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%.

Red Sky in Morn, Creativity Re-Born

As much as I hate leaving the house in the dark this time of year, I appreciate that I occasionally get a beautiful sunrise on the way to work. Today was not exception. The sky was on fire! Glad I finally had a red light so I could stop and capture it! 

Ignore all the street lights. I took it as a sign we should all be fired up for work today!

And although the day was long (who comes up with these 5-day work weeks anyway?), I was actually energized by the time I got home. 

Partly because I had an itch to be creative. Our Pacelli-Assumption etc Co-op team is have a "Stick it to Cancer" fundraiser at our game Saturday night. 

Since lucky me won a basket a few weeks ago, I figured I'd pay that one forward and make one up myself. So... time to plug that special Cricut in again!

I think the hockey moms and dads will appreciate these coffee mugs I made. Just have to find a few more things for the basket in the next few evenings.

This definitely put me in the creative mood. And thinking about my upcoming scrapbooking weekend. Yes, Camp Crop-A-Lot is at the end of February, but still, a girl has to plan ahead. I'm so far behind I now have to try to remember life 7 years ago! So glad I have several weeks to figure that out.

But if you're a sports mom (or dad) and want a mug with your sport (hockey or whatever), let me know. I'm in the creative zone!

Back to Normal, I Guess

I must have been real excited to get back to work today because I could hardly sleep! Last time I looked at the clock and I was still awake was 11:58 p.m. Then, for some ungodly reason, my body awoke at 5:12 a.m. and couldn't fall back to sleep.

What the heck?!

I do not function well on little sleep. I do not function well after a long vacation. I do not function well on real Mondays or fake Mondays on Tuesdays. But I did get to work on time. And I did remember the new password I had to reset in late December, so there's that. 

Winning! 

Of course, none of us were in the mood to tear down our lovely Christmas decorations. Plus most of us were trying to dig out from being gone last week. We'll de-deck our halls gradually and just remove a tiny bit of joy each day.

But the lights are staying up year-round, dang it!

I am probably leaving our tree and decorations up at home for at least this week, too. It's just such a cozy look and feel. Plus, it's kind of mandatory ambiance for watching the rest of my Christmas movies. Not that I'm doing that tonight. Despite the extra caffeine today, I expect my body will shut down early tonight.

Maybe tomorrow will be back to normal. Baby steps. We just got out of the 2024 starting gates, after all.

Hope you have a great week! 

Oh, Christmas Tree

When you wake up to a couple inches of snow, it seems like we should be in a Christmas mood. Until we have to drive, of course. Thankfully, once we could get out of our snowy neighborhood, the main roads were plowed and we could get to church.

Got home and it still seemed like autumn wasn't ready to let go, but knowing I had a girls' afternoon of tree tours, I was looking forward to Christmas!

My neighbors and friends Terri, Cindy and I first went to the museum for the 7th annual Christmas Tree Walk. Get there if you can next weekend. Every room and corner in the museum house is decorated by different people with different themes of trees.

Loved this cardinal one because we always think of our angel loved ones visiting us via cardinals.

This one had a cool use of an old arch window/door. Where do they find this stuff?

Love this reindeer tree because if you look close...

There's actually antlers in there!

This tree was cool because because besides the old Santa suit next to it, it included historic photos – some from my old workplace, the Daily Tribune.

And it had some lighted houses in the branches, which is a cool touch.

And I love peace ornaments. Took this picture for my sister Rayna, who loves them too!

There were table-top displays, too. Loved the train going through a lighted forest.

I could tell these were pretty old Santas.

Christmas bride, anyone? Wow. What an amazing display!

I liked this tree because the child "Sarah" wanted Santa to bring gifts that made her think!

"Christmas at Tiffany's" was insanely beautiful. 

Lots of sparkling icicles and look... jewelry, too!

This "natural tree" was pretty cool, especially when you took a closer look...

Looks like a Christmas robin's nest to me!

View going up the the second floor!

But make sure you check out the Christmas mouse's house beneath the stairs!

So much to see – including every wreath and all their intricate details.

And God bless the people who made MY ice cream tree!!

What a cool idea!

Just ball ornaments glued to a cone!

Was hoping to lick one, but that was frowned upon!

I wasn't aware of William Morris or his history but I liked their tribute.

What a neat fabric Danish star. Wow.

Our friends from Bluegrass at the Lake made a fun tree!

This tree was a very nice tribute to the armed services. 

Dog tags were legit, according to the tree decorator (militaria collector).

So pretty!

Tribute to female veterans in Wood County. Thank you!

Going back down the stairs. 

As book lovers and avid readers, the library room impressed us the most.

Look how the books serve as decorations.

Our tree-oh got a picture here! 

Loved that the ornaments were made from pages of books, too.

Very cool idea!

From the museum we went down to the Masonic Temple for the Fez-tival of Trees – a fundraiser for the Zor Funsters and their charity efforts for children. We could buy tickets with the hopes of winning a decorated tree and the accompanying gifts under it.

Thought I might have a chance at this one, but I never got the call that I won.

I did get to sit on Santa's lap and try to convince him I've been good this year. When he asked what I wanted, I just said I wanted to see my boys. We'll see.  💜

After our tours, we stopped at Out of the Box coffee shop for some Christmasy drinks. My eggnog chai was amazing! You gotta try it!

Got home and got all my Christmas cards stamped and addressed and ready to go. Then squeezed in one Hallmark movie (you gotta watch "Time for her to Come home for Christmas") before the Packers game started. 

Oh don't assume Santa turned me into a fan. Just looking for Taylor Swift. Then I'll get back to Christmas mode!