Trying to stay positive!

 I'm trying to stay positive and not let the election, covid numbers or uncertain future take me over the edge! I don't even want to go there because when ever I do, it makes me want to curl up and just go back to bed. Can we all just hibernate until all this is over? 

Our school district is now moving to all on-line learning starting Nov 12th. I'm actually surprised the kids were able to be in school this long. Logan has been doing on-line so it doesn't change a thing for him. 

Due to all the stress of the unknown, because winter is coming! I'm going to just work on myself. I've been running more, blogging, yoga, trying to eat healthy, cut down on alcoholic drinks, and now I need to focus on weight loss. Not just on disinfecting our house, not touching my face and staying 6 ft or more away from people. 

Here's all the positives! 

It's Friday! 

I work at noon. 

I have our morning run with Steve and Zoey

It's going to be in the 50 -60's next week

The 9+ inches of snow we had are almost all gone. 

I can mulch up the rest of the leaves

Staying home = getting more home projects finished! 

My Senior!

 It's been a weird senior year for Logan, all on line but he is handing all the new-ness with Covid super! We had his Senior photos taken last night in Minneapolis, St. Anthony Main area by the Mississippi River. We've had some pretty chilly days, but it was 46*F and the sun was out, made for a perfect night! 

I took a few photos while the photographer was busy snapping photos. Logan had a few outfit changes. Had to change in the car, but it all worked out. We were only 10 minutes late to his photo shoot due to  traffic, so I was worried about time. We were racing against sundown! 

Love the city skyline. 

I should really wear glasses when I take photos. More blurry pictures. 

The best photos happen in an alley! 

Such a great area to take photos with so many different textures and landscapes! 

Before we had photos yesterday, Steve and I went to a flooring store close to home. It offers contractors a discount so we'd get a dollar off per foot of the show room cost. It was still $1 more than the small sample of flooring from Menards. I like the lighter color, but we can't just buy a box and return it, to see how it really looks at home. It's a also not a whole lot different so I'm not sure it's worth paying another $1200 dollars! I'm still thinking on it. As I think the seams are more smooth then our other cheaper flooring! 

We've been increasing our running distance a little at a time. 1.3miles and I feel like running more! You'd never know it was 32+F outside by the way I'm dressed! 

I think it's Zoey's 2nd favorite part of the day to go for a run. Her #1 is eating her ground turkey and veggies mixed into her dry dog food! She also is getting sooo much better at not barking/crying on the way to run! It's such a big improvement! 

Wednesday! Middle of the week!

 This is the IPA I was talking about from our local brewery, Bald Man's. Juice box hero! Steve and I split the last of the 4 we purchased. I grabbed the last 4 pack on the shelf! I have been good about limiting myself to 1/2 a glass and done. We also have been saving a drink for cribbage nights or only 1 or 2 days a week as that's more then we really should be doing. 

We looked at a few 85, 80 and 75" Tv's. We really need a new one for our main TV. We have a really old 55" and it's time to upgrade! Prices seem to be low too! We just need to do some research on the TV's before purchasing so I keep taking photos of TV's and the cost. 

I finally cleaned up the top of the washer and dryer. Sharing a laundry room with 5 people is difficult! What ever doesn't get claimed goes on top. Not a great system. It's the collect all room, with Steve's equipment, paint cans, etc on the floor by the door. Makes getting to the sink tricky! I do need to purge a lot of our junk! 

I'm not working today. Steve also is off too till some windows come in for the next job. Which was suppose to be last Friday. He has a small window of time open without work, so we are off to find more flooring. One more place to check out! I'm still so undecided on what color to go with! I'm hoping we figure this out soon! 

1 week to go! Did you VOTE?

 Just 7 days away from Election Day! I want it over, but I'm also scared. I just am really praying that Joe Wins! 

We made a trip to Sams club and stocked up on sugar, flour and olive oil with a few other things. At least I know if there is a shortage on baking supplies again this winter, I will be ready! Maybe today I'll make more crackers! 

Remember that mess of a back hall, all the shoes and coats? Its all cleaned up! I finally made myself organize it and in the process put some of the towels and stuff we had piled on the washer away too. Now to tackle the basement storage room. Steve needs room for all his work stuff that can't freeze over the winter. He also needs to put in a sink down there so he has a place to wash his paint stuff etc. Time to purge and it sounds like a good afternoon to do just that. Lets hope I stay motivated after working this morning! 

I laid out the new flooring sections in front of our porch. I have one more flooring I want to check out that's sightly lighter in color and more gray (weathered oak). I wanted to stay away from oak, or at least super golden oak! We really need a new couch. Zoey is so hard on the furniture. She like to bark at the squirrels from the end of the couch. It's all scratched up on that end. Guess that's what you can expect, when you don't purchase higher-end couches! I'm sure once the floor goes in, I'll want a new couch asap! 

I felt sooo good on our run yesterday morning, I sprinted the last 1/2 mile. Steve said I just kept pulling farther and farther away from him. I just felt so good which is the first time in a long time. We are skipping the morning run because it's 17 degrees out this morning. I'd rather wait till it's 30*F even though  that's still cold and I'm more of a morning person. 

Halloween Week!

 Nope, we are not handing out candy this year. I'm completely fine with that! Our dog is nuts when people come to the door. We also don't have a safe way to hand out candy and I'm not doing the creative candy hand out that some people are doing. 

Steve made some yummy cinnamon French toast for breakfast. This morning he made more fried potatoes with onion. Much better then just hash browns. 

Since it was my Dad's 78th birthday yesterday. We went to Ft Snelling to find him. All the black came off the name years ago. It makes it difficult to find him. I know about the area he is in since he is close to a Uncle of Steve. We find his uncle first which his grave is in the 2nd row, go over a few and back about 18 head stones to find my dad. I always get super sad when visiting. On the car ride, just as we were leaving the neighborhood the beach boy song Cocomo played. It reminded me of the last vacation with my dad in Florida keys. 

Steve made a French onion soup and some pot roast. We combined the two, for an elevated soup. It was delicious! Plain old French soup is a little dull on its own, so this really made it tasty! Good thing we have leftovers for lunch! I'm already hungry just thinking about it! 

I hate to show anyone our mess. This is our mud room. So many shoes and coats. Every time I clean up the shoes, they come right back. Same for the coats. We have a big walk in closet in the mud room, but that's where I put Zoey's food and water bowl. So we can't keep shoes in there. Maybe it's time to make actual cubbies and places for each person to keep there stuff? I have to organize this today! 

Winter, winter! It's here in October!

 This hasn't been the best week to get in our daily run. We completely skipped Saturday and I always regret days we don't go. It's only a little over a mile, so not a whole lot of running, compared to the 6 miles a day I use to do. It's just, the first mile is always the hardest to get moving. I'm hoping by going slow and adding on miles little by little we can get back to 6 miles a day and stay injury free! 

I always feel like slug when I don't run. Our new running place, snow free and no traffic! 

It was 27*F, but I sure warm up! Took off my jacket, hat and gloves the last .5 miles. 

Here we are, still trying to decide what flooring to choose? We've been laying out the floor in various rooms with different lighting to see how it looks. It's kind of dark, but I like the brown -gray color.  I'm just not sure if we should go lighter? 

This is the other floor, a maple/gray-lighter brown. I think we ruled this out! 

Going with the one at the bottom of the photo. 

Time to do some menu planning this week! I see other bloggers make a plan and probably should try to do that too. Steve is making French onion soup today but wants to change it up, add in some beef and mushrooms. I made this lemon chicken last year and need to make it again. 

I need to get back to eating more popcorn. A good filler and low in calories. Speaking of calories, Steve is making cinnamon French toast with our leftover French bread with some hash browns for breakfast. Yum! 

We've started playing cribbage every day again. It's usually just one game and we are done. I'm also not drinking more then 1/2 glass of anything with alcohol. We did run out to Total Wine yesterday afternoon to get the newly released Bald Man Brew, Juice box Hero, a very hazy IPA. I stuck to my 1/2 glass and was done. 

We have a few birthday's coming up in November, Logan who turns 18, Kendra and Madelyn turns 1! It would have been my dad's 78th birthday today. I'll probably go visit him at Ft. Snelling. He died at age 60 from colon cancer. Gone far too long! 

Sun-less Saturday

 Another gloomy no sun Saturday. Makes me want to stay in bed late. Late for me has been 8am, maybe 8:30, but that's it. 

I set up some work for this morning at 10:30a.m.  It's kind of nice having a plan of what to do on a Saturday to take up a few hours. 

We are in the process of picking out the right color flooring. We have golden oak floor on the main level(YUCK!). Tile in the front (use to be dining room), office has cherry wood and carpet in the porch. We are keeping the tile in the laundry, 1/2 bathroom and mud room. That's the only area that is not being covered up by new flooring. We've brought home 6 boxes of all different flooring we think would look good. Only to find out, it was too dark, too blue, too purple or too busy! I've kind of settled on a more brown with gray floor. Is this the one? I'm sooo undecided. It's a big decision as it will me a major change and a $3K cost. Not cheap but cheaper since Steve can install, saving $3K at least! He purchased the floor cutting tool and now all we need to do is make a decision. I still want to check out a few more choices in flooring, maybe a little lighter? 

 

We've been skipping our morning run/walks since Tuesday when we got all that snow and it covered our favorite park path. It's not going to be plowed this winter so we need to figure out some where else to walk, other then our neighborhood. 

We've been trying to find a stationary bike. We need something to do to get exercise. I couldn't talk Steve into getting a trainer for the bike. So we are still searching for some where to purchase our new exercise equipment. Might need more weights too! 

More snow is here an on the way

 Oh Winter came early this year for MN. We are getting at least an inch today and who knows how much Sunday. That's good for skiing! The leaves on the snow, not so much! 

I've been doing this a lot! Just hanging out in the front room on the couch. Our office is just far too dark to want to sit in there. I'm tempted to paint the office furniture white! Steve and I did pick out two more floors and didn't like either. We were leaning more gray and not brown. I think we decided we should do the opposite. It does help to buy a box, lay out a few planks and stand back to look at it. The light sure does change how the flooring looks and a tiny sample never looks the same as big planks. So off to the store we go again an get two more boxes. Fingers crossed one will look good! 

I also talked Steve into fixing our kitchen ceiling. We had a few water spots from the tub in the kids bathroom leaking through. I'm hoping the touch ups will be done today. I'm working in the morning so lucky me, I get to drive out in this snow! 

We have zero plans for tonight, Friday but I do work Saturday which should help fill up my weekend with at least something to do! 

Thirsty Thursday!

 That was a bust this morning! Went to run at the park like we do most days, only to find out the snow was not plowed. So much for running there this winter! We have plans to purchase a stationary bike for indoors. This way we can still ride and get exercise. 

It's this a cute photo of my grandkids. 

Zoey is right where I am, on the couch waiting till our weird weather passes this morning. Its snow/sleeting. I hear thunder and the sky got super dark, almost a green/orange color. Good thing I can work any time today! 

Finally got a quick photo of the pot roast I made the other night. This was my leftovers lunch! 

I didn't make dinner last night, so we made a frozen pizza with salad. Maybe I should plan to cook more often so we don't have to eat crappy pizza! 

Just a few hours!

 Just like that, in just a few hours we went from fall to winter! Sooo much snow! I think we got around 8" total? It's heavy and wet! 

Zoey and I went for a morning walk. I got a little lost on the trails in the woods. We walked farther out than I had planned, which was at least 3 miles by the time we made it back to the car. 

It started snowing as soon as we got back home from our walk. We all took turns shoveling the wet heavy snow. We do have a snow blower but we all enjoy shoveling more than using the loud blower.

I was tempted to go ski yesterday afternoon, but decided to wait to make sure other skiers made a ski trail thought the woods. If I hadn't gotten lost earlier on my walk, I probably would have been more likely to just get out and ski! I'll be going this afternoon for sure! I just hope they groom the trails but that might be expecting too much during Covid and the 1st big early snow fall! 

I was in a baking mood to finally make something with pumpkin. Cream cheese, pumpkin bars with walnuts. Sooo good! I didn't get a photo, but I made a pot roast in the crock pot that was the best I've ever made. Of course I used a cheater package of spices but also added in a little red wine. I'm not a cook, so I am always surprised when I make a meal and it turns out good! 

I love this photo we took when the kids were little. We need to re-create this photo this year! 

Much Needed Mental Health Changes!

 I've been trying to make small changes to my life during Covid, stay at home, away from others. Since we can't socialize and are stuck at home most of the time. I decided to get out as much as I can even in the winter! So, I've been bundling up, and walking Zoey at the local park. Baby steps to make some needed mental health changes! I do feel so much better for just being out in nature. 

I was expecting the ground to be covered in snow. I found out the snow wasn't starting till 11am. So, I was off for walk in the woods. 

Since I've been home more then Steve, I have been trying to make dinners. Last night I made fresh pasta noodles with a garlic cream sauce, asparagus, roasted and sun dried tomatoes. It was very creamy but good for a meatless Monday! 

Our back yard is still looking pretty with all the colors. I took this photo from our bedroom window. 

I dropped off Steve's bike to get the chain fixed and looked at bike trainers. There is a wide range of prices. We were thinking of just getting one of these instead of buying a exercise bike. Less space to store win the summer months.