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!

Class of 81 ... Degrees

This afternoon I was excited to tell hubby the Class of '81 finally hit their temperature this year and we all loved it.

SPOILER ALERT: But guess what? His Wordle start word was also today's answer! Whether my already-solved start word of STERN or his SUITE affect our strategy remains to be seen.

But in the meantime, my sun-seeking body is thrilled about above 65-degree temperatures for the foreseeable future. 

Please don't tell my literally broken and dirty Mr. Deck Chair that I found a Mr. Deck Chair 2.0 at Ace Hardware the other day. I promise to ease him through the transition!

And don't worry, the actual class of 81 in this house is celebrating his "schedule this same tee time until October" round of golf with friends.

He gets what he wants and I get one more night to finish the Netflix Ransom Creek season 1. If you know, you know! 🔥

Ice Cream (anti) Social

Woke to 44 degrees and one of the bedroom windows had been cracked open all night. I was basically cold all day!

I threatened to turn the heat on, but the guy in the office on the other side of the wall said he did just fine the last 2 cool days.

So I waited until he left the house to go see our nephew Colin race in La Crosse before I turned in on. I mean we should test it anyway before it really gets cold.

Anti-social me just stayed in tonight. I'm still cold! I put on my fuzzy robe and got a blanket and started watching a new Netflix show. I was hooked on Nobody Wants This immediately and binge-watched half the season already. It's hilarious.

At some point, I thought, "You know, ice cream sounds good." 

So whip off 3 layers of warmth and grab me some Mint Moose Tracks. That's how some of us roll.

Ice cream season is ending. But ice cream with a jacket (or robe or blankets) on is beginning. Enjoy! 🍦🍨

A Hot One

When you sit inside an air-conditioned office all day, it's hard to comprehend that it "feels like" 96 degrees outside. 

Until you walk outside into the heavy air after work! Uff da!

So while hubby sweated through golf with his buddies, I decided to stay home in the A/C and watch something hot!

Yup, watching the second half of Season 3 of Bridgerton. Only one episode to go. But it's almost my bedtime so maybe I'll wait until tomorrow night for the finale – when probably all outdoor activities will be called off due to rain. Again.

My flowers are loving it. But I don't know when it will be too much for farmers. Looks like a wet forecast until Sunday morning. Hopefully just sprinkles when we have tee times. I mean that's why God invented golf hats, right?

Be careful out there!

Friday Eve

Now that the rain and the snow have subsided, it seemed like a normal sub-freezing commute into work today. Normal and beautiful, that is! Like Mother Nature was trying to make up for a few days of miserable failures.

Nothing could quite reflect how gorgeous it was but I did snap a few of my rearview mirror as I exited off the interstate. So nice!

After work I took my final senior portrait shoot. Another reluctant young lad who made his momma happy he agreed to "a few" pictures.

With a free evening, I decided to catch up on some of my streaming series I haven't watched in quite some time. I guess I am behind on The Crown but having an identity crisis since this actress has a major role on Emily in Paris. I obviously need to take advantage of a few weeks off from my side hustle to catch up!

Kitty agrees. And we haven't even embarked on the already released Hallmark Christmas movies this fall. So behind! As I say at work, help us prioritize our RUSHes! 

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day for all you special ladies who have made the world a better place by being in it! It's fun to celebrate how awesome we are, isn't it?

My day was a little centered around food! I'll comfort food since my baby texted at 6:30 a.m. that they were officially leaving Wisconsin on their way home to Raleigh. 

Jim's usual tradition is to make me Eggs Benedict for Mother's Day. This year, since we saw a commercial that iHop had a variety of Benedicts, we figured we'd give that a try. We both ended up getting the "classic" anyway. And honestly, Mr. Austin makes it even better! 

And although we were full, it just so happened that after a stop at Menard's, King Cone was open!

Hello, Blueberry "Yes, Please" Cake ice cream! Good stuff. I was super full and couldn't finish it.

But Sylvester helped me lick the bowl clean later!

My other Mother's Day treat was going to be golfing. We had a tee time and it just kept raining all day. It stopped now but it's only in the 50s so I sent Jim along with a buddy. It's not a "treat" for me to be cold and miserable.

Plus, this way, since I'm done with Queen Charlotte, I can jump into season 2 of Firefly Lane on Netflix and all that mushy stuff! 

Hope you all had a relaxing day and were treated like the queens we all are!

My Current Royalty

I love that the letter R fits so nicely with the concept of Royalty. My current royal situation has nothing to do with my R family or my Assumption Royals, for that matter.

First today I dealt with this announcement. OK. Not quite dealt, but am processing...

If you need reading glasses, the bottom line is that King Cone will NOT be reopening in its Wisconsin Rapids location! I guess I should've gone there even more!

I know that there have been struggles getting hired help – like there are in most service industries – so it's not exactly surprising. But still. Give me a minute to process this. 

For once I count myself lucky that I pass through Plover (one of their other home sites) three times a week! I will not abandon you, King Cone! I am your loyal servant!

Thankfully, I have other royal happenings to distract me. Oh no. Not King Charles, but Queen Charlotte. Now that I am done watching The Diplomat, I can turn my attention to the Bridgerton pre-quel on Netflix. One episode in and I'm pretty curious. 

That helps on the days my favorite Royals – obviously from Assumption – are center stage!

Long live King Cone! Long live the queen!

Today Brought to you by the Words Serenity and Now

Today's words – well the words of the past month – are Serenity and Now. Or ... Serenity Now!

Work has been a bit hectic and stressful. But as my boss and I discussed this morning, it's just work. It's a small piece of the giant picture of life. And we're not losing or saving lives as writers in a marketing department. 

So I'm trying to call upon my shortened version of the Serenity Prayer and just keep moving forward. I did have to work a bit tonight after I got home. Had to skip choir practice. But should be caught up when we finally see the birthday boy tomorrow. 

Maybe that's adding to my stress. Missing my boy! C'mon, moms. You can confirm this is a reality!

At least with hubby golfing tonight I was able to catch another episode of The Diplomat. Pretty sure I'll wrap that season up this weekend.

And another positive... a "projected" high of 73 degrees tomorrow! Since I woke up to 31 degrees today, I am looking forward to this little ray of sunshine.

If you're having a stressful week, may you find serenity. Now!

Rainy Days and Sundays This Time

As opposed to yesterday, I didn't put on any miles today. Well, maybe 2 miles of steps... but that was just from vacuuming and "Saturday" chores. I pretty much stayed close to home today. It was rainy and gloomy with patches of snow showers. 

Watched church on Facebook Live this morning and then kitty I decided this evening to watch a new series on Netflix. We're pretty hooked on The Diplomat after two episodes.

I just realized that's pretty lame for a full day's roundup. But rainy days and Mondays (according to The Carpenters) or any day always get me down. Just going to relax with a book tonight and ease my way into a new week.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! 

Opening Day

It's opening day of the 2023 MLB season. Take that, Mother Nature! 

After driving home in a mild rain-snow-icy mix, I'm glad the Twins were on the road to Kansas City. No one wants to sit outside in this. And yes, I realize April is 30 hours away, but March seems to early to get started! B-r-r-r. Twins won so that's something.

Meanwhile, we'll wait and see how high school sports get the ball rolling. Pun intended.

Hubby's managing to get some indoor golf swings in so he definitely has more than one spring sport on HIS mind. While he does that tonight, I've so far gotten in one episode of The Crown on Netflix (forgot I wasn't done with Season 5) and one of Up Here on Hulu. Not sure how 18 virtual holes of golf take so I'm going to see if I can squeeze in one more of something!

By the say, Old Man Winter is not relinquishing his hold so we've got more sketchy precipitation coming to take March out like a lion.

Be careful out there!

When There's Not a Latte Going On

The best way to start the weekend is a fancy Saturday morning coffee drink with girlfriends. We had a nice almost 2-hour book club this morning. Not that the book took 2 hours to discuss, but we had to catch up on life after the holidays.

And my cruise.

Hey, I had a captive audience!

The rest of the day was super low-key. I mean almost forced relaxation. I was going to do something – anything – with the kiddos but since they were up til 3 a.m. or so watching movies or playing video games, they didn't get up until mid-afternoon.

So hubby went to church to sing in the choir and I binged half of Emily in Paris season 3, plus watched a little football in case the Chiefs couldn't hold on, plus uploaded 2,835 photos from my cruise to Shutterfly so I can work on a scrapbook Camp Crop-a-Lot weekend.

Crazy what a person can accomplish on a latte, er light, schedule.

And I still have time for one more episode or time to start a new book. Or nothing. I'm hedging toward reading until my eyes close. I could use one more night of 8+ hours of sleep. By Monday my mind and body should be in sync with central time. 

I don't mind easing into it.

Hope you're having a relaxing weekend, too!

I Believe it's the Weekend

This cracked me up because it sums me up nicely. I think I had things to do after work today.

I did make it the chiropractor for trigger point therapy, then looped through the Post Office drop box and came home. Hubby was gone, so one episode of Virgin River and half a leftover Hallmark movie later, I find myself watching the last 90 minutes of All the President's Men, which I haven't seen in decades.

Then I sit down at the computer and wonder where Friday went.

I do know it's the weekend and we'll need winter coats for our outdoor activities tomorrow. No exaggeration.

So bundle up and have a great weekend. Be careful out there!

Three on the Tree

In Gearhead Land, three on the tree means the shifting stick is on the steering column. In Drought-to-Drenched Land, it means our trees enjoyed three much-needed inches of rain overnight.

According to our rain gauge, we fell right between the amounts reported around us. And then it continued off and on all day.

I used it as my excuse to stay indoors. Part of that was coffee with a friend after church. Awesome. Another part of that was much-needed organizing and cleaning in my home office. Meh. A small part was getting some work done before I travel out of the office the next two days. And still another part was watching some of the latest season of Virgin River. 

And there's still time to rest on this day of rest. 

Just needed that. That's all.

Have a great week!

May Day Wishes

As a child, May Day was all about making, filling, and hanging May baskets. But for the past 24 years, it's been about one thing. Our baby boy.

Yup, Carter is 24 today! And I am feeling major Mom Guilt about not being able to make it a special day. #stupidcovid So I had Jim pick up a "cake" on the way home from church...

For the record, the birthday boy does love Glazers from Kwik Trip, so he was happy at least.

And I'm pretty sure his wish was for a Celtics win today. But the Bucks took them in game one of this playoff series. So the wish isn't unfulfilled just yet.

Since we couldn't do much with him to celebrate, he and his girlfriend met up with his college roommate whose birthday was yesterday. I'm pretty sure they've celebrate at least 4 or 5 of their last birthdays together. Gotta keep the streak alive! They met up for a late lunch over in Oshkosh.

I laid low on my recliner – masked up as I have been for days – and Jim and I knocked out some more final Ozark episodes. Thanks to my house arrest, we only have 2 episodes left. Then it's done forever.

And really, that's about all I accomplished this weekend. Forcing myself to rest is harder than it sounds. But I did pretty good. Unfortunately, the deep coughing fits still visit during the night so I don't know if I'm tired from lack of sleep or tired as a symptom of the virus. Either way, I think the worst is over – all the miserable stuff I felt last week – and I'm hoping I'm on the road to recovery.

Haven't lost my sense of smell or taste yet so hopefully the birthday "cake" lasts a few days, too.

Thanks for all the well wishes for me and all the birthday wishes for Carter. It's going to be a good trip around the sun!

Looking for the Hour

It was a good thing I was able to spring 6 out of the 7 clocks forward before bed last night. We were both up plenty early to get to our churches on time. I never get up that early on a Sunday without an alarm.

So now it's 8:23 p.m. and that 7th clock is still a mystery to change. And my body is ready to grab a new book and go to bed. And my brain is agreeing.

Didn't feel like I really last an hour since I got plenty done today – church, workout, overdue weekend chores, watched the snow melt since it was 40 degrees, grocery shopping, two episodes of Sweet Magnolias, and 5 other random things crossed off my to-do list.

But I'm still going to blame Daylight Saving Time! Good thing my first few evenings of the week are free enough for early bedtimes. Well, I'm gonna find that lost hour somewhere. I'll take it a few minutes at a time if I have to.

G'night!

The Return

Today was a return to... everything (almost) day.

I was so tired last night I did not set an alarm. But I woke up at 8:58 a.m. and managed to shower, curl my hair, and drive 15 minutes to church – and got there on time for 9:30 a.m. service. Yup, I can be speedy when I want to (in the shower not on the roads, of course). It felt good to get 8-plus hours of sleep again and return to church in person again since I've been out of town quite a few weekends.

After church, I edited and uploaded the photos for the Lady Royals' return to state. This is one of my faves... 

Running to the student section to show them and share the Sectional Championship trophy!

Today also marked the return to that elusive activity called exercising. Uff da. My face was redder than any sunburn I got last week and not nearly as enjoyable. But I suppose worth it.

This evening was our return to watching season 4 of Ozark, too. Jim and I done with the first half (wow) and now will wait with the rest of you for the second half this summer or whenever.

Not to think fun thoughts so I don't have nightmares about it during my 8 full hours of sleep! I look forward to returning to that!

If You Kn-O, You Kn-O

Not your ordinary Olympic rings, are these? Well, if you know, you know. If you don't, well, you're missing out.

Tonight I replaced my Olympic O's with the O's of Ozark. Finally hubby and I were home on the same night at the same time and we could get started on season 4 of this dark but addicting drama on Netflix. 

We knocked off two episodes tonight and now I need to watch some funny or uplifting so I don't dream about murder and mayhem in Arkansas! 

Perhaps I could rewatch Nathan Chen's performance from last night. It was a very late night but worth it. Worth its wait, er weight, in gold actually. He did an amazing routine to Elton John's Rocket Man and I hope that becomes his new nickname. Ha. In fact, Sir Elton gave him a shout out today....

Pretty sure that's worth its weight in gold, too! At least something shiny and sparkly akin to Elton's taste. How fun. 

Maybe I'll just listen to Rocket Man or Bennie and the Jets before going to dreamland. Did you know happy thoughts are always at our fingertips? If you know, you know. 

And now we all know. Take care out there. And smile.

Plenty of Hoopla

Somehow managed to sleep in until past 8:30 a.m. today. That's pretty good for a Saturday!

I needed the energy as there was a lot of basketball action at a Assumption today. Varsity girls and both JV and Varsity boys played Pacelli. And in between games and halves there were the Little Royals dribblers (super cute), some "big shot" free-throw club members, the 8th-grade hoops team, and let's not forget plenty of people to visit in the stands.

Since Pacelli is in Stevens Point, I saw two of my co-workers that I haven't seen in person during the pandemic. So that was nice. And weird at the same time. Almost 2 years. Whoa.

Was going to go through all my pictures tonight but since Jim is gone to Rudolph – he had church choir performance tonight – I took advantage of controlling the remote and watched a few episodes of a Netflix series. 

Now that it's almost 11 p.m., I should go to bed save my leftover "work" for tomorrow. I'll have time. Might not have ambition, but I'll have time. 

Bunny Duty

Since Peter Rabbit is in the doghouse – thanks to the slap situation above – I had to step in as Easter Bunny around.

Which is the same as other years, but I forget how exhausting it is. Hippity hopping is not for the faint of heart.

I had to get stuff for the "big meal," too. So I ran to one store to get a ham – went on sale today so had to get one while they still had him. Get to the checkout. I definitely didn't get the one on sale anyway. Dumb bunny.

Did get a few goodies for the baskets and went to another store to get the rest. I also got a few ingredients for Easter dinner and realized when I got to the car that I had everything for the cheesy potatoes... except the potatoes. That was the other reason I had to go tonight. Those southern cut hashbrowns go in a flash around holiday time. Every holiday.

So I make my third trip inside a store. Whew. Tired yet? I am.

Got home and made up the baskets now so that's done. But it's 8 p.m. and I haven't sat down. So I'm gonna squeeze in two episodes of The Crown since hubby's at his last golf night!

Note to self: Next year be the Energizer Bunny instead of the Easter Bunny!

 

Beautiful Intro to the Weekend

Right where our house is situated, it's hard to see sunrises (wouldn't necessarily be awake anyway) and sunsets. We've got trees to the east and trees plus houses to the west. So it's always a treat when I'm not at home and can see them!

Tonight was no exception. I had a DQ emergency and I timed it perfectly to see this gorgeous sunset. Yes I was driving and that's why I have one blurry shot to choose from. Still, you can see it was purdy pretty!

Between that and the 4-mile walk around the lake and the Thin Mint Blizzard, I closed out Friday and am ready for the weekend. 

And the most beautiful thing besides the sunset? No one. Single. Thing. On my agenda. Nothing. Zip. Zilch.

Check back tomorrow if I said, "Hello, spring cleaning" or "Hello, Netflix." I took a poll tonight and I NEED to watch both The Crown and Downton Abbey. So I'm halfway through season one of The Crown and will have all 6 seasons of Downton to watch. Then there's March Madness basketball and golf, too, this weekend.

Let's just pretend I had good intentions to clean. 

Have a good weekend!