Friday, January 16, 2025

It’s Friday! I am linking up with Andrea and Erika to share some favorites and hopefully to make you smile at least once. How was your week? Ours was cold again, unfortunately. I got to the gym a few times and Eddie Otis and I walked but last week was definitely easier when it was mild out.

I was not lifting 67 pounds at the gym…

I did do 6 or 7 reps, though. Seriously? Can the 6 7 thing end?

I am feeding myself better and that’s a favorite.

New strategy. Yogurt as dessert. I like OIKOS Pro Vanilla. I like frozen fruit and I like to set it out to defrost so all the juice gets in the yogurt. I think I am going to add a few mini chocolate chips and put it in the freezer for after dinner, too. I currently don’t have pb powder but that would be good, too. Do you have a favorite yogurt? I tried straight up Greek and couldn’t do it.

Another new strategy – getting protein through the humble sandwich. Did you read my Tuesday post? Thank you for your comments and ideas for me! I love pickles. This is turkey, pickles, and a little bit of mayo on a light bread.

I got to the gym the morning after doing my nails and realized that I did one navy press on the night before. Oopsie.

I fixed it! All better the next day in the gym!

I think this is actually a good idea and I had already heard of version of it on the Midlife Matters podcast. You get together with friends to tackle those nagging tasks like cancelling subscriptions. Would you go to an admin night? I would have to go to an admin day or admin morning. I know myself and I can’t tackle anything like that after dinner.

Incoming ground beef photo…

I made lasagna for dinner this week and did the meat in the morning. Having the biggest element done for dinner really is a favorite for me.

I made a cake and tried a hack I had heard of – you put the cake on the lid and use the body of the container as the “new” lid.

It worked!

I have fine hair and it gets tangled so easily. This is sooo expensive but it really works. I try to use a very little amount. It smells great, too.

The best winter moisturizer made even better with a pump. Get you a pump!

I “made” a new outfit this week!

I found a brand new hat with tags at a consignment store and ordered a fisherman’s sweater from Amazon (Amazon Essentials).

I did a fun project of drying out lemon slices in the oven at 225 for 2 hours. I took mine out a bit before 2 hours. These are all the rage in cocktails right now.

Mason brought home donuts last weekend as a nice gesture.

They are square! I had the oddly shaped one telling myself it was smaller and less caloric.

A library branch near me has a demo kitchen and each month they are having a different chef do cooking demos. How cool is that? This month is the German cookbook author/chef that gave us our cooking lesson.

I finished this. It was enjoyable at times. It has lots of Iceland descriptions if you have been or want to go. It was cheesy and many elements were farfetched and not realistic. The author doesn’t have children, and I didn’t like a couple of things that she said the mom did – lol.

I started this. I love a book with a family tree in the front of the book and I love a book that toggles between present and past. This book has both of those elements.

Waiting outside Mason’s door for him to wake up. This guy is going to be so sad when Mason moves out.

I made more sugar cookie creamer this week and it’s even better. Am I never going to have to buy creamer again? This time I reduced the sugar content and did half white sugar and half brown sugar.

We had mediterranean chicken and cauliflower bowls for dinner and this is one of my favorite types of meals.

I did a really good brunch bowl where I microwaved the egg mixture in a round Pyrex dish instead of a mug. Look how cool the egg turned out. The avocado is just so good, too!

I had a library pick up this week and got this:

Laura suggested this author and I thought I would try it. I am not normally a mystery genre reader.

I saw this on a library shelf and picked it up on a whim. It has so many great sauces that I would actually make! I will be taking photos. I feel so proud of myself when I make a creamer, dressing, or dipping sauce. Do you?

I love to check out cookbooks, and this is probably Pioneer Woman’s best cookbook ever. I would make pretty much every recipe. It’s real food for real people. Now, she makes her own mayo and cream of mushroom soup and I probably wouldn’t do that, but it has things like enchiladas, alfredo, chicken cutlets, pot roast, macaroni and cheese, scalloped potatoes.

It was so nice to run some errands without the holiday shopping crowds. I went to a super popular shopping center that has Trader Joe’s, World Market, Old Navy, and more and the parking lot was empty-ish. I went in all three places.

I wanted to see if World Market had spring stuff out – not much. Here are the latest icon glasses:

I didn’t buy any. I am sticking with my four Valentine’s ones for now.

I did buy this cute little croissant spoon rest:

I tutored my student this week at Starbuck’s. It was good. He passed his midterm and improved his grade!

A sad story and a giggle…

I get my mom’s mail forwarded to me. She received a holiday/new year newsletter from couple friends from the military that basically only corresponded through holiday cards for the last 30 years. They listed their email addresses so I thought I would let them know my mom had passed away. I wrote the email and cried while doing so. I got a nice response back and they were appreciative of the news.

But then I read their newsletter, and it made me giggle so much. They talked about how their daughter was visiting but their son in law couldn’t come along because someone had to watch their Harris Hawk. I looked it up and it’s literally a hawk – bird they are talking about. That got me thinking about hawk sitters. It also got me thinking about excuses not to visit the in laws. You know Tom is my soulmate when he came home and also thought it was hilarious and said he wished he knew that was an option to get out of an in-law visit.

Anyone want to see the anime version of Eddie Otis? No?

Look at the anime version of my floor and rug.

Does this cheer anyone up?

I think it’s a little too early to start the count down or we will feel that we are forever counting down!

Tell me a favorite of yours this week!

Amy