Just Me!!

We had a great night in even though it wasn’t what I had planned on. The calendar was full of to do’s today but this darn cold set me back and now every second I cancel what needs to be done.  Plans: Housekeeper- cancelled Piano- Valerie took Charlie so cancelled the drive for me Yearbook approval day-went with Mark which last all of 5 minutes  Multicare Festival of Trees (free night)-cancelled Soccer- Mark took Ethan even though it’s my week For the most part it was a quiet evening at home. We have little to no food in the house (cancelled grocery shopping at Winco) so I pulled out some pork that was from the ends of a huge tenderloin and whipped up some carne asada (sat in the oven on 300 for 3-4 hours) and served it over mashed potatoes with gravy made from its juices, and roasted root veggies from our community garden. It was yummy! I like it when I can make something out of nothing. It might just have to stay on the permanent menu. It was a Pinterest recipe!! I even hear...

Didn’t think I would get decorated for Christmas this early, but with the help of my whole family. It is done. I am sitting on the couch, listening to Ben Union’s Christmas Without You, laying on last years j-o-y pillows from Target, looking at the amazing decorating mad skills of my kids. Our tree is light green, dark green, red, white, and gold again this year. It also may or may not have two picture ornaments of John Deacon and Freddie Mercury🤣 👑. I was going to do more and will probably over the course of the month but I’m starting to feel a cold coming on. My ear is plugged but my glands are swollen on my right side as well. I hope that my essential oil cough drops can take care of this! I don’t have time to be sick. I even have a dentist appointment tomorrow which I am hoping I can get 4 hours of LC for. I might be sick anyways so that wouldn’t matter. The end of the week gets busier with piano, soccer, Multicare Festival of Trees on Thursday, haircuts (my daughter want her hai...

It was a successful Thanksgiving. We spent the entire day with the Wegley’s in Covington. I love when mom cooks because she does a great job and I don’t have to help except to bring a dish or two to eat. It’s wonderful. We even had some time for a family photo shoot. I just might use one as a gift for Christmas. After a yummy meal, great conversation, we played Apples to Apples. Everyone loves this game and we always have enlightening conversations during the game. The grandparents learn quite a bit about our kids during these games because they like to act goofy when playing. Charlie and Andy gave us a demo of the cups song they learned a few years back. We didn’t talk Politics but we did a few minutes of Healthcare/Medicare that had some passionate thoughts and ideas that were shared. I took a mock Meyers Briggs test to see what personality type I am. It did shock me a bit. Afterwards we stopped at the Nagel’s for a bit. What a silly group of grandparents!!

Senior year! I haven’t talked about it as much as I did with Val because I know what to expect this time around. My sister will hopefully use this as a reference one day. Plan for graduation supplies to be paid for in early September, as well as the class ring. Senior pictures need to be completed by early Summer of the Senior year, and the yearbook spread to be written by October. We are fortunate to have a photographer in the family who knows how to capture great photos, Mark. It is his first attempt at Senior pictures and we plan to do a few more with family photos as well. We spent maybe two hours getting these shots of Ethan. He looks crazy grown up in these photos. Sometimes I still see him as my crazy cowboy running around the house with his guitar. Running and jumping and never sitting still! I pray that he keeps that zest for life.

My days get so full. Mark and I had no children at the house this morning so we got to be single adults again for a few hours. We spent them browsing Crescent Moon and Gifts for ideas for Christmas stockings, drank some yummy Montana Gold Tea, grocery shopped for a few odds and ends for yummy pumpkin chili, and bought salads from Met Market🥗! Their salads are amazing.  When the kids got home Ethan and I drove to BECU and completed his checking account (linking it to his savings) and he got his first debit card. He’s a saver so I’m not really worried about it. He really wants a car and to pay his own way to college. Yay. He is so on track it’s crazy! He is 100% changed and is on fire academically with 5 A’s and one C;) he is showing a ton of maturity too. We had a great talk tonight about girls, college, and his goals. He also asked to drive to Sams for an hour. He even called me when he got there and said he was safe (which I didn’t tell him he had to do).  When he got home w...

Wine is not my strongest subject. I don’t know much about it, the process, the ratings, and how to tell if I’m going to enjoy it. I have been slowly learning since Mark and I did our little getaway in June down the Oregon Coast to Agate Beach. We visited 4 wineries and did their tastings. We enjoyed most of the settings except for one. We found that the more down to earth and more educational, the better their wine tasted. I love to learn and am constantly asking questions but I clam up if I’m in a setting or with a person who makes me feel stupid. The people at Eyrie Vineyards were the nicest that day. We walked out with two bottles of wine and a hat that day. I know big spenders huh? I wish it was a case because it was really good!  Today was Soccer Sunday. Ethan’s team won again 5-0 and Grandma even came to watch because it was across from Sparks Stadium.  I was feeling ignored lately so Mark took me out tonight. After racking our brains for things to do, we opted to not w...

Garlic palooza! We planted 50 bulbs (which all have about 15-20 cloves) of garlic in our community garden. We planted white garlic, and elephant garlic (that I contributed) in 2 rows (with 5 rows inside). Holy moly that’s a lot of garlic. Each of those cloves will produce a bulb of garlic and it will keep on giving for years to come. Harvest for the rest of the garden is tomorrow but I’m not sure if I can make it because it is soccer Sunday. Charlie helped out today big time. She helped us break the garlic apart, plant, dig dirt, remove and replace some individual row posts. She has always loved the garden even when she was little!  She has been begging for a date with just Mark and I so we surprised her today. We took her to see BTS the movie and then appropriately to the Korean market for Bibimbap bowls. It was fun to see her get herself all ready complete with lipstick and be excited to spend time with us. 

We spent the better half of the morning running numbers on our insurance plans. We looked at deductables, out of pocket, insurance cost, coverage, copays for his and my insurance and it turns out even if I have to pay a premium of $50 a month more for Marks company, he still has a better plan. We estimate the savings cost will be around $2500 this next year alone. Those numbers done include my deductable of 600/1500 per family. His plans deductible is 125pp/325 family. His plan covers 85% and no Dr co pays to see a physician and his is cheaper. I love this stuff. What I don’t love is the extra paperwork it takes to put it all into place.  The reward was midday I scheduled myself a massage because I recently met my deductable and now have massages that cost $6! Amazing. He worked on my right hand, arm, and shoulder because I believe it has a bit of a pinched nerve. It was wonderful. I’m going back on Tuesday.  Valerie took Mark to a concert for his Fathers Day gift, so I took t...

Whether it’s money, time, chores, or pleasures I am always formulating and calculating their existence and purpose in my life. One of the most precious pleasures is simple DIYing tasks that I haven’t had the time or pleasure for as of late, but today I changed that. Everytime I looked at my new OLD table from my mothers collection of antiques I am disappointed that I haven’t yet tapped into its’ true potential. I have always loved great Aunt Mary’s table (correct me if I’m wrong about who this beautiful piece belonged too) and am sad that it needs a redo but it does. Splotches of water marks and chipped varnish cover the landscaping and it begs for a beautiful restore. I must obey. I feel this when I look at the walls of my bathroom and the dark brown “poop colored” kitchen walls at my house. One project at a time though. So I’m starting with this one. I got my sander out (thanks dad it did come in handy) and gave it a twice over on the top and then flipped it over and started to paint...

Yay, right now marks the start of my week off! Plus it’s almost Thanksgiving and that always makes my week at work fun. I am THANKFUL I am working Thanksgiving eve and will be spending Thanksgiving day at the In laws. They are the only ones who have a Thanksgiving tradition any longer. I am very THANKFUL they continue this tradition, or I would be in the kitchen cooking a huge meal that takes all day for people who can inhale it in 15 minutes flat! My mother in law doesn’t seem to mind cooking for us and I usually bring dessert. In the past I’ve made elaborate desserts but I find they don’t get eaten unless they are store bought. So STORE bought it is! Maybe my MIL is just as germaphobic as I am. I’m getting worse about it these days. I went to the buffet yesterday and all I could think was that there were hands-with god knows what on them-touching all the ladles! I do blood, sweat, cervical mucus, and poop but germs are so NOT fun. I THANKFUL that I hardly ever get sick but maybe that...