Thank You!

Thanks so much for all the birthday wishes.  The day ended with a lovely chat with Aurora. Certainly made my day. 

I got back on the housework bandwagon yesterday and got caught up with housey stuff yesterday and today. The house is as tidy as it's going to get - at least until after the weekend. We're off camping tomorrow morning. I say camping, it's at a State Park campground, but we're staying in a mini cabin. It basically is one room with two bunkbeds, a small counter and a small fridge. It's not a far walk to the bathrooms. Certainly a lot more comfortable than a tent. It does have electricity, so if it's a little chilly, we can turn on the small heater we bring with us to take the chill off. Outside there is a picnic table and place for a fire. We will take our camping chairs. It's about four and a half hours away, just over the bridge into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan so a bit of a drive. It will be colder up there too. 

I have packed my bag, my new camera, my older camera and a tripod. I'm hoping to be able to try out the new camera and see if I can work the timer and such. We shall see! I've also packed a sketch book in hopes that I can try out some nature journalling while we're outside and a couple of books as well as my kindle. It should - hopefully - be relaxing. There are no plans and no expectations, hopefully just a relaxing weekend away. 

I enjoy going away, but for some reason the getting ready to go away leaves me a bit anxious. I worry about stupid stuff I shouldn't even worry about. The thing is, once we've left the house, it all seems to disappear, and I enjoy the time away. Do you get anxious when you go away or do you prefer just to stay home? 

I think I'm a creature of habit and like the routine - or rather I'm stuck in the routine, and everything feels off when the routine is broken or changed. I always intend to take time away as a chance to break the routine for good, but I always seem to end up sliding right back into it again. Something to think about. 

I do hope everyone has a good weekend. It's a bank holiday for both US and England (though for different reasons) so I hope everyone has a nice long weekend. 

Some spring visitors to the garden - on the left a Baltimore Oriole and the other two are Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. 

I'm Sliding into 60 lol

I am finally over the hill of 55 and sliding into 60 as I turned 56 today. Felt a bit sad this morning, not for growing older, but growing older without Mum and my MIL. Seems rather silly but that was all I could think of as I sat this morning watching the beavers before starting my walk. 

I had a couple of places to go but after that I did, well, not much of anything. I sat in the garden and watched the birds, read my book for a while and went up in the craft room for a little bit. I got my present from everyone a few weeks ago when we were in Minnesota. 

The family all clubbed together and treated me to a new camera. It is one I want to use for dedicated landscape photography. It's a birthday, Mother's Day and Christmas present. It's been on my wish list for a little while, but I haven't managed to save the money for it as something always seems to come up. 

My oldest son treated me to takeaway tonight for food. I didn't want to go out to eat, but I didn't want to cook either! There is a place up the road that does food in and for takeaway, so he went out there to get some for me. 

I had a Cheese Quesadilla. It's very yummy. I do make them, but - for some reason - these ones taste really, really good! I don't get them often, so it was a lovely treat, especially as I didn't have to cook! 

Some crafty bits

Book I finished

I actually quite enjoyed it. It was about a woman whose life was falling apart, and she decided to go back to the place she came from to try to find out what happened to her sister who disappeared years before. 

Back to housey stuff tomorrow. 

Lovely Sunday

We had rather a lovely, relaxing Sunday. I picked us out a couple of nearby nature parks that we, apparently, had been to before but it's been a long while! We were heading out to the first one, when I noticed how beautiful the morning was, so husband pulled in one of the Asylum Lake car parks and I took a couple of phone photos. 

How beautiful is that? 

The places we went to were really beautiful. The walks weren't that long - I think we walked about 4 miles in total, but they were both well worth visiting. I have written them down to walk them again. 

There were two beaver lodges at this place. We saw a couple of Green Herons and heard lots of birds. the fields were filled with Wild Lupines (or course, I didn't take photos with my phone lol)

Because they weren't too far away, we were home fairly early. That's okay, as like I said, we are off camping next weekend. The weather was just beautiful today - as I write this (at 9pm) it is still 80f/27C. I can't believe I was wearing gloves and had handwarmers at the beginning of the week! I sat in the garden a little bit this afternoon and read for a little bit. 

Our middle son came over a bit later and had some food with us. All-in-all a lovely way to spend a Sunday!

Weekend

I was still dragging yesterday, felt a little off (perhaps lingering effects from being sick) and quite tired. I struggled to stay awake a lot of the day, so ended up having an early night and got quite a bit of sleep. Today, although there were a couple of moments I felt 'off' I feel refreshed after sleeping for longer than I usually do. I think sleep was what was needed. 

I got up this morning and went for a walk despite the weather saying there would be showers. The forecast isn't always right, and I wanted to get out for at least a little bit. It was a nice walk. I think other people saw the forecast and stayed home for a while as it was quite peaceful for a lot of the time I was out. 

It was a fairly relaxing day. It's been quite warm today - finally! - so I sat out in the garden for a bit, reading and watching the birds. I spent a little bit of time up in the craft room actually doing some creating (haven't taken photos yet though!) and I spent a bit of time sorting through a box of books that have been sitting in a spot they aren't supposed to be in! 

We are going out for a little bit tomorrow as it's supposed to be another nice day, but we aren't going far at all. I've researched a couple of nature places that are fairly close by. We have a camping trip next weekend and I'm watching the pennies as the gas/petrol prices are quite high and I'm trying to stick to a budget. We have this camping trip booked (for six months) and another the next weekend (also booked six months) so this weekend is a close-to-home, low-cost excursion. 

Lovely clouds and reflections before the grey skies and wind set in. I took a walk around an area I don't usually go in with my friend. It was lovely and peaceful. 

Tomorrow, I'm going to try to take photos of the crafty projects I've been working on. The craft room is still a mess, but the desk has a space that's clear and I feel okay working in :)

Hope everyone is having a good weekend? What are you up to? 

I'm Procrastinating the Days Away

Confession Time - I haven't been getting as much done over the last few days  weeks as I had hoped to. Hands up, I procrastinate far too much. I get sidetracked. A lot. Lists help. Sometimes. Lately some of it has been due to not feeling well. Thankfully, I'm on the mend now. There is a bit of lingering 'stuff' but, on the whole, I'm feeling a lot better than I was. 

Today, I actually felt productive. I got quite a bit done. The house still could do with a good tidy. There are things - stuff actually - lingering in places where they shouldn't be. I am going to work on this in the next few days. I'm thinking we won't be going far this weekend. We have a camping trip coming up on the holiday weekend and the weekend after. These were booked at end of last year, when gas/petrol prices were a lower. With rising costs, we have to make choices, so driving too far this weekend won't happen. There are a couple of nice places we can go for a quick walk just to get out for a bit. 

Tomorrow will be a walk, post office, house stuff, a bit of listing, tidying, talk to my sister and then some relaxing in the evening. Another day done and dusted. 

Chilly, but sunny morning walk

Thank You!

Thank you so much for all the well wishes! I think I'm coming out of the other side of it now. I'm not feeling 100% but I am feeling a lot better than I was. I've been doing dailies and a few extra bits, though I'm pacing myself too. 

For decluttering this month, I'm working on my bedroom, and I did manage to sort through some of my clothes. I got rid of a few bits, not many, but on the plus side I do know that I don't need to purchase any new clothes for summer. I have all I need, including anything I might need for our holidays away. Yah! 

Saving money is definitely needed right now. Every time I go out, prices seem to be going up. We are definitely being more conscious of the choices we are making of how we spend our money. We have some, already paid for, camping trips coming up, but they require driving and the petrol/gas prices seem to be rising all the time. It means that we have to think a bit more about how many other trips we take or things that we purchase. A good thing. It's something I've wanted to work on for a while. I might try writing down everything I spend. It sounds scary but maybe seeing it in writing will make me think twice about spending money. 

Is there something you do that helps you keep on track for spending? I thought about just using cash, but I haven't done that for a while, and they closed the credit union that was closest to us, and the others aren't near places I usually go to. 

I am 

* Planning food menus, writing grocery lists (though I allow wiggle room for special savings items) 

* Putting receipts in Fetch to earn points towards gift cards _ I also grab my son's receipts to scan lol

* Using Rakuten if I do purchase anything online - this is actual cash back, not a lot but every little helps!

* Using the digital coupons from the shop for items we actually use, and I pick up any 'free' items given to us

* I have started to use my Credit Union Credit card which gives me points and then I transfer the money from my Credit Union Checking Account to cover the purchase. 

* I'm going to try to remember to do Microsoft Rewards. 

Are there things you do to earn GC or cashback?

Photos for today - 

About an hour's difference in time, early morning sunshine and then funky cloud cover as showers came through. 

Still Under the Weather

I haven't been posting as I still haven't been feeling too well. I'm struggling just to get the normal things done and get through the day. I hope it doesn't hang on much longer! Daughter says she still has a bit of a sore throat, and I think I'm about three days behind her. Ugh. I haven't been getting any extra done, but I know it will still be there when I'm feeling better so I'm not beating myself up about it. 

We did go out for a little walk today. I didn't want to go far as I wasn't feeling the greatest but thought a little bit of time outside might be okay. We managed a bit before my head started really thumping. We ended up going home and I ended up with a migraine. I could hear every bit of noise, and it really bothered my head, so I stuck in my earplugs, covered my eyes, took some medicine and took a nap. When I woke up the headache was still there, but not enough that it was overwhelming. It's still knocking around my head so I'm getting an early night in hopes it will be gone tomorrow. I know that my head is all stuffed up from this stuff I have and maybe a bit of stress added in has made it all worse. 

April Decluttering

It wasn't a good month in the way of decluttering. The last week we were away and the week before that...well, I'm just drawing a line under it and not thinking about it.

Books 23

Magazines 1

Misc. 3

Crafting 3

A total of 30 items left the house. Not the greatest amount, but at least things left the house!

After reading My Two Cents and her idea of concentrating on one room for decluttering in May, I've decided to pick just a room and work on that. For May, I am going to work on my bedroom. It's not a large room and it's feeling rather claustrophobic right now! That definitely means it's time to get rid of something. 

So, for May I'm going to sort through and hopefully declutter the bedroom. I'm hoping the weather will warm up enough that I will be able to put away winter clothes and pull out some more summer. There are things I want to get rid of in the winter clothes and it's a good time to sort through the summer ones too. 

I'm hoping to get a start on things soon. Unfortunately, I'm come down with some sort of cold/flu thing. I'm achy, nose running, sore throat and just generally feeling ick. I think I caught it from daughter who came down with something the day before we left. Hopefully, it will be a short thing. For now, I'm trying to balance resting with basic daily stuff. 

Sunrise yesterday morning. 

Thomas Dambo Trolls

While we were in Minnesota, we took a trip to Detroit Lakes to try to find the Thomas Dambo trolls that are in the area. We visited the one in Michigan last Autumn and were a little bit intrigued, so when we found out there were a few in Minnesota, we wanted to go in search of them. 

This is a bit about Thomas Dambo

Thomas Dambo is a Danish recycling artist and sculptor famed for creating over 170 giant wooden trolls from reclaimed materials as part of his ongoing “Trail of a Thousand Trolls” project. Blending folklore, environmental activism, and community engagement, he installs these whimsical works in forests, parks, and cultural sites across five continents, each with its own story, to inspire sustainability and connect people with nature.

Here's a map of the trolls that are all over the world

There were five in the Detroit Lakes area and a Golden Rabbit. 

We certainly had fun trying to find them! In included daughter and the dogs on one so you can see how tall they are. They are really big. 

They are 

Alexa's Elixir

Ronny Funny Face

Barefoot Frida

Jacob Everear

Long Leif

Golden Rabbit

Apart from the last two, they were all in different parks. It certainly makes you get out and about and see different parks in the area. We met a few other people looking for them too. One was a couple with their granddaughter. It sounded as though they were taking her to these ones and then they were off to travel to somewhere else in the US to see some more. When we were up in the UP of Michigan last year looking at the one there, a couple of people said they were visiting different trolls in different parts of the states. It must be a thing people do!

Maybe one day we'll visit some more!

Back Again

I took a longer break than I intended from blogging but I'm hopefully back now. 

We had a lovely time visiting with daughter and Baby A. She is so funny! She has a really good vocabulary for 2 and a bit and is quite the chatterbox a lot of times. I love how active her imagination is too. It's so lovely to watch. She did remember me! It was so funny. We were there waiting when she was picked up from daycare. My daughter told her that there was a surprise waiting. She came into the main room and looked in the kitchen and said Where's the surprise? She hadn't noticed us sitting there in the living room. Daughter told her where to look and she saw me and ran over to me, jumping up and we had a really long hug. Brought tears to my eyes. 

The week went by really quickly, too quickly. Once again, I'm wishing we were a lot closer. I feel as though we are missing out on so much. I wished I could talk to Mum or Mother-in-law about how they felt being the far away grandparent and how they coped, but they are both gone and it feels really lonely. I tried to stay in the moment and enjoy the time that we had. 

The two of us doing cheesy smiles. 

Back tomorrow!