Good Black Friday

Today turned into more of a Good Friday than the traditional Black Friday. That's because it was a rare but treasured day with my grown son. 💜

Since Jim had to work the Cranberry Classic basketball tournament all day, we were on our own. I did take pictures of the Assumption JV girls game in the early morning while Carter was still asleep. But once he was awake, I headed home. 

Our first stop for today's adventure was the Fez-tival of Trees hosted by the Masons. You can buy raffle tickets to win trees (and every amazing item on them and beneath them) plus some wreaths too. 

And as a bonus we could see Santa! Apparently he really does know me because he said he's heard I don't keep my room very clean. And knowing my office (aka my Oh my God room), he's right about that.

Then when Carter asked him for a Vikings' Superbowl victory, he literally "Ho-ho-ho"-ed. 

Naturally I was grateful one of the volunteers suggested taking a picture of both of us with Santa. That was priceless for me. 

We were also entertained by our friend Craig on the keyboards. Aways a treat!

So get there if you can in the next week or so. It's just south of the Firefighters' Memorial Park and boat landing. Bring a non-perishable food item, too!

From there, we did some shopping in Rapids and the Plover-Stevens Point area, wrapping up with a visit to Feltz Dairy Farm for some goodies – including King Cone ice cream!

Got home and watched a little Black Friday Football before meeting Jim in town for supper at Ida's. He had to get back to the tournament so we headed home and watched some TV together before our yawning took over! 

Still smiling, of course, because I can't treasure days like these enough!

Hope you found plenty of reasons to smile and feel grateful today, too.

Happy Thanksgiving

 
Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you were surrounded by people you're thankful for today!

We hosted the Austin side of the family so it was Carter (yay!), Dad, Jim's sister Sherry and her entire family -- including her grandkids.

Yup, Mya and Eli were our entertainment for sure! We wouldn't have it any other way. 😁

So grateful we were all together. And that the food turned out fine. Ha! 

And grateful I just happened to beat Jim and Carter in cards tonight! Not that I'm competitive. 😋

Of course, tryptophan is weighing heavy as we try to get through the third NFL game of the day.  Good thing most of us don't need to set an alarm tomorrow!

But if you're in the mood for hoops instead of football,  stop by the Cranberry Classic basketball tournament at Assumption Friday and Saturday!

And count your blessings, of course! 

Stay-Cation Day 3 : Chillin'

When you leave the house and go directly into the garage, you don't always have a sense of what the REAL weather feels like. 

This was me running errands this morning. Without a winter coat. Or jacket of any kind. People probably thought I was nuts. Or maybe that I was tough. 

In reality, I was dumb.

I survived though. Do you know who else survived?

Apparently this brood. Not that most people hunt for their Thanksgiving meal, but these guys (or gals, don't ask me) have lived another day. And have stopped traffic another day. Not sure how long their luck will hold up.

So even though I was physically chilling with the temperatures, I was also mostly relaxing today. I had one major thing to do....

Bake my pies. And even though the crust got a little too dark for my liking, I think they'll be fine tomorrow. I will eat them if no one else will!

I also managed to get one Hallmark movie in (so far) and went to my Hair Artist for my 6-week check-up. Happy Thanksgiving to me!

Side note: This stay-cation week is going way too fast!! Hope you all can relax tomorrow and enjoy the blessings in your life.

We're Deckin'

Stay-cation Day 2 meant some deckin' the halls, er hall-idays!

It's still so weird to just trim the tree by myself. It was a traditional with my little boy and me. Now, as hubby pointed out, I seem to get it done in record time. That doesn't mean there's any less sentiment. 

Mainly just means I had today off and could do it by myself on behalf of the family. 

After the deckin' the halls was done, I did some Christmas shopping over in Plover and Stevens Point. Then tonight had some Lady Royals hoops to shoot. They were so dominate in their first home game versus Edgar, I'm not sure I could capture photos to do the game justice. Since I'm on vacation, I might just wait until tomorrow to look at my pictures and see.

So, keep deckin' the halls or just have a happy Tuesday or Wednesday! 

Stay-cation Day 1

Today was the official start to my Stay-cation. And I had low expectations as I do the rest of this week. 

I did get a little de-cluttering done in my office, but still have quite a ways to go. 

First of all, I was confused about it being Thanksgiving week when huge Christmas like flakes were falling. This happened for hours.

So I started making some treats for my family Christmas cookie exchange in a few weeks. Ended up being 100+ treats that I now will keep frozen until the second weekend in December. I also will add another kind of cookie or treat, too.

Tonight was my intro into the winter sports season. Seems like it's a shorter break each year. Tonight was Assumption Middle School hoops. I only got to shoot the 8th grade game at 4:30 p.m. because I had Book Club at 5:30 p.m. at Ida's.

We discussed my book tonight – Where Butterflies Wander – and it was nice. If you want to borrow my copy (it was 4.3+ out of 5 stars), let me know. A tragic but heartwarming story. 

The rest of the evening was editing those pictures (since we have high school hoops tomorrow). And now I may watch The Voice since I'm on stay-cation and can sleep in if it gets too late. We'll see.

Sunday Stress

While I was happy my Vikings were televised early since the Packers played mid-afternoon, I didn't welcome the stress.

I forgot how close our Central Division games can be. And was so grateful we finally have a field-goal kicker on our team who can make the shot. So we won! Beating my father-in-law's Bears in overtime. Sorry, not sorry, Johnny.

Other the stress of singing in choir and then that game, Sunday was pretty easy. 

Put a few things away for the winter – like golf clubs and cart – from the garage to the basement. And put a few boxes of leftover garage sale stuff I never did sell – so it went from garage to my trunk, destined for GoodWill.

It just wasn't warm enough to tackle much else out there. Maybe this week yet when I'm off. If not, the stuff will just stay by the wall and out of the way until spring when we either have the time to deal with it or be empowered to just get rid of it!

Hope you addressed and released all your Sunday stressors today! And if you're lucky like me, you can do it gradually during some time off this week. 

Non-Hunter's Widow Weekend

Today marks the beginning of gun-deer season in Wisconsin. And what I love about that is even though my hubby doesn't hunt, I can still participate in all the "hunters' widow" fun. I can. They don't check I.D.s for that sort of thing!

So I managed to get to a few holiday open houses, the indoor farmers' market, and the Best Christmas Ever fundraiser out at Wildhorse Saloon (called something else now). That's where they no only had various vendors but also raffle baskets – some top tier ones for special prices and a few dozen others. For once, I just put tickets in for baskets I wanted to win instead of thinking about winning baskets to pay it forward at my sister's benefit.

So I was extremely thrill-i-fied (to use a WICKED type word) at the end of the day to get a phone call that I won one of the bigger items – an 18-hole round of golf for 4 at Bullseye Country Club! Definitely worth the day's investments!

Yes, I'll take my non-hunting hubby. Don't worry.

The other win for the day was that we got to go out to dinner with our friend and former co-worker Toni (we're talking since Carter was a toddler). Her husband had to work at the last minute so it was just the three of us. But we enjoyed good food at Chili's in Plover – and much-needed catching up conversation. 

We swore this spring over lunch that we'd get together more often. If you find yourself saying that, make it happen. Time goes so fast. You don't want to regret not seeing someone. So glad we had some time together before we all enter the busy holiday season. 

P.S. I did actually get a little holiday shopping done today. I wouldn't be a card-carrying fake hunter's widow it I hadn't. 

Wicked Good

I love almost all Broadway shows, but I have a few favorites I've seen more than once. And Wicked is one of them! I've been excited forever, it seems, for the movie version of it to come out. Finally, it's here. And finally, my friend Cindy and I could see it!

A lot of the theaters in the area had some props for selfies since this is one of those movies that a lot of girlfriends will go to together. Cindy just happened to wear pink so she was Ga-linda the Good. And I was wearing black and my Wicked jacket I got the first time I saw the show a decade ago, so I was Elphaba – the Wicked Witch of the West.

Honest, we're both just nice people, though!

They even had special popcorn buckets! That was cool. And no, I didn't eat all of it. In fact, I was so busy singing (quietly) that more than half of it is left.

Anyway, the movie was phenomenal. I was so pleased that had all the songs from the musical and didn't skimp out on that. The reason the 2+ hour movie was only "part 1" was because they can add so much more cinematically (read: computer graphics likely) that it extends and enhances the story. So well done. 

And a couple surprises. I won't spoil it, but you probably know by now that one of the Bridgerton hotties is in it. I'll keep quiet about other special guests.

Oh, and sorry if you have no idea what I've been talking about. Wicked is basically the pre-quel to Wizard of Oz. The story of the two best friends who ended up being labeled the good witch and the wicked witch. If you haven't seen the Broadway production, the movie is worth checking out. You might find you're a fan of the musical arts.

Or just a fan of talented musicians and good special effects.

P.S. I'll never be a fan of the flying monkeys. And now even more so!

Today's Dress Code :: Thanksgiving Pants

Today was a FULL-FILL-ing day! Thankfully I didn't base my attitude on the images from the first light of day.

Yup. Our first measurable snowfall and Mr. Deck Chair and I were not happy. But there was no way I was going to work from home today. Our Marketing Department was having our "Progressive Thanksgiving."

No, thoughts weren't necessarily progressive. But like a "progressive dinner" you may have heard of, we wandered from area to area within Marketing to eat all day. And I mean ALL DAY.

Breakfast was provided by our digital team – those who do the behind the scenes work on our websites, e-newsletters, SEO, and social media. Since I've been on the stomach mend, I just had a half bagel with cinnamon-brown sugar cream cheese. Oh, and a slice of bacon. Because it was there.

Starting at 10 a.m. our creative team of graphic designers and videographers plus our customer experience team (who do all kinds of surveys) provided appetizers. I volunteered to bring home a deviled egg for hubby, but he declined. I don't like them so I couldn't even enjoy one for him. But I did have some meatballs and surprise Pumpkin Pie-looking snack.

If it's not really miniature pumpkin pie slices, what is it?

Turns out it's sliced cheese on top of a triangular cracker with some cream cheese dip that was a Cool Whip look-a-like on the edges and top. My mind was blown! Just the perfect putzy type of snack I'd try to make! Cool.

Lunch time was on our team of writers. The turkey sandwiches were provided and we were in charge of the sides. Thus the reason I had to drive slowly and carefully to work to protect my crockpot of cheesy potatoes. Yes, it arrived safely. And no, there isn't any leftover for me to show you a picture! (I take that as a win.)

Around 2 p.m., our brand management team and events team provided dessert. Are you full yet? We sure were. And wishing we all wore our "Thanksgiving Pants."

But I managed a pumpkin spice cupcake and piece of cheesecake. The sacrifices we make for work!

After that I had to stop at our clinic at work and get my previously scheduled COVID shot. Not a fun way to end a FULL and FILLING day at the office for sure. Especially after just getting over being sick. I'm feeling a little "off" this evening but hopefully the reaction doesn't develop into anything more than that.

Just going to take it easy and pray I'm back to my version of normal by tomorrow so I can do hunter's widow shopping this weekend. And no, my husband doesn't hunt. But I can pretend for certain circum$tance$.

What the Flock and Flake?

Wasn't thinking straight this morning. I haven't gotten into the mode where I need to check on the weather for any reason. Today, though, with cold, snow and a hockey photo shoot in the forecast, it would've been a good day to actually wear a jacket.

In my defense... When you leave a house and go straight into a garage and then park in a parking garage and go straight into the office building with no direct exposure to the elements, cold isn't really a factor. On the way to hockey rink after work, the flakes were coming down.

I guess that means it's Mr. Zamboni season! Thankfully, I've got most of the boys trained how to pose so I can get the puck out of there in a minimal amount of time.

On the way home, when traffic was backed up to the exit for Plover, I decided to go further south on the interstate to take Country Trunk W toward home. Glad I did. It was getting dark but I could see a ton of cranes in a field by the roadside – no sure if there were sandhill or whooping or what kind. But since I happened to have my "real" camera with me, I stopped.

"Guys, it's time to head South!"

"We mean it! There's some intrusive camera lady by the side of the road and she's going to shoot us!"

"Where are they going? We're not fully hydrated yet for the flight!"

"Hey, little ones. Follow us! We're serious."

"Did you all forget to book your flight, too?"

"Guys. Did we forget something today?"

Yep, just me trying to be funny. Wish I would've come across them even 10 minutes earlier to actually have good lighting to get them in focus.

Either way, I could still see the flakes coming down on my windshield. Grr. Be careful out there!

Up-Cycled and Uplifting

I'm guilty of disliking movie-makers who just recycle old movies instead of putting decent screnewriters to work to produce something new and exciting. But tonight I realized, what's old can be new again – when up-cycled the right way.

Case in point: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever movie.

Some Robyn-pedia background for you: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (titled The Worst Kids in the World in Australia, New Zealand and the UK) is actually a children's novel written by Barbara Robinson way back in 1972. That's why the title sounds familiar. 

The book (and many movie and stage versions) all tell the story of six misfit children who volunteer to star in their town's Sunday school Christmas pageant, and end up teaching the town the true meaning of Christmas.

The 2024 movie version of it is both entertaining and inspiring. I was glad I could enjoy it tonight with some 70 people who signed up through my church to attend for free. Great crowd and great movie. Lots of laughter and even some tears. So well-made!

As a bonus I got popcorn for supper. I'm still eating from the Bland Foods Group. Lunch was a small order of french fries. And dinner was a small popcorn. Just right. 

If you get a chance to see this one this holiday season, do it! Also on my list is the Red One Christmas movie and, of course, WICKED! Popcorn might become more popular than turkey for dinner this month!

Recovering in Dark Mode

I felt much better today. Pretty weak from lack of food and hydration, but I could work from home so that helped me take it easy.

What didn't help was just when I was feeling a bit energized, I swear it was getting dark out already. Looked at the clock and it 2:17 p.m. WHAT?

It wasn't my imagination. The rain started and stayed – and those dark clouds won't break up for days, I don't think. Uff da. 

Good thing I don't always count on the weather to lift my spirits. That's pretty much off the table from November to May. But if tomorrow goes even better and I survive all day at the "real" office, I'm hoping to join some church folks at the Best Christmas Pageant Ever movie after work.

Even if there's rain, my friend Kermit the Frog above knows it's often followed by rainbows. In whatever form you want! 🌈 Let's find our Rainbow Connection this week – for lovers and dreamers and Christmas-movie-junkie ME.

The Cookie Toss

Friday night's full moon reminded me of a cookie for some reason. Maybe because I was tossing them all weekend.

Not the "it's a fun bean bag toss" kind of game. But tossing my cookies (a.k.a. upchucking, puking, vomiting, dying). Only I didn't die. Just felt like it.

Could not keep anything all Saturday and even into the night. Finally about 2 a.m. I could keep a few sips of water intact. Big victory!

And today, I've managed some saltines and more water and 7-Up in moderation.

While yesterday I couldn't even sit up for more than a few minutes. Today I was able to bond with Mr. Recliner and enjoy a Vikings victory. They're on TV here a bit more often now that they're 8-2. But I honestly hadn't PLANNED to be home to watch it.

I was bummed all my weekend plans were shot to heck. No book club or shopping yesterday and no church, BINGO, or movie time for me today. I was too weak to even watch Hallmark. Now you know it was bad.

Not sure what kind of bug it was but another few friends have had it this weekend too so something evil is going around.

At least I was able to upgrade from Saltines to Ritz for supper. Guess I'll be all back to normal (my version of it) come morning. 

Let's have a good week!

Girls' Getaway

There were many times this spring when we wondered if we'd have our 26th annual sister weekend this fall with all 7 of us sisters. By the grace of God, we could.

Since we had to wait some time to know if our sister Rachel was OK first, then OK to walk in some fashion second, we waited to find a place for a getaway. What ended up working was a few days in the middle of the week rather than a weekend. 

In November.

So I found (via VRBO) a huge house in the Twin Cities area that had a first-floor bedroom for Rachel, plus plenty of dining and relaxing space also on the first floor. As a bonus, we all got our own bedrooms and queen beds – except my twin and I sharing the master suite.

And here's one view of that master suite. A king-size bed plus a couch and two chairs for relaxing or visiting, then a huge bathroom with a jacuzzi tub and shower and walk-in closet as big as my home office. Wow. We were willing to share.

This was one of the nice living room/gathering spaces.

It was very nice and perfect since we didn't need to go anywhere and sight-seeing. We've all been to the Cities a bajillion times! The sad part was that this was our first down-time where we could talk through Rachel's tragic accident and miraculous recovery – and grieve Mom. What a year!

Somehow a bunch of childhood pictures came out of the woodwork...

Yes, me being a clown. Not far from my personality 50 years later!

Me around kindergarten age loving on one of our barn cat kitties that we never seemed to keep.

My sister Rachel helping me walk. And then decades later me having to help her walk after her accident. A sad but victorious twist!

Just hamming it up before there were selfies.

I had never seen this picture of my twin Lene and I riding tricycles. 

And this one with us (I'm on the left) and Dad. Never saw that. We both cried over that one!!

Current day at Sister Weekend (aka Sister mid-week getaway)!

This year, since we were in the Twin Cities and our brother Ron lives there, we met up for dinner at a place called Junction 70 – literally 5 minutes from our VRBO rental.

Took pictures around the table... Ron and Rayna...

RoAnn and Renell...

Rachel and Raylene...

And Romey and me...

Then our cooperative R-sister waitress Rowan took a picture of all 8 R's. We just can't take that for granted! The sad part is that we can't show this picture to Mom.

And yes, I'm crying as I type this because dang, that really, really sucks.

We did, however, manage to have plenty of fun catching up, playing games (me losing at cards but winning $$$ off my sisters at dice). Everything will just sit a bit different now going forward.

I'm sure I've said it a hundred times, but hug your parents, your siblings, your kids, and any loved ones! You just don't know! 

P.S. Love ya, R sisters!