Getting Back into Daily Stuff - Everyday Life

I have three weeks at here before I go back to England to visit sister and family. I'm so excited! But, for now, I need to try to get back into the groove of household stuff before the trip home. That means trying to get things under control and getting back into daily stuff. 

I've been walking in the mornings with my friend. It's been hot and humid first thing, so we've been trying to get out early to beat the heat. The horrible bitey flies are in full swarm and I've taken to wearing a scarf about my head as they seem to like landing in my hair - yuck! I shouldn't complain too much. When I was at daughter's I managed to go to the wildlife refuge drive a couple of times and they were so bad I couldn't even get out of the car at points! I also had to roll the windows up. A shame really as it was really lovely and I could hear lots of birds singing. I can deal with mosquitoes, but the bitey flies (I think they are called deer flies) aren't deterred by sprays and when they bite, they hurt! I swell up quite a bit with them. It isn't fun! Some mornings it's so bad I wonder why I'm going out at all!

The house stuff, well, I'm caught up on housework and I'm trying to sort out a few bits. It's not going great, but better than it did last month - so I'll take that! I am limiting what comes into the house too. With prices going up and husband's countdown (2 years) to retirement, I really need to watch what we're spending. I think it all comes down to choices and what we choose to spend our money on. I don't need anything else for hobbies - no matter how pretty the papers are or how cheap they are. I'm really trying to change my mindset and not fall back on old patterns of spending especially if something is on sale, or a bargain, or I feel the 'need' to shop when I'm feeling down. 

I'm back to writing lists and planning menus. The freezer is full, so it's mainly cooking from there with some fresh bits. Things seem to be going up every time I go to the shops! There are some cod fish fingers/sticks I like that (for 15 of them) the price has gone up from 7.99 to 11.99 within a few months. Sadly, I won't be buying them at that price! There are so many things that are out of the price I'll pay for them now. I watch for sales and plan around them and stock up when things are on sale. I need to go back to the recipe books and find some cheap, hearty meals. 

Is there a favourite recipe you use when trying to save money or use up freezer things? 

Photo for the day

Summer Mornings

Days Going By

Things are starting to warm up in my part of Michigan. Husband put in the window air conditioner for the main floor. It's not great and I try not to use it a lot, but it does get rather humid in the house, so I have it on the dry setting more than anything. I like having the windows open especially when there's a breeze. It makes the house feel a lot fresher. Outside, everything is so green. I like that the bushes and trees finally have leaves on them, so the garden feels a bit more private. I took time after dinner this evening to sit on the back porch. It was lovely to see a bunny in the garden as well as several Orioles and even a hummingbird! I have a hummingbird feeder out, but the raccoons seem to like it more than the hummingbirds lol. 

Inside, I'm not really getting much done. I am trying to write lists as they do help. I've come to a bit of a grinding halt with the decluttering. I really have to sort this house out, but I'm back to struggling again. I think if I stop doing it for a while I find it more difficult to get it started again. I failed completely at sorting the bedroom last month. I managed to sort through my clothes and that was it! This month is going to be quite busy with other things so I'm really not sure how much is going to get done this month either. 

I think, going forward, at the beginning of each month I'm going to write down some goals in my notebook - different ones for each area of my life - and then add at least one of two of those into my daily planning. I do like seeing things written down as it makes me want to tick them off the list. Do you have tricks to get projects (house-y or hobby) completed? 

Walking with my Friend - instead of meandering around, I've been making sure I walk each day. The mornings are getting warmer now and that means there are more people around. There are some quieter trails at Asylum Lake and those are the ones we like to walk. We've been seeing lots of new life around - the Sandhill Cranes had a baby, the swans had eight, several geese had families and the deer are finally having their offspring. It's so lovely to see. 

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. 

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...

Wednesday

Yah! I did manage to get out for a walk today. I didn't go at my usual time, as it was pouring down. I waited a bit, watched the radar and weather conditions and managed to get out for a bit of one between showers. It was quite peaceful. Lots of puddles. The water level is really high. It's high everywhere. We are under a flood watch - for low areas - due to so much rain!

I got a haircut, well just a trim and it's rather fluffy now due to the humidity. I'll probably have to straighten it. I don't do it often, but when it's like this it's just a mess. I stopped at all the places I need to stop at so tomorrow I won't have to go anywhere - might have to do the Post Office Friday or Saturday as I've sold a couple more things. 

It's supposed to rain AGAIN all day tomorrow so it will be another hit-or-miss for walking. Thankfully, Friday seems to be a dry day so if I can't go tomorrow, I'll leave more time on Friday to have a meander perhaps with my friend and then by myself. I have an Asylum Lake meeting tomorrow - second one in a month - but we ran out of time at the last meeting and still have things to discuss. It is taking up more time than I thought would be required. I do the social media too. I enjoy that part of it, but I'm not a fan of the interacting with other people. I am planning on continuing with the board meetings at least until husband retires, then I'll have a rethink. Unless, before that time, someone else comes along that wants to join the board (there is a limit to the amount of people on the board). There's been quite a bit of turnover even in the two and a half years I've been on the board, and I know there are older members who are looking to 'retire' when others can be recruited. 

Plans tomorrow - I do have to do the decluttering. I keep saying that. I'm just struggling with tiredness right now. It seems that, in this menopause journey, there are nights when I can't sleep at all, nights where I really want to sleep but keep waking up and times when all I want to do is sleep! I'm in a cycle of the last two at this time. I really feel like I could sleep a long time in the afternoon and then stay up half the night! Unfortunately, it's not an option as the other members of the household have to sleep 'normal' hours. I don't want to disturb their sleep. 

This and That

It's not been a bad start to the week. I haven't been as productive as I had hoped, but there's still a few days left! Yesterday, I participated in my small group for my camera club. I do so hate talking to people, get very anxious, but I'm determined to do more of it and it went okay. I did talk and share a couple of photos. I am going to keep doing it. I think things will get easier the more times I participate. It is nice to hear what the others in the group have been up to and get inspired by their photography. 

I have been for a walk both days, but today I got rained out first thing today, so went a bit later on. I was glad I went back as the toads (I think they are toads) were out in full force, singing and playing. It was all rather fun. I could hear them making lots of noise and almost (yikes!) stepped on a couple of them. Thankfully, I looked down before I took another step. 

The next few days look to be wet. Hopefully, there will be enough of a break that I can get out for a walk, otherwise I'll concentrate on getting some house things done. I do have a hair appointment tomorrow and I have to go to the post office so those will be combined. I think I should probably stop by the shops and pick up a few bits while I'm out doing that. 

The days seem to go by so quickly! We are halfway through April, and I realise that I haven't done a lot of decluttering yet, so that is definitely on the list for the next few days. As the weather gets better and we get busier I know the decluttering will suffer so I have to make sure to make it a point to sort a little something each day. There are a couple of areas in the house that needed to be revisited on a regular basis, those little places that we tend to just put stuff 'for now' and never seems to get moved! Do you have spots like that in your house? 

I am pleased with how the main areas of the house are looking. They aren't minimalistic - I won't ever be that I don't think - but they are looking a lot tidier. If only the same could be said for the craft room!

The beautiful sunshine after the rain. 

Friday/Saturday

On Friday I did manage a walk. It wasn't the greatest weather, but I did see quite a few things - Beavers, Egrets (unusual for Asylum Lake), a juvenile Bald Eagle, a Mink, a Possum, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (just love that name!) and a Brown Creeper (wish these were called Tree Creepers as they are in England). I knew on Saturday it was supposed to rain so I thought I'd have a good walk on Friday in case I couldn't get one in on Saturday. 

I didn't get a lot done around the house on Friday. I ended up chatting with Baby A twice. She was home from daycare and daughter was off work so we chatted for a couple of hours in the afternoon and once later in the evening (for another hour or so). She's so funny how she takes me around with her and can set me up. She's only 2 so it's amazing she can work the phone so well lol. I'll just add, that she doesn't get much screen time in the way of watching videos or television - they are quite strict about that. Perhaps I'm her entertainment lol. 

After our first video chat, as I was getting ready to message with sister I noticed that we were without power! 

Confession time (and I must admit that I feel a little stupid) - after chatting with Baby A and before messaging sister, I read for a little while and then decided to turn on the tv for background noise while messaging sister. I tried the remote and it didn't work. I thought it was the batteries. Looked for some more. Couldn't find any. Decided to try to see if another remote had batteries in it, changed said batteries and remote still didn't work. Decided to order some batteries from Amazon. Picked up computer, saw charge was low and plugged it in, went to go on website for Amazon and saw there was no internet. IT DAWNED ON ME THEN! I went into bedroom, looked at electric clock - no power. 

Slapping my head. Silly me! 

Messaged with sister - we're back at the usual five hours between us now that the UK clocks have changed. 

Three hours later power still not on. Isn't it funny how you try light switches and such automatically? The power finally did come on a little after six and we all breathed a sigh of relief. Not sure what had happened as there was no inclement weather at all. 

I did chat again with Baby A. She's so funny. 

Saturday, it rained all day. No walk. We went to the Amish store and got some nice cheese and a few goodies. In the afternoon I chatted a long time with Baby A, did a bit of crafting and sorting and some moving things around. The day went by really quickly! 

Rainy day

The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Hope you are having an enjoyable weekend. Happy Easter for those who celebrate tomorrow. 

End of March

Another month done and dusted. I was looking back at some photos I took, at the beginning of the month there was still quite a bit of ice on Lake Michigan, but it was beginning to break up. Now it is all gone and the sands are starting to be smoothed back out ready for the tourist season which will begin again in earnest in May. 

I am glad of some days of warmer weather, though the ups and downs are driving me a little bit crazy! Today people were wearing shorts (it wasn't quite that warm IMO). I did break out a t-shirt in the house today and it was nice not to have the heating on. Hopefully, next month the temperatures will even out a little bit. 

Moods this month have been up and down, winter has seemed so long, but the end is in sight now. Next month will include a visit to see Baby A - so excited and counting down the weeks. House stuff - semi-productive. I'll have decluttering totals tomorrow. I'm still plodding along!

Speaking of plodding along. I am still continuing with my Phone Photos - Things That Make Me Smile 2026 (photo every day). These are the collages for the month

It definitely helps my mood when I'm looking for something to make me smile for the day :)

How was your month? 

Friday Again

The end of another week. Not a bad one in all. Hit and miss on the productivity, but I feel as though things are a little more balanced than they have been which is a goal of mine. I don't want to hyperfocus on one thing and get nothing else done!

Warning - bit of a moan - I've done something to my 'good' foot. It's really painful - OUCH - constant pain. It started about Wednesday when I was out walking and felt as though my sock was bunched up under the middle of my foot and I was walking on bunched up hard fabric. Got home and there was nothing there. The side of my foot seemed a bit hard and tender when I pressed on it. Thursday morning - ouch, just ouch. Getting out of bed and stepping on my foot was OUCH. I went for a little walk and could barely step on it the rest of the day. When I'm walking it feels as though I've got something stuck up under the arch. Not any better today. Husband thinks I might have done something to the tendon - maybe actually did step on something and messed it up. It wouldn't surprise me as you can't always tell what's under the snow. 

I'm going to see if it gets any better over the next few days. If not, I'm going to have to go and have it looked at. I can barely put any weight on it at all. I can't just sit. I'll go crazy. 

Moan Over. 

I did go for a tiny walk today. I'm not going to do a lot of walking over the next few days, a shame as husband and I had decided a nice walk would be good for Sunday. I don't want to make things worse than they are though so we shall have to take a little one. It was actually nice enough this afternoon to sit on the back porch for a little while. A deer had decided to take a rest in the garden and was laying down close to our fence with the neighbour. 

Made me smile. She was there for quite a while, at least until I went inside. 

I chatted with Baby A today again. We played dolls for a while. Just a little over a month until we will see her - something to look forward to!

It was my father-in-law's 85th birthday today so husband took him out to lunch. They are going out again tomorrow. I'm going to go to Asylum Lake and sit by the beavers' lodge for a little bit and then come home and craft for a while!

What are your plans for the weekend? 

Mid-Week

Cold again this morning. Dreary too. I did go for a walk, but I must admit it's getting to be a struggle to be motivated. Things are supposed to get warmer over the next few days though, so fingers crossed. I wasn't quite as productive as I wanted to be, but I did get my dailies done, some listing and I attended my camera club zoom talk, so not a bad day in all. 

The zoom talk was really inspiring. So much to think about. It was Paul Sanders . He worked at a large newspaper, had a breakdown, stepped down and found solace in photography. Such a good talk and I'm glad I attended. It gave me a lot to think about as I haven't felt really motivated in my photography either. I'm hoping it's just because the weather is getting me down!

Baby A was back in daycare today but as soon as she got home, she wanted to talk - though she suddenly got very shy and wouldn't chat at all to begin with lol. Daughter said she had demanded to talk to Nanny when she got home. She wanted to see her Grandpa and her Uncle. Once again, she did more hiding than chatting. She did say Goodbye Uncle, but only after he'd already left lol. Son-in-law was home today, but he's feeling better. He has to go to work tomorrow as he doesn't have any more time off (he doesn't have any sick time and only gets a few holiday hours calculated by how many hours he works).

Tomorrow, I'm chatting to my sister in the afternoon - usually a Friday thing, but it's her daughter's birthday on Friday so they are going out for a meal. I'm looking forward to chatting and seeing some photos of Spring from her end lol. 

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Mid-Week - Crafty Bits

It did rain this morning. When I woke in the middle of the night, I looked at the weather and it said it wasn't supposed to rain, but by the time I woke up again early morning, the forecast had changed and it was perhaps maybe going to rain. After I'd woken up a bit, the forecast had changed again, and it was going to rain all morning. After my run to the post office, I stayed in. I did go upstairs and do a bit of crafting and a bit more of looking at the mess. The day seemed to go quite quickly. 

I finished the cross stitch I was working on (the fox). This kit was just terrible. It was that cheap one I bought at The Works (I think). The fabric to stitch on was too small and when I went to put it in the card they provided that was too small as well! I think I have a larger one somewhere (in the crafty mess). When I do find it I'll see if that one fits any better. 

I actually finished another little kit. This one came with a cross stitch magazine. I think I have a lot of these little ones hanging around. 

This one had plenty of fabric and the card fit well!

While I was putting these ones together, I remembered another little 'free' kit I had completed and never put the cards and stitching together so I did that too. 

Later in the afternoon, in a pile I had semi-sorted, I remembered a small jigsaw puzzle that I had (just 100 pieces) that I wanted to do and then get rid of (it might go to my walking friend).  Oh my. Now I remember why I don't do jigsaws anymore lol. I don't find them relaxing or fun. It drove me nuts despite being small! 

It was pretty though. 

At least one thing will be leaving the house lol. 

Tomorrow the weather looks better so I'll be able to get out for a walk and then there are some housey things I need to get done. Not my favourite household day. 

How is your week going?

I've walked both Monday and Tuesday. Not sure I will tomorrow as it's supposed to rain most the day. Heavy rain. If that does actually happen, it will be a day inside. My life really isn't that eventful, hence the blog title, so must of what I'm being doing is very mundane, a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I have done a meal menu for the week and already bought what food was needed. I am trying to do better about staying on budget and spending less in general. Tightening our belts financially was part of the plan but the rising cost of things and the thought of being overwhelmed with 'stuff' is bringing the issue to the forefront. 

I think once I get on track and break the habit/routine of going to certain shops things will be a lot easier. If I do get the urge to shop, I'm trying to shop from the things I already have. I really do need to get the amount of stuff in the house under control. The decluttering is continuing but in dribs and drabs. I know every little counts, but I need to let go of a little more.  Obviously, part of that is also bringing less stuff into the house. I've seen some people doing the 1 in 1 out or 1 in 2 out method of things. Is that something you've tried? 

Photos from the walk yesterday - the sun was still shining

Fairly Uneventful Day

It was a pretty uneventful day today. I suppose that's good in a way. Went for my walk first thing. It felt colder out than the temperature said (just below freezing). After that, I dropped packages off at the post office and then stopped at a few shops. I am going to try to get back into the habit of trying to do all stops on the same day due to rising petrol costs. I know I should have been doing that, and I have been sort of, but now I am consciously completing all the stops, whether I'm behind on time or not! I got home, did my dailies and what I had planned for the day. For some reason I was really tired and cold this afternoon. I struggled to stay awake and to stay warm! Not sure what was going on. I ended up putting my Snuggie thing on and a blanket and that helped. I did mess up on dinner. I didn't get things in on time. Husband offered to go pick something up, but I said no, rummaged around in the freezer and managed to get a few bits together. Not the dinner I had planned or the perfect dinner, but it was food and things from the freezer and cupboards were used. Tomorrow I'll do better!

Tomorrow is more of the same, but straight home after my walk. I plan on getting up in the craft room for a bit - some crafting and some sorting/tidying up. For some reason I do feel guilty if I do 'fun' things during what should be work hours. Is that just me? 

After dinner (already planned and I WILL cook it) I have a meeting in the evening for Asylum Lake. There's a lot going on with the lake so I'm sure it will be quite a long one!

No exciting photo, just one from behind the beavers' lodge. Still quite icy, but there is some melting and more to come in the next few days!

Everyday Life

I've been keeping up with the lists, and I certainly feel more productive using them. It's just a matter of remembering to write them each night! Same with the food menu. Writing one cuts down on the popping to the shops for random items which saves money. I feel as though I'm doing more to watch the spending, but it still seems as though we are hemorrhaging money as things are more expensive. I am glad I'm doing the reselling thing (for now) as it does bring in some money for extra things. 

I can't believe it's coming up to the end of February. Once again, I'm not sure where the month has gone! It's been another cold and snowy month so I'm hoping March will be better. 

I have been up in the craft room this week, though I haven't been decluttering it. The desk has a bit of space cleared off that I can actually craft on it. I feel as though I'm starting all over again with some crafting things. It's lovely to be up there though. Perhaps the more time I spend up there, the more I will want to clear out more space. I did notice that quite a bit of the reselling inventory ended up there so I need to work out a space somewhere else that it can go.  

Husband has worked his 40 hours this week and has tomorrow off. The weather is supposed to be lovely - sunny and a temperature of 54f/12C - a definite improvement on the temps we have had. It's back down on Saturday with snow in the afternoon. Not sure why there is such a jump in temperatures for one day, but I'm going to enjoy it! 

Oh, the other day, after the snow had cleared (and before snow returned again) I happened to look over in my neighbour's garden (there is no fence on that side) and saw SNOWDROPS!!!! 

What a lovely surprise!

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Not a Bad Day

I've had a couple of fairly productive days. The list making helps. I got more done today than I anticipated as husband texted and said he'd be home early (he had to go on a driving trip for work, and it was shorter than expected). When he comes home differently than expected it throws me off. I know that I should go with the flow, but I find it really difficult to do. After all these years, husband is finally getting it and said he'd stop in and see his dad for a bit and then take my car for a (much needed) oil change and car wash. 

Oil changes are not cheap. I checked the website for coupons and then (for some reason) decided to google whether they had a veteran's discount. They did, so I told husband to ask about it. He did and ended up with 25% off! Glad that's out of the way again for a bit. 

Tomorrow is more of the same. One of the piles I wanted to tackle has (sort of) been tackled. Another I was starting to sort through when husband said he'd be home soon, so I put it all back away again. Sigh. It will be tackled tomorrow! I'm going to be positive and get it done. Wednesday is one of my quieter household-y days, so I'll have time. No excuses. 

Things That Made Me Smile today

The Light on Asylum Lake - the temperatures here have been really mild the last few days, but the lake is still frozen. Loved the sunlight on the ice today. 

My Merlin App picked up a Red-winged Blackbird today! It's the first sign of Spring here in Michigan. I think it's more of a false spring though as temperatures are expected to drop dramatically on Friday!

A Cooper's Hawk sitting nicely in the woods, ready to be photographed. 

How was your day? What made you smile today?

 

Today

Thursday already. I thought I'd slip in a post as I won't be posting tomorrow and maybe not Saturday either depending on what day we get back! This turned out to be a good week to go on a mini-adventure as husband has already worked 38 hours this week and they wouldn't want him to work overtime. He'll only have to put in for 2 hours of holiday/vacation pay. I said about taking a short week, but he likes to stay at 40 hours so that's what he'll be doing. 

Today my friend and I went back to the Fish Hatchery. It was a good choice. It was well below freezing this morning when we walked, but the trails were a lot more accessible, so it was easy to walk around them. We saw quite a few birds including the resident blue heron - one of the very few that stick around the area for winter as there aren't many open water areas. I suppose this one has its pick of the fish as there are plenty around lol. There were several trumpeter swans which make a lovely noise and lots of different kinds of ducks. We even saw a Kingfisher, another of the birds we don't often see in winter due to lack of open water. 

I did my everyday cleaning today and then settled down to 'chat' with sister. I asked her at the beginning of the week if we could change our day to today so that I can spend time with her without being rushed due to our time away. She was happy to change the day. Time always goes so fast when we are catching up with our week. I always wonder what we're going to chat about as I don't seem to do a lot, but time passes so quickly and before I know it, it's time to wrap things up. 

Not sure what time we'll be leaving tomorrow. Our plan is, well, it's just to meander up the shoreline, stop at a few places and get to the hotel sometime later in the afternoon. We'll see where the road takes us! The weather is supposed to be lovey, sunny and a lot milder than it has been!

A couple phone photos from today

It was so cold this morning that the water I left in my car froze solid!

I hope everyone has a good rest of the week! 

Midweek - Little of This and That

I'm so glad I did my photography day yesterday. Today wasn't so nice. It was quite a bit colder - below freezing all day - and quite dull. I did a walk at Asylum Lake and really wished I hadn't bothered. The trails were horrible. I'll preface this by saying that the snow is quite deep - on some well-used trails it has been packed down and on others not so much. Because of the warmer temps yesterday and the colder ones today, the snow and ice melted, got trodden on a bit and then refroze. It makes for some (what I call) watch where you are stepping, or you'll break an ankle trails. In several places the melted footprints went down several inches. It's not a lot of fun. My walking friend and I have arranged to meet back at the fish hatchery tomorrow. 

I came home and did the usual everyday house-y stuff and then I tried to declutter. I am really struggling with it right now! I went up in the craft room, looked through things, declared that I'm going to use them and didn't get rid of basically anything. Sigh. I'm really thinking of pulling out a few things to put in a use-it-or-lose-it pile. 

I said yesterday that I was going to try to declutter at least 10 items today and I did manage it. I got rid of 16 items by the end of the day but that was a struggle!

Here's the photo I took of a few - they are mostly books but hey-ho, anything going is good, right? 

I ended up taking this sign off the bedroom wall and putting up another picture that I had purchased and was hanging around. 

On a side note - I have been posting photos of the mugs I've been using on Instagram, so I took a photo of one I'd picked up the other day and thought I'd check on Google, just to see if it was worth anything - sometimes I enjoy them for a while and donate or resell. I checked this one, and YIKES! it has sold consistently for $50+ dollars! I paid either 1.29 or 99cents for it. 

It is a blue glass celestial mug made by Libbey. When I saw it, I thought, cool mug. Now I'm thinking - I'm glad I picked it up. I almost didn't. 

Things That Made Me Smile Today - had a lovely chat with Baby A. She is hilarious! She took the phone and we hid behind the curtains in the living room while she held a bunch of stuffed animals on her lap and read me a book. She was so chatty! She is just so delightful. Was lovely to hear from her as I've been feeling down. It's funny how such a little thing like a video call can make all the difference. 

Nice Walk - Things That Make Me Smile

I went on a nice walk today. By myself. I took it as a photography day. It was so lovely out - our temperature got above freezing - YES! - and the sun was shining. I think it got to 6C/43F which is a heatwave for us after the last few weeks. Our main roads are completely clear and even most of the side roads are looking a lot better now. Our driveway is a mess - melted packed down snow melting and then freezing at night. Ugh. It's the time of year when I have to be careful not to slip and fall. 

I stayed until early afternoon, stopped at a couple of places on my way home and didn't end up getting anything done at home except my dailies. Oh well. I didn't want to waste such a lovely day. I did make it back in time for my online camera club meeting. A few people from the club were giving talks on project they have done. I'm glad I participated as it was very interesting. 

As I did more play than work today, tomorrow is going to be the opposite - more work than play. That includes doing a bit of listing items for sale, as well as a bit more decluttering. I am keeping up with the item a day challenge this month - I have 20 in total so far! - but I'd like to declutter at least 10 tomorrow. I have a half full bag that is going to the charity shop, and I'd like to get it filled up before adding it to the pile that needs to go. 

A couple of phone photos from today - all things that made me smile. I'm not sure which one to use as my 'Smile' project photo for the day

Lovely blue skies

Bench buried in the sand and snow

Remnants of an ice volcano. These form along the lakeshore as the ice comes to shore. Water erupts from the middle and spurts ice on the shoreline. This is in what is usually the water - though there is a lot of ice behind it!

What made you smile today?