What makes me happy?

There are a few things that I know will make me happy.

1. Baking anything! I do love to bake. I know making something will always make me happy. Sometimes its hard to get motivated or to figure out what I want to make.

2. Running, skiing and just being outside. I never regret getting outside.

3. Camping. Again, love being outside.

4. Biking

5. Being busy, too much down time and I get bored. It's a fine balance between having something to do and too much. I always like at least one plan a day.

6. Vacation - Any where, even a road trip close to home.  I love exploring new areas.

7.  Jet skiing or boating. Who doesn't love the water?

8. The ocean. I don't get there often enough. If I lived by the ocean, I'd go every day just to walk the beach.

9.  Checking off my todo list each day. I need some accomplishments. I love checking everything off my lists.

10. My dog or any animals.

What makes you happy?

Tuesday and what was my day off.

I had Tuesday off until a text message. It still feels like I have the day off even if I am now working. Good thing I don't work till noon. This gives me plenty of morning time to get some things done around the house. I'm more of a motivated get things done person in the morning. Afternoon, that all falls apart! I just have cleaning our house, washing towels and dishes on the list for this morning. I probably should get off the couch sooner rather than later!

See the text, text on my photo? I was just testing out a photo editor.

What is easier, losing weight or keeping it off. I don't think either is easy, but it seems once I do lose the weight its soooo easy to gain it back. I've still got time to lose the weight I want before summer. Hey, I'd take a 10 to 15 pound weight loss too at this point. So, I'm getting my mind ready, come March 1st to start my weight loss plan again.. I already started in February and that didn't last more than two weeks. I'm not wanting to fast all day and only eat one meal. Eating 500 - 1000 calories is a challenge on most days. I'm tired from work, bored, and I eat. I just need to re-train myself to do something more productive than look at the internet and watch TV all afternoon and evening. It's so easy to do that in winter. I just want to stay warm and outside or going anywhere doesn't look very inviting. The only thing I do look forward to doing is cross country skiing when we have great snow and it's not below zero or crazy windy.

Happy 20th Birthday Celina

Celina is 20! No longer a teen. Happy Birthday Celina!!! 

She also got a nice letter in the mail this weekend. She made the deans list at school. Way to go Celina! We are so very proud of the person you have become. Love you!!

We celebrated her birthday yesterday, because today she is back at school. Family dinner and her request was chicken wings, salad and soup. She even made her own brownie ice cream gluten and dairy free cake. 

Dealing with the 50's!

Can I just stop aging now??? The 50's, I still feel like I'm in buy 40's but I might not look like it any longer! I'm just trying to keep up my fitness by doing some type of exercise every day. I still do yoga just to keep limber because we all know that the older you get, a fall can do you in. 

Wearing readers to see anything up close is a pain. Just because having to put on glasses to see makes me feel old. Plus, I really like to see so I put them on top of my head because, its just convent to have them always on hand. Not a good look if you don't want to start looking OLD! 

Coloring my graying hair is also not so fun. I always tell everyone, wait till you have to color your hair. Don't start early because its a royal pain! Maybe I should just go blonde and than no one would see my hair line grays or whites?? 

 There are a few things to enjoy about getting older. I'll have to think about that one? Oh, maybe paying off our mortgage and actually owning our house. Soon to be empty nesters. Is that a good thing? Not sure? Enjoying grandchildren. 

Lacking in my goals

I always have a lot of goals. This year it's been kind of lacking. Sure, I want to lose weight, tone up, work out every day. I start, stop, fail, start again etc.. Seems my motivation is just not there all the time. I'm all in every morning and then things start to fall apart. I'm still a work in progress and I've tried to give myself some sort of pep talk about its okay to take a break and its okay to rest. I just find myself making more excuses than making accomplishments. It's true, I never regret getting out and exercising. 

This morning, the temperatures outside were around 24+F with it getting up to the 40's this afternoon.  I made sure to get out early and cross country ski before the snow gets all slushy. Trail conditions were super good. My only complaint is all the oak tree leaves. They drag the ski's down and there is just a lot of leaves. Makes it difficult to ski and not fall. I also got an early start because the park is free from people! I like it to myself and it's best when I hardly come across anyone else. 

I got in my 5 skiing miles and now I'm resting.  I'm trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my Saturday since Steve is working half a day at his parents house. He is re-doing a basement bedroom. New sheetrock, flooring and trim. The works! I'd just like him to put that much effort into re-doing our bathroom showers. I am hoping that's next on his project list?? I want the tub in the kids bathroom gone. Re-do that with a walk in shower. We have the wall tile, just need shower floor tile. Next will be our shower to re-do it with new wall and floor tile. I want to lift up our vanity, paint it white and also re-do the floor tile. It's been 20 years since we moved in and it needs to be fixed up to look more current. I'll post photos when we are ready for our updates. 

I got to see Madelyn and Evan yesterday. I picked up Evan from school and then meet Kendra and Madelyn at Mcd's play area. That was Evan's request to go have a Happy Meal for the toy and to play.  Madelyn is now 3 months old and she smiles and laughs. It was fun to make her laugh. A happy baby! Even though my grandkids live close by, I don't see them enough! 

UpNorth Frozen Get Away

Steve and I had a fun mini vacation. We traveled not far, to Hinkley where we had two free nights at the hotel. We are not big gamblers but we did a little. Hinkley's machines, we like video poker, didn't pay out much at all. Plus, the games were harder to make any money since rules changed.
Our whole plan was to just take advantage of the free rooms and go do other things that didn't include gambling away our money.

We did get comped $20 for dinner at the casino so we split a prime rib dinner. More then enough food and we are always glad we share. Before we drove up to Hinkley, we stopped in Pine City. We had a brewery in our Pub brew book to check off. We each tried a beer and split a flight.

 We had 33+F weather on Monday. I wanted to go cross country skiing up there but the snow was all ice. We didn't get fresh show till Monday night and the next day, temperatures dropped and the wind picked up. Far too chilly to ski even with fresh 4" of snow!

We drove an hour and went to Duluth for the day. Stopped at Cannel Park and took in all the frozen waves that created this ice hole. 

 We also went across the Duluth bridge and went to the beach.

After, doing all the outdoor sightseeing we checked off another brewery on our wanted to stop at, but never had a chance in the summer. Bent Paddle Brewery in Duluth and we also stopped at Hoops brewery in town. 

On our drive home from Duluth, we stopped at Doc's in Moose Lake for diner and what do you know! I finally got to play some BINGO! I've always thought it would be fun to do some bingo, but of course never was able to. We jumped in on two bingo games and called it good enough. 

A few more photos of frozen Duluth Cannel park, along the water's edge. 

 It was super icy walking out, so we didn't go too far.

 Driving over the Duluth lift bridge

 Town made a mini ice castle.

We did stop for Breakfast at Black Bear Casino. Steve did a little more gambling and won back everything he spent at Hinkley. He hit 4 of a kind, 5 times! I just did my $20 and cashed out at $15. I figured my hour of gambling for $5 was entertainment. I was happy to play 5cent games and keep playing the entire time without losing much. I also got 4 of a kind, 4-kings. Much better time at Black Bear then at Hinkley! 

The day we had to leave, Tuesday. We ate breakfast at the Hinkley Casino, and drove to the ST. Croix State Park. I purchased a year park pass for $35 which we will use this summer when we go back up north to do some camping in the summer. We checked out the empty park and their camping area. Huge with over 200 spaces! We could have cross country skied, but the trails weren't groomed and it was COLD. We just walked a little down some stairs to get closer to the water but everything was still icy under the fresh snow and there wasn't much to see. We drove home through 

Wisconsin and stopped in Hudson at another brewery, Hop and Barrel. Had a drink, played cribbage and drove to pick up Zoey. 

Why do vacations have to go by so fast! While we didn't travel far. It was just nice to go to different places and see new sights. 

I do love free things!

We received two free rooms for the weekend. I love getting free stuff. As soon as we got the complimentary room notice in the mail, I called asap and booked them. I just needed a mini get away and to look forward to some thing different to help deal with our long MN winter. We have plans to ski, gamble, drink some beer at breweries and go visit Steve's relatives at the cemetery up North.

This was one of our first dates, April 30th, 1995 or 1996? We went to Stillwater for the day. Steve and I met at work, he would wait for me while I walked by at the same time around lunch to go to my chemistry class at the U of M. I was working in the R&D lab and he was in the warehouse. I had to walk across the warehouse to get to the parking lot. He would wait for me every day, just to say "Hi". Another girl I worked with like him. I didn't really know who he was or that he was the same guy she liked. We all went out as a group after work to happy hour and that's where I first talked with Steve. We danced and that was it. He'd come visit me every day on his break in the lab at my cube.

Happy Valentine's Day 2020

Happy Valentine's Day to Steve, I can't imagine my life without you in it. We had our first official date April 30th, 1996 and we've been together ever since that day. Love you more each year! 

Last night, we went for a before dinner drink at Nutmeg Brewery, then off to our dinner reservations at 6:45pm at Chianti Grill. We had a $100 gift card to use up from last year. I made reservations months ago just because I wanted to make sure we were going out some where. Dinner was delicious! 

I did take a photos of breakfast this morning, but I made some heart shaped waffles with real maple syrup. I'd like to make some cupcakes but I'd be the only one eating them, better not! 

Burrr, it's too cold!

Temperatures are dipping into the -30's.. not a good feeling!
Oh, we do have sun shine! This cold weather will last till Friday and it can't be gone soon enough!

I can tell, Zoey is not liking the cold either. She just looks outside and won't get up!

I'm going to only go outside to work and that's it. I do need to go to the bank/store and will probably have to stop quick for that too.

I made some cute v-day cookies, M&M for my customers. They turned out extra good because I added in chocolate chips too. I usually don't add extra chocolate but they taste better with more!

Over the hump!

It's Wednesday, going over the weeks hump and on to the weekend!! This week has been flying! Probably because I had the day off yesterday and my Monday's work schedule was a little out of the ordinary starting at 11 and then doing a taste test for $.

 I took these photos on Monday when the trees were covered in frozen crystals.

The weather and snow conditions are good enough for skiing. I've been out every day this week, skiing 5 miles. The snow isn't the best as it takes me over an hour to ski. It's slippery going up hills or any incline. Makes it harder and then going down hills is a bit slow. I like it better when I don't have to work so hard skiing! I'll take the fresh snow since all we had was ice before. Looks like we might get more snow today/tonight! It's going to be below zero Thursday so, not going to ski! I'm taking full advantage and skiing today in the 30's!

Over In Wisconsin, Hot Air Balloons

On Saturday we got up bright and early to watch the sunrise hot air balloons take off from Hudson Wisconsin. It's about an hour drive so we left at 6am. The Balloons were scheduled to take flight around 7:30am, but it was more like 7:45am. It was COLD outside and I even dressed for it. We ended up walking back to the car and watching the rest of the balloons go up. We even went to breakfast and saw more balloons float by. 

This was one of the first balloons to go up. My favorite was the duck. There were probably over 30 hot air balloons in all. Too bad it was 6 degrees outside. We were freezing! 

I'm on week #3 of my fasting diet. Down a little bit more on inches and I have yet to weight myself. I'll probably wait till Tuesday morning since I forgot today. I've been eating around 1500 calories per day which is not fasting range of 500 to 1000. I was sick all last week which didn't help as I didn't get any extra exercise other than just working. This week we have fresh snow and I plan to ski every single day! 

TGIF!!!!

Wish I could say that I'm back to feeling 100%, but that's not the case. Still no change. I managed to spend a lot and I mean a lot of time on the couch this week. Last week, I was out skiing every day and this week, nothing. Just couch time. Thursday, I worked till noon, ate lunch and laid on the couch till bed. This being sick is just not fun.

We do have weekend plans, going to see some Hot Air Balloons!! I'm excited to finally do something different and get some cool balloon photos. It's early, so we'll just grab some breakfast and watch the balloons. I have no idea of what to expect, other than just a lot of standing around, watching and waiting for the balloons to go up. There is also an art fair to check out and they have at noon the brewery to have a few drinks if we last that long?

Sunday, we could get up to 5" of fresh snow. I was surprised to see an inch of snow on our driveway when I woke up this morning. Didn't know we would get snow last night. It's not enough to make the ski trails nice, so I have to wait till Sunday when we have more snow. I'm hoping they groom the trails! There is nothing better than skiing on a fresh crisp, perfect trail. If I'm going to deal with winter, I must have good snow!

Not so nice!

Its been a rough couple of days. I picked up some kind of virus and I'm achy and coughing. My diet Day # 10, didn't go very well. I had pepperoni and a small 1/2 cup of vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce at night. Trying to sooth away not feeling well. Still no change today, but not worse either. I have been eating a few Peanut butter pretzels in the morning and when ever I take any over the counter meds. I just feel like my stomach needs some thing other than pills.

Even though, I didn't feel great, I managed to work and go shopping to make some chicken satay last night for dinner.

I'm guessing it would have tasted better if I was feeling good. I made coconut rice and some peanut butter sauce on the side. The sauce was a little too peanut buttery. Steve made some spicy asian green beans and it was a tasty meal.

No chance of losing weight while being sick. I'm just trying to get healthy and eating enough to do that. I did keep my calories to around 1500 for the day and will try to do the same today.

Why not bake when your trying to lose weight!

I have a huge sweet tooth! I think its okay to bake when I'm dieting. This way, I get a taste and don't feel deprived.

I have been thinking about making a Meringue cake forever! I finally did it. I thought adding coco powder to make them more light light fluffy brownies would taste a lot better than just vanilla. I had a tart pan and I traced that on parchment paper to make sure I was piping out the same size layers. I probably could have let this dry longer because it was a bit chewy. Since I only used egg whites for the meringue, I had 4 egg yokes left over. I've never made homemade custard but figured might as well since I had yokes! Super easy to make and tasted really good! Who knew. I thought we had left over whipped cream in a can but it was gone so didn't add any of that with the fruit. Steve and I both had a slice and the rest went into the frig. Not sure who will eat the rest? It was fun and quick to make and I'm glad I finally got around to making something different!

I caught Steve's virus. I was super achy all over last night with a little cough that hurt my back when ever I coughed. Made it some what easier to stay on my diet since I had zero appetite. I did eat some PB pretzels right before  bed because I took some Advil and didn't want my stomach burning all night. With eating the cake, I ate around 1000 calories and did zero cardio but did work for 2 hours which is burning around 400 calories just moving doing physical work! 

I'm not going to lie, my plans for today are pretty simple. Work for two hours, stop at the bank, drop off our taxes to the accountant and then sit in front of TV. I think Survivor starts tonight. I need to do some down time/resting to feel better! I hate being sick! 

 I cooked up two sweet potatoes in the oven yesterday so I have one left to eat and my veggie soup.  Plus, low cal 40 per cup popcorn. That's my eating plan for today. Keeping it simple! 

Is Fasting, a fast way to lose weight?

Day 9, Fasting on week #2, that's where I am at. No fasting is not a fast way to lose weight. It took a few months to gain weight, it's going to take a few to lose it.

The weekends I splurge and have a few drinks and eat more than I do during the week. This slows my progress. I stepped on the scale yesterday and didn't lose a single pound. Good thing I also determine my weight loss by taking my body measurements. You don't always lose by just weight. I am down 1" on my waist and a half inch on my thighs. It's a little discouraging that on day 8, I didn't drop any weight. You never know about the scale, next Monday I could be down a few pounds. I'm holding out for hope and knowing that I'm exercising, eating less and making better food choices. Maybe it was too much salt and this is why I didn't lose weight but noticed it on my waist? Any progress is good progress in the right direction.

I have to confess! I've been eating snacks around 1pm/2pm and not just waiting till dinner. I had some  beef jerky and popcorn. Both are very salty so this is the reason for the water weight and not seeing any change on the scale! 

Skiing is out this week due to poor ski conditions. Monday, I laid on the couch keeping a sick husband, Steve company. I did my planks and also worked which was my exercise for the day. I need to figure out something else I can do until we get more snow. Not sure my feet will be up for running but I'll probably give that a try again and just cut back on the miles. I did see a bike rider but I'm not sure I want to hit any ice spots on the road. 

Back to Monday in Feb!

 Madelyn is getting to be so much fun now. She is playing with toys. Over the new born do nothing but sleep, eat and poop stage. On to fun baby stuff.

We had a great weekend. Saturday we drove 30 minutes south to Northfield and went to two breweries. We left before the band started and had dinner at our last stop. 

I had more diet splurges this weekend with going out Friday and Saturday. Plus, we had Crepe day and I had breakfast and dinner.

I'm on day 8, week 2 of my diet. I managed to cross country ski 30 miles last week and only missed one day of skiing on Thursday because I worked a lot and was exhausted!

Took my weekly measurements and went down 1" on my waist and 1/2" on my thighs. I have yet to weight myself. I plan do to that at some point this morning.

Ski conditions aren't going to be good the rest of the week, but I have work and painting to keep myself busy. I also have my daily planks and weights to do!

This weeks diet plan is set. Fast again till dinner, eat a low cal meal 500 - 1000 calories a day with a little splurge on the weekends up to 1500 calories. I'm dieting till May/June, slow and steady with a weight loss goal of 1 to 2 pounds a week.

Winter Carnival and now Day 6

I made it on my fasting diet to day 6. It was a huge challenge Friday night. I splurged because you also have to give and take on this diet. It's not a punishment and I can have fun to and enjoy a night out of drinks and dinner. 

I managed to ski every day but Thursday. It was a busy work day and I was exhausted. Reason enough to skip the 5 miles of skiing! I ski 5 miles any day the snow and weather allows. 

 The snowman Evan made was still standing at the park. I see it every time I ski by. There was a big school group on Friday taking photos with his snowman.

 The ski park always has a bonfire going. I never stop but I did stop long enough to get a photo. I love the smell of a bonfire. They've been doing a lot of clean up in the woods, so the park has been doing bonfires all over while I ski by.

 This was our back room table last weekend with the neighbors. We reserved a spot and it was already for us when we arrived.

Friday night we hit up the St. Paul winter carnival. I saw a post from FB on all the ice sculptures down town St. Paul and have never been. So I convince Steve to go check them out. We got there early around 3:30pm. So the carnival was just opening up. Perfect timing because hardly anyone was walking around. Make it easy to take photos of the sculptures. We even got to see the royal court walk by to take photos. 

 Before we went to the carnival, we did a quick trip to Como Zoo. Every Friday they open the side entrance doors to the tropical gardens. We got a parking spot close by and had a short walk. Normally its a hike just to get into the zoo from the parking lots and side streets.

 Felt good to soak up green and smell some flowers. All set up for February.

MN ice sculpture across from the St. Paul hotel which we had never been inside. We decided to check out the hotel. It was pretty inside and had a nice restaurant that didn't open till 5pm. We walked across the street and checked out Pizza Luna for the happy hour pizza, drinks and meatballs. Delicious! Expensive even for happy hour but that's the time to go to check out these places and go early at 4pm to get a spot to sit.

 More ice sculptures.

I ended up having a glass of white wine, thin crust pizza and a meatball for happy hour. I asked for a glass of water so I'd only have one drink. Wine is lower in calories then IPA so I stuck with that and drank slow. After, we went to the Amsterdam Bar. No idea they had bands but they don't start till 9pm. A little late for me! We had a drink, IPA. I choose a small one and shared half with Steve. We got out of St. Paul and drove to Hastings. Our parking meter time was up so that's why we left. Plus, its just a lot cheaper in Hastings than the city. Shared wings, I ate only the meat, not the skin and had a baked potato, with just salt and paper.

Saturday is more skiing, resting and I should start painting our doors white, but I don't feel like getting all the paint stuff out. I have all of February to get them done!