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! 

Foggy Mornings and Family Visits

I have to be glad to say that I'm glad the majority of this week is done. There were a few things going on that caused me anxiety most of the week and I was wishing I could just skip over the days until Friday. I'm breathing a sigh of relief now. I can relax and enjoy the next week away with daughter. I'm putting life on hold and am going to enjoy the moments that we have. 

The last couple of days there has been some lovely fog in the morning that clears away with a bright sunshine. That's the kind of fog I like. It's been really beautiful. 

I honestly haven't got a lot done around the house. I've been keeping up with the dailies, but the decluttering totals are abysmal. I'm drawing a line under it and being okay with it. As I said before, there were a few things this week that were causing me anxiety. I was having trouble sleeping and just thinking about the same thing over and over, playing different scenarios and generally couldn't stop thinking about all of the things. I tend not to discuss a lot of my feelings and find confrontation really stressful. I suppose keeping things in makes it worse in a way. 

______________ me drawing a line lol

Tomorrow, we are off to visit daughter and Baby A. I am so excited! I am going to enjoy the moments we have together. I am taking my computer, but I can't guarantee I'll post. I'll try, but I have feeling I'm going to be a bit worn out - in a happy sort of way. 

 

Week So Far...

We've had a couple of days of no rain, but there were a couple of really hearty downpours today! We managed a nice Sunday Adventure on Sunday, and I managed walks yesterday and today. The weather had turned a bit chillier but we're on the upswing in temperatures now. There was an absolutely beautiful sunrise this morning. 

This was taken with my phone. 

On our Sunday Adventure we stopped by a town that has a tulip festival in a couple of weeks. There is a lovely park with a windmill filled with tulips but it's a bit out of the budget right now so we found a park that had a lovely free tulip display. We weren't the only ones there taking photos!

The park there isn't very big though and as husband wants to walk more, we decided to stop at a beach and take a walk along the beach. 

As we were walking along the beach we saw a lot of these

Husband googled it and we found out they are lotus seed pods. We didn't even realise we had Lotus Blossoms near where the beach was, but apparently there were some that grew somewhere close (not sure where) last year. How they ended up along the shores of Lake Michigan we aren't sure. They were really interesting to see though! 

There was a man and a dog on the beach when we first arrived, but they left soon after and there wasn't anyone else around. I love this time of year because of that. In a month or so the beaches will be packed, they will groom the beaches of anything wild. We usually don't walk the popular beaches in the summer at all. 

On the house side of things, I'm managing to stay afloat and that's about it. There's a few things going on in life that have me a little...off kilter. In all honesty, I'll be glad when the week is done. Nothing life altering, just bits and pieces that make me anxious and I'd rather skip over lol. 

I do have a lovey visit to Baby A and daughter to look forward to starting Friday. My daughter has taken the whole week off and has a lot planned! I'm so excited! I just need to get through this week so I'm trying to focus on the good that's coming...