Tuesday and sunny

It's a sunny day and high of 53*F. I'll take it for nice spring weather. I've been waiting till around 10/11am to go on my daily runs. I have a semi schedule for my mornings at least. This makes the day seem normal. Get up around 7am, yoga, planks, lift weights, plan my day in my fitness book, blog, go for a run. There are also house projects todo. I've been searching for chemist jobs to apply or any kind of work at home jobs (which there are none).

Every evening around 4:30pm Steve and I have our cribbage games.  We take turns winning and losing. Lately, I've been winning more than losing.

Yesterday, it was 60*F, so I wanted a bonfire! We
had hotdogs and I burnt some potatoes on the fire too. It was nice just to sit outside and cook while playing our cribbage.

This afternoon, we are going for a bike ride. I just need to make sure Steve goes ahead of me. Last year he crashed into the back of my bike because I slowed down. He was looking back and fell on his shoulder. We don't need to ever do that again!!!

A little good news, I got a notice from the SBA, that we could get 10K business loans that don't need to be paid back. You get the money right away.  I filled out the applications on line and now it's a wait and see if we get any money till the other long term 30Year with low 3.75% interest loans come through. At least I feel semi better about getting some money to hold us up. I had to pay the cell phone bill today. It always makes me nervous about spending any money when nothing will be coming in the next month to ??? What can you do? The bills have to be paid!

Cleaning up the bills

I did some cleaning up of our bills. Since we are going to have Zero income for the month of April, while on lock down/stay at home. I called a few of our bills. Truck loan can be deferred for 3 months. We still will have the same length of loan, the 3 month payment are just spread out to the end of the orig loan date. It will be a bigger payment after 3 months, but not much more since it's not paid off till 2023.

I also called to see about getting our amount we pay on medical every month. We get a tiny bit of savings there and will call back once we work again. Nice to know we can get a small family discount. Thank you Obama! Being self employed we fall under Obama care.

I have yet to lower our cell phone bill, but will do that today or tomorrow. Right now we have unlimited everything. No need for that since we are all home. I hope we can cut that by a good chuck. Of course me having to get a new cell phone last week, didn't help the bill. Ugh!!

We are good for food. If we need it, the kids do have the school meal pick up. I'm sure we won't need that for the month. Maybe if it extends beyond and we aren't working? Who knows?? I'm hoping it never comes to this! I do know there are other services we can take up, but not needing them now and I'm sure others need it more.

We have a small amount on credit cards. So I'll just pay the minimum which is like $15 for now. It was for my new laptop I needed when my other one crashed.

I already parked the kids cars, maybe park the truck or my car since we really only need one vehicle this month. I can activate it anytime we start driving. I'm still thinking on this one. I already cut the payment in half.

I lowered our internet, TV and phone bill, just doing the basic package, which come to find out, was all we were watching anyway. So that went from around $250 to $180. We need internet, but I'm not willing to give up TV when we are stuck at home.

Most Utilities are on hold. I'm not planning on paying the water, gas and I'll set up just $25 month electric month by month. I think our bill is some where around $100 and goes lower in the summer if we don't use AC. They agreed we can do this for April and go month by month depending on our situation. I'm sure the full amount will be due ASAP, when we are back to work. I'll pay more once we get our small business loan. Right now, we are conserving all our savings.

I have yet to call our mortgage co. We only have 5 years left to pay. I'm sure we can keep paying the mortgage until the loan money arrives. Still have no idea of what we can get for a loan. No email or info on the website to when we will hear back.

We have other options for getting more money should we run out of savings and this goes on for a year. We have home equity, credit cards, retirement savings and MN Small business loan. My last option is to take retirement savings and any credit card debt. Emergencies only!

My Coronavirus diet is forcing me to lose weight. I lost 7 pounds just this past week. Stepped on the scale this morning and was surprised to see how much weight I dropped. I also lost at least a half inch on my waist, and hips. I don't eat when I'm stressed. Glad I'm not a stress eater! OR we'd be in trouble come swim suit time. 

My Friday was busy!!

I had a job to do first thing in the morning bright and early at 6am. I was off to the store to hunt down some TP, dog bags for a customer. It also got me a little nervous about our supply of TP. So, I called ahead to make sure they had paper products. Tissue will have to do! I was able to locate 2 rolls of TP at a hardware store and the doggie bags. They had a table set up where you just tell them what you need, they go pick it and you pay. The two stores also weren't very crowded first thing in the morning. I think that time is set aside for older people shopping. It was just nice to have some work. I just didn't care for going to all the stores.  Steve came with to drop off the supplies and then the rental house I manage we put out the grill and patio furniture.

Celina and I went for a late morning run. I did two miles and called it good. I'm still going slow 11:30 minute miles. Steve didn't run yesterday but he did this Saturday morning. He did the one mile loop and I continued on. 

I have to admit, my legs were a tiny bit sore last night. They still feel good. I just want to work up to 3 miles feeling easy again. I just don't want to push too much because I need my feet to feel good. So far no issues! 

I didn't take any photos of the kids biking yesterday. I had to do some bike pumping of tires, chain fixing and they were off to deliver bread they made to their grandparents. 

It was Wayne's 81's birthday yesterday. We did a video chat during dinner. 

I made the best pulled chicken Mexican style in the crock pot. OMG, sooo good! I also made some Indian Fry Bread for the taco shell. We had brownies for the cake, but never got around to eating it. I was pretty full since I decided to have 2 drinks. 

It's Sunny!

I was so glad to see the sun today. Yesterday it rained for half the day and was cloudy. The weather prediction was for it to be cloudy today too, but nope here is the sun!

This morning I went running by myself at the park. I did two laps around for 2 miles. I felt good enough to run one more time around, but decided to go home instead. I just don't want to hurt my feet again and not be able to run so I'm taking it slow getting back into the miles of running. They feel fine so far and I've been wearing inserts in my running shoes. It all helps.

Last night we made burgers. Would have been nice to grill them outside but it was raining. So, we had a smoky house for awhile! I toasted the buns and Logan cooked up the burgers. I put some onions, lettuce and blue cheese with bacon on mine. The sides we had some tater tots. 

I was stuffed after eating my 1/4lb burger. 

We ate early and had about an hour before Survivor was on TV. We all played a round of kings in the corner. 

I think it's Wednesday

Yeah, It's Wednesday. I'm looking forward to watching Survivor tonight. I also look forward to Steve and I running every morning. I like working out together. It's nice to get out right away in the morning. We only ran for 11:30 minutes, 1 mile exactly around the park fields. He thinks next week, he can run longer. I was tempted to go back out for a run around our neighborhood. I might just do that in a bit. It's suppose to rain from 11 am through the rest of the day. 

Zoey has been loving her daily walks. We usually go in the late afternoon. Other than her walks, she spends her days barking at delivery trucks, dogs and squirrels at the feeder. 

Day hum.. 14. I had lunch yesterday. Made myself some canned soup. I forgot we had potatoes I could just warm up. Maybe today I'll eat one of those. My home made pasta turned out yummy last night. Our chicken was still frozen so I just made the pasta, and Steve made up some meatballs that were frozen and some squash. Easy meal with the home made bread. 

I still haven't made the Carmel popcorn I wanted to do. I think today is the day! I'll have to see how it turns out. We have a lot of popcorn so this should be an easy treat. 

Just get outside!

It might still be cold here, 38*F this morning and only highs of 40, but it's good to get outside. This morning Steve and I went to the local park to run the trail around the soccer fields. We ran almost a mile. He isn't use to running outdoors, so we are taking it slow. Maybe tomorrow we'll add on the smaller loop and keep adding miles from there, switching up our location. I prefer to run in places that aren't busy parks full of dog walkers and runners. We only had to pass one person with their dog on our run. 

My Monday, I worked for two hours with work and drive time. Steve had work all day. He went to Menards two times! Not too happy about that but he needed some supplies. He finishes up that job today and just has one paint job left this week. 

We wanted to make hotdogs over a bonfire, but the grass is still too wet from all the snow. It's also in the back yard and its shaded. I'm sure we will have plenty of bonfires soon. 

The kids made three loaves of bread yesterday. OMG, the best bread ever! I ate two slices. We gave Steve's parents a load and we all pretty much ate the other two up. 

I'm going to make some pasta and we have cream, so we'll just make some cream type pasta for dinner tonight and add some veggies into that. Our whole chicken is still frozen or I'd have Steve cook up that too. 

I have to pay Steve's truck loan today. Ugh!! Tomorrow our Auto insurance is due. The full amount. At least next month it will be half the cost since I parked the kids cars. I hate to spend any money but these are bills that have to be paid obviously! 

I've lost about a half inch on my waist. Day 13 of my stress diet from this virus. I'm pretty much fasting till dinner, but sometimes I do eat something like fruit around noon. I've been eating under 1000 calories per day or around that amount. 

What can we do?

I'm not sure what we will be able to do for money. We both work outside of the house. Personal Training is a no go, my rental management income is zero. Steve is not sure if he should go work. He still has to go to Menards to get supplies, being around others, going to peoples houses and trying not to touch his face while out. I still have a few jobs, but I'm also at peoples houses. Most are gone. I'm thankful that I do have a little work. I'm just not sure if we should be going out at all. I'm not even sure once this is over, I'll have work right away? It's going to take some time and that's not good either! Everyone seems to be living like normal as they all have jobs, working from home. I don't feel like we are all in this together! I'm trying not to think about what life is going to look like in a few months. I'm hoping we have this virus under control, but I doubt that. We will surely run out of money and I have no idea of what we will do. I'm trying to brainstorm, but there is limited hope. I did get out my old resume and type up a new one. I looked for formulation chemist jobs. One is near by, but not sure they are still hiring and I haven't worked in the field for 19 years! Its a long shot!Plus, it's still not a work from home job. 

This is where I spend most of my day. In our front converted dining room, made into a sitting room. I do my yoga, weights and laying on the couch. I have an office but that's not as comfortable. So, this is where I sit, worry and try to plan my day. 

A Dusting of Snow

We woke to a dusting of snow on the ground. The sun was out for awhile and melted most of it. I am just done with snow, so this was not what I wanted to see. I thought today was suppose to be warmer? I ask Google every morning what's the outside temp. Today, 31*F, with a hight in the 40's.

We will wait till the afternoon to go for a walk. We've been driving out far into the country to be away from everyone. It's kind of nice because our neighborhood is over run with walkers in the afternoons.

We went to a grocery store 20 minutes away. I called and they had meat in stock! Most the stores close to home are cleaned out. Plus, a smaller store is better for less people exposure. We are stocked up for at least a week before we run out of milk and fresh fruit. We will just go back to the little store again since it at least provides a little sight seeing on the drive.

Seems like pretty much 99% of the people we know are all working from home. No one is in our situation where we have to work out side of the house and aren't sure if we will even have work? Do we really even want to work right now? I wish MN would just shut down, everything across the country to just get rid of this virus. We all miss our old life. We all want it back.

Saturday sleep in

No need to get up early on a Saturday. I just laid in bed till 8am. I never do this. I'm always up, doing yoga and wanting to start my day.

After I did get up, I made use of my time. Wiped down everything in the bathroom/kitchen. I'm washing our bath towels and hand towels, replacing those all every other day or daily. I'll be cleaning our house once the kids are awake, around noon! I've got some pantry organizing to do. Once it warms up, we'll go for a walk or run with the dog. I have to pace myself on all our home projects. I don't want to run out of things to do.

I might even bake something today? I've been wanting to make some caramel popcorn and that might be what I'll do today or kettle corn? It would be something different to try making.

We did make very tasty crock pot, pulled pork street tacos last night. I ate two! I even drank two beers while playing cribbage last night. Seems what food we are making or eating is the only excitement around here. The pork smelled so good and I finally wanted to eat!

I decided to step on the scale this morning. I haven't been eating much (before Friday night), so I wanted to see where I was at. I have at least 10 to 15 pounds to lose. I already feel better for having some weight loss the last 10 days. Yep, on day 10 of me being overly worried and not very hungry.

Monday is my measurement, waist, hips, thighs and arms. We'll see if there is any or much change.

Looking ahead to next week, I don't have very many customers /jobs on my schedule. That's not much to do. I'm going to have to write out a schedule, so I do something with my day. I'm kind of letting myself just relax a bit and not try to do too much.

It's Friday.

What day is it? Oh yeah, Friday. What do we have going on this weekend? Staying home, like everyone else in the world. Makes for a not so exciting weekend for plans. 

I finally got my new cell as promised by 10:30am yesterday. I paid just $14 to get it next day. I spent the next hour re-setting up everything. It's a bit smaller than my old Galaxy Note 5, but in all its just fine. It works and its good to go. 

I worked for two hours and came home. Steve and I did go to Menards for some wood he needed. It was all outside, but we had to get dog food too. After I went into Target for some fruit and to see if paper towels were in stock. Nope, still cleaned out with paper, cleaning supplies and meds. I'll just call before I go next time to make sure they have what I need. My only issue with Target was the long check out lines. Only 4 people working, but at least they all had gloves on and everyone was maintaining 6 feet. It was also pretty quiet, no music playing (not sure if they ever played music), hardly anyone talking. 

I made a ham and cheese quiche and some banana bread last night. We had that for dinner along with a salad. I think this summer/spring we will plant some fast growing veggies like lettuce, carrots and radishes in the garden. Logan also has to start a indoor garden for a class he is taking so he can plant some basil and parsley. We will at least have some fresh food to use this summer. Just need seeds for the lettuce and radishes. 

I made some calls to Xfinity to get a new remote controller for the TV. It wasn't working, so we are having one mailed to us in 7 - 10 days. No big deal for the wait. I also lowered our plan from $250 to $180 per month. I found out we only watch stuff on the basic package. We really can't go without internet, TV or a work land line phone. 

I watched some TV last night, just re-watched Survivor with Steve and went to bed early since I got up around 3am. 

I'm keeping up on my morning yoga and planks. Might have to do that two time a day. Morning and night.

It rained yesterday and was cold! We didn't go walking or do anything outside. Today, is cold 32, but at least the sun is shining for now. Might go walk the dog later. 

Steve is busy making pulled pork in the crock pot. I picked up some pork at Target yesterday so at least we can eat some meat that's not frozen solid. I might even drink a beer tonight if we play some cribbage? 

It went for a swim

It's everyone's 3rd hand, the cell phone. Mine went right into the toilet. Ugh!! I put it in my side legging pocket and it flipped out and went right into the toilet. I need a phone for what customers I do have left, I can contact. I have a new cell that arrives today by 10:30am. I just got what I was familiar with, a Galaxy S 10. It just doesn't have that pen, which I never used, ever! It's similar to my Galaxy 5 Note, yep we are on 10's now.  I'm super behind on cells because I liked what I had and it use to work. I found the least expensive phone, which was around $500. It could have been more like $1000 for some of the new/new phones! Not what I wanted to spend money on right now, but I had zero choice. I tried to just use one of my really old cell phones, but it's so outdated, that it wouldn't even work with Verizon any longer. They just didn't support it. I'm ready to have a phone again. I almost want to carry around my old cell phone case, just so I don't feel like I'm missing that third hand. 

It's hard to sleep lately, it's hard to eat lately, it's hard to know what the future will be. Right now, it's just day by day. I just have to remind myself, right now we are all healthy, no one has died, we still have a house, still have a few jobs, still have money in the bank, our bills are all paid for the month (mostly), and we have money for the next few months should our income drop to zero. We have no idea if we can work daily or even weekly. If we are all in our houses and have to stay for weeks? We do not have stay at home, work on the computer jobs! We have to be out in the world. Which is exactly what we aren't suppose to do. 

It really helps to write down every thing in my control. Like cutting costs. I called our car insurance and had the kids cars parked. They aren't driving to school or out anywhere. This alone saved $1500 for 6 months, which is $250 per month. I am going to check on the cost of TV. We just don't watch it enough, plus will there be any new shows to watch soon? We still have plenty of DVD movies and can get Netflix some how from our laptop internet? Just need to figure that all out. Not much more I can reduce for bills. Scary times.. It does help me when I write out my fears, think of solutions to that fear and options of what if. That's what keeps me up at night. 

I do have a plan to keep up with my yoga, blogging, walking the dog at the park, running and baking, organizing our house, finishing up some projects, and cleaning surfaces. I'd rather be busy working too, which is just a tiny portion of my day. 

I decided with all the on-line college. Maybe I could get some other skills to figure out where all the jobs will be after this is all done. Maybe I'll be taking some classes? Just might be time to learn something new and change directions again? 

I must be losing weight!

All this virus stress, I must have lost weight. I've been not eating much in part because I don't want to eat up all our food if we need to stay home the next month.

I haven't been sleeping much, I'm worried all the time about everything! Life has changed and its going to change more.

What I can do to calm myself. Disinfect everything, wash my hands all the time, stay off the internet and TV.

Steve isn't going to work. He is taking extra precautions and staying away from people. I'm still working but I am working alone, no contact with people and will be using cleaning solutions where ever I go!

We all need to do our part to keep safe from this virus.

A little De -Stressing in Weird times

A lot of yoga and some running goes a long way to a little de-stressing in weird times.
I do daily yoga for about an hour of just lazy stretching and breathing. I also started back up running which will be a lot more often now that its spring and well, not sure what's happening with my jobs. I already, lost 4 since Thursday. I'm hoping I can hang on to the rest through this.

This is right after my run. It was nice to just concentrate on my run, breathing and looking around at nature. Getting my heart rate up on those hills was a good workout. I only ran for 1.2 miles, a quick 13 minute run around our neighborhood on the path behind our house that runs along the lake/ponds. It's a pretty route, until you hit the main road, but at least that's a short stretch. I probably should have stopped to take a few photos, but I wanted to just keep going and not stop!

 Its good to take a break from the new, internet and just de-stress about all the news in the world right now. It's hard to not be stressed when there is so much uncertainty. I do know, we have faced many challenges in 2001, there was 911, lots of people including myself were laid off. I started my business in the worst of times. Steve was laid off two months later, we made it.

Then came 2008, the financial melt down, again lost jobs but we some how made it. Steve's eye injury that took most of our savings to get through the year he had surgeries and couldn't work much. And now this 2020, the #TrumpVirus. With only 5 years left to pay on our house, not sure how that will all pan out?

I made a list of all our bills, what we had to pay and things we could just pay less or not at all. Sounds like taxes April 15th, might be delayed up to three months which we will take advantage of. I also added up all our liquid money to see how long we could get by with Zero income. It's not long, unfortunately. There is hope we can get a low interest small business loan at 3.75%. That will get us through the year and if we don't need it, that's great too.



Steve still has jobs coming in and we right at this moment both are working. I plan to take full advantage of any support, should we need it. We do have IRA's, Steve is almost 55. We also have 401K's which didn't take much of a hit, but that could have all changed? I won't be looking until we get the next statement.

Right now, we are all healthy, washing our hands, sanitizing all surfaces, doors knobs, etc around the house a few times a day.

Yesterday, I soaked my feet and painted my nails. Felt good to do some self care.

Friday night we played cribbage, made dinner and watched a good movie.

Dieting might just have gotten easier!

 I completely lost my appetite with all this virus news. My income is going to be trashed, so there's that and mostly, I'm worried if Steve catches this virus. He doesn't have a spleen, lost to a football accident when he was 16. So fighting off infections is more difficult, plus he is now 54. So sleep for me has not been great. Watching the news right before bed doesn't help either. Yesterday, I turned on Sponge Bob of all things just to not watch any news and calm my nerves. 

So what am I doing about being prepared for what looks like maybe a month at home? We have toilet paper! We have paper towels and cleaning supplies. We all have been washing our hands like surgeons and using hand gel when out in public plus staying at least 3 to 6 feet away from people. We also stocked up on some food. Not crazy, just your huge bags of sugar, flour and some frozen stuff. I also kind of took inventory of all the places we store food, pantry, freezer, frig, cabinets and down stairs 2nd freezer and frig. Good for us, we don't have to stock up on Alcohol to drink, plenty in our bar. 

I also totaled up all our cash on hand to have easy access. This gives me piece of mind that we can pay our bills this coming month. I also read that they might pass a small business low interest loan around 3.5% and have up to 30 years to pay it back. Might just do this if the virus doesn't go away in the summer. This way, we won't have to worry about paying the bills, eating etc. I do like the idea of universal income for every adult $1000, kids $500 per month. At least this next month when most likely we will all be stuck at home, staying away from each other. I just hope my business comes back fast after all this is over. At least I have three to choose from. 

We have all gone through so much since 911. There was 2008 job losses and now this. We also had Steve's eye injury a few years ago that took a huge chunk of our savings to get through the year of his not working much. We can get through this too. 

Swans while running!

Steve and I went for our morning 1.3 mile quick run around the lakes. What do you know, two Swans were out on the lake. We had to stop to try and take photos before they swam away. 

It always feels good to get outside first thing in the morning, even if it's raining or cold. Plus, running together has been nice! 

I start my new organizing job today along with my normal business. I also volunteered to do a wearable device study for up to 10 hours. I get paid a little for my time but it sounded fun and something different to do. Plus, I just do what I normally do and can choose what I record. Working, baking, running, etc.. just not sitting in front of the TV or internet for hours. I start that next week on Wednesday and have two weeks to complete the task. I think they just give you $100 gift card for your time. 

Getting back to dieting too. I'm doing some fasting, more healthy choices. We kind of carb loaded last night. I made home made pasta with popovers. Wow, home made noodles are super easy to make and 100 times better tasting than boxed noodles. I'll have to make more varieties. I have a pasta making book with all kinds of herb/veggie combos to try. Good thing we stocked up on flour 25 pound bag and sugar 25 pound bag for all my baking needs! 

Where did it go?

We woke up to snow! Yep, its back! It sure looks pretty with the inch of snow covering the trees and all the dirty brown ground. I just don't want any more snow! I want green and spring!! I can't get my winter wonderland photo to upload, so instead I've got a photo of the brownies I made yesterday. Butterscotch and chocolate chip brownies were delicious. 

Yep, it's sideways. I can't figure out how to turn Madelyn's 3 month photo. She is super cute! Looks exactly like her mom. 

I decided to start another new business since I was always being asked if I did this type of work, organizing!  I now have two customers and might just stick with two max since I still have our other businesses to manage. I can easily handle the extra hours since the other business are just part time. This will give me extra money to pay the taxes we owe. It will be fun to see if this is something I actually like to do. It's flexible hours and easy to fit working a few hours each day into my schedule. Time will tell if this is something for the long term? 

Oh No!!!

That was my morning yesterday. I had a great start, going to the lake and running with Steve. We both were running late to leave for work. We both left at the same time but he was a head of me. I got just to the end of our neighborhoods road and was ready to turn on to the main road, when my SUV made a loud grinding noise! It also wouldn't drive. I was stuck! I quickly called Steve and he turned around and came back. Lucky for us, the guy in our neighborhood owns a tow truck and we found out  he was a mechanic for 35 years. He listened to the car and told us it was an CV axel, and he thought it was coming from the passenger side. We left the car parked on the side of the road, because our insurance we get free towing. I wanted to know where we were towing it before moving it. I just used Celina's car since she was in Denver and went to work. After work, I called three auto shops and found a good one that my customer recommended. They had a 4.7 rating so that had to be a good sign. An estimate for $500. Not bad since I was really worried this was the end to my 2009 Highlander. I love that SVU. So, I'll pick it up later today. No need to get a new car and I get to not have a car payment, which I love! I'm holding out as long as possible for a new SUV. I want the same one! Maybe white instead of gold/tan. 

Since I have today off from work. I don't have a car to use. I'm going to tackle some of my todo list. Painting and laundry with some around the house cleaning. 

I think if I get my car back this morning, I might just get a pedicure. I still have a gift card and I would love to just get that done. Of course, nothing else would get done. hum.. maybe save it for April or May?? 

Outside.. what a run!

I love getting outdoors and going for a run. It was 33*F this morning, but the cool air felt great as I warmed up, taking off all my layers, gloves and headband. It sure helps when Steve wants to run with me. He is taking a gym break. Because he doesn't have a spleen to fight off infections, he wants to remain germ free. Avoiding the gym for a few weeks is probably a good idea. Plus, I just want him to start liking running outdoors more than inside. 

We just ran a quick 1.3 miles around the park lake and drove home. It was 16 minutes of mostly running and a little bit walking. Running at the gym is far easier than to run outdoors, so its going to take a little while for Steve to get up to speed. He easily runs 3 miles in the gym at a 10 minute mile pace and varies the incline to get some resistance. 

I skied this winter at least 5 miles when ever the snow conditions were good, so I had no problem going back to running. It felt good and I wanted to run faster but also stay with Steve and I didn't want to push it too much and hurt my heal again. For the longest time, my heal hurt and at one point I had to stop running because I just had a hard time walking. Finally fixed that issue by wearing heal inserts in all my shoes! Plus, while my heal, healed I wore shoes all the time. That did the trick and now my feet feel great! So, I mile of running on hard surfaces will be good for a week. When the snow and mud dries up, it will be back to dirt trails where its easier on my feet. I'll be logging more miles every week during the spring/summer/ fall and going into the winter. 

Sunday, we had a 60 degree day. Steve and I took Zoey to the park where we ran this morning and walked the same trail around the lake with the dog. She is always so happy to go! 

I found my next tub. I don't really care for the vessel tubs, this one is a bit more my style. It was so fun looking at the Parade home. So many nice decorating ideas. I just wish I could go out and buy a new couch, end tables etc..  The only thing that I really don't like about our house is the main floor, oak floors. They are narrow, very golden and I hate it. I think we should just buy some wide plank vinyl type flooring that looks and feel like wood to put over the top. The next buyers can decide if they want real floors and it will be perfectly preserved under the flooring. Its on my need to do list!!! Since Steve can easily do the floor and the cost is fairly cheap, I don't see why we shouldn't do this! 

Here comes the sun and 60's!

We finally have a day of sun and 60*F temperature to look forward to for Sunday! It's going to be a crazy windy day on top of the warm temperatures. The wind is already blowing around everything as I'm looking out our front window. I still plan to take a walk around the lakes with the dog this morning and in the afternoon, a day of the Parade of Homes tour with my kids.

Last night we went out with our neighbor friends to Hastings and Cannon Falls for drinks and dinner. It made getting up this morning with daylight savings time much later! I usually never sleep in, but when you spring ahead and lose an hour, it's more like 9am. That's late!

It is a small world some times. Our neighbor friend come to find out, is a workout partner with a woman that was a short term customer of mine. We finally figured out how we both thought we knew each other. The short story is that I connected the dots and confirmed it was indeed the same woman customer that I walked out on for a job. I've only walked away from two jobs, this was the second mid - job I walked out on. She was having company, I was feeling sick but still showed up, tried to work and kept feeling worse. I went straight to the doctor after I left her house and found out I had strep throat. This is how sick I was! She chased me to my car and begged me to finish, not understanding that I had to go because I could not even swallow and was not up to the task. That was the end of a monthly job at her house. It was at least 9 or 10 years ago and the last job I ever had to walk away from. Such is life, I understand that she was in a bind, having company coming over. Nothing I could do about being sick and attempting to do a job that I couldn't finish. Most people would be understanding, but nope not this woman. So no regrets on my end.

On another note, the neighbor woman, is also on a transformation journey. I feel like this is what I need to jump start fitness level and lose weight. I'm back to doing daily planks, lifting weights. Starting up walking around the lakes and will soon run and bike. This winter I cross country skied as much as possible but didn't really watch my diet. I'm back to fasting but will still have a few PB pretzels in the morning and eat during the day if I'm hungry but keeping it low calorie to stay under 1500 calories for the day, target range 500 - 1000. Mostly just save my meal for dinner to keep the calories lower. Here we go.. Time to do some transformation. This photo was taken last year, when I was in my fasting transformation. I did it two times, here's going for a third. Plenty of time March, April and May to lose weight for summer!

And there goes my motivation!

I've been super duper lazy all winter. All my motivation to exercise, get projects done around the house or just do anything much is just not happening. I know that being productive makes me happy so why don't I just do something about it? Seems my todo list isn't even working that well. I just keep adding what I didn't do to the next day, month etc. Does it really matter if I get my home projects done, exercise, eat healthy? I'd say YES! But getting myself to really do those things.. that's not happening much.

So how to do you start making progress when every day you end up feeling like a failure on your goals and getting things done on your todo list? Baby steps I tell myself. Make one positive change. Try to check one more thing off my todo list. Limit TV and internet time. This is the cause lately of my being lazy.

Now that this corona virus is going around and people are being advised to stay away from crowds, I should have more at home time. More than I want! I think everyone is on that page!
I don't want to stay in my house. I hope it doesn't come to the point where every town at some point is on a 15 to a month lock down. I think we will all go a little stir crazy!

The question of the day is how am I going to use my Saturday to the fullest?
1. blog and spend some time on the internet.
2. Yoga
3. Planks and weight lift
4. Go to the park and run/walk
5. Plan an afternoon wine/picnic
6. Store- pick up some supplies we need
7. Be mindful of what I eat and don't junk food shop!
8. Bake something, maybe bread?
9. Plan our dinner menu, since we are eating at home.
10. Start planing our future house to build and look for open land to build.
11. Enjoy the 55 weather and sunshine!
12. Move the Christmas tree to the basement
13. Maybe pay a bill? Or wait till Monday?
14. Clean my house/kitchen dishes and vacuum.
15. Organize the storage room in the basement

It's a good start to the list. Now to get going on my Saturday and stop my lack in Motivation!

I needed this!

Wednesday afternoon it was sunny and around 39 degrees with no wind. Steve and I were home early in the afternoon from work. What better way to enjoy an afternoon? Go to the park for a walk around the lakes with the dog! 

I really need to walk the dog more often in the afternoons when I'm home early! I had that on my todo list this morning, but after looking at the wind and the dropping temperatures for today, I changed my mind. I'll wait for Friday and the weekend when it's going to warm up! 

This also happened yesterday! Ugh!!! I haven't broken anything while working for a long time! I just moved the vase at a customers house and it cracked at the bottom. I do think this needed to be thrown      away a long time ago. I sent a text right away letting her know and offered to buy a new one or pay for it. She said that's okay. Got to love people that know accidents happen and aren't angry or make you pay for it. I might just bring her a vase of flowers as a thank you! 

As for a tip, always be honest. Don't think they won't notice if you wreck someones things. 

What else did I do this week? I voted! 

Free things and warm weather

We had a fairly nice weather weekend in the mid 40's and sun shine. Why not get outside a little. We took a tumbler filled with wine and some glasses along with two folded chairs and a table.  We sat by the river on the dock, drinking wine and watching the ducks and geese. It was a bit windy and not so warm but it was just nice to get outside, do something different and free! 

We really did have the best view of the river! No need to go to a restaurant. We would have played some cribbage but the wind did prevent us from doing that. I think we'll do more of this in the spring and summer months. Just find a park, bring our chairs/table and have a wine/picnic with cards. There are so many parks and the views are always the best! 

My oldest daughter is ready to buy another home. They want a new house. The Parade of homes starts this weekend on Saturday.  I picked up the parade book at Holiday and dropped a copy off to her. We'll go this weekend and start looking at the houses around this area. I like to get decorating and house updating ideas. 

All the snow is melting fast now that the sun is up a lot higher. Saturday we spring ahead and gain more day light. Summer can not come fast enough this year. I am looking forward to seeing green!!