Minnesota, You've Lost That Charming Feeling...

Anyone living in or around MN knows what I am talking about - we're over winter. Hear that Mother Nature?! OVER. IT. Not one to usually complain about MN winters, because, DUH, I chose to keep living in this state - exclaimed the other day, in my head,

"WHY DO I LIVE HERE?!" 

It has been so cold this winter and filled with so much snow that schools have been closed. Not onece, not twice, but FIVE times so far this MONTH alone. I'll just let that sink in for a minute while I go make some hot chocolate.

Now, having a husband that is a school teacher, there was much rejoicing, and then much angst (how will all the testing get done...then how will all the grading get done in time...-it's a delicate balance, I have come to learn). All I have had to say to that is, "Shut up and go back to the gloriously comfy warm bed that I just pried myself from, you lucky, lucky man."

I work at a place that I think prides itself on its rugged, toughness.Our place of work did not close. Once. Never mind that the governor pretty much closed the state...but we still went to work. It wasn't too bad. More just the principle of the matter.

Fast forward today - and we get six inches of snow dumped on us during the AM rush hour. It took me 2 1/2 hours to get to work this morning. I think I could feel myself getting older! Crazy.

So, pretty much just a cold weather post - to tell myself and everyone else that I am over it. haha. Too bad it will last another four months!

Maybe it's time to take a trip somewhere warm...

-LD

Blast from the Past Update

It's been awhile since my last post, and after thinking about things to update about, I settled on, well, everything!

Books

First things first, the bookworm in me must tell you about the books I have devoured lately:

·         Catching Fire (Kindle App) (2^nd Hunger Games Book – re-read in preparation for the 2^nd movie release)

·         Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick (Kindle App)

·         Divergent by Veronica Roth (Kindle App)

·         Insurgent by Veronica Roth (Kindle App)(2^nd Divergent Series Book) –starting to read

I had been reading a bunch of good books lately. Silver Linings Playbook was a little odd. I thought it was going to be much better than it was, because I really liked the title of the book, but alas, that’s what you get for judging a book by its cover – or title for that matter.

I picked up on the Divergent series and could not put the book (tablet) down. Literally, Derick and I got home from a play at the Yellow Tree Theatre last night (Miracle on Christmas Lake I) around 9:30pm, and I was curled up in bed reading away until after 11pm! The book was getting really good and I was over ¾ of the way through the book. I ended up finishing it on the bus ride to work this morning and continued onto the snippet of the next book. I think they already have me hooked! Looking into the series, right now there are three main books, but then I noticed there are some other books that were written in between the others! So much to read! Yay!

Christmas Preparation

Christmas preparation this year happened a little backwards! We finished our Christmas shopping on Black Friday this year. It felt SO good to get everyone checked off the list! I really felt like gift wrapping all of the goodies, so I did – I wrapped every present in the house before I decorated a stitch for Christmas.

Following the great gift wrap episode, I put up the tree, strung it with lights and cranberry garland and placed the presents all under and around the tree. But that is as far as I got with decorating it. I could not muster the energy or the labor to will myself to unbox all of the ornaments and place them on the tree – I told Derick we were going “Minimalist” this year. Haha.

I strung up some other garland around the house and some other small decorations here and there, but not the full monty this year. I think that might be a sign that I need to de-clutter my house…

But after “decorating,” I baked and I baked and I baked! I made 5 different kinds of cookies last Sunday afternoon and two more types of dough to make into cookies. After that, there are three more kinds of cookies to bake and my holiday baking should be complete! I used the heck out of my kitchen last Sunday! I used almost every last measuring cup and spoon that I had in the house, glass bowls and my mixer and oven sure got a hearty workout!

Thrifting

I also made it out thrift-store shopping with my aunt and sister as well last weekend. It was a lot of fun and we found some really neat stuff! I found more than I had bargained for – and so did the rest of them! It is so nice to know that you can go to a place like that and get some really awesome things and not have to spend close to full-price on them! Some of the items we purchased were brand new! That is the BEST!