksgiving (AKA Wednesday)

Wednesday was a pretty easy day as none of us had anywhere we needed to be. Such a change from the days of traveling to Oklahoma! Maybe that’s why I had the itch to go somewhere later in the afternoon so hopped in the car to brave Target. I did actually need a few items there plus wanted to look for the flavored whipped creams I’d read about somewhere (salted caramel sounded like a great addition to my apple pie but alas they were out of it).

I took some time before going into the craziness of Target to stop at a different local nature center and quickly walk just their short (.25 mile, I think) paved trail. Didn’t bring my camera so these photos I’m sharing are all from my phone. Since it was a bright sunny day, I had on my sunglasses and forgot to switch back to regular glasses before setting off into the woods. Oops! I definitely need to go back there with my good camera and without my sunglasses.

One last thing to mention about my hike, I really think taking the walk before going into a crowded store helped me be a bit less stressed. I don’t do crowds well and I really think having some time in nature prior to the crowded indoor excursion helped.

Thanksgiving

Did I forget to take any pictures at all? I did indeed! Even the photo of my cranberry relish in progress was from Wednesday.

It was such a nice and relaxing day! I can’t remember the last time we’ve had such a nice Thanksgiving in these parts. My brother’s dinner wasn’t until 4 so I had all day to make my pies. Had a wonderful dinner and visit with my 3  brothers and two of my nieces and their families. And political talk was at a minimum barely happening at all (I’m beyond thankful for that one!). G took the car (we all rode together) to go feed a friend’s cat and took J with him around 7ish so dropped J off at home. J’s not the most social so we try to respect that. The rest of us stayed and visited until almost 11!

Today

Today’s weather was slightly different when I woke up this morning. A feels like temperature of 18 degrees! What? It’s 35 now but not supposed to get any warmer and they’re still calling for snow (just a dusting) overnight.

My plans for today were to start decorating for Christmas but all I’ve managed so far is to take down the fall decor and add in a few Christmas bathroom towels. Oh, and I pulled out my Christmas sweaters and a few warm sweatshirts, putting away the shorts finally.

My plans for the rest of the weekend are fairly open, finish decorating for Christmas (hopefully), G’s offered to get me a McRib since our McD’s has them right now (I’ll probably be disappointed but I still want one), and hopefully watch maybe a Christmas movie plus the Chiefs game on Sunday. Nothing too exciting which is fine as our December is shaping up to be a busy one (with all good stuff though)!

What color is your Friday? Big plans for the rest of the weekend?

First thing is I really need to work on my blog titles. Can you believe another week’s gone by? What happened in your week? Here’s a glimpse into mine.

CATNAP NEEDED

I’m going to start with this morning’s adventure. I thought it would be going to get my haircut but no, this little cat had other plans:

Let her outside early because she was fussing. Few minutes later heard a ruckus, opened the door and thought I saw her over toward the neighbor’s house. Didn’t worry too much, figured things had worked themselves out (sometimes other little cats come to play and they don’t always play nice). Later in the morning, went to let her back inside as it was quite chilly and glance to the side and….she’s up in the elm tree that sits between our house and the neighbors. SIGH.

Husband had trimmed some branches over the summer (something about them falling and hitting our roof if a good wind happened). And now, the cat struggled to get down the tree. So picture me (sorry no actual footage for you), bright and early on a Saturday morning, outside in a sweatshirt and pajama bottoms giving a pep talk to get the cat back down the tree. Husband is off hunting and I really thought I was going to have to find someone with a ladder to help us. However, she managed and is now tucked into our bed in front of the heater.

AROUND THE FRONT YARD

J slept through his Thursday classes so I missed out on my morning walk, unless you count Menards where I had a few errands. It’s a big store but walking through the artificial Christmas trees is not quite as relaxing as walking in the wooded areas. Thought I’d make it up on Friday but was called into work. I was glad to go though as I had things to drop off for a teacher gift basket. Here’s a few images I took on Thursday afternoon just to have a moment with my camera at least.

Pansies are enduring through the crazy up and down temperatures. Full view of the hanging basket is not quite as pretty.

A couple images from the flower garden around the basket. The late stage of the coneflower is very striking to me.

And the very end of the brown-eyed Susans. I admit, I did cut quite a few of them down a bit this year (had to as I needed to reach the bee balm that I also cut down due to disease). They’ll be back next year I’m sure.

IN THE BACKYARD

Not our tree but I just love this sweet gum tree that belongs to the neighbor. The leaves seem much smaller this year, probably because of the drought.

Thursday was a fairly quiet day and while I had lots I needed to do, I didn’t do much of it.

CAKE

This cake, I’ve made it for so many years now. And it seldom comes out perfect. Actually, I don’t know that it’s ever come out perfect. There is a certain beauty to an imperfect homemade cake, I think.

J had a nice birthday, I think. Birthdays are different in those young adult times. He had class still so we didn’t do much other than the standard dinner, presents, and cake with the four of us. He seemed to like his gifts, a lightweight zip up hoodie (strange weather, he needed something lightweight), a box of “full price” cheez its, peppermint lifesavers and a large Three Musketeers bar. Of course, his large present was the symphony tickets for all of us later in December.

(Monday and Tuesday of this week are a bit of a blur, I think I was probably running around doing pre-birthday things for J.)

THIS WEEKEND

Last night, I was too tired to do much of anything and opted to watch a movie. Just in case you don’t know, Fast X has a sequel. I was not happy about that though I did actually enjoy the movie (I’ve never sat and watched 1-9 of the Fast and Furious movies so don’t ask why I opted to watch the 10th installment). Jason Momoa should play a villian in all movies, he was a great villain in this!

After the cat drama this morning, I still managed to go get my haircut and then, came down here to finish this post. I’m feeling the pull to clean, bake, and decorate for Christmas though I’m not “allowed” to decorate until after Thanksgiving. I’ll probably spend the afternoon cleaning out the fridge, putting together the Mexican lasagna that I didn’t make yesterday, and reading in my book. Or maybe I’ll go for a walk as the weather is supposed to be nice today before taking a cold turn moving forward into the holiday week.

What are your plans for this Saturday?