The Whole Week Has Passed!

Oh my gosh, the whole week has passed and I haven't posted once. I was pretty sure I posted on Wednesday. Oh well. Things are a bit blah, but life is...well, uneventful and I suppose that's good in a way. I have been doing quite well in the house stuff - sticking to lists and a menu plan. I've been combining trips out, so I don't use as much petrol. It's good in a way as it helps cut down on other spending as well. 

I've been out walking every day. It's been a little chilly in the mornings and I'm having to wear a zip up fleece jacket first thing, but it does warm up later in the day. I've even opened a window or two later in the day, though not as many and for not as long. The days are definitely drawing in and the weather changing with it. 

Husband took out our window air con unit the other day and today he put up protective plastic on the front porch. Perhaps it's a little too early to worry too much about winter, but he had extra time off and I think he just wanted to get it done. 

I am struggling with the decluttering. I need that fairy to come in and just get rid of everything for me. Lol. I know I have work to do, but I'm struggling how to get started again. I'm back on that whole - how much did I spend for that and how can I let that money go. I know that I shouldn't worry too much about that, strike it up to bad decisions and not repeat that going forward but I'm finding it really tough. 

Hope your week has been good! I've got to catch up on blogs again. Always behind. 

Photo for today - a beautiful sunrise 

More Rain...Water Problems...and Yes, a Sunday Walk

Water problems - ugh. Saturday morning my son texted to tell me there was notice on Facebook about a boil water advisory for the whole of our city. Apparently, e-coli was found in the water samples, and we were to boil water for drinking, food preparation, washing dishes. What a pain! It made most people a little mad that it was just posted on Facebook - even businesses found out that way - and not done as an alert of some kind. It was expected to last until Tuesday. We don't drink the city water as it is horrible (at times yellow and even brown) so we had that covered, but we did boil some pots of water so we could do the washing up. We used bottled water for teeth brushing and we washed hands and then sanitised as well. Thankfully it ended today as no more contaminants were found!

It was raining again Sunday when I woke up. I did look and further up north, it was supposed to be dull but dry, so off we went. I'm not sure how often we are going to be able to do these daytrips due to the cost of petrol/gas. It's gone up again. We are going to look closer to home, but I really wanted to visit this park as we hadn't gone all summer due to the cost of parking. It was lovely to be able to get out for a walk. We stopped at Grand Haven first and took a walk along the pier to the lighthouse. There were so many people out there fishing. Apparently, it is salmon fishing season. 

I don't like taking photos of people in public but took a couple quick snaps. There were a lot more people further along. 

Now that the summer season is over, they are already starting to put up the snow fences for winter. 

From there we drove on to Muskegon and took a walk there too. Part of that lighthouse is closed off for some much-needed work on the lighthouse. We saw a lovely little mink scampering along the rocks - photos to come!

They are still working on the walkway at the state park. That was a disappointment. It was supposed to be finished in August, but they are now saying November. It's been closed for almost a year now!

I was really glad we went though. It was raining still when we got back home. It took us longer to get back as there was something happening on the motorway. There was quite a back-up, and we were near an exit, so we got off and took another way back. When I looked it up on Facebook somebody said there was a standoff on the road - a man had got out of his car and started running and they had shut everything down! Not sure how long it was closed, but I'm glad we went another way!

It's now the start of another week and I've began as I mean to go on - writing lists!

How was your weekend? 

More Rain...and some crafts

Friday was a dry day and I managed a nice walk. 

It was lovely to see the sunrise and blue skies. 

I'm glad I got out and had a longer walk as it rained most of the day today and then it was just dull and gloomy. I didn't leave the house. It's good in a way, as no money was spent either! I wasn't that productive either. I thought about doing some sorting, but once again, I'm stuck where to start. I ended up sorting more photos on the computer. Got through a lot of the England ones, so I'm mostly back on track again. 

I did manage to get up in the craft room for a little bit. I'm a little stuck there. I think part of it is trying to get back into the groove again. 

I did use one of my old Marjolein Bastin diaries to make another mini album thingy 

I love her drawings and tend to want to just hang onto the planners, but then what am I going to do with them? This way they can be used for another purpose. 

I also had a pen kit I put together. They are beaded pens. I haven't done a lot with them, they weren't much, but I put them together. I like them. I must admit that I'm tempted by a nice-looking pen lol. 

I am hoping we can get out tomorrow. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the weather might be dry - it's not looking great - but sometimes you just have to make the most of it, but how high the petrol/gas prices are I'm not sure just driving is worth it - though I might go crazy if I stay inside again!

I know that with the seasons changing, there will be more days like this, and I have to get in the mindset that I might not be able to get out every day. 

Hope everyone is having a good weekend. How's your weather? Are things changing? 

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

It's been raining most of the week here. It's driving me more than a little crazy. When I walked Tuesday, I got drenched, Wednesday, pretty wet so this morning when I woke up and it was due to rain, I didn't even bother to go for a walk. Good thing I didn't as I would have ended up as drenched as I did on Tuesday! It absolutely pelted it down again! 

As I haven't procrastinated by taking lots of photos on my walks, I've actually got some things done around the house. I'm caught up with the housework again (I think) and have got (sort of) back into the swing of cooking and meal planning. The everyday mundane things of life. Sigh. 

It looks as though there might be a break in the weather tomorrow before a very wet weekend in the forecast, so tomorrow I'm letting myself have a bit of a wander and a nice walk before coming home and tackling the to-do list. I do have some washing to do, but I did a load on Tuesday (after I got muddy and drenched) so there isn't as much as usual. I'm back messaging with my sister tomorrow too so we'll have a good catch up in the afternoon. 

The photo for today - beach huts at Walton-on-the-Naze. They are at the opposite end of beach than the photos I shared yesterday. By the time we got up to this end the tide was up.

I love these. They are so bright and colourful!

Slow Start

It feels as though I spent the day more puttering around than getting a lot done. It's made me realise that I do need to get back into writing lists, so I've made one for tomorrow and hopefully it will help me keep on track! 

I started out the day with a walk. It was beautiful for about fifteen minutes, then it absolutely chucked it down and I ended up drenched right through to my undies ha ha!

I was planning on going right from the walk to the places I had to go, but ended up having to go back home, dry off and change. 

The rest of the day was on and off downpours and showers. It ended up quite warm though too, so quite muggy. I had turned my online sales back on so had a few things to get ready and package up. I had started doing an inventory and it really helps so I need to make time to get it finished. It isn't something I like doing, but I do like being able to see where to find things. It cuts down on the 'where the heck did I put that' questions!

I'm back into the meal planning too, so picked up enough to finish out the week. I still cringe at the prices. Things were cheaper when I was in England, especially the vegetables! Sigh. I am trying to buy things on sale, or things that can yield more portions. The freezer is pretty full so I'm going to be pulling things out to help create meals and keep the budget lower. If I do see good deals though I do pick them up. 

I'm still working through the photos. I have to say that one of my favourite beach walks is at Walton-on-the-Naze. I find the beach beyond the cafe fascinating at low tide. There are several concrete pillboxes that used to sit on the cliffs and have since fallen onto the beach. They were built in the 1940s to help defend the Essex coastline. When the tide is high, you can't see them at all, but when the tide is out you can walk right up to them. 

We've been there before, but we deliberately waited until the children were back in school as it usually gets quite busy. There have been sharks teeth found along the coastline and I think the children like to look for them. It was such a beautiful day and it was really quiet!

Weekend

Another absence! We ended up taking a long weekend trip to visit daughter and Baby A. We had sort of discussed it and then it turned out husband had to go to Menomonie, Wisconsin to measure something for work and it's only another 2 hour 15-minute drive to daughter's house so off we went! We had a lovely visit and Baby A is growing up in leaps and bounds. She has a really good vocabulary for a 2-year-old (3 in January). It was really nice to spend time with her. 

I have to get back on track now! 

I still have lots to share about the England visit. I'm still trying to back into the groove of things, missing sister, but hey-ho, we're looking forward to next year! I have photos to sort through and (still) some things to put away. I tried not to buy too much while I was away, but I did bring back some food items and a couple of things I found at the charity shops. It was nice to have the break. It always seems like a good time to think about things and what can be changed or things I'd like to spend time on. Hopefully the thoughts and ideas I had while away will carry through!

I've got catching up to do with blogs. From the comments, I'm not the only one have blogging problems!

Phone photo from Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge. We stopped in on the way to daughter's as she was still working (she works from home) and we didn't want to disturb her. I was really surprised to see how low the water levels there were! Places that were usually ponds were now just fields!

Back tomorrow!

Thanks for the visits and comments. 

Plane Drama and Lovely Visit

I'm finding Blogger is being weird. I'm not seeing new posts - sigh. Hopefully, it's just complaining that I've been away too long lol. 

Thanks for all the well wishes for the trip. I am so glad I ended up changing my flight on the way there as the plane that left from Kalamazoo was late and I would have missed my connection. As it was, I made it well on time. My poor walking friend - who was supposed to be leaving 31st August for a trip to Ireland, ended up missing her flights and, because she was with a group, they couldn't be rescheduled for another week! Yikes. 

My flight on the way back from London was on time, but (thanks Chicago - last time flying that airport for a while lol) when I got to Chicago the flight back to Kalamazoo was delayed and delayed and delayed and finally, I had to spend the night in the airport. Not how I wanted to end things. Sigh. Next year, I'm planning on saving a bit more and going the other way (through Detroit) instead.

While over in England, I had a lovely time. I stayed with my middle sister C. We had a great time walking and going places. I met up with my other sister D and my brother M and a variety of nieces, nephews and great nephews. It was lovely. I was really lucky with the weather too as temps had cooled down and we only had a little rain. The worst day was when we were having a family get-together (of course!) and the children couldn't play outside as much as they would have liked. 

I got to visit Mum's bench, the most memorable time on her birthday. A lovely Robin came to sit on the seat beside us just as we were taking photos. It was a lovely moment. 

I still have lots of catching up to do. I've given myself the rest of the week and then next week I am going to get back into the house-y things and getting back on track with some decluttering and goals. 

I'll post more photos over the next couple posts. 

Back

Just a quick post to say I'm back. I'll be catching up in the next few days. 

Couple sunrises from the window of the room I stayed in at my sister's house. She sees some glorious sunrises!

Friday - Getting Ready - Last Minute Panic

 Wish me luck! I think I could use it. 

Back Story - when I booked my flight back in February, I booked a midday flight from Kalamazoo to Chicago, and I'd have a few hours layover in Chicago before my flight to Heathrow. At some point, they decided to cut out that midday flight and just have an early morning 6am something flight and one at 4.30 in the afternoon. It only gives me an hour and a half between flights. Not the greatest. I'm one of those people that would rather be there early, sit and read and relax. Trying to run between flights (when one is at one end of the airport and the next at the other) isn't my idea of fun. The last few days that 4.30 flight has been late, not just a little bit but at least two hours late each day. 

I decided to take a look and see if there was an alternative.

There's an airport about 45 mins away (the one I fly out of when I go to daughter's) that has several flights a day to Chicago with the same airline I'm flying with. I thought it would be easy to change. Nope. Apparently, it's not allowed. I 'chatted' to someone online that said they could only help me after I missed my flight lol. If I decided to drive to Chicago and not take the first flight, they would mark me as not having flown and I wouldn't be able to do any of the trip! I protested and she finally said she would see if she could change me. I had upgraded the flight so she told me that would go back on airline credit, and they would have to charge me $400! 

In the meantime, I had looked at how much it would be if I just rebooked the whole thing - same flights except that first bit. The price was about what I had originally paid (with my upgrade). I told her not to bother; I'd just cancel and rebook. I did it and am now on an earlier origin flight (a couple hours extra). 

Bit upset with the airline, as I could do what they couldn't seem to do (after being with them online for about an hour) with no additional cost and the original fare being refunded to my card. Told husband, next year I'm just going with the other airline and paying a bit more. Sigh. I don't like Chicago Airport. Apparently, it tops the list of most stressful airports in the US. 

At this point, I've decided what will be, will be. I've done what I can to accommodate any delay. I'm packed and trying to relax a bit before leaving for the airport. Hopefully, all will go well! 

I am looking forward to seeing my sister and visiting Mum's bench and taking some flowers. It will be a lovely, relaxing time. We'll do some walking, lots of eating, and plenty of reading. 

I did manage a little walk yesterday so that was good and relaxing.

All ready to go!

On the Countdown

I leave on Friday for England to visit my sister and family. I'm really nervous this time. The flight I booked originally got changed (the bit from here to Chicago) and now I'm panicking that I don't have enough time between flights. Eeeek! I hate it when I book one time and the airlines change/cancel that flight. Apparently, they cut out flights from Kalamazoo to Chicago and there's only one early in the morning and then the one I'm on. Sigh. To make matters worse, I decided to Google how many times the flight is delayed and the last two days it has been hours late!!!! Definitely panicking. 

Deep Breath. 

What will be will be. That's what I keep telling myself. There are later flights that go to England and I will make it there - in the end. Right? That's all that matters. I'm not nervous about the flying. Once I'm on that plane to England, I'll be ok. 

I'm trying to get things tidied at home. I know husband and older son will be here, but still, I like knowing things are tidy when I leave. Is that just a me thing?

The weather has been strange. It's been cloudy, foggy and even a little drizzly in the morning. It's been hot and humid most days. I have been going out for a walk - just for the exercise - but I'm struggling making myself do it. I know I'll be doing plenty of walking when I get there!

I haven't started packing, but I have started sorting out piles of clothes, the maybes and the definites. I can narrow things down from there. I'll do the actual packing tomorrow night I think and try not to second guess myself lol. 

A few phone photos from my walk

Sunlight through the trees

I love how the bees rest on the milkweed flowers at nighttime. I see them early morning, just perching very still on the plants out by the lake. They do make me smile!