Getting into the holiday spirit

Today was a beautiful day! We got the outside lights hung and then ran into town to do a bit more Christmas shopping. This is the first year in many that I've been nearly done with my Christmas shopping this early, of course Thanksgiving being later than normal may have had some bearing on this. I finally got tired of fixing my only chair upstairs, so while we were out shopping we went to one of the discount furniture shops in town. I now have a very comfortable recliner upstairs.

To thaw out the Thanksgiving turkey, I ran my sink full of water and let the turkey sit in it overnight and all day Wednesday. When Scott went to change the water he discovered that the drain pipe on that side of the sink had come undone and from the looks of things had been leaking for some time, so I'm looking at replacing the sub-floor, floor and cabinet under the sink. After checking out prices for laminate flooring at the Home Depot, but decided that it's a project we can most likely do ourselves, but will have to wait until after Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and if you are traveling that you make it there and home again safe! Love you all lots!

Pre-Christmas rambling

I did so good last week, getting up every morning to get my walk in. Yesterday I just couldn't bring myself to get out of bed, so I didn't get my walk in before work and I noticed a difference in how I felt during the day (almost fell asleep at my desk two different times). This morning I got back on track and got my walk in before work (hopefully won't see a repeat of yesterday's sleepy self).

With the past weekends snow on the ground, I am in the Christmas spirit. I noticed that some of my neighbors have their lights up. We didn't think to get our lights up while the weather was still nice, much to our chagrin. I'm not looking forward to being on a ladder with that oh so cold wind blowing on my face ... but who am I kidding, I'll most likely coerce Scott into it instead. Last night I started getting on his good side by making Snickerdoodle cookies with Hershey Kisses for him. Three batches and didn't burn one cookie!

exercise break through

I can hardly believe this myself, but for two mornings in a row I've been up and awake enough to get my 30 minute walk in before getting ready for work. I'm still tired pretty much all day, but it's not the same exhausted feeling that I've been experiencing for the past 2 or so months. I'm hoping that this trend continues and that I actually find myself feeling energetic during the day, especially if getting in shape helps me to sleep through the night.

Here it is, November 18, and the temperature is supposed to reach the upper 50s. That is sooooo not late fall weather. I want to see a substantial snowfall, like a foot or two. Many people are very glad I can't control the weather.

More joys of exercise

I couldn't sleep anymore, so I got up around 4:30 this morning and took a leisurely 30 minute stroll on my treadmill. I did it at my own pace this time and while it didn't burn nearly as many calories, I didn't feel like I was going to die that the end either! And on the plus side, after my shower I decided to try to sleep again and got in another two hours. I'm not sure how I am going to work walking into my morning schedule, but I would rather get it done in the morning. Guess I'll see how things go on Monday morning.

The joys of exercise

This morning I went for my first 30 minute walk on my treadmill. I probably tried to do too much for just getting back into the exercise routine because before I was 4 minutes into the walk I had a horrible cramp in my calf, got dizzy, and was sweating so much I could have started my own salt water pond. I think my pulse was the highest that I've ever seen it (got up to 150). My head was so wet from sweat it looked like I had just gotten out of the shower. Tomorrow I'm going to try just walking for 30 minutes at a rather constant pace and work myself back into the rigors of the preprogrammed options that my treadmill has.

Heart health

Oh, how I love vacation days! Today (in a little over an hour) I get to go to the doctor for an annual check up. One of the older gentlemen at work loves to tell me all about his doctor visits and all that I get to look forward to later in life. I think one of the worst things about going to the doctor is that no matter what you go in for they insist on weighing you. I think the only doctor that didn't weigh me at all was my ear, nose & throat doctor.

Well, that was fun ... three words I never wanted to hear come out of my doctors mouth when referring to me have always been "high" "blood" and "pressure", especially strung together. Unfortunately, those were the words I heard today. Our family has a history of high blood pressure, so I wasn't really surprise - disappointed, but not surprised. So, the plan is for me to spend 30 minutes everyday on the treadmill. I've been a slug for too long and getting back into a regular exercise routine will be difficult to say the least! I have to have my blood pressure rechecked in 2 months and if it's still not down I'll have to explore other options. That could be why my ankles keep swelling up like balloons I suppose, and why I feel exhausted all the time.

With the support of family...

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I decided that thinking of all I have to be thankful for is long overdue... most of all, I'm thankful for my family and friends. So much has happened in my life that I doubt I would have gotten through as quickly and relatively painlessly had it not been for their love and support. One of the biggest happenings in my life occurred nearly 10 years ago now when I filed for divorce and moved to South Dakota, what lead to that decision would have crumbled me if I had not been able to turn to my family and friends for encouragement and occasional advice. I love them all very much and am grateful for having them in my life.

Thanksgiving clip art? Anyone??

Today I've been searching the web for clipart to use for a Thanksgiving theme, but am surprised at how little there is. I found tons of Halloween clipart but am finding very little Thanksgiving clipart.

What a week it's been

Ok, all the fun stuff that happened this week ... hmmm ... on Monday I got my ears vacuumed and can hear again (major plus). On Tuesday, Scott's granny and uncle Donald arrived from Chicago and spent most of the day with him and then took both of us out for dinner. I wish they could have stayed longer, but they headed back home on Wednesday. Wednesday morning we had a powwow with the branch manager to try to clear the air over some issues (it helped, but there is still quite a bit of tension). I've started to think about Christmas and what I want to buy for whom, but that's all the farther that's gone, I've thought about it.

Belated Halloween greetings

I trust all had a happy and safe Halloween! We had more kids come by this year than last, and we still have candy leftover... not sure that is a good thing either because I didn't buy candy I don't like this time. The temperature has been in the low 40s most of this week and snow has been forecast, though I don't really think it will happen - time will tell.

I finally got the pictures developed from the trip I took home in September to surprise my sister on her birthday. It actually surprised me to find that there were pictures from APRIL on that roll of film. I'd like to say I have lots of ambition and will get some of the pictures published on the web this weekend, but we all know that isn't really true... however, I do want to get some of them up soon!