1. What’s a winter memory you treasure (can be from any winter in your lifetime)?
I grew up on a lake and when the lake froze all the neighborhood kids would gather to skate, play ice hockey, sled down the hill onto the lake, and have all kinds of fun. I had a ton of neighborhood kids around my age – mostly boys. There were a couple of girls and we could hang. This was only an hour away from where I live now and the lake always froze over. This is how I know it’s not as cold as it used to be. We all owned our own skates, of course.
2. Tell us about the last time or a recent time you were caught up in red tape. Does it send your frustration level off the charts or is it something you’ve come to expect when dealing with any sort of bureaucracy?
I really can’t think of anything, but I think working for a large school district involves a lot of red tape. I feel like they can’t think outside the box and they continue doing things the way they’ve always done. Like our snow days – we don’t have any built in days. Do you know the last time we didn’t need to cancel school? It’s been like never. Each snow day gets tacked on at the end of the year. We don’t even know our graduation date until late March. It’s no way to plan or ask others to live their lives. Also, we are we not using the technology that we have? Did we learn nothing from the pandemic?
3. Do you eat/like fish? Do you cook fish at home? What’s your favorite fish dish? Ever been ice fishing?
I do! I mainly just cook salmon at home. I would like to get more types of fresh fish at the local fish place I have never been to. I love a bourbon salmon dish at a restaurant but my kids are saying my salmon is as good or better than many restaurant versions they have had.
I always think of the movie Grumpy Old Men when I think of ice fishing. The men at my lake growing up would drill for ice fishing to make sure the ice was safe enough for the kids and then I got to watch them fish!
4. Did you watch any of the US President’s Inauguration coverage on Monday, Jan 20? On a scale of 1-10 (with 1 being not at all and 10 being very very) how interested are you in politics in general? Do you follow/keep up with/ get involved with local politics?
I just watched a little bit. I got home from the grocery after it had started. I think politics are so messed up in our country. It’s all about power and money and self-gain. There are very few public servants anymore. With the said, I am a very patriotic person and I appreciate our country because of the travel I have done.
5. What’s the coziest thing you own and what makes it so?
I would say my Ugg comforter that really should be replaced. Tom and I bought it a few years ago at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I even like it in the summer, but should use a summer weight quilt.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
We are going to think the temps in the 40s are practically spring like next week! It’s all about perspective, no?
This week we have lows of 2 degrees and highs of 14, 24, 32, and 28!
That’s all anyone can talk about right now it seems.
I was at a loss for a blog post idea – this rarely happens! I realized I hadn’t talked about beauty or beauty products for some time and an idea was born.. – buy this or bye bye to this product.
Now, you must know that I am no expert. I am willing to spend some pennies if a product really works and/or lasts a long time and I honestly don’t have that many products.
I am kind of embarrassed by this first one…
I succumbed to the many, many ads I was seeing for the L’ange Le Duo Grande. These women were achieving such nice curls. Um, mine fell flat. I tried a few times. My co-worker Erica has the regular Le Duo and she confirmed the same to me. She doesn’t think it gets hot enough.
I achieve a much better curl with a standard classic one inch barrel curling iron. I don’t have a flat iron but Erica says her flat iron does way better curls.
So, tell me…is there something I haven’t figured out?
I don’t want such curly curls. I was hoping for more of a flat iron curl look, I guess.
This is a bye bye for me. $60 down the tubes.
This is a great winter moisturizer for the whole body and a little goes a long way. It is so thick but in a good way.
This is a definite buy for me in the winter. I don’t need this intense of a lotion in the summer.
My hair loved the water in Madrid this past fall. It tasted great from the tap and several people told us it was great and my hair and skin also loved it. I think it was soft water. Tom says ours is in the middle. Medium hard? I don’t know. Why am I talking so much about water? I was able to curl my hair and achieve very soft bouncy curls. I took a travel size of this and that combo was chef’s kiss for my hair. I’m not able to achieve quite the same here but this is a really great holding spray.
This is a buy for me.
This was a Christmas gift from my mom per my request. It ain’t cheap. I didn’t realize it was a spray on wet hair and then dry with a hair dryer product. I just thought I could spray on dry hair for shiny locks. I don’t blow dry my hair very often.
This is a bye bye for me. Maybe I can put it on wet hair and go in the sun in the summer. I absolutely hate blow drying my hair. It takes too long, it’s noisy, and I get really, really hot.
I was told you could use this everyday and my personal theory is that our screen-tired eyes need all the lubrication they can get. Dry eyes are painful. If you have a Costco membership, that is the most economical way to add this to your repertoire.
Thiis is a buy for me.
I must admit I haven’t used this since late fall. But, it is so worth the money. This and Tan Luxe The Butter are the best I have used, but this gives you a quicker result and more bang for your buck, I think.
This is a buy for me.
These are great in my opinion but I must admit that I have only tried a few brands. I also found that they feel great when one has sinus pain and pressure. You can lower them a bit if you want. Nothing bad will happen. I keep them on until they dry out. Nothing bad happened.
These are a buy for me until someone tells me a better option!
This sucks! My favorite dry shampoo is Batiste. I bought this at TJ Maxx with a gift card so there is a chance that it’s expired or not as good as it’s supposed to be. TJ Maxx had not Batiste at the time. Bummer.
This is a bye bye bye for me.
I have been really lazy about mascara lately to be honest. As long as I line my lids I feel like I look ok-ish. My eyes seem to water more now and mascara really bugs me. My favorite for a long time was Thrive but I heard that tubing mascara can take off your lashes and I don’t have much to begin with.
This coupled with my primer looks really good. The price wasn’t bad either at Ulta.
It is a buy for me. I would get it again!
This is one of the Trader Joe’s dupes and I have to be careful not to use too much because I love it and it smells so good. If you use too much it does weigh your hair down.
This is a buy for me. My tangles are so much better using this, too. I don’t use a detangler anymore.
So, what have you used lately that is a buy or a bye bye? I get so many good recs from my readers and other blogs!
I am linking up with Holly and Sarah to share my weekend which is still going on.
I chose some quotes of MLK Jr. in Spanish so my students will translate and talk about how they feel about them and pick a favorite tomorrow.
I taught a five day week last week after what turned out to be three weeks at home! So, Friday definitely called for Starbuck’s. I had a gift card that I was anxious to use. I feel urgency at using gift cards. Do you? They burn a hole in my wallet. The line was so long at the drive thru but I waltzed in (saw it had been remodeled!) and I was out of there in a flash.
I ordered peppermint cold foam cold brew or however you say it because of Jen and I loved it!
Friday was a good day at school and I was in a really good mood.
After school it was happy hour! I have been going here a lot, I know. It’s close, it’s fast, and it’s always good. It’s Mojito. It was nice to sit in this tropical heated area!
I tried a special smoky mezcal margarita.
And, we had queso with chorizo.
I went home and found Tom and Mason bathing Eddie Otis in the mudroom. He had been bitten by a dog who has a yard that backs up to the school playground like ours does. EO was sniffing under said dog’s fence and the dog didn’t like it and he grabbed hold of him and bit him. They had to clean it up to see the extent of the damage and I, of course, was freaking out.
Saturday morning Tom took him to the vet (just to be sure) and he had to stay so they could work him in. I went and picked him up around 1:00 and he didn’t need stitches but came home with an antibiotic. Here is his wound:
Can you see the little patch of white above his orange collar on the left? It was so weird having him out of the house from 8-1 and I missed him so much. I stress cleaned and made a mushroom and caramelized onion quiche – as one does.
When I picked him up the sweetest old basset hound was brought in on his dog bed and I knew what was happening. I got teary-eyed and couldn’t focus on paying my vet bill. I’m getting teary-eyed typing this. Why am I telling you all? I guess I want you to share in my pain.
I also picked up some library requests. I have an awful lot piled up right now so we will see what I get to;
I’d rather have too many books than not enough. Anyone with me on that?
We had rain all day Saturday pretty much and the temps got up to the 40s. I still went to the car wash and felt better about getting all that salt off. My black SUV was grey!
Kinda cool photo? I’ve only been able to go through an automatic car wash for a handful of years now. I was scared about all the directions and getting it wrong. So proud of myself! I was also scared of the spray tan booth and had a bad experience ala Ross from Friends many years ago. As you know, I faced that fear again a couple of years ago. Bravery comes in many forms and don’t you forget that.
I sat outside a bit in the morning…
and with a hot chocolate later on…
The rain wasn’t able to melt everything away, but it’s definitely much better before this extreme cold hits us next! Are you expecting really cold temps, too?
I ordered a dog toy remote on Amazon and it came just in time for EO to enjoy after his vet adventure. He loves to steal our remote and I thought this was funny but maybe it was going to encourage that behavior.
He loved it and promptly had it in four pieces! oops!
Tom was in a bad mood because his team lost but he channeled it by making two trips to Home Depot and forgetting his wallet and coming back home to get his wallet and me telling him to use Apple pay on his phone and him finally adding cards to his phone. But, he finally changed a light bulb that had needed changing. Baby steps.
So, Tom could do with never going out to dinner. His idea of a good dinner is truly frozen fish sticks, canned peas, and Kraft mac and cheese. He goes to make me happy because I eat breakfast and lunch at school during the week and cook dinner most week nights. He goes out to lunch everyday like a normal person – just kidding. I hate that he does this but I don’t fight the battle.
So, Jack had asked me to dinner to have some one on one time and Tom was all too happy to stay home and eat leftovers with Eddie Otis. We tried a new to us Mediterranean place called Charcoal.
It was really good and we have tons of leftovers. I still love my Shiraz better, though. It’s also closer to home.
I was so tired Saturday that I had already fallen asleep multiple times when I sat down to watch something and I did that again in the evening so I finally gave up and went to bed.
I woke up Sunday to this:
I don’t like Tik Tok, but I had fun making Spanish lesson videos and I kind of don’t want to lose them. Jack told me Saturday night that people have already gone to “RedNote” which is another Chinese app. That was the first I had heard of that one? I had heard this was coming Sunday but I didn’t know how it would go down.
And, then it was back!
It snowed much of the morning and I felt like making bread. I am not part of the sourdough sorority so this is just no knead bread that rises for 2 hours. I failed at the sourdough starter. Maybe I will one day try again.
I gave EO all the attention. He likes to let you participate in his bone chewing. He lays it on your leg.
I didn’t go out until 4:00 and then I promptly regretted it. It had stopped snowing but it was so cold. I went to Fresh Market and Aerie.
Hardly anyone was out! We still have the ugly piles of dirty snow.
I picked up 3 Blaze pizzas for us to split and went home and made a salad to go with it.
And, that’s about it for my wild weekend. I’m grateful EO’s bite wasn’t that bad and I’m grateful for a warm house. Even though it’s so cold, I’m also grateful that the roads are clear now!
OMG it’s Friday! A 5 day week after a 3 week winter break? I have lots of happies this week, though, so hope you will join me along with Andrea and Erika and all the other blogs in Friday Favorites.
There could be a spoiler coming so scroll down if you are scared. My first favorite is that I am loving the ads for the new Bachelor starting January 27th. This show has been hit or miss for me with the exception of The Golden versions in the last couple of years, but now I’m all in because…
as you may remember I saw some filming taking place in Madrid, Spain at the end of September. So, if he chose Spain as one of his places I immediately like him! Plus, I am hoping to see the cute little patio where I was eating lunch with my fam and my former student Madeleine! I’m also hoping to see a few more Madrid stops. Madeleine texted me later that day that she ran into the film crew again.
He was playing soccer with kids in a small plaza between the patio and a church and this girl was also playing. I don’t know if that necessarily means she makes it far because he could have brought the whole lot of them to Spain.
And, this gal below is from my city of Louisville!
So, yeah, I’m 53, but let me have my fun, ok?
I finished two books in the first 2 weeks of January! Go me! I have been a bad winter reader in the past so I am happy.
I recommend this:
If you want to drink more tea and you need it to be caffeine free, this is so good and can be found for not too many doll hairs (isn’t this weird that internet people say this instead of dollars? Why?) at your local supermarket since it is Celestial Seasonings brand.
I made myself a cute little Greek yogurt parfait. I like frozen fruit because as it melts it gives you the juices and I learned not to put the granola on top because it gets soggy. I will have to keep it in a separate bag.
Cute boy:
My camera roll is either Eddie Otis or snow photos right now!
Remember Eddie Otis’ parents? As he approaches one year old next month, we have been comparing.
Here is his Daddy Terry:
And, here is his mom Aly:
We think he favors his mom!
So, we went back to school on a 2 hour delay on Monday and the neighborhood roads were still so icy really until Wednesday after school. But, our temps have been so low that not much could change. We have had really bright brilliant sun all week, though!
They didn’t even shovel this pathway that the teachers have to use from the parking lot to the building. We have a pretty long walk in, too.
Ugly snow piles in our parking lot:
I changed to this mani:
I left my room and my desk super organized and it made me so happy on Monday. I had all my copies already made for this week, my makeup midterms ready for those kids, and I just had my work life as together as it could be. I’ve got my piles, but I must have a clear desk in order to function.
These boots have been the rockstar of my week and I have worn them in and kept them on all day.
Enjoy my pale freckled legs!
This is such a good breakfast! I have a few roasted sweet potato chunks, Amylu chicken breakfast sausage and…. one egg scrambled with some Kirkland liquid egg whites. Y’all – with the current price of eggs I decided to try this and you know what – it’s better than just eggs. It makes them super fluffy.
Erica my co-worker, fellow Spanish teacher, and meal prep partner is trying something that I wanted to share with you. She ordered 6 garden cups to try. 6 is the minimum and it says they stay fresh for 5-6 days after delivery. One cup is one serving. So, for our lunches one day she gave me a Cobb salad, and one day a Caesar. They include protein in the form of chicken cubes and bacon.
It makes so much the plate was almost too small. They were really delicious!
Now, I brought a bagged salad and used a washed empty container of hers and it’s about the same without the protein. The gardencups are about $10 each, but if you are in a busy season it might be good for you. My mom is trying it.
Here is Erica’s link if you want to help her out and plan to order anyway. She will get some money off her next order. This link also gives you 10% off your first order. The different types of salads are interesting – Asian, Buffalo Chicken, Southwest. The nuts, seeds or crunchies are in a little plastic pouch as is the dressing.
I did a Wednesday pick up. I went to the store on Sunday but decided to get ahead of the weekend this time and it was great. Why do I feel like I need to go to the store all the time lately?
If I post something on IG I usually get a comment from a former student. They just warm my heart so much.
This cute graphic gave me some hope, but for now I will just be happy if this snow and ice melts already!
I don’t have a lot to show you from the past week (the above photo will justify that!) but I am happy to link up with Kellyann and Jill for Fashion Files!
So, closet goals right now are to wear my winter things that are non-Christmas colors that I haven’t worn yet. I have some royal blue, wine/burgundy, cream, and lots and lots of black. Another goal is to wear jeans and sweaters. I need to wear jeans that button and zip for accountability. I want to wear my Halaras everyday but as they are pull on, they might not keep it real. Maybe I will buy another pair of straight leg?
I love looking ahead to spring! I think spring is my favorite shopping season. I also like fall, but those bright colors after winter really have my heart!
One day I looked up some fashion trends and here is what I found and my thoughts…
2025 Fashion Trends
peep toe shoes – These look very retro to me and I’m just not sure. I guess you would only have to polish your big toe and your second toe.
no purses – Who are we kidding? As I enter menopause, I need more stuff, not less. I need a tweezer because of all my new facial hair (each day I find a new one!), dental floss as my teeth are getting closer together (?), eye drops for my dry eye, multiple pairs of glasses, a roller stick for a hot flash, gum, mints, bandaids (life is hard), and so much more!
sporty style – rugby tops – I would be open to trying this
statement collars – When you have a larger chest I’m not sure you need to make a lot of statements
loafers – I like my one pair of driving mocs/loafers, but I am not sure I will go in too hard on this
ruffles – in small doses
polka dots – would like to add a polka dot blouse perhaps
What do you think of these trends?
To go back to school Monday, I wore my black flare leggings, my short black boots (later changed into sneakers), Sweater Weather sweater, and black vest:
Tuesday I wore Halaras, Koolaburra Uggs, white button down, and star sweater:
Is it my head or this hat?
Looking to spring…
These caught my eye in a big way! I just plan to collect fotos right now.
I’m really late with this! Oh well! Can you even believe we are halfway through January?
-wear my blues, burgundies, white, and other non-Christmas colored winter clothes and toward the end of the month start wearing my Valentine’s Day sweaters
-read more and tv less/read more and scroll less/really try to stay off social media as much as possible
-plan something fun to do on MLK Day since I am off school
-at least one coffee shop date with Mason – this will have to be on a weekend or on MLK Day unless I get a snow day. We want to try a witch/Halloween coffee shop that is relatively new
-just found out one of my favorite restaurants is having a January special Tuesday through Thursday in the month of January so I plan to do that
-bake/cook a new dish
-enjoy a snow day – if I get one – if not…might be making my own if you know what I mean (I swear I wrote that before Snowpocalypse and 4 snow days for teachers last week and 5 for students!)
-get excited about meal prep again – this is hard to do when I’m off my routine/still on winter break mode
-walk with Eddie Otis after school even when it’s really cold
-listen to more music in the house – the Echo Show is already making this easier
-go to a speakeasy
-plan some cozy happy hours at places that have fireplaces or a dark ambiance
-work smarter, not harder with home chores-create a routine and assignments for people inlcluding myself, of course – stick to it.
-work on January happiness project – much will be the declutter part
-read How to Winter when it comes in at the library for me
-start a bath night ritual – I have a wonderful tub and never use it
-re-start my spray tan membership to fake Vitamin D toward the end of the month- it really helps! This time I will go clear and light or medium and no double leg. That’s too much. I just want that – ‘did she or didn’t she just come back from vacay?’ look
-see friends that I haven’t seen
-continue with “Soup Sunday” where I make a different soup and use that for one of my lunches during the week
-start planning my spring break whether I plan to go somewhere or stay home
I am sure I am forgetting things! As you can see these are very “low level goals” in the words of the Big Boo podcast. They just help me to be more intentional with my time and help me to enjoy life more, frankly.
1. It’s been said January is ‘the month of opportunity, inspiration, and change.” Which of the three do you need most right now? Elaborate.
I think inspiration – for lesson planning, meal planning, how to use my free time wisely!
2. Do you consider opportunity as something that comes to you or something you create for yourself?
I used to tell my Dad I was lucky if something good happened and he said, “that’s got nothing to do with luck; it’s your hard work” or something like that. If you are a spiritual person you probably believe that opportunity comes from above. I think the opportunity might be there for the taking but that you have a part in making it happen for you?
Here’s a story…
When I started at my current job I was 28 and freshly married. Two years later I got pregnant and I knew that eventually my twins would go to elementary school from 9:05-3:45 and I went to school from 7:40-2:20 because this was how my district was set up.
There was a teacher who had a deal where she came in late and stayed late to do detention (just sitting in a room and having the kids do homework) so she could be on her elementary daughter’s schedule. I asked her if I could take that over when her daughter was in middle school and no longer on that schedule. She agreed and the principal agreed and I got to do that for 6 years and it kept me from having to take my kids to early care and I got a nice easy morning out of it. I was still done in time to pick them up at 3:45. So, I saw that opportunity and it made our quality of life so nice. I loved getting to both take them and pick them up. Picking them up meant walking to get them, too! How nice is that?
There is a lot of guilt about being a full time working mom but I think I was able to have a really nice balance. So, I think I helped to create that for myself. We also bought a house in front of an elementary school and near a middle and high school so that could also be a form of creating an opportunity for a simpler life. Our kids went to all three and it enabled them to walk, have friends over all the time, help other parents out that needed their kid to walk home with ours, and stuff like that.
Dropping them off to walk to school down the little pathway:
3. The British Museum opened on this date (January 15th) back in 1759. Do you like visiting museums? Do you have a favorite?
I like a museum in small doses. I don’t think I need to see everything and I don’t need to spend more than a couple of hours at once. The coolest museum I have been to is a tour of a certain longitude line around the world. It is in Germany and I hope I get this right – a man traveled the same longitude line as his hometown of Bremerhaven, Germany and you experience the animals, the terrain, the temperature, and the culture as he rounds the globe. Tom’s family took us there and even rented it out for us to sleep in overnight! That was crazy!
4. It’s National Oatmeal Month (yes, apparently it gets a whole month as opposed to a single day)…do you like oatmeal? How often do you eat a bowl of oatmeal? How do you like yours? What about an oatmeal cookie? Is that a sweet treat you enjoy?
I love oatmeal and don’t make it nearly enough. My favorite is instant brown sugar or real oatmeal where you add your own brown sugar. Now I want oatmeal! I don’t want it in a cookie form and the worst thing you can do to a person is offer them a cookie that looks like chocolate chip but then you find out it’s oatmeal. Womp. Womp.
5.What’s something useful you learned in high school?
Gosh – everything? I loved high school. I loved interacting with the teachers and I loved my journalism class and my US History class junior year because of the dynamic teacher. I thought my Spanish teacher was boring, but I loved the subject, of course. My Spanish teacher stood at a podium and read from her notebook. I do like her as a person and she helped me a lot, but I don’t remember it being very interactive. I was in a ton of clubs and I just loved it all, I think. I also remember so much since it’s still the world I live in!
6. Insert your own random thought here.
What is up with slow deliveries lately? I know we had some delays due to the winter weather, but it seems like my orders are taking 2-3 weeks to get to me when they used to only take a matter of days. Are you experiencing this? Also, I am talking non-holiday related deliveries since Christmas.
Another random thought…
I tried to place a grocery order Sunday morning and they wouldn’t have slots available until Monday. So, I took about an hour or so to make a short list, drive to the store, shop in store, pay, go home and unload. It got me thinking about how much brain space doing pick up takes. I think about what to order, when to order, when I will pick it up (and the last 5 times or so it’s been at least an hour late and they call me and tell me to wait), then I go pick it up. Do you know what I’m saying? Is this helping me or is it easier to go back to the way I used to shop?
boost energy, go to sleep earlier, exercise better, toss, restore, organize, tackle a nagging task, and act more energetic.
Go back to my first post about it if you need more background!
I added to Gretchen’s January goals to create my January List (basically a list of fun things to do this month and post coming tomorrow), create my 40 bags list to start going through various areas of my house, learn to enjoy January, read more and scroll less, have a bath night – maybe Friday night? – where I read my book in the tub.
I’m not doing very well so far since I have still been in that weird limbo between Christmas and New Year’s with my week of snow days!
I am enjoying January more! What has helped me is keeping out the twinkle lights, making more hot beverages – two cups of coffee in the morning, tea later in the day, hot chocolate if the mood strikes, having some unexpected snow days and leaning in to the snow days, having my kids around, reading more and watching less tv and scrolling less.
For about a week of this month I was sick so that made it hard to improve my sleep and to be very motivated about decluttering.
I have already read two books! This is amazing for me because I prefer reading outside. I really tried to embrace indoor reading and it worked.
So, that’s how I am doing so far in January. I have to tell you that I wasn’t that excited about the January themes this time around. I am really anxious to have the roads snow free so I can walk more easily. I think that will be a boost for me.
How are you doing this month if you are participating? If you aren’t participating, how are you doing with any other January goals?
So, it’s Monday and time to link up with Sarah and Holly. I got an extra week of winter break, essentially. I did have to work from home Friday and had to attend a couple of Zoom meetings, do a survey, fill out some forms, and make sure I had my ducks in a row for the first day back with students.
I found myself really appreciative of being a teacher and not having to get out or even try to work from home most of the days last week.
It was good timing with my cold, too. I didn’t really feel bad enough to stay home from school if we had had school but I wasn’t sleeping well and I was low energy.
I cooked my brains out and really tried to use up things we had on hand. Well, sometimes it would just be called heating up or assembling foods .
My kids had their work cancelled or they weren’t scheduled except for one evening each so we had a lot of time with the three of us at home. Tom worked from home Monday and then left each day and came home each day at the normal time.
Eddie Otis and I had a lot of togetherness. He has a wild streak in the mornings where I about think I will lose it with him, but then he spends most of the day calmly napping, changing napping locations, getting up when I get up, and that sort of thing. He puts himself in his crate a few times a day, which is so funny.
This snow was hard to walk in. It snowed, then it iced over, then it snowed again. So, your feet crunched down with each step you took. I like that many neighbors still have their lights up and it looks just so gorgeous with the snow. I really think all these footprints are from my family alone. We haven’t seen many people out.
This is us walking Eddie Otis one evening:
I did a left over snow mani Thursday night – shiny navy blue with silver glitter accent nails and nail art. I bought this last year and saved the remaining nails. I can get two manis out of each box and they do keep their stickability after a year. I exclusively use impress brand and here is how I do it. These last me 7-10 days and I shower twice a day and wash a ton of dishes. I am not careful with my nails at all but I don’t open cans or anything with my nails.
I finished this over the weekend and I do recommend! I can’t believe how little I know about Sicily or Italy and it caused me to do some research. I have only been to Venice once.
My work from home at the dining room table on Friday:
Friday night Tom called and said he was on his way home from work but would stop at Kroger. He picked up Jack (he wanted to go) and they brought home some new provisions. I managed to make a really yummy dinner. We have a new rice cooker and I made Thai jasmine rice, teriyaki chicken and green beans.
Tom started his once a year cooking project. He makes this bean soup.
Did y’all even know there were 15 types of beans?
Saturday morning I piddled around and then I was ready to get my car out after a week of being on vacation in my garage. My neighborhood was still really bad but the main roads were fine and I felt like a 16 year old girl with a fresh license!
I went into a boutique nearby and bought a pullover thing off the clearance rack. It reminded me of a lot of the SSYS stuff that Jen loves. It’s super soft and I thought I could wear it over white or black.
Did I need it? No, but it was my duty to put money back into the local economy after many had to close and didn’t get much business this week.
For lunch I made avo toast and here is how you do it in the most delicious way:
I wanted to go out again and go shopping after lunch but the laziness won over shopping. I just laid on the couch and binged more Younger. Tom was home to be the point person for Eddie Otis and after 5 days of our “togetherness” I was happy to get a break. He really is doing pretty well, but he’s a 10 month old puppy so he is doing puppy things.
We got to go out for dinner! We met our friends at Mojito and I had a mojito!
I ordered the most delicious salad and Tom helped me with it and then the rioja short ribs.
Piles and piles of snow in the parking lot:
I wore my “Sweater Weather” sweater because it definitely was sweater weather with my Heathers. We ate with Heather, Heather, Scott, and Eric. Lol. Then, everyone wanted to hurry home to watch the UK game.
I couldn’t keep my eyes open for very long!
Sunday morning Mason and I had the opportunity to go to breakfast!
And, then we browsed in a local bookstore. I thought this was cool – a cocktail recipe book based on video games.
After our breakfast and shopping I did some cleaning and piddling around the house to get ready to go back to work today. Later in the afternoon I went to Kroger and shopped in store for a few things for the week. Then, I found out we had a two hour delay today – so I have to be at work at 9:30 and the students will start at 10:40 and we get done at 3:20 like usual.
And, I’ve had my fill of winter! I’m good now!
What about you? How was your weekend? Tired of winter?
First of all, I have been living in my own snow globe and I finally came out to see what’s happening in the rest of the country – oops. I cannot imagine the devastation going on in California. The only reference I had to the Santa Ana winds is from the movie The Holiday and this is part of what caused them I read.
It really puts things into perspective if they aren’t already there.
Sorry I have been slow to respond to comments this week, too. With my cold I just haven’t felt much like being on the computer.
So here are some favorites or maybe this week just happenings…
We had snow days all week long (today is another one but teachers are working from home) and I let my skin rest and did nothing but moisturize. It sometimes makes me wonder what would happen to our skin if we literally put nothing on it?
This:
Sorry to scare you like that!
I’m super impressed by this product and I have since looked into more makeup by Catrice, but haven’t purchased anything else yet. The prices are great and it’s available on Amazon. I believe it might be from Germany. I first bought the tan on the right and it worked great, but then my curiosity got the best of me and I ordered the pink and it’s even better for me!
I had my colors done in the 80s and they said that both warm and cool foundations went into my skin naturally. Am I a unicorn? I was a “summer”. I still have the fan of my best colors. I should find that. Does this change with age?
I took down the Christmas and now have a few white and blue things along with twinkle lights just on my mantle.
Old family photo in a snowy frame:
I was wearing a jean blazer from Target and I loved those turquoise beads. I always got my twins the same shirt in coordinating colors. I wish I could go back and squeeze those little things. They still let me hug them which I appreciate. They are actually pretty affectionate. It makes me happy.
Jenn sent me her quiche recipe and I lost it and then I asked for it again:
I switched out the spinach for broccoli. I used frozen broccoli but I heated it and seasoned it up in a skillet before putting it in my pie crust. I used a pie crust from Trader Joe’s that fell apart. I had to roll it out and piece it back together but it worked. My mom used to make broccoli quiche in the 80s. A quiche is a nice thing to have around. Also, you can be like, “I am having a slice of quiche” and you sound kind of fancy.
Holy yum! I used colby jack shredded cheese and some white cheddar. If I were a rapper my name might be “White Chedda”. I like to tell that to my students.
Eddie Otis brought in a frozen hunk of snow and played with it:
Younger was the perfect bingeing show on the day I felt the worst this week:
Sutton Foster’s hair is gorgeous.
It’s hard to be sick with this needy fellow:
We say he is our most “paw forward” dog we have had. He paws at us a lot. Our other dogs didn’t do that.
I finished this. I enjoyed parts of it but other parts I didn’t enjoy. I’m not sure I would recommend it. How’s that for a review?
Here is what my back porch looks like – still…
It looks like we don’t get above freezing temps until a week from Saturday.
A car got stuck outside my house:
We were going to help them but they left before we could offer them shovels and manpower. They came back with their own shovels and manpower.
Tom has been going to work and then a couple of evenings he has taken us where we needed to go. We had to kill some time at Target:
I couldn’t believe how bad the parking lot and sidewalk were…
And, then we killed some time at a little Mexican place that was really good! It’s called Taco Choza if you are local.
I said thank you to the few Target employees there and to the people working at the restaurant and gave them a big tip. I need to give money to local businesses when I can get out again. I hope they had a good holiday season and this didn’t hurt them too badly.
Look at Kroger’s message:
I just use the app as a place to put items we need in the future. I am not planning on ordering anytime too soon.
He wants us to participate in bone chewing. He brings us his bone and lays it on our leg. Very weird.
Look how cute:
Why is cinnamon toast – old fashioned, under the broiler so good?
I really miss my kitchen tv and my phone is just too small. Tom surprised me with this!
I need to set up all my streaming services on it. If you have one, tell me in what ways you use it?
This year I am trying to embrace January and you know what, it will be halfway over-ish come Monday. That’s both crazy and exciting.
Snow is weird. It makes everything look brighter outside and it muffles sound so much. I have enjoyed the quiet.
Also, it’s already staying light out later and it’s really noticeable now!
I will need some friend time soon. Our last couples’ dinner was cut short with Mason’s tire blow out. NYE was just me. Tom needs to get ready to be social!
It’s easy to save money when you are stuck at home. Or, is it? Do you want to online shop when you get bored?
Let me know what you think in the comments about any of my topics today – there’s a little bit for everyone here, right?
I don’t really have enough fashion talk or fashion photos to make a post, so let’s just talk as if we are sitting down to coffee, but make the focus more on fashion than anything else, ok?
The name of the game around here is just staying warm and cozy.
I am on my 4th snow day today! So, no online learning or online working for teachers – no nothing!
It’s actually been good timing for me because I think Tuesday I would have had to call in sick as that was my worst day. It started last Friday with a little congestion, then more, and more, and then it worked its way down to a chest cough. I’ve also had some sinus pain and pressure.
Anyway, some districts have a 3 week winter break and that’s basically what this has turned into.
Northerners don’t understand that we can’t handle even the smallest amount of snow. Add ice on top and we are literally debilitated. Add super cold temps and no chance of anything melting, and even worse…
So, the snow hit on Sunday and continued on Monday. Here is what Target looked like last night:
Before the snow hit, I wore my Halaras and my Koolaburras with my Walmart pullover from last season:
The next night I did the same thing but with the other pair of Halaras, my black Chelsea boots, and a sweater:
I tried the Rothy’s trick of putting a no show sock over the insert. I haven’t worn them out in the wild yet.
Leggings, Koolaburras, and my black turtleneck along with my black vest:
I enjoyed having a lighter pearly white mani after my Christmas colors and now I’m letting my nails breathe since I’m stuck at home. I am ready for color again!
Yes, my blue sweater badly needs this:
I’m excited to have a sweater shaver.
I hardly ever wear these 15 year old Hunters anymore. I find shorter boots so much easier to throw on. Also, these aren’t as warm as my short black boots. But to get 15 years plus out of a pair of boots is pretty amazing!
The other thing about living in Louisville, Kentucky or further south is we just don’t have the winter gear! We don’t even know what winter coat means here! A hoodie is not a winter coat.
People that live further north have real winter snow boots, waterproof gloves, serious hats, scarves, and winter coats, you know? I have all the stuff but I rarely need it here. Tom has more than all the stuff and our kids have all the stuff because Tom has bought it for them but they rarely even wear a coat because youth today, you know?
You can either be warm or be stylish but you can’t be both – lol. True or false?
Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa 