Buckeye Book Babes

Tonight was our monthly book club meeting. This time at Perkins (still in business thankfully) with 6 of us discussing Brenda's book Buckeye.

Buckeye is a 2025 multi-generational novel set in the fictional town of Bonhomie, Ohio, spanning from the 1930s to the 1960s. It follows two couples, Cal and Becky Jenkins and Margaret and Felix Salt, as their lives, secrets, and relationships become intertwined, navigating WWII, societal changes, and personal crises. 

A lot to unpack.

And of course, it was just nice hanging out with the girls for nearly 2 hours.

If you do further research on the book and are interested in reading it, I have the hardcover available to lend. 

That's what's nice about this amazing book club. Just chit-chatting for awhile and also having very different types of books each month. World War II saga this month and a murder mystery next month. Almost always books I wouldn't have known about (and therefore chosen) on my own.

Plus, even though I have a personal connection with every member, they didn't all know the others at the beginning. So it's enjoyable to see us deepen our bonds each month. 

That being said, I need to shut down the books conversation and go watch the TV for today's Olympics highlights! Happy reading.

The Family Lucky Genes

 

When my sisters hit the road when I was heading to church today, they made sure they gave me the good luck vibes from our Grandmas Flossie and Mom – both legal gamblers, naturally.

Of course, when I did get to Assumption and I was one short of a BINGO a few times, I thought for sure there was no luck on my side. But then... there was also the 50-50 raffle fundraiser for the hosts. Today was the Assumption baseball team. A cause I'm quite fond of.

Thankfully a few others were supportive too, because when they drew the winning ticket there was a $300+ prize for the 50-50. And yes, that was my ticket! The very last number of my string of tickets!

So even though I didn't dob my way to any BINGOs, I still had some luck after all. I may have to figure out a way to play it forward in this house!

A LOVE-ly Day

Happy Valentine's Day! We currently have a lovely floral display in our kitchen – thanks to the tulips from the girls last night and the roses from hubby this morning! Smells great. Now just gotta keep them all alive!

Sometime this morning, my sister Rachel texted me to see if we had plans for the day. Turns out that she and our sister Rayna were not anxious to get home to Wisconsin after a month-plus in Florida so they wanted a detour.

So they came from St. Louis and made it here to have a tasty Valentine's dinner at The Ridges. Rachel got her hair braided and beaded when they hopped over to the Bahamas last week. How fun!

After dinner, the four of us played cards – competing like it was an Olympic sport, naturally – then watched some real Olympic recaps so we could see our Wisconsin boy speed skate to another gold! That's so awesome.

My sisters are staying here tonight at the Bloody Run Creek Cabin and we'll figure out the mayhem of church choir and pancake breakfast and BINGO in the morning.

For now it's just nice to have a house full of love. Hope you can say the same! 

We're All Seniors at Some Point

Tonight was Senior Night for our Lady Royals basketball squad. They've been fun to watch in various sports over the years and a few of them, I took their senior pictures.

So after I took pictures of them tonight introduced with their parents tonight, one of them came over to me with flowers. FOR ME!

I was so surprised and touched. And when I got home, I realized the "thank you" card was signed by all 5 seniors. That really touched my heart. I mean I love taking pictures, but I never know in this digital age how much it matters to this generation.

And technically, I am a SENIOR but not in the way I like to acknowledge. So yay, Senior Night!

What I do promise... is that I'll try my hardest to keep these tulips alive and thriving because, honest to God, it's not every day that people appreciate this little photography skill. I already told hubby he's off the hook for Valentine's Day. He can't top flowers on behalf of 5 people.

Or can he? 💜

You're So Vain... I Bet You Think This Blog is About You...

I'm at the point in life where it turns out the best-laid plans never work out compared to the last-minute plans.

So when friend Becky (who I plan to spend all next weekend with at scrap camp) told me yesterday she had an extra ticket to some live music at the Wausau Grand Theater for tonight, I said, "Heck, yeah. I'll join you."

I actually didn't care what was on the agenda since I'm that weird "I love musicals, stage and live concerts" chick. But in this case the band was called Three American Troubadours – a tribute to the music of James Taylor, Carly Simon, and Carol King.

As a fan of the Tapestry album, I was "count me in" in no time.

So I headed up to Wausau straight from work and met Becky for dinner at Texas Roadhouse (where one of her kiddos usually works when he's not injured from a wayward knife – ooof). It was great to catch up since we USED to do that at 2 a.m. at Camp Crop-A-Lot, but now value sleep much more. So next weekend we can scrap to our hearts' delight and feel good about where our friendship updates are at!

It was also a weird coincidence that we sat in front of one of Jim's cousins and his wife – who works where I work and we just happened to connect today. I swear I'm not stalking anyone!

While we felt like Flower Children from the '70s, I think Becky and I were among the youngest flowers there. As for the talent tonight, they were amazing. They each sounded like their Taylor, Simon, and King counterparts. And, obviously, there weren't any song we didn't know. And they included insights to the songwriting for some of the numbers – so that was cool, too.

Still surprised (in the back of my mind) how "tribute" bands do so well. But they do somehow fill the house!

Managed to get home by midnight with my only deer sightings within 5 minutes from home. Obviously listening to the '70s channel on SiriusXM radio kept me calm. Ha.

Midwest Nice Manners

We have a new coworker on our team who comes from Ohio. Which I think is technically Midwest. But she's consistently surprised – nicely surprised – by our ingrained Midwest Nice manners!

Yesterday, for example, I showed up to work with a Tupperware (duh, I'm a church lady!) container full of my Mini (as in average sized) Monster Cookies because, well, I had plenty to spare. Then coworker Mel "my middle name is Pinterest" walks in with cookies she baked and decorated for Valentine's Day (above). Impressive! Then coworker Darc walks in with cherry turnovers – "Sorry, not homemade," she said in that Midwest apologetic voice we all use.

Miss Ohio asked if she missed the memo on treat day. "Nope. It's just, uhm, Tuesday."

At the end of the day, I took my 5 or 6 leftover cookies home. (Don't worry, hubby was not neglected all day. There's yet another Tupperware container full. Always makes a huge batch.) And Mel had a few left that people were enjoying at work today. When there was one cookie left, I heard one obviously Midwest Nice guy say, "No one's gonna take that last cookie. We will fight over NOT taking that last cookie."

So true. Because when I got home tonight...

There's that last cookie in my container, too! Bwaahaa. I ate it. UNAPOLOGETICALLY! Thanks, honey!

Some days Midwest Nice cannot stand up to my Mini Monster Cookies!

Silver Linings

 

I pretty much should just put my blog on DND (Do Not Disturb) during the Olympics, because I am that weird junkie and I want to see as much as I can... while working full-time... and capturing high school sports.

Today, it just didn't work out that I could see the LIVE pairs curling competition between my original homeland Sweden and my current/real one USA. It did my heart good to see hundreds of people in nearby (somewhat) Duluth cheering on Korey and Cory. Cool.

And, spoiler alert, even though I'm about to sit down and watch delayed NBC coverage, I know they fell just a teensy tiny bit short of the gold. Still... yay USA! I usually wear more silver than gold anyway!

As for other events, you know I love figure skating but I do love a good hockey game (saw Miracle of 1980), long ski jumps, and the very creative snowboarding runs with flips, corkscrews and mathematical degrees of twists.

Just throw in all the other sports, and I'm good. Enjoy the games. No matter what OG Homeland (Scandi-hoovians are awesome in winter!) you're cheering for!

Sport Shorts

The last 48 hours have pretty much been all sports. Yes, it was SUPER Sunday yesterday. What that meant was that is was "Souper Sunday" at church with a fundraiser for the food pantry/soup kitchen.

Then, I got home in time to watch legit LIVE Olympics coverage of team figure skating.

The Quad God for the win! I mean, WOW. How fun to watch!

After that, I did pop over to what I believe is like the 44th annual SuperBowl party in our friend Chet's basement! Said hello to all and participated in some "investment opportunities" (which yielded nothing!), then came home to actually watch the game and/or flip with Olympics coverage.

Boring game if you ask me. I like the ones that are super close and down to the last second! But that's just me.

Today was a work from home day that ALMOST had me wishing for a lunch hour with Mr. Deck Chair.

Oooh this high temperature was amazing. Obviously not sit outside for endless hours, but still so refreshing!

After work, I continued on my sports quest with Lady Royals middle school hoops. Turned out we were hosting Stratford – home of all the Austin clan that I'm related to (through marriage). Didn't take me long to recognize their coach as Jim's cousin's daughter. Then, when I talked to her at halftime, she said one of the players belonged to another cousin's daughter... so granddaughter. How fun. I then had players from both teams to shoot pictures of. 

Just got done editing and uploading pictures. And since I know what happened with co-ed curling and ice dancing today, I don't need to watch the delayed Olympic coverage. Or do I?

All the time delays... I just don't know. Go USA! And Royals! And, yes, Stratford!

Baby Border Hopping

With a wake-up temp below zero, I hit the road at 7:30 a.m. with one destination: SOUTH.

So maybe South is a stretch but I did end up in Iowa! Remember me crocheting that "Love's Baby Soft" blanket? Well today was the day to gift that to mother-to-be Hannah down in Sinsinawa, Wisconsin. Never heard of it? Me neither. Thank the lord for GPS that last half hour. Turns out we were "this close" to the Iowa border!

Spoiler alert for those who didn't have the insider intel: They're having a girl!

Random fact: Carter has lived with all three of these women – including the mom-to-be. To clarify: He and 2 other guys were roommates with Hannah (center), who is BFFs with his girlfriend Mamie, who has a friend Halayna (right) who is marrying Mamie's brother in May. Not confusing at all.

In a nutshell, they've all felt like extended family to Jim and me for years!

So it was nice to drive 3 hours to celebrate Hannah and Hunter's upcoming daughter. She loved the blanket, by the way.

 Then, after the shower, head down to Dubuque for a coffee date with Mamie, Halayna, and MY BOY!

We had coffee at Charlotte's where we had it maybe 5 years ago. Still tasty! But it was good to catch up with Carter and deliver a couple dozen cookies!

How do I get shorter every picture with him?

Anyway, I managed to get home safely before it was completely dark (encouraging) and in time to catch the "delayed" recap of Olympics coverage today. Worth it. 100%.

Snoop, Meet Myles

After watching some coverage of the Olympics, I have two thoughts about Snoop Dogg. One, I don't know why we keep elevating his status. I mean I don't DIS-like him, just don't get the fascination. And two, he needs to spend some time in Wisconsin and Minnesota in the winter to really understand winter. 

And how to do it.

I saw a video of him riding a flying saucer type sled and having no concept what to do. Then these pictures of him as a curling "coach." Well thankfully, our U.S. duo is off to a good start anyway! And he may prove me wrong and curl in the next Olympics. 

It brought up an old curling memory, though. (Something you never thought you'd read.)

Shortly after moving to Wisconsin Rapids in late 1995, I recall a local guy here vying for the Olympics. Myles Brundidge. I even remembered his name!

What I also remember is that I had no idea what curling really was. Apparently there's sweeping but it's not the same as broom ball (if you know, you know.) It was also not something I purposely watched before. (Part of that is because in the late 1990s, we still had limited coverage of all events compared to today's live-streaming and whatnot.) And it definitely hadn't achieved the great popularity it has now – well in the Midwest anyway. Heck, even my company has a curling center named after it!

Then there was the part where the curlers didn't look like "typical" Olympic athletes. No offense. But maybe I already offended. Sorry.

But Myles did indeed represent U.S.A. in not one but two Olympics! My sports writer hubby got to meet and interview him a handful of times and said he was a nice, down-to-earth guy. Which is quite refreshing, actually, when you think of some high-level athletes these days.

Here's the Robyn-pedia scoop (not Snoop) on him: Myles Brundidge (born 1960 in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin) is an American curler. He competed at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, where the American team placed 4th, and at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, where they placed 7th.

So no hardware to bring home, but he was certainly a positive representative of our country – and, of course, central Wisconsin!

Snoop could maybe learn a thing or two from us hardworking (mostly humble) survivalist-minded winter people! 

Whatever your thoughts... enjoy the Games!!

Thursday Randomness

 

So many random things today... Since today was the last day in the office before the SuperBowl, we had a tailgate potluck amongst our writing team. 

Crockpot in the middle is my Honey Chipotle BBQ Meatballs (nope, not a trifle today) which was accompanied by hot artichoke dip & French bread, two Chex Mix concoctions, some pretzels and beer-cheese dip I sampled several, delicious times,  plus chips & salsa and guac, popcorn, cheese & crackers and sweets like cookies, bars, and Puppy Chow.

We did not go away hungry. It was a graze-ful day!

When I got home I mixed up Monster Cookie dough to bake some tomorrow since on Saturday I'll be traveling to southwest Wisconsin for (follow this if you can) Carter's former roommate and his girlfriend's bestie's baby shower. I wanted something to send with Mamie to share with Carter. Not mom of the year material since the leftovers will go to Sunday's SuperBowl party. LOL.

And of course, this Olympic junkie is set to watch admittedly delayed TV coverage, I will tune into this tonight. Since one of the first interviews was with a Wisconsin-based speed skater inspired by my Apolo, I figured I better blog now and go watch. 

Go USA. Oh, and go football!

Love Favorite Feelings

Our nephew Colin's wife does an amazing job each Christmas of creating a family calendar of sorts for the next year. 

So when Endless January did indeed finally end, it was nice to see cute pictures of him with his family at the racetrack, with his mom at the awards ceremony, and just a random shot of his favorite uncle and aunt at the Nashville Music Hall of Fame Museum.

I like the title: You are my favorite feeling.

What's your favorite feeling? Does it involve a person, place, or object?

I can tell you I love goodbye kisses in the morning from my husband... but also loved the feeling of eating that Andes Mint Chocolate Cupcake at work 2 hours later today (Bless you, 2 1/2 Cups Bakery in Marshfield!)

I also love when people drool over my trifles, genuinely appreciate my photography, and give me the best hugs ever (usually my sisters – there's no holding back!).

But it depends on the day, doesn't it? 

On many Sundays my favorite feeling is nailing our choir song in church. Then later hanging out with BINGO friends I didn't even know a year ago – whether we win or lose.

On Mondays, my favorite feeling is sleeping until the last possible minute to just cross the hallway into my office to work! No shower. Maybe comb my hair.

On Tuesdays, it's going into the office and seeing the people I sincerely like and respect, who care if I had a decent weekend and days out of the office.

Wednesdays typically mean my monthly Girls' Night Out dinner then church choir squad. (Yes, a squad. We're that cool.)

On Thursdays, my favorite feeling only applies in the summer when I have my Foxy Ladies Night golf league.

Friday it's ditto of Monday with an occasional fish fry sprinkled in.

On Saturdays, my favorite feeling is no alarm and no plans. 

So yes our favorite feeling can vary by the calendar. But mine, no matter what, is just feeling loved, respected, and appreciated – no matter who or what prompts that feeling! 

Hope you all have some favorites that never let you down!

Stuck Scrapbooking Pig

I never paid heed to the phrase "bleeding like a stuck pig." Until I was the pig. And I have to blame scrapbooking. Noooooo.

In advance of Camp Crop-A-Lot in a few weeks, our scrapbooking consultant reached out to see if we needed any product ordered before camp. We could earn tickets for fabulous prizes, by the way.

So I had a feeling I was in need of some tape runners – what we use to adhere paper and photos to the pages. 

I pulled out my main supply cart (yes, it's a thing) and blindly reached in to see if I had any new ones in pages but instead came face to face – or finger to blade – with a paper trimmer cutting blade. Just lying face up, waiting for a quick, very tiny slice.

And it was such a teeny tiny puncture wound to my righthand middle finger, yet I am still bleeding 20 minutes later. Good grief, I had no idea our fingers carried so much blood!

So now this little piggy really needs to cry all the way home so she can order some tape runners without more blood on the stinking computer keyboard.

How is it I am a hot mess every day without even trying. Must be a superpower, I guess.

Run, Rodent, Run!

Happy Groundhog Day! Not so happy really when Phil saw his shadow (again) and declared 6 more weeks of winter, which almost coincides with our calendar anyway. I mean, I'd take 6 more weeks over 7 more anytime!

The Philadelphia airport had this fun picture today with this Facebook post: 

Breaking News: Phil the Groundhog spotted at PHL en route to Cancun

In a brief statement before departure, Phil cited the forecast as the deciding factor, saying, “Six more weeks of winter was simply more than I was prepared to endure.”

I also think (on behalf of the entire Midwest) he may need to run for his safety. Just saying.

I didn't even blog this weekend because I did nothing exciting and was just waiting and hoping our 16 weeks (or maybe 20 weeks??) of January would come to an end!

And trust me, I have it on good authority that Phil has to go as far as Cancun to escape winter. Two of my sisters are on a little cruise from Florida to the Bahamas as we speak and there is a freeze warning for much of the Sunshine State – and highs in the 50s. They could not have predicted that when booking, that's for sure.

Even though we got beach and palm tree pictures texted to us when it was 40 below zero windchills here, I still feel bad for them. Honest!

Speaking of cold... I did have an unusual Sunday afternoon... I mean after the USUAL not winning at BINGO.

I had a senior photo shoot! So different having so much welcome brightness – and snow instead of leaves in the background. But also it was 20 degrees and windy and we went very fast! Three locations, nine different backgrounds. Done in roughly 30 minutes! Super kid. And I did promise to Photoshop out the snowflakes in his hair. Yup. That kind of Wisconsin winter day! And this kid was from Texas. Definitely scored points with me for being a trooper.

So pardon me while I may or may not look into airfare, et. al., to Mexico!

Bridgerton Distraction

 So yeah, even though I was taking Lady Royals basketball pictures last night, I still hurried home to start Season 4 of Bridgerton. 

And after work today, I continued.

If you know, you know. 

It's a bit of an addictive series to watch. So while I did watch after work, I also had Caribbean Jerk chicken going in the crockpot. That was yummy and delightful.

And a perfect sandwich as I watched the next two episodes. I hope some of you are "enduring" the same distraction this weekend!

It's worth it as far as I can tell.

Also, we have continued cold temps so just stick with your go-to survival tactics. For me, that's Shondaland!

A Challenging Moment in Time

When one of my nephews turned 40 earlier this month I realized, holy crap, high school was quite some time ago!

A clear memory for me – besides his birth on Elvis' birthday – was the space shuttle Challenger tragedy. 40 years ago today.

It was mostly a big deal to watch in school because there was a nontypical-astronaut teacher on board – Christa McAuliffe. I mean she was from New Hampshire, I believe, so no ties with Luck, Wisconsin. Yet there were some TV's on at school in the library and few other places.

I happened to be in typing class (yes, it was a thing) when the launch was happening. Then suddenly another teacher came in and told our instructor Mr. Lake something. Since we were approaching the end of class, he let us know. In a choked up voice because, well, it was a fellow teacher that gave her life.

I remember I had study hall the next hour and was grateful so I could watch the repetitive footage in the library. It still didn't seem real because it looked like one part of the shuttle was separating from the shuttle like it was supposed to.

I think it really did take the eyewitnesses a few minutes to realize what they'd just seen as well.

Up to that point, I sort of remembered to TV footage of John Hinkley Jr.'s assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan. But even then, after knowing my mom's account of JFK's assassination, it failed in comparison in terms of hype and memorability.

But 40 years later, I'd like to think positive moments in history were part of vivid memories, but instead we have weird things like 9/11, Covid, January 6th, and now... ICE in Minnesota. No political commentary here. Just praying for many nieces and nephews and family in the Metro.

It is, indeed, another Challenge-ing moment in time.

Our Own Happy

Saw this today and I liked it. Because today was my first happy-ish day of 2026. After being sick and then having no energy for a few weeks, I'm finally feeling good.

And that makes me happy. Unfortunately, the other half is battling something, but I hope I don't catch. I'll just pray he recovers and it disappears from our household germs file.

I was also feeling good today because I got a much-overdue deep tissue massage at the end of the day. My neck and upper back were screaming for it. I will have to try to get into my regular guy soon. He knows how tough I am. LOL.

Tonight I had to get a few groceries and gas on my way home. Still so cold in single digits and the wind took my breath away.

So I only went to a little bit of basketball tonight. Took pictures of the boys JV second half (they beat Stratford) and first half of the varsity game. We had a slight lead at halftime but ended up losing by 2 stinkin' points. That's a heartbreaker. 

I'll mess with my pictures tomorrow. My feet and fingers are still cold. But my bed is warming up and I'm HAPPY about that, too!

Choose your happy this week!

Finally Something Positive

After starting the day at -14 degrees, we reached the level playing field of ZERO degrees at noon, and have inched our way into the positives.

Isn't that great to have something positive? And on a Monday, no less?

I did get out a bit after work and I'll tell you right now, it doesn't feel very positive out there. But the weather app doesn't lie. So I'll take its word for it.

I did get to see some friends I hadn't seen in awhile. So in the end, that was where the positives were.

That's what warmed my heart! 

Hope you find something / someone to warm you this week!

Flew the Warm Nest

15 degrees below zero with a "feels like" temp of 25 below was not enough to cancel church this morning. So I bundled up and headed out. The only reason I flew the coop, er warm nest, was so I could sing with the rest of the choir and what I expected to be a handful of brave souls in attendance.

Turns out, we had a big crowd. I know part of that was because we had our Annual Meeting immediately following the service – and we needed a quorum. We had it! Nothing controversial this year. And more importantly, I didn't get talked into serving on a committee or something in the last minute. It's hard to say no in front of a crowd, you know.

Did a little grocery shopping on my way home (as long as I was out). Then we pretty much lazed about watching the NFL Championship games.

I am not a Patriot fan but I am glad they beat the Broncos. We Viking fans have no love or respect for their coach Sean Payton after "BountyGate" years ago! Grrr.

Now it's halftime of the Rams-Seahawks game. Jim and I can't decide if we should be rooting for or against Darnold – or former quarterback. He had the talent with us. But now I'm thinking I should pin some blame on our offensive line for not giving him time to make throws like he is with the Seahawks. 

Not going to overthink it. Just hope for a close, interesting game.

 

Heat Misers

At one time during our childhoods, I think each of the kids in my family perfected the art of hogging all the heat!

It was a simple task really. A large furnace grate was on the floor between the dining room and living room. Just hunker yourself down on that when the heat was blowing and it felt gloriously warm. Though the rest of the house wasn't feeling it. 

I can't even count how many times I was yelled at to "Get off the furnace!"

But dang, the house was big and that was the heat source. Looking back, I suppose I could've warn long underwear and an extra sweatshirt in the house during those winter days that felt much like our current Deep Freeze.

But then I wouldn't have had to fight for the seat on the furnace register! Where's the fun in that?

I hope you all stayed warm today. We didn't have anywhere to go, thankfully, so I finished my girl baby blanket and started on my boy one. All while listening to an audio. So I was technically multi-tasking AND productive.

It's still going to be below zero when I wake up for church choir in the morning. I don't recall us ever canceling church because of the cold. So I better set an alarm and plan on it.

Stay warm and safe and be careful out there!

Well Something's Freezing Over

Laughed at this a few days ago as we knew "it" was coming. The Deep Freeze. The Polar Vortex. Whatever you want to call it.

And this is what wake-up temps looked like here. 22 Below with "feels like" of 45 degrees below stinkin' zero. Wow. 

Thank you, God, for a roof over my head and heat. And a job that has me working from home on Fridays! It all worked in my favor today, that's for sure. We did not venture out at all. Well, hubby went to the mailbox but that was a quick trip!

Tonight I made some comfort-ish food.

My first attempt making homemade Chicken Pot Pie. I should've taken the picture before I broke off some of the crust accidentally!

Anyway, it wasn't so bad for my first attempt. Only a few things I'd tweak for the next time, if Jim ever wants it again. And we do have some leftovers so we'll see how it holds up on Day 2. Otherwise, I'm not feeling like venturing out tomorrow either. Might have to get inventive!

Full disclosure: I can do that with trifles. But nothing to do with cooking, that's for darn sure.

Hope you stayed warm today. This isn't over. Bundle up and keep thinking safety first!

Love is Baby Soft

Us "girls" of a certain age remember begging for Love's Baby Soft perfumefor our birthdays and Christmas. Did I ever get it? No. Because the ads talked about how innocence is sexy. Not Mother Hedberg approved, that's for sure.

But apparently it is back on the shelves if you or your BFF want some now! 

Why was this on my mind this week? You're probably scared to find out. Don't blame you!

So I started crocheting this baby blanket the other day. Was halfway done and was not satisfied that the yarn – even though called Blanket Yarn – was soft enough for a baby. It just seemed too stiff.

So off to Herrschners I went at lunchtime on Tuesday. Love that the store is a few minutes from work. Found just the soft "Baby Blanket Frosting" yarn I needed in my life!

Now I'm cruising along with the Lilac Lounge color scheme and it IS baby soft! Sometimes it pays to make that special trip. This crocheter will be happier.

And so, I'm sure, will the baby! Cannot wait!

By the way, the perfume is allegedly available at Wal-Mart and Amazon if you're interested!

Sisterhood Hump Day

It's much easier to get through the workday when you've got time with some of your "sisters" afterward.

Tonight our Girls' Night Out group met for dinner at the Barbecue Shack (formerly Danny K's) for our January outing. This is where I ate with Jim and the boys Thanksgiving weekend.

Last time I had a brisket sandwich. Tonight my friend Jenny and I both tried the Pulled Pork Tater. An extra large baked potato topped with butter, sour cream, cheese, and pulled pork. We got to choose the mild, medium or hot BBQ sauce to go on top. I liked the hot but the medium had the most delicious flavor. There were 6 of us and we all agreed it was good!

After that I went to see my soprano sisters at church choir practice. Our numbers get pretty small in the winter, that's for sure. But there were 8 of us crossing our fingers we can all show up Sunday morning to sing! Between cold weather and coughs & colds, you just never know.

I'll tell you, that hot sauce certainly cleared my sinuses. Might have to try that trick Sunday morning.

Do what you can to stay warm at least in the coming days! 

Keep Up Your Immunity

As cold as it is, the cold still can't kill (or freeze) all the germs floating around out there. So this is my Public Service Announcement to eat citrus or do what you have to boost your immune systems! 

There's me middle front. I look healthy, right?

Just happened to come across this silly childhood picture and needed a reason to share. Thanks for indulging me.

At least I'm not talking about the weather. Orange you glad?!

Take your vitamins, wash your hands, and be careful out there!

A Trifle Cold

I will say it was more than a trifle cold today! And we'll get back to that trifle later!

Woke up to 8 degrees below zero today with a "feels like" of 12 below! We reached our high temperatures of 1 degree ABOVE zero a little after 3 p.m. It was very short-lived. Thank God I didn't have to leave the house. But tomorrow will be even worse! 

And I do have to leave. Because I need to deliver that birthday trifle to work! 

I was not-so-secretly giddy that Kwik Trip is carrying their St. Patty's themed "mint milk" already. So I just had to make mint pudding and another Andes Mint-Chocolate Trifle! If people don't want to brave the cold in the morning, I'll be happy with the leftovers.

Just kidding. That never happens.

Seriously, though. Make smart decisions and be prepared for anything out there in the morning. I don't need an emergency food kit since I have the trifle, but I'll be sure actually wear a winter coat this time!

So as I say, not as I do. Most times.

Grin and BEAR it

 

We had brutal wake-up temps today when you took windchills into effect. But since I had to sing at my church and Jim had to read at his, we had to brave it.

In our heated vehicles, that is. We're not terribly brave after all.

After church and a little shopping, I headed back into town for BINGO. Hey winning the $1,400+ cover-all jackpot would've made it worth it.

Came up well short again. Story of my life. Nobody got cover-all in 54 calls or less so that jackpot will keep growing for the next session in a few weeks. Nice to see friends anyway!

Came home and sort of watched the Patriots-Houston game. Houston really choked.

While hubby got out the leaf-blower... yes! 

It works magically when we just have a dusting. While he did that, I baked a cake for trifle and started a new blanket. A baby one this time.

All while somewhat cheering the Bears on to support my father-in-law, a life-long fan. After being out in cold just a teeny bit. I can't imagine playing in that cold! And then overtime! Oh, Bears. So close. Guess our Central Division will not be represented any further. 

That's the playoffs.

Now back to your regularly scheduled... winter! Ugh. Cold tomorrow. Be careful out there!