Hello Friends!
Happy Monday and happy February to you.
This artwork begins February in my yearly planner. Love all the flowers and the thought of them, hopefully involved in an early Spring around here! We continue to have unseasonably mild temps...so we'll see. ☀️🌸
I hope your week is beginning beautifully! We had a very fun weekend over here. It's so wonderful having Matt back home safe and sound after visiting his folks and helping them out down in AZ.
We went to Annie's hockey games on Friday night and on Saturday. And at Saturday's game they had senior night and we celebrated Annie and I walked with her on the ice with the other senior parents and their players. They also had a nice reception for us afterwards. Then later Saturday night Matt and I went out with the Conley's for a bite to eat and to see a Charlie Berens comedy show. He's a former journalist (won an Emmy) and a WI comedian and he hosts a funny bit called The Manitowoc Minute (a city in WI). He's hilarious because he's a midwesterner from Milwaukee and knows our lifestyle so well. Very good at making fun of all the quirks of Midwestern folks. And he's a Packers fan - just sayin' 😁
Then Sunday, besides our usuals, we spent time at Matt's former house finishing jobs there because he found some renters and we will finally be renting it this month. Yay! And we watched the Grammy's and it was so good! Taylor Swift has a new album coming out! And there were a lot of great performances last night. Really good show this year.
Now on to the week ahead...
THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:
ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:
low cal maple chex cereal w/ skim milk & raspberries, coffee
ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:
Annie's playoff games starting, hosting dinner for team end of the week, email back wedding coordinator about some plans, groceries and other errands, work on etsy store, hospice work & paperwork
THINKING ABOUT:
How grateful I am for how far my back has come since last year's herniated disc issues. The PT and exercises I did helped a lot. And since the beginning of this year I've been working harder at my health overall. I can now throw in "hills" on my treadmill workouts (see incline at 7 in pic) - I don't go to 12, but I can get up to 10! :) And I'm doing some weights now too. Slow and steady but really getting somewhere finally.
And Matt has been working on his health in many ways too. One big one is dealing with his poor vision. He's always had to have glasses/contacts. But because his vision isn't great and he has a bigger prescription he has special contacts and they make his corneas swell. He is finally taking the plunge and having eye surgery soon. Doing a clear lens replacement in each eye. The first eye this month and the other one in March. It will be a game changer! For now he has to wear his glasses all the time to prepare for surgery. I told him it will be like Clark Kent turning into Super Man. Lol ❤️
AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE
The sun is streaming in my office window and I'm looking at big melty patches on the bay. I so hope the groundhog is correct about Spring this year!!
CURRENTLY READING
Almost finished with my current book and I plan to read a book I received from a friend at Christmas time next.
ON THE TV TODAY:
Jeopardy, Miss Scarlet and the Duke, All Creatures Great and Small, Shark Tank, Finding your Roots on PBS, I still want to start The Diplomat but haven't yet, Matt and I want to look for a new series to watch together next
ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:
MONDAY - leftover soup, salad
TUESDAY - use up kielbasa and veggies to clean out fridge and make an egg bake (breakfast for dinner)
WEDNESDAY - ?
THURSDAY - ?
FRIDAY - ?
*not sure for rest of the week - haven't made my grocery list yet
TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:
cross-stitch, read
TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:
I made a beer bread to have with soup I had made for Matt & I over the weekend. We don't have beer here really ever - so I made it with blackberry sparkling/mineral water. It turned out so great! Even had a slight berry flavor. My kiddos have been gobbling it up with butter and jam ever since and it's almost gone already! Lol
I made a slow cooker kielbasa, kale and cannelini bean soup. Made with chicken broth, veggies & topped with a little parm cheese. It was really tasty, double the protein healthy and easy to make. I'll share the recipe later in the week.
FROM THE CAMERA:
The C's are coming over here for a super bowl party on Sunday and we're already beginning plans :)
Players posters in the lobby
Our girl in action! They won by the way. 🤩
A photographer took pics - but these are what I have for now that Matt took from up in the stands. That's why they're so far away. The girls wanted us to wear their away game jerseys. A little smelly but we all obliged and just threw them over our clothes. Lol I laughed at the last pic because of how short I am compared to everyone else! There was one other player and her parents that aren't in this pic that were in the line up too...and they were all far more tall than I am too!
I'm a shorty and I own it with pride! ☺️
Annie had a whole squad of pals watching the game and cheering her on. I had them pose with her at the reception.
The flowers Annie handed me on senior night still going strong ;)
I caught a quick pic of Charlie Berens at the show. I love his "ope" sign...it's an expression we use here a lot. 😁 Lol
PRAYER LIST: