End of September, Tuesday Tangents

 September is coming to the end. Bring on October and more fall colors! I do love fall but not the cold air it brings. 

Last night I caught these two hanging out in the kitchen together. Can you tell who Zoey likes to cling to?  

Some times she acts like a dog and other times, I think she is human! 

Did my mile run at the park with Zoey, Celina and Steve. We dropped off Steve and Celina and I went for a walk at Lebanon Park. I found a fanny pack and a cell phone with keys. We tried to drop it off in the main building, but it wasn't open. Some how they were able to send out a phone number to call, so I left a message and got a call back. It's nice to do something good to help people out. I sure would be in a panic to lose my phone and keys! Now to wait at home till they show up. It's an hour drive for the person! 

The park wasn't as colorful as I was hoping. Maybe next week the fall colors will really start to look nice? 

It was still a nice morning for a 2 mile walk around the lakes. I got a text from my customer letting me know the roofers showed up early. Could I work tomorrow instead! Yep! That works for me! 

Just a few more park photos. 

I have more errands to run today. We went to the store to get the number #1 item, a bike chain and walked out forgetting to get it! I even had a list! So, back to the store to get the chain we forgot yesterday! I also want to pick up a few more masks from Target today. 

I'm going to try perfecting my fluffy pancakes! I'm determined to get them super high and jiggly! 

Oh, what a weekend!

 All weekends go by far too fast. We had one of the last of the 80*F days on Friday, so we put the boat in the water for the last trip down the St. Croix River. 

Steve and I took in the fall colors on our drive. We picked up the kids in Hudson and boated up to Stillwater and back again. 

Steve and I stopped on the Island across from Hudson and hung out in the sand till the kids showed up. A perfect weather day and a great way to start the weekend!

Saturday, we drove up to the lake and then to the winery, Carlos Creek. The place was packed with people, but we managed to get a really pretty spot at a table far from 

The fall colors were sooo pretty! 

We spent one more night camping at the lake. It was a bit chilly that night, but no wind for a bonfire! 

Friday, Confessions

 I must confess. We did not go to the lake last night as planned. It was going to be 10 degrees cooler there and we wanted to enjoy one more day of 83*F weather before temps drop! So today, I still have the day off, we are going boating on the St. Croix river, hopefully to see really pretty fall colors along the river from Hastings to Stillwater. We will grab lunch along the river at some point and eat in the boat! 

We still plan to go to the lake on Saturday morning just to do some wine / beer outdoor social distance tasting. 

I had a really busy work day on Thursday. I managed to stay on schedule and finished at 2pm. I even had an hour lunch break, which worked out perfect! After working, I just drove to the bank to pay the truck loan and then back home to sit outside for as  long as possible. I even slept out once again in the tent. Just me! Zoey wanted to sleep inside last night! It was better! No dog that was laying on me or not moving when I needed the blankets pulled up. Looks like I'll get at least one or two more nights of sleeping outside for the year and that's it! I will miss it! I know a lot of people don't like to "camp". I Glamp! Love my air mattress and all the comforts on inside. I have my electric heater just incase it gets chilly outside. I have yet to use it. 

Using my time!

 I tend to waste a lot of time every day. I might have my todo list and that does help me not to forget important things I need to do. It also allows me to keep putting off anything I don't want to do. 

I decided to do a what makes me happy day, with my day off from work! 

Baking always makes me happy. A 80*F day in the fall- yes! So I used my day off to do a lot of baking! 

I attempted to make the Japanese fluffy pancakes. I thought it would be fail proof now that I watched a video! Still can't get them as fluffy! I think they need a lot more egg whites and a different way of cooking them in a pan. Even if they didn't fluff up as much, they tasted amazing with my apples, ice cream and cinnamon whipping cream! 

I also made use of those raspberries we picked last week. I had them in the freezer so they were perfect for this pretzel crust, cream cheese/cool whip, jello raspberry dessert. I like it frozen but you're suppose to just put it in the refrigerator. Either way its tasty! Salty-sweet! 

We slept outside again in the tent. My only complaint is that the lights from our porch light up the tent as if it's daylight! I texted the kids to turn off the light. They stay up till midnight watching TV with all the lights on! Again the lights were all on at 6am! Still didn't get a great night of sleep but I do love being outside and it was a perfect night 68*f for sleeping. The house was far too hot, so this made it comfortable being outdoors! Tonight, I'm doing it again! It might rain, but that's okay! 

I also made some veggie lasagna for dinner with the left over spicy tomato veggie soup and ratatouille. It was delicious! I put it in the freezer because we have so much other food to eat. 

I picked up more IPA beer from local breweries. We will save them for the weekend. 

I went outside to go lay in the hammock only to find Logan beat me to it. I couldn't ask him to move, so I sat on the deck till he wanted to go inside! We might need two of these! 

Well, it's back to work for two days and then off again to the weekend! 

Staying outdoors as much as possible!

The weather temperatures for the week are in the 80's! I'm staying outside as much as possible! We have the hammock set up and now the tent in our back yard. I put our smaller tent up yesterday to sleep outside.  

Zoey loves sleeping in the tent. She was super excited to go to bed. It was a little noisy in the backyard with all the cars at night. I sure do miss the North Woods! 

This is Genius!

 I finally tried the squirt water bottle to get Zoey to stop barking at the delivery guys and on the drive to run at the park every morning! What do you know! I only had to show her the spray bottle in the car and not a peep out of her. So much more enjoyable than the high pitch barks and whining! Amazing!!! I also had to spritz her a little this morning when the delivery truck was coming down the street and showed her the bottle when people walked by. It works! I also tell her she is a good girl when she doesn't bark. Genius! Should have thought of it sooner. It took over hearing a neighbor use it on their dog to get me to try it. Now all the dog owners are on board and trying it out. Should be a lot less dog barking all day long! 

I wanted to sit outdoors as much as possible yesterday. I was going to set up our tent, then remembered our two person hammock. We might have a lot of trees in the back yard, but they aren't placed in a great spot for ham mocking. I ended up tying one end to the fence post and the other to our tree. Perfect spot in the back yard. I'll leave it up all week since it's going to be nice and not rain all week. Steve came out and we both sat in it swing style. I can't handle any swinging motion so we just sat there enjoying the nice afternoon. 

This weekend, we took our happy hour to go cups to the local park on the Mississippi River. A perfect before dinner drinking place. Once we were home, we realized we should have just purchased food to go from the local restaurants. We ended up just picking up burgers from Culvers and sharing a chocolate ice cream with peanut butter cup concrete mixer. Delicious! 

We also went back to the St Paul Farmer Market. Picked up some purple Cauliflower and more large tomatoes to stuff with sausage and veggies. We didn't get our fill of them last week, so making more is a must do! 

Steve's parents came over and had dinner with us on the deck. Celina made BBQ ribs that were seasoned perfectly! Very tasty! His parents loved all the lights I put up the deck with the two table top fire pits going  , they said it felt like a restaurant. Exactly what I was going for! Of course we have been using the table firepit so much that we are once again out of propane. 

I did this & I need to do this too!

 

I finally got to try this new place to me in St Paul, MN! Thirty-six Cafe on Grand Ave. If it wasn't for Covid, it would have been a super cute place to eat inside. There were some people eating indoors, but that's too risky! We just got some Fluffy Japanese pancakes to go! They only had 4 varieties to choose from, strawberry short cake, Banana, Sweet potato and macha tea. Mine also came with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. These pancakes were light and fluffy. It was more like a dessert. It was soo pretty and come in a  Chinese food take out container. I already thought of improvements. Does everyone do this when they get new food? I think a slice of bacon (Sweet and savory) would go great with this combo. 

Logan got the banana fluffy pancakes. They also need to make flavored whipping cream and maybe some puree to put on top for more of a strawberry flavor. Logan thought they should have cooked the bananas in some sugar for the topping. In all they were good. I did u-tube how to make these at home. They were $11 for three pancakes. So making them at home, a super money saver. Plus, it looks fairly easy now that I've watched some how to do it videos. I did try making these pancakes last winter and they were a semi fail. They weren't as light and fluffy. Think I figured out what went wrong. 

I finally got my mail in ballet. I just need to fill this out and mail it back in. Someone posted that if you put a stamp on it, they treat it as first class mail and it arrives sooner! I also heard take it directly to the office or place in a zip code that is a wealthy republican area. You are assured it will make it there in time! I'm just a bit nervous to fill it out since there are so many reason for them to throw out your ballet if not done correctly. Sounds dumb but I'm taking extra precautions and will read the instructions first! 

Steve decided to just vote in person on Election Day. This way all our votes have a chance of being counted. Crazy cheating days by the other party call for this! We really need to change that! 

Making a list!

 I've been writing a list on things that make me happy. 

1. Baking - Fall time is perfect for making yummy treats. 

2. Happy hours at parks

3. Pick up books from the library- fiction or non, all is fine with me

4. Running/walking and taking the dog. 

5. Yoga - need to stretch every day

6. Going new places - Trying to figure out some local, close to home places to explore

7. Completing home projects - Painting walls, bathroom vanities. Just need to get going to finish! 

8. Cleaning my house! Love when everything is clean all at once! 

9. Being outdoors all day long. Weather dependent. I love camping and being forced to be outdoors 24/7. 

10. Sun... 

Steve made some delicious, Farmers Market stuffed tomatoes and potatoes with spicy Italian sausage. 

Cheers! I'ts Friday!

 I'm so glad its Friday! My work day on Thursday was rough! I was dead tired when I got home and even took a nap on the couch. 

One of my favorites right now. Peanuts and candy corn with a few M&M's thrown in. I really need to stop filling up the candy jar! 

 My plans for the day are pretty simple, run (done), clean the dishes in the kitchen, wash clothes, bring Zoey to the vet for her check up and get her more heart pills. Go check out a new breakfast place, Thirty-Six cafe. They make those fluffy pancakes and fancy coffees. They don't open till 10pm so I still have time to get ready to go! We will be taking our food to go! 

It's only in the 60's today, but sunny and blue skies! Thank Canada for all that! 

Ramblings

 I had two days off this week in a row and will have Friday off this week too! That's a lot of days off, but my work days are extra busy! Guess its better to just do it all in one day, than to spread it out over the week!

We went raspberry picking this morning. It took us awhile to get there, due to coffee stops and wrong turns. We quickly picked $17.50 of raspberries! Goes much quicker with 3 people picking. Now to figure out what to do with all the berries? 

We brought Zoey to the groomer on Monday. She rolled around in goose poop at the park on Sunday and really needed a bath and a cut! 

She looks so much better all shaved down. For some reason, she knows when I'm taking a photo. She doesn't like it! 

My spot on the driveway, trying to find some sun to keep warm. We have a very shaded yard, front and back so I'm always in search of some sun! 

This is my favorite combo this time of year. Candy corn and salted nuts. 

The kids did some apple picking last weekend. I finally remembered to pick up some caramel  bits to make some caramel apples. 

Our run at the park. Leaves are already turning yellows and reds. We did a 2 mile loop and later I took Zoey on another mile run at the other park. 

This park is busy or was busy during spring Covid. We avoided it for a long time. No more crowds!

 

Kendra's house is coming along. We hope the closing date is the end of November still! She has been living in a hotel room for 3 months and has another 3 to go! I offered up our house but that would be 9 of us under one roof. 

I need help on a purchase decision. Do I get another propane fire pit for our front yard or an over the head propane heater for the front yard? We already have two fire pits on our deck, but I want something to keep me warm this fall and spring out front? What to choose? 

Is this the last nice warm day?

 It's getting colder in MN. Temperatures have been cooler than normal all of August and now into September. We are getting maybe one last day of near 80*F, but it's a windy one. Doesn't feel very warm but I'm hoping this afternoon will feel a lot warmer. I'm trying to be outside as much as possible to soak up just being outdoors before winter comes and we are stuck inside for months! 

I bought myself a double person hammock for my birthday last month. We hung it up at the lake. They are more comfortable than I imagined. 

It's just missing a bug net. I found a single person hammock for Logan that also has a bug net. Just couldn't find any double ones with the net. Maybe they sell a bug net separate that can be added some how? 

Steve liked it too. I didn't expect him to want to try this out. We might need another one. While it can be used for two people, I'd rather just be in my own hammock! 

Steve and I went to the St. Paul Farmer market Saturday. I wanted to get flowers for Kendra. She had surgery to remove her gallbladder and fix a hernia on Friday. The flowers at the market are 100% better looking than what you get from a florist and only $9 compared to $100! A huge price difference. I also brought her some of my homemade crackers and picked up Zupa's soup. 

My front trees are finished with adding little lights. I forgot to set the timer last night, so hopefully I remember tonight! I need a fire pit for the front yard too. I like having options on where to sit and mix up my scenery. I'm thinking a small fireable that's round and sits on the ground, low 24"?  Just put it out in front of my little table between the chairs. I might be on line purchasing something new today! 

The deck is looking good. The kids took over our deck this weekend. Steve and I put the heater under the table, and I found two white make shift table clothes to cover up the table and keep the heater, heat in. It worked perfect. Kept you nice and warm. I'll just find two matching table clothes and cut and sew them so they will go around the fire pit on the table and make it look nicer. 

Logan had his eyes part closed and he wouldn't let me take another photo. Well, at least you can see my tree lights in our front yard. Logan also got an email after the 1st day of school. A teacher already tested positive for Covid exposing students on day 1! Wow, this is not going to go well this year! Thankfully, he's already had it and also does not go to school. All the kids were in the building picking up supplies, getting photos taken last week, so all have been exposed to the teacher that was in the building!