Full Strength Gratitude

Happy Thanksgiving! Well this sums it up nicely. Now I don't have to have a super-long blog. I can just say I am grateful for everything. And every person in my life, too.

Grateful this morning that I got the tree up and decorated. And that Aunt Janice's Grape Salad recipe was a yummy success. We definitely use the word "salad" loosely in the Midwest. But hey, it does have healthy fruit – even though it looks like a trifle wannabe.

Grateful this afternoon and evening that Carter and Mamie made it home and joined us at sister-in-law Sherry's house. Great food and amazing entertainment via our great-niece and great-nephew! I wish I had an ounce of their energy!

Our is staying for the weekend so I might get to all the Cranberry classic games if I can spend time with them! Plus there's something silly like a big ol' snowstorm. Gah.

Be careful out there! Hope you all found moments of gratitude today! 

Talk Turkey To Me

I'm sure I've mentioned a time or two that our Marketing Department (of which I'm a member) has an official Fun Committee. Every month it's something fun, crazy, or inspiring. They never disappoint.

Today we had the opportunity to gather, eat Arbuckle's pizza and Sweet Juanjo's cookies, while coloring thank you/gratitude cards for whoever we wanted to.

I did one card and was completely transfixed over this box of cookies! Such talent and creativity. I see these everywhere, at every craft & vendor show, and have no clue how they do them. But the creative side of me is jealous I don't know how!

I mean I did pick up quite a few cake decorating skills in that period of my childhood/teenhood when Mom was taking a community class on that and going nuts with it. So fun.

But I also should recognize at my age that I'd probably need to wear my readers to make those tiny, straight lines. I mean part of me says I want to learn this, but do I NEED to? I absolutely do not need another hobby. Of any kind.

Guess I'll just enjoy eating them and tasting that heavenly sweet frosting. So amazing! And yes, I'm in awe of all of you who can do this.

Post-Tryptophan Return

I feel like I'm in the middle of a tryptophan coma. I finally woke up today from a week's vacation and had to face reality.

And yes, like the meme above indicates, I'm already looking forward to the next vacation... In 17 days, 21 hours... Not that I'm counting.

Most of us know the sad reality of taking a week off is that you work like crazy BEFORE your time off to get things done. Then face a steaming pile on your RETURN – as a punishment of some sort for using your much-earned vacation days. It's corporate reality.

I literally had hundreds of project-related emails in my inbox this morning. And got to those after ticking off other urgent items on my to-do list. Thank goodness I had a chiropractic appointment today to adjust my back – if not my attitude, too. 

But I do admit to missing my amazing team. I will not, however, understand or appreciate the need to set an alarm while it's still dark out. 

Lord, help all of us get through December until our Christmas vacations! 

P.S. I will lay off the leftover turkey this week!

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.

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.

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$tance$.

Hooping it Up -- Not Really

While I could've spend a second day seeing four games like this. I felt more like this... 

The end result was that I decided I could get by without photographing hoops games today and maybe get a few things done. Had a little non-holiday shopping to do – plus a few potential holiday things to look for. Also got a few things done around the house and got at least one Hallmark movie in.

As for the Cranberry Classic, I watched our Lady Royals take the girls championship – from my recliner. But did go to school and see the exciting boys game (top photo) as they vied for 3rd place. It was the most exciting 3rd place game ever, if you ask me. And we ended up beating Nekoosa in the last seconds by 2 points. Hope this is a sign of an exciting season!

As for me, I might have to continue my close to home routine on Sunday, too. More to do.

Plus, Mother Nature's dandruff is flaring up. And I'm not quite sure what she has in mind for us. Be careful out there!

Royal Blue Friday

Today was more like Assumption Royal Blue Friday with no Black Friday shopping in sight.

I ended up going to all 4 Royals hoops games today and taking pictures. Jim was there all day since he's on the tournament committee. Both JV and Varsity girls won and will play for their championships Saturday. The Assumption boys JV won, but the varsity squad lost. They're playing back-to-back Saturday afternoon.

I tried to be smart this year and came home after each game to edit and upload photos. I did not come home between the boys games, though, because there was only one game in between. So I just finished up JV boys now and I'm pretty sure the Sand Man will not allow me to stay up to do Varsity boys. It was pretty fun to see all the hoops action, though. Especially all my 8th-graders who are now playing high school hoops. Time flies! And seeing college kids return as spectators while they're home for the holidays. 

Here's the line-up of Saturday games. I'll guarantee you'll spend a lot less money than shopping – and will probably have more fun. Go, Royals!

Happy Thanksgiving

I don't think anything tops laziness like Thanksgiving. Watch football. Eat. Watch more. Have pie.

That pretty much sums up our day. After watching the Lions-Packers game, we went over to Jim's sister's house. Then watched some football, ate a delicious meal, watched some more, then had pie. It was nice to visit, too! Clay and Becca were there, Colin and Amy and the kiddos, and Jim's dad.

Mainly we were entertained by my very non-lazy great-niece and great-nephew. Mya and Eli did not sit still long enough for me to get a picture so thankfully their mom snapped one earlier in the day. They're just so darn cute.

I don't need tryptophan to make me tired. Just watching those two did it. That and stuffing myself with pie when I was already full!

Hope you able to gather with loved ones and give thanks today!

New Season

Even though it seemed like there was plenty of time "off" until the winter sports season, it started up pretty quickly. So yesterday I stayed late after work and shot photos of the Pacelli-Assumption-and more co-op team.

I left at the end of the 2nd period because it was a long day at that point – plus we were down 5-1 and I was sure I'd get to photograph more promising games this season.

Today I had the day off thinking I'd have to bake pies for Thanksgiving. But since my sister-in-law the hostess only needed easy things like buns and veggies, I had no serious tasks at hand. So I got some Christmas cookies baked and Jim and I had a night out with friends – entertained by that Elvis impersonator we was this summer.

Hope you are as equally stress-free heading into this holiday weekend! 

Color Us Happy

Since one of our work teammates was in town this week, we scheduled a volunteer event for all of our team. We went to a nursing home in Stevens Point and helped them color Thanksgiving pictures with either colored pencils or fine-tipped markers. Whatever worked best with their motor skills.

In my group, we had a few ladies earnestly coloring a picture they could hang on their door.

Some were simple and some (like this one) were more complex. But they enjoyed the quiet time visiting with us.

Naturally, we had to color along with them so the conversation flowed more naturally. Here's my co-worker Tom's finished product who the one nursing home resident called "undercooked turkey." LOL.

And here's what I putzed away at. You can't tell, but there is some purple and yellow in there! Hey, it's fall and football season!

I'm grateful to work for a company that gives us "volunteer time off" so we can support the communities where we work and live. We help others and bond as a team.

Be super grateful if you can say the same! 

Non-Trad Turkey Day

It was a bit of a non-traditional Thanksgiving for us. With Jim's mom gone, we and his sister had our own small gatherings so my father-in-law wouldn't be overwhelmed with a crowd. I still made enough for food for one, of course.

We had 6 of us with both Clay and Carter and their special ladies here. I tried making my mother-in-law's dressing. It need work but I know what I have to tweak for the next holiday. Otherwise, the turkey, potatoes, corn, apple-Snicker salad, and pumpkin pies were good!

After dinner, we Zoom called Casey and Emily out in Portland.

Put them on the big TV so they were life-size. They won't make it home for the funeral. Airline tickets are crazy expensive since it's a holiday weekend. They'll be with us in spirt.

Just like they are right now as we watch the Vikings host a Thanksgiving game (also non-traditional) and try to hop back into the win column. I hope they didn't have any tryptophan-laden turkey. Lord knows I'm tired!

Too exciting of a game to sleep. Leave the room and someone scores. Hopefully the Vikes did while I blogged quick.

It would just be one more thing to be thankful for this thanksgiving. Even a bit sad, I love and appreciate the family that is still in my life. And my great support network of friends.

Hope you had plenty of blessings to count today. Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey Eve

Today was actually a vacation day I had scheduled several weeks ago. I knew I'd need to get 2 things done before serving Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.

Number 1 was bake my pumpkin pies and number 2 was set the scale back 15 pounds – at least 5. It's tradition, right?

I was glad I had time to get the almost perfect pies done plus whatever other food – and house – prep I could do, plus a few creative projects, plus run what errands I could. I had hoped to get my car washed since it was 40+ degrees out. But everyone else had that idea. Add that to another day's to-do list.

For now, it's time to rest up so I can join everyone else in overexerting ourselves to eat as much good food as possible tomorrow until we need a nap. Come on. We've all trained for this!

Happy Turkey Eve! And count your blessings with gratitude tomorrow!

Happy Thanksgiving

Woke up to a Thanksgiving Day dusting of snow today. Well, a little more than a dusting, but we were still surprised. Pretty sure it was not in our forecast unless we read right over it knowing we were staying put today.

We hosted my in-laws and Carter and that was it. Just 5 of us. But I'll glad I baked 2 pumpkin pies. Yum.

I cooked two turkey breasts and successfully made my mother-in-law's dressing. And had the usual corn, cranberries and mashed potatoes. Nothing fancy but it sure eats up a day preparing. 

Now we're in our tryptophan comas. Had dinner at 4-ish (had to go on the elders' eating schedule). And was fighting sleep by 6 p.m. Gonna power through and hope to make it until 9!

Hope you had a Thanksgiving filled with as many blessings as the calories consumed today. Wow. I am VERY blessed then! 

And full.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gratitude Challenge Days 18 and 19

I wasn't planning to combine two days of the 25-day Gratitude Challenge again. But again, I skipped blogging because I was up pretty late editing pictures from the girls first hoops game of the season (at Stratford) – the Royals won, of course – and went to bed after midnight as it was. So here are days 18 and 19.

Day 18. A favorite sound.
Day 19. Something sweet.

Can you believe I can successfully combine two challenges with one answer again? I can!

One of my favorite sounds is a telephone call from boy, who as you know, is quite a sweetie!

I know I've shared this picture before but it's so Carter at that age. I just love it. Always, always wearing his backwards Nike cap. And most likely – even at age 4 – having a very grownup conversation with a grandparent.

Neither part has changed much. Except I can't hold him on my lap anymore when he's doing either of those things.

I'm grateful for memories and grateful for photos and scrapbooks that I can turn the page and turn back time when I want. At least until I see him again in, oh, 114 hours. That'll be sweet, too!

Hug your littles while they're little! They grow up so fast.

#gratitudemonth

Seasonal Distraction Disorder

It's bad enough the weather is messing with our minds with the fall one day and spring or summer the next. Now we've got the retail sector rushing seasons.

Saw Walmart had its Christmas section started yesterday. Today, our local Pick 'n' Save had this sumptuous seasonal selection.

It appears we have Cinnamon ice cream (upper right) to go with fall apple pies and crisps. Then in the center, we have Pumpkin Pie flavored to transition us from October fall to November fall and Thanksgiving. Then, bring on Candy Cane (top shelf) and Eggnog (bottom).

And which one did I choose? I went with Pumpkin Pie. For now. And yes, I only chose one and cross my fingers there's still some at the store when I crave the next season.

I also didn't want to stand there too long deciding on a flavor. I had to get home and get a few things done. Packing for sister weekend should have been one of them. I leave tomorrow right from a post-work activity and head to Minneapolis, where my oldest sister is flying in from Phoenix. So yes, I should get my stuff in order.

But that ice cream was distracting (and delicious) – and I'm not quite sure what season to pack for. I can tell you we are North Shore bound (there's a lot of lake so it could be anywhere up there, ha). So I know to pack layers. And warm ones at that.

And everything else is just going to have to come together during Pumpkin Pie ice cream hour – I mean lunch hour – tomorrow! 

Gratitude from A to XYZ

Alphabetical gratitude month concludes today with the letters X, Y, and Z, which kind of means I'm cheating at the end. But I'm in a multi-tasking frame of mind.

A = Autumn, Austins, Assumption
B = Ballots, Books, Book Club, Bible
C = Casey, Clay, Carter, Church, Creativity, Camera
D = Dad, Daughters, Deck Chair, Dar, Design
E = Eggs, Election, Energy, Empty Nest
F = Family, Friends, Faith, Flu Shot, FastForward
G = Games, Golf, Guilty pleasures
H = Hugs, Hurricanes, Humor
I = Ice cream, Impromptu Invitations
J = Jim, Jokes, Job, Java
K = Kindness, King Cone, Knock on Wood, Karma
L = Laughters, Love
M = Mom, Masters, Musicals
N = Nieces, Nephews, Neighbors, Norse Force
O = Outage
P = Pigging Out, Passport, Phone
Q = Quiet
R = R People
S = Scandi-hoovian-ism, Sisters, Sylvester
T = Thanksgiving, Tree, Teachers, Turkey
U = Unicorns, U.S. University 
W = Whirlwind, Walk

XYZ: The whirlwind of activity has continued. Pretty much the quickest 4 days off here with nothing to show for it. I should be at the family cookie bake Up North today, but COVID canceled that. So for the first year, I was able to attend both days of the Cranberry Classic basketball tournament hosted by Assumption. To reduce crowd sizes they had just girls play yesterday and today. Boys will play close to New Year's. So I was able to shoot photos over two days. Hundreds and hundreds of them.

In between that, I did get to a few places on Black Friday – specifically Michael's and Joann Fabrics looking for yarn. There's a Y word. Grateful I found some. I also had a photo shoot this morning for someone's family Christmas card. That was fun. And since today was like 40 degrees out, I decorated our outdoor Christmas tree – surprise gift from our friends Mike and Cindy!

Just had to put on the white lights. God provided the sunset!

It sure put me in the Christmas spirit. I'm exhausted from "working" so this was as far as I got. But maybe I'll add some cheers indoors tomorrow. 'Tis the season.

And still the season to be grateful, too. Thanks for riding along on my alphabetical gratitude journey. In a nutshell: X-amine Your bleZZingZ daily!

#gratitudemonth #gratitudealphabet

Wonderful Wizards

Happy Thanksgiving! Alphabetical gratitude month continues today in the final stretch with the letter W, which is a shout out to all you wonderful wizards!

A = Autumn, Austins, Assumption
B = Ballots, Books, Book Club, Bible
C = Casey, Clay, Carter, Church, Creativity, Camera
D = Dad, Daughters, Deck Chair, Dar, Design
E = Eggs, Election, Energy, Empty Nest
F = Family, Friends, Faith, Flu Shot, FastForward
G = Games, Golf, Guilty pleasures
H = Hugs, Hurricanes, Humor
I = Ice cream, Impromptu Invitations
J = Jim, Jokes, Job, Java
K = Kindness, King Cone, Knock on Wood, Karma
L = Laughters, Love
M = Mom, Masters, Musicals
N = Nieces, Nephews, Neighbors, Norse Force
O = Outage
P = Pigging Out, Passport, Phone
Q = Quiet
R = R People
S = Scandi-hoovian-ism, Sisters, Sylvester
T = Thanksgiving, Tree, Teachers, Turkey
U = Unicorns, U.S. University 

Whirlwind: Today I was blessed to be part of a whirlwind of my own making. There's a crazy amount of prep that goes into holiday meals. Anyone who can synchronize the completion of the turkey, potatoes, and dressing is a wizard to be sure! 

I had to cheat. Pies yesterday. Turkey breasts in the oven this morning then crockpot. Made the Apple-Snicker Salad while those were cookin'. Potatoes today in the crockpot. Dressing in the oven. (Yes, I tried my mother-in-law's recipe and it was passable!). Somehow it was synced enough that when Carter and his girlfriend showed up at 4 p.m., we could deliver Thanksgiving Meals on Wheels to Jim's parents and then to Clay and his girlfriend. They were wayyyy appreciative. And then come home to eat our meal. I told everyone to eat in slow-motion because no way did what felt like 24 hours of prep work deserve to disappear in 8 minutes.

Walk: So glad I took a walk in the early afternoon to pre-emptively burn all these Turkey Day fat calories. That's how it works, doesn't it?

I hope you had a good Thanksgiving! It was different to not be surrounded by family. How we wish things were different. But it was the smart thing to do. Plus more pumpkin pie and whipped cream for me. Wow.

#gratitudemonth #gratitudealphabet

V-V-V-Very Nice

Alphabetical gratitude month continues today in the final stretch with the letter V, which could be very, very good!

A = Autumn, Austins, Assumption
B = Ballots, Books, Book Club, Bible
C = Casey, Clay, Carter, Church, Creativity, Camera
D = Dad, Daughters, Deck Chair, Dar, Design
E = Eggs, Election, Energy, Empty Nest
F = Family, Friends, Faith, Flu Shot, FastForward
G = Games, Golf, Guilty pleasures
H = Hugs, Hurricanes, Humor
I = Ice cream, Impromptu Invitations
J = Jim, Jokes, Job, Java
K = Kindness, King Cone, Knock on Wood, Karma
L = Laughters, Love
M = Mom, Masters, Musicals
N = Nieces, Nephews, Neighbors, Norse Force
O = Outage
P = Pigging Out, Passport, Phone
Q = Quiet
R = R People
S = Scandi-hoovian-ism, Sisters, Sylvester
T = Thanksgiving, Tree, Teachers, Turkey
U = Unicorns, U.S. University

Video: Thanks to COVID, the winter sports season is going to look a bit different than usual. But not so different from football and volleyball. Limited spectators – like 4 tickets per athlete – and video viewing of the games via lifestream for the rest of us. I'm so grateful for that! Last night we got to watch our Assumption girls start their season up at Edgar. Since we got a few inches of snow during the day, I was fine with not driving anywhere. It's just not the same as cheering them on in person. But that's life in a coVid world. Very vexing at times!

Vacation: Since we did awaken to this scene, I'm so grateful I'm on vacation. Not that had a commute anyway, but still, I can only call it "pretty" when I have no place to go! And I didn't have time. It was not meant to be a relaxing vacay day. Not the day before Thanksgiving.

I do prefer this "snowman" to the ones outside. Yup, got 4 pumpkin pies baked today. Potatoes peeled. Bread cubed up for dressing. And house cleaning, too. Very productive! Can't wait to act as the Austin Meals on Wheels tomorrow! 

Veterinarian: I'm grateful the vet could put up with Princess Hiss-A-Lot today. She doesn't like strangers. Or being out of our home. But it's just once a year. The vet said she was healthy as a kitty though! She did have to get a rabies shot in her backside somewhere. I think she's still holding a grudge against her favorite human. I mean he grabs her while she's napping, shoves her in a box, makes her ride in a moving vehicle, then thrusts her into the arms of someone who just poked and prodded her and inflicted pain. Sylvester is literally napping on my office floor right now while I type and while her human is in bed. Total cold shoulder move. Hope she forgives him by morning! 

Hope you find a variety and vast amount of blessings on your Thanksgiving, too!

#gratitudemonth #gratitudealphabet