Monday :: Best Served With a Side of Kringle and B-Day Cake

Most working (even retired) adults know that the Monday after a weeklong vacation can be a bit hell-ish. Digging out of emails and seeing what "essential" things you missed. How did I cope today? First meal a Kringle and last treat chocolate Birthday Cake! That helped. A lot.

A neighbor is selling Kringles for a fundraiser. (I can hook you up!) As I placed my order last night it dawned on me that we have two (Kringles, not neighbors) in our basement freezer. Apparently I don't visit it often enough. So I trotted downstairs to get my favorite flavor – the almond one! – set it out to thaw for breakfast.

Of course, I was a bit harried to get through my long commute across the hallway, so just dove into my laptop and my Christmas Spice Drops. Hubby walks by a short time later and says, "Wow, that Kringle is good!"

The Kringle!! Step aside, gum drops. Momma needs her favorite Racine pastry!

That surely helped. Though I did consume a few red and green treats during the day, as well. Jim's like "Just take the bag in your office." My response: "No, this is the only way I'll get steps."

For the record, I got 1,000 gum drop steps to the kitchen today. That counts for something, right?

After work I had a chiropractor appointment, then we met Jim's sister and her husband at their dad's. My father-in-law Johnny is 89 years old today!!

We had pizza and cake. We forgot to bring a candle so I just said, "Make a wish and pretend to blow one out!" 

That cake was super rich so I'm full. But... I wouldn't mind one more treat in the form of a purple victory tonight! Kickoff is shortly. I gotta go get my mind set!

Have a good week!

Back In The Game – Sort Of

After being out of town the weekends in October when Assumption had their BINGO, I was grateful that my BINGO buddy reminded me last night that it's a new month and BINGO was back on today!

Sometimes it's her and her daughter and her sister. Lots of times it's her grandson E who's a freshman at Assumption. 

That little stinker can wolf down endless snacks – including a full Snickers bar in like 8 seconds. And today, he walked away with one of the $70 jackpots. While Grandma and BINGO Buddy Robyn had empty pockets! 

I found out later another friend did get the coverall consolation prize – the big prize is getting coverall in a certain number of calls, so that progressive jackpot will build for next time. I'm glad she told me about her win. With over 100 players there, I never know who's winning unless they're at my table. 

Or unless they make a spectacle of themselves like I tend to do when I win anything!

We'll see if my football team fares any better on Monday night. I'd love to yell "BINGO!" or at least "Touchdown!" a few times! 

Go, game days!

Fall Fast Forward

My transition to fall has jumped a bit fast forward with days off and the Hallmark Channel just an arm's length away! In other words, nothing new to report from Stay-cation Land!

Today I did venture out for a few errands.

While waiting in line at the car wash, I realized not everyone has fully embraced autumn yet.

Meanwhile, when I was in Stevens Point this morning, I bypassed autumn AND Thanksgiving and went straight for my favorite Christmas treats! Did I buy two bags? Yes! Did I open them? Not yet! Will they even last until Thanksgiving? Heck no!

Later we were in Point again for our fall FriendsGiving with 4 of Jim's classmates and spouses. We somehow managed to spend nearly 3 hours talking (and eating) and never ran out of things to say! They're a great group!

As a bonus I have some leftover pizza to eat tomorrow... with a side of Christmas Spice Drops! 

No judging. I did buy some other ingredients to get some cookie exchange action going tomorrow. There sometimes is a method to my madness! Sometimes.

Back to the Future

By some weird coincidence, the first Back to the Future movie was in my queue of recorded TV shows. Since I'm on vacation and can choose Hallmark movies – or whatever – I decided on this movie since it is, after all, set in November 5!

Other than that, I haven't done much on my last two days off. 

My one triumph is packing some letters and words into scrambled words of education and enlightenmint.

It really was good to travel back in time. With one more day off, I'll probably switch to Hallmark mode. No judging, right?

Sister Superior

Hello, blog friends. I am back home and using my computer since I realize something went crazy wonky when I used my phone instead! :( 

Instead of Mother Superior, I have a Sister Superior – as in one who finds healing powers from the shores of Lake Superior! 

As I mentioned last week, a civil trial that was supposed to provide some closure for my sister Rachel was called off last minute. Since I had taken the week off to be her supportive wing man, when she said she needed an escape to the North Shore, I said let's go!

I picked her up in Luck around noon on Sunday. Since we knew rain was predicted Monday and Tuesday, we decided to get our "outdoor viewing" opportunities done on Sunday. So we went past Duluth and up to Gooseberry Falls.

And the falls had so much more water flowing compared to when Jim and I were up there visiting Carter in July.

As we walked back to parking lot I realized that when I am walking with someone using a cane that we walk much slower – but also have time to observe more.

Like we both spotted this leaf with a heart-shaped hole! That was awesome.

Then I'm like, Rachel I see another heart! Well that wasn't quite as natural but definitely crazy within 5 minutes of each other!

After the park, we headed down to Two Harbors (on our ultimate destination of Duluth). When we were there in July, all the road construction prevented us from seeing the lighthouses there. This time we got lucky.

Very cool to see since the lighthouses were in "working mode" and shone their lights!

Also, it was by pure coincidence that the day after (last night) there was a huge fire there in their gift shop area. We did not touch it!!

Something we hadn't taken into account was that as the first day of Daylight Savings Time, the sun was going to set before 5! We bypassed our favorite Betty's Pies in hopes of driving up on our rainy Monday. We found out later it's only open Saturday and Sunday in the off-season. Dang!

We didn't have much sun during the day Sunday, but it came out in time to set!

By the time we got back to the hotel, it felt like it was 10 p.m.! We decided to walk half a block to the Canal Park Brewery for a quick bite.

Walked back to the hotel on the boardwalk and were reminded there are lots of "fall colors" in Duluth.

With the time change and walking (plus driving) all day, we were ready to call it a day at 8:30 p.m.! Way too much to adjust to in one day!

And trust me, we were prepared to be snowed in (or something) for days. For the record, we never touched any of these!!

Monday morning the view from our balcony illustrated the exact weather – cold and windy! At some point we decided "Do we sit in this hotel room all day or put on our rain gear and chase a waterfall?"

We chased a waterfall – or two. When we were in Duluth this summer, Jim, Carter, and Mamie and I hiked around Lester Park to find a decent-sized waterfall. Unfortunately we were in the wrong side of the park so I made sure Rachel and I could find it.

Pretty awesome!

After that we did a little shopping and parked in a "stakeout" of sorts waiting for an ice cream place to open at 2 p.m. Even though we were soaking wet and cold, a friend of mine recommended this place so we waited (for 6 minutes that felt like 20, ha).

Excellent homemade ice cream. I had a carrot cake concoction and Rachel had blackberry something.

For our Monday evening, I finally got to see two of my favorite sights on the North Shore – Carter and Mamie.

So great to see them. And we had an excellent meal at Sir Benedict's Tavern on the Lake. I was adventurous and had a Cuban Pork sandwich which was carnitas topped with an avocado spread and sriracha and pepper jack cheese. So good. I might have to change my opinion about avocados.

It was just so nice to see them and catch up! 

We checked out of the hotel today but since it was a late checkout (11 a.m.) we hit the hot tub/whirlpool first since we were still chilled to the bone from yesterday's many outings in the rain.

When we did finally check out, we hit up Voyageur Donuts (upon the recommendation of Carter and Mamie) and it was soooooo delicious!!

I dropped Rachel off in the early afternoon and headed home. We had jokingly talked about being some of the few sisters that didn't have tattoos. I said maybe I'd start with piercings – as in my ear holes closed years ago. 

So I stopped into Claire's at Oakwood Mall in Eau Claire and asked to be re-pierced. At first I was going to get two holes in each ear. Then I chickened out. But I have one on each lobe done.

Of course Jim was skeptical when I said I have some piercings to care for. I don't even want to know what he was thinking or hoping for.

I'm just grateful for time on the North Shore to help my sister keep her major concerns at bay. So nice to not think about anything else! 💗

TGIFF (Thank God It's Fabulous Friday)

I worked today at home but realized at some point during the day that Brewer fans were spending time watching a celebration parade.

Good for them. It looked like a grand celebration!

Most of my Friday, however, was working ahead for a week since I'll be out of the office Monday-Friday. There were some civil court case issues happening Monday–Friday for my sister Rachel who barely survived the car accident 2 1/2 years ago.

Now the trial is called off so I told Rachel since I'd already taken the week off, we should go on a mini-vacation.

She loves the north shore and I love my kiddos in Duluth so I think we'll have a nice adventure!

Wisconsin Proud!

Last night was a bit crazy. Two non-Brewer fans in this house stayed up to watch – and cheer them to victory!

Congrats to all you Brewer fans who have been waiting forever for this to happen. It's a big thing for Wisconsin!

A weird memory I have is that in 1982, even though I was already a Twins fan, the Brewers started their season so well that I designed a "shrinky dink" that was a pennant with the words "Brewers 1982". I don't know whatever happened to that, but I remember my creation.

Maybe I've had a soft spot for the Brewers. But most likely when they became National League and my team stayed as American League.

I experienced so much joy when my Twins won the Series in 1987 and 1991. Just bask in the glory. And buy all that merch. You never know how long it will be for the next time!