That Hibernation Thing, Though...

When I hit the snooze this morning, I totally understood why bears – and my spirit animal the fox – hibernate in the winter. They can stay snuggly warm and not have to brave the elements. Ever.

Seriously, when your weather app shows a temperature of -8 and a "real feel" of -22 degrees, why get out of bed? Especially when I was up way past my bedtime editing hockey pictures (with no time to blog) and got less than my required 8 hours of sleep?

I guess the only reason is that I had to deliver another Secret Santa gift. And receive one, of course. And participate in our Marketing Department's White Elephant gift exchange.

Our VP of Marketing encouraged everyone to gift "crap" that you don't want or need. And that's what I got. A pretty gift bag with some "basement-smelling" craft kits to make a wallet or bracelet. When I was out of eyesight so I wouldn't offend the secret gifter, I just put it in my garbage. 

And no, I wasn't the only one. That's the point of White Elephant. It's so bad you either want to trash it – or attempt to re-gift it in next year's exchange. I couldn't handle the musty odor, so that was a hard no for me.

Still it was fun to see some strange gifts and enjoy free pizza at the same time!

By the time work was over, it had jumped up to 4 degrees. Uff da. Even with underground (slightly exposed) parking, it was cold but at least my car started so I could do a bit of Christmas shopping. But am not ready to brave the cold again after I'm home.

Plus, after not really being home any night this week, I have to catch up on the final performances from The Voice AND find out the winner! No spoilers. I deserve this evening of blankets, a recliner, and popcorn! 

Be careful out there. And bundle up!

The Princess and the P

The idea behind “The Princess and the Pea" fairytale was that only the most refined – only a person of the highest breeding – could possibly be sensitive enough to feel the lump a pea made under 20 mattresses. And thus, a true princess was found.

I've often wondered if we had any royalty in our family tree because I seriously have trouble sleeping at the slightest discomfort.

But tonight this princess is not dealing with a PEA, but the letter P – which stands for PERFECT hair, of course!

The only down side of a late hair appointment is that my hair artist makes it look amazing – and then it's time to go to bed. So I will have to sleep very carefully.

Yes, it can be done. I'll try not to toss and turn for any reason – even the slightest pea-sized lump – so the curls can live to see another day. I have this challenge every 6 weeks and I can tell you, I've mostly been successful. 

I'll let you know how Tuesday morning hair looks. Or if I can just tweak it enough to make it look fresh. I mean we princesses have powers you don't even know about! 

Tonight I'll use my power for good. I grant you all a good week!

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! 

Work Hard, Play Hard, Nap Hard

Today was our annual "work day" at my church. And a lot of Lutheran churches. We call it God's Work, Our Hands and we spend the morning doing service work at a few locations. 

Today we had teams at two elementary schools doing indoor and outdoor improvements, doing yard work at an elderly member's home, painting and cleaning at The Family Center, and a team putting school kits and hygiene kits for Lutheran World Relief, along with some quilters boxing up their donations. Lots to do and lots of hard work. Proud to be a part of it – even though I was just the roving photographer. 

Before I left church, I thought taking a picture of our Viking color-themed stained glass window would bring some luck to the season opener. That didn't work.

I even had a pregame huddle with Mr. Skol Man on the front deck and that didn't work either. 

We probably jinxed it since we could actually watch it on TV because the Packers had the late game. And I couldn't stay awake the whole game. I know – it was a noon game! At halftime, I tipped back my recliner and put a blanket over my head to shut out the light and just like that, I was out like a light.

I woke up and it was the 4th quarter. So I can defend my team's outcome today since I'm not sure what all went wrong. I sure needed that nap, though!

After the game, I worked a few hours (still behind from being out of town a week), and shed my purple clothes for black.

We had some friends in town and we met them for dinner at Ida's at 5:30 p.m. Didn't realize that was such a popular hangout for Packers games. Ugh. Pretty loud in there with all that cheering. But we had a nice visit with Jim's former college roommate and his wife. And hopefully we'll connect with them again soon.

Home by dark (which comes way too early) and I may have to turn on my mattress pad. It's definitely football weather!

Hazy Shade of Weekend

Good grief. It's a pretty nice day/evening. I hope you have something better to do than read my blog on a Friday night. Obviously one of us needs a life. Well, maybe two of us! And I love you for it.

I'm having difficulty sleeping lately – stress related, perhaps? – so at lunch today I thought I'd "rest" with Mr. Deck Chair. Just for a minute. Good plan, but I was coughing before long and I was thinking pine pollen was so last week. Then I remembered all the air quality advisories. And even though I wasn't SEEING the smoke, it was there. 

And according to local news stations, will be here all weekend. To quote my StormTrack9 friends: We had more hazy skies today due to wildfire smoke drifting into the state. While we are expecting sun this weekend, similar levels of surface smoke will likely linger into Saturday.

This explains why my photos tonight at the Legion baseball tournament just weren't as clear as I liked. I mean, it's never the photographer. Always the smoke or dusk conditions.

I literally thought I was a failure though, and headed home in the second inning. My camera did OK despite what I was seeing in the view finder, so there will be three happy moms. Yay!

Just be careful out there this weekend. Find a way to relax without deep breaths!

Look Who's Out of Hibernation

I came home from work today and guess who's out of hibernation? That's right. Mr. Deck Chair is back on the deck. 

I know. It's going to be down to 16 degrees tonight and we're probably getting both rain and snow this weekend. But still. He was tired of waiting.

We all are, dude. We all are.

But I am also of the mindset I could use a little hibernation myself. For some reason, I haven't had a decent night's sleep this week. Was yawning my way through the last Lenten service tonight and even choir practice. Uff da.

Pretty sure I'm going to crash early and take Mr. Deck Chair's place. Wherever he's been hiding for 5 months.

Well, I mean if I can still have my heated mattress pad on and comfy blanket there. I can give up sleep, but not some things!

Daylight Sleeping Time

I think I share this cartoon every year on the Monday after we spring forward. Because it hits me the same every year. No matter what I do. 

I skipped out of the Oscars early and for the life of me, couldn't fall asleep. And when I did, I woke up and stayed woke up. Gah.

When that happens, it calls for the big cup! I bet my Secret Santa at work had no idea this would be the best first day of Daylight Saving Time gift. 

Too bad hubby doesn't like coffee!

Of course, he had bigger things on his mind...

Wake-up views on first day of high school baseball practice! 

Is Wisconsin White one of our school colors? It is now!

Thankfully they could meet in the gym for now. No matter the weather, the coaches are pumped for a new season! We only lost one senior last season and have young talent coming up. 

Oh and full disclaimer: That’s just a coach's wife opinion. We'll let the guys in charge lead things. 

Cross your fingers the snow melts soon. And that we adjust to this time change sooner rather than later.

G'night!

Off The Griddy

Much like this Amish buggy I recently saw on my road trip to Minnesota, I was blissfully off the grid today. 

My exhaustion caught up with me and I was in bed until 9:25 a.m.! No way I was getting to 9:30 church on time. So I stayed home. And pretty much stayed put all day. I had one quick run to Wal-Mart to get a printer cartridge, but otherwise was in my office typing up address labels for funeral thank-yous and editing hoops pictures from yesterday.

I relaxed and watched a little Hallmark, too. There's nothing else on for us purple people. We have our W for the week and are off the Griddy for today, too!

As we wrap up Gratitude month, may we all find a reason to do a little dance this week!

Drive-Thru Inspiration

Thanks to Culver's, I don't even need to blog tonight. Just go through the drive-thru and pick up instant blogs like this.

Here's your reminder to be amazing today!

My work here is done. Ha.

Plus, I don't have any pressing news to share. Another cough-free night last night so I'm kicking COVID to the curb! During my "back swing" of course, I will still get to bed by 9 p.m. so I can get enough rest. Probably easier to sleep IT out than kick IT out anyway.

But...it IS my day – and yours – to be amazing. Anything can happen! 

Be careful out there. 

Taking Little Wins

It's Monday. It's not raining. Normally, I'd be all over telling you about the big softball win I took pictures of because they switched it to a home game. But... I didn't go. 

Pandemic adulting is hard! 

They did win, though! Still undefeated. And soccer is playing now. They're undefeated, too. Yay, Lady Royals! Unfortunately, the baseball team took a loss up in Marathon. Hopefully they'll get a few more marks in the win column yet this season.

As for me, I had a big victory today...

Yep! I slept through the night. Jim did, too. You know what that means... NO COUGHING! WHOOT!

I'll try not to get too excited – already am – but I'm feeling good and I think this stupid virus is about to become a memory. I'll still go to bed by 9 tonight and get rest. Not going to be that reckless. But I'll take the sleep and cough-free day for the win!

I'll keep crossing my fingers and hydrating, of course.

Be careful out there.

 

Beat the Clock

I feel like I've been in a Cinderella story all week. No handsome prince – just trying to beat the clock and get into bed by midnight the past few nights. To do that, I had to skip blogging. But I'll give you a quick lowdown of the fun...

On Wednesday, I literally got home about one minute to midnight. My friend Cindy and I finally got to see Dear Evan Hansen – the last show from our 2019/2020 season ticket package. Just 4 words about that: Well worth the wait!

OK, maybe more than 4. It was in incredible show. We read the book and saw the movie and listened to the "soundtrack." But the live Broadway performance exceeded our expectations. We laughed a lot and cried, too. Had a big lump in my throat for quite a while after its conclusion. Just so good. See the Appleton paper's review of it here to learn more about it. And go if you can!

Thursday was all about baseball. And a late night editing pictures. Why are these Royals fans cheering? Well, a couple of reasons. One is that we had our first victory of the season with our 7-1 win over Port Edwards. Two is that we had to borrow some players, sort of, to make it happen.

Our roster is small to begin with and with two players out, we were down to just 8 available to suit up yesterday. If you don't follow baseball ever – you need 9 players for a full team. I mean it's not illegal to have 8, but 9 works best. So we had 2 members of the golf team and 1 from track and field suit up. I don't think he'd played since elementary school, so the fans were pretty excited when he not only swung and made contact with the ball, but got a double and eventually scored.

I know it's always a lot more fun to win. But this was just fun to see a school come together to make a team. Loved it! Maybe those 3 will stay on? Never count out anything these days.

Friday (today) was a long, rainy day. First work, then workout, then meeting friends at Homestead first, then Layla's for fish fries. Except it was very busy and took forever to get a table for 7. Ended up finally eating about 8:45. According to my husband, the rich eat late! So there must have been others who got their food after we did! 

Just got home and I'm determined to get to bed before midnight AND get 8 hours of sleep. My mind says I should "Live like there's no midnight," but my body says, "You turned on your heated mattress pad the minute you walked in the door – who are you kidding?"

Time for bed, Cinderella!

Some Bunny Was Lazy

This is the extent of the work the Easter Bunny has to do around here this year. Carter is in Washington, D.C., for work and Mamie is back home. Hubby just happened to mention these Cadbury mini-eggs the other day. I had no idea he liked them so much. I mean the Easter Bunny probably knew. 

So after a morning photo shoot, I stopped by the grocery store to get some essentials for tomorrow's big dinner and they had some of these among their minimal Easter treat inventory. Sweet!

And yes, they are sweet as well. I put them on Jim's recliner and when he got home from his hair cut – and yes, a shave – he was happy to get a visit from the E.B. a day early. I had a few (or more) and yes, I see why he likes them.

That was about all I expended energy on today. I took a nap on the couch for some reason – totally unlike me – and passed on going to see a friend's band tonight. Gonna hit the hay and hope I am just tired because of dealing with Empty Easter Basket syndrome. 

Probably having scrambled Cadbury eggs for breakfast will re-energize me in the morning. Some bunny told me they're good for any meal!

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie (and Anyone Else)

This is what my Sunday of rest looked like. Sans the dog, of course. But yea, I finally had an empty day on the calendar and 3/4 of us slept in today.

Jim got up early, went to church, then headed to Green Bay to celebrate a birthday of an old college friend. I slept through church – I mean the time it was going on, not literally in the back pew. Then I didn't do much of anything else. Carter and Mamie didn't either.

We did get out of the house to deliver card tables to Carter's old babysitter for her upcoming garage sale. Mark you calendar for April 7-10. Follow the signs on 80th Street between Church and Mill avenues. If we manage to get some items together this week, it will be a small fraction to what will be there at this annual multi-multi-family sale!

It was a nice visit, too! Dropped the kids off and got groceries. Then turned on NCAA hoops and watched the clock strike midnight on the St. Peters' Cinderella story. Darn. My bracket was busted after Day 2 so I just was cheering for an underdog. Meanwhile, Jim as 3 teams in the Final Four. I never pretended to know even a teeny tiny percentage about sports compared to him!

Tonight, we might catch part of the Oscars. But I don't think I saw anything nominated. And if I'm going to keep my day of rest going, maybe should got to bed early. With a good book. Always better than the movie, if you ask me. (Sorry, not sorry, Oscar.)

Hope you had a relaxing day – or were busy doing what you love1

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!

No Rest for the Wicked

You know it's going to be an interesting weekend at Camp Crop-a-Lot when the first sight that greets you is the outline of a dead body.

Oh yes. Like they say: What happens at scrap camp stays at scrap camp!

Just kidding. No way 2 dozen women can keep a secret! Not this group anyway! In truth, every year, the two organizers have a theme. This year it revolved around the game CLUE. Which I am clueless about. Never played it. Never saw any of the movies based on the game either.

But of course I solved the crime because I'm competitive that way! It was a fun little distraction but mostly I just scrapbooked pages for my 2016 album. I realized sometime Friday that I made a rookie mistake and forgot to print out some pictures. So I put an order into Walgreens and ran into Stevens Point Saturday morning to pick up pictures for myself and two other veterans who made the same rookie mistake!

It happens to the best of us. I still got plenty of pages done – including lots of kayaking ones from that first summer of paddling! 

I also managed to watch the Assumption girls in the regional championship game Saturday night. It was a stressful nail-biter to have to watch on my phone and try to see the tiny score! In the end – the very end – they won by 1 point and are regional champions for the second year in a row. Well done, Lady Royals! I'll miss their sectional game this week but hope they make it to the final on Saturday.

If you wonder why I talk about "packing" for scrap camp for so long, it's because we all bring a lot of NECESSARY stuff! This is my work station for the weekend.

Pretty much all look like that, as you can see from my friend at the facing table. It's a sign of a creative mind.

And a tired one. Very low on sleep but managed the 50-minute drive home with a much-needed pit stop in Plover.

Yup. King Cone is open there! What a nice treat for a hard-working weekend! Got home and unpacked. And then packed again.

Leaving tomorrow for Arizona. Will be staying with my sister Rayna this week. My mom is there visiting, too, so I'll fly back with her to Minneapolis on Friday. It just happened that this is back to back. For once, I may actually sleep on the plane! 

Or on her Mr. Deck Chair. That's one thing I have a clue about!

Cabin Fever

There's two cures for cabin fever. One is spring-like weather. I mean Sunday really was SUNday today!

Loved taking a walk with my neighbor and just having to wear a sweatshirt this afternoon! Even opened the bedroom windows a bit. (Yes, we do things like that in Wisconsin.) I was actually motivated to do cleaning and laundry and our taxes. 

Whoa. Slow down, girl. Save some for the rest of the week!

The second cure for cabin fever is a night in a cabin with your girlfriends – off the grid. Had a great "slumber party" at my friend Brenda's cabin last night. It's seriously off the grid with little cell service, about two counties over from here.

And that was perfect. A wonderfully fun night visiting and playing games and laughing until the wee hours of the morning. Not kidding about that, either. But I think coffee and our laughter fueled me today, too.

Until about now.  Pretty wiped out. Not sure how long I'll last until it's legal to declare it bedtime. All that fresh air is like a sleeping potion and cabin fever cure in one. Hope it comes back to visit again soon!

We Get Out Once in Awhile

Didn't blog last night just to prove we do get out once in awhile – and don't get home early. Well, I did get home early, just didn't get to bed early.

Went to the boys basketball game. Both JV and Varsity lost to Stratford, but I still took pictures. And was sorting through them late enough that I had no creative thoughts left in my head to blog. So I went to bed and neither one of us had to set an alarm for anything.

So I was close to do my favorite winter sport today – hibernating – but I ventured out for a drive. This weekend down in Sauk City they're having Eagle Watching Festival or something. So I thought if I found some open water on the Wisconsin River around here, I wouldn't have to drive 2 hours.

Instead I did 2 hours of driving (practically) going up and down both sides of the river south of the Nekoosa dam. No luck. Not a single eagle. In fact, I saw two crows and that was it. Nothing made me want to stop and take a picture. Now that's just plain sad.

So came back home and started sorting through some pictures from 2017 for my next scrapbooking weekend. Camp Crop-A-Lot 2022 is only 40 days away, people. It's a like a whole Lent between now and then. I should give something up.

But eating sweets certainly goes well with hibernating.

To illustrate... Carter got me this shake at Arby's today. Sweet dreams! Wake me when it's spring.

Designing and Dining to Distraction

When you don't have a ton to smile about, you make stuff up. And you know what? It works.

Our princess loves to sleep in all kinds of awkward positions. Sometimes her head is twisted at painful-looking angles. And sometimes she lays there and looks like she's touching her toes. Or as Carter and I agree, she's like an Olympic high diver. 

So to distract myself from sad thoughts, I got a good laugh turning the image above into this one...

She says: Dream big. Why settle for the silver medal in Napping when you can take the gold in 10 Meow-ter Platform Diving?

It has cracked me up all day. Not to pick on kitty. But I needed that.

We also left the house and gave ourselves some new surroundings for the first time this week. After we saw the daily special at Ida's online, we had to go. Pretty easy customers when we can sit down and say, "We'll take 4 of the specials." What was so special about the Spicy Chicken Mac Flatbread Special?

Well you can see it was flatbread topped with cheesy macaroni, grilled chicken, sriracha curds, bacon, and then drizzled with sriracha garlic dipping sauce. Hot? Yes. Delicious? Yes, yes! Did we have leftovers? Of course!

It was nice to get out with the kids and not think about the whirlwind of concerns for awhile. 

They're still swirling, of course. But we can face them with silly smiles on our faces and very full tummies.

The 12th Man

Well that was a quick vacation! Figures the night before I need to awaken to an alarm, the Vikings play late. Well, the Packers, too. 

I mean Robyn late. Like finishing after 10 p.m.! 

Oh I'm sure I'll watch most of the game until it gets too ugly to watch. I'm not sure of our chances since we've been mediocre at best and the Vikings will start our unknown QB Sean Mannion in place of Kirk Cousins, who is on the COVID list. Fun. 

If we lose, no playoffs for us – and possibly no coach for us. We'll see what they do about Zimmer in the next days and weeks. We're always in a "rebuilding year," dang it!

Oh well. I am too relaxed to care. It was a nice 10 days off. Not stressful at any point and I'm not feeling guilty for my lack of productivity. Based on today's single-digit temperatures, I've got a lot of winter left to stay indoors and organize, declutter, and all that unrealistic stuff!

For now, I'll get set for the past-bedtime border battle, knowing the 12th man on the field will be the Sand Man.

SKOL Vikings!

Lap Blanket

Some call it good sleeping weather. I call it OMG I have to dig so far under the covers to stay warm!

Yes, it may have gotten down to the 40s last night. At least low 50s. Not sure how wide open the window was, but it was chilly. And I was buried deep under cover this morning and barely heard the alarm. 

We literally just turned off the A/C so I can't turn on the heat just yet. But my office has a heater! And, Sylvester was so accommodating this afternoon and actually warmed up my lap for 30 minutes. She's a pretty good lap blanket.

Hubby is gone this evening so I just went around the house and shut windows. I'll leave one in the bedroom open a crack to compensate for my electric mattress pad. For Jim's sake, not mine. I need heat only.

Kinda glad I didn't have sports to shoot tonight. B-r-r-r. And it's nice to sit around after a late night of volleyball last night. By the time, I got done with pictures, I was falling asleep in my chair. So no blogging.

Tonight it's just kitty and me. She's laying on the heated bathroom floor (I may or may not join her) and I actually get to watch my lowly Twins on TV. The good news is that I have a real lap blanket for that!