Weekend

It would have been a rather boring day yesterday. Being so grumpy, I really couldn't be bothered to get up and go for a walk. I turned off the alarm and slept in for a bit. It worked out in my favour, as daughter rang about half past eight and said Baby A wanted to chat! Spent over an hour chatting with her. She wanted to chat later in the evening too and so we spent another hour and a half playing together. She brought all her dolls to the camera and we played with them. She's so adorable and has changed even in the few weeks I haven't seen her. 

Chatting with her really cheered me up yesterday and made a rather boring day a little more fun and filled with sunshine. 

This morning husband and I did go out for a walk. It was quite nice first thing, cooler (16c/61c) when I got up about 6am and the humidity wasn't quite as bad (around 60% I think). We didn't go far, but we did have a nice (but buggy walk). I got bit several times (sigh) but nothing that swelled up too much, though there is one on the back of my neck that feels a bit of a large bump. 

This afternoon we went to the cemetery and put some flowers on MIL's spot. It would have been her 85th birthday on the 17th and as I won't be here, we decided to go today. Huband, sons and FIL will go next weekend too. It still doesn't seem real that she's gone. Sigh. 

I did get into the craft room on Saturday. I've been watching a YouTube channel by Septeria's Room and had a quick go at one of her projects. I used the base that she made (with a 6x6 piece of paper) and then made a little (mini) notebook and some random tags. Not sure how I'll use it but it was fun to make. 

I wasn't up there for long as middle son stopped by for a bit, so I went downstairs and chatted with him.

The craft room is still a mess but at least I'm spending time up there!

This evening I chatted with Baby A again. So much fun! 

I'm enjoying a bit of quiet before bed, watching repeats of Shetland and catching up with blogs. It will be a busy week this week. I leave on Friday. 

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Saturday - Homey Day

Saturday was quite dull and dreary. The forecast had said it was going to rain all day, so I turned off my alarm, not planning a morning walk. Of course, I didn't wake up a lot later than normal and when I did, there was no rain in sight, though it was awfully dark outside. 

There were showers on and off, a lot less than forecast though. I didn't go for a walk. I didn't feel like it and the light wasn't really the sort I wanted to take photos in. I'm still sorting through some I've taken so I have a lot to keep me busy. 

I decided - after going to the Post Office to drop off a couple of packages - to have a day inside and do some 'me' things. It turned out to be a nice day filled with a bit of crafting (and not stressing about the mess in the craft room!) a bit of reading, a bit of cross stitching (yes, I actually did some!) and even a little Lego set put together. 

I hang onto things far too long. I love this planner/diary and buy one each year. The drawings are so beautiful I have trouble just throwing them away so I'm trying to use a few. 

I used some of the papers for this little waterfall journal that will go inside a larger 'junk' journal. 

Also made this little mini notebook. I've only just learned the 3-hole pamphlet stitch to put these together. 

The Lego I put together. You turn the key at the front and the princess twirls. It was fun but fiddly!

Book I'm reading. I got this on an England trip. I've read a couple of the other books on my Kindle, so it's time to read this one and then let it go!

How was your weekend?

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? 

Yup - Rained Out - This and That Saturday

Well, nobody wants to hear this, but more rain. Drizzly for yesterday's walk to start though the sun did come out later. Today, I got rained out and returned home. I think that might be the end of it for a while. Thankfully. We've lots of flooding in the lower areas of town. Luckily, we live on a hill, and things are holding up pretty well though the garden is a sopping mess. 

As I said, I didn't last long on the walk this morning. I came home when the rain started. Husband and I ended up going to a shop he wanted to go for to get a tool he needed, and we stopped at a thrift store. I did find a nice book, but I forgot to take a photo so that will have to be another post. 

When I came home, I tidied up a bit and did some listing, but weekends are for fun things, so I did a bit of this and that - a bit of reading, a bit of stitching, a bit of photography and listened to an audio book. Not a bad afternoon, quite relaxing

This is a book I picked up at a charity shop. A little bit of an interesting read, but it's more about curating a lifestyle than anything. It was fun to look at and a lot cheaper than a magazine! It's gone back into the donate pile. 

Not a long listen, but it was fun and easy

I'm still plodding along on this cross stitch. I hadn't done any on it for a while as the bit I'm on is rather boring, but I will complete it. I only have the backstitch to do now (I finished a bit more after this photo was taken)

I'm trying some flat lay photography. This was one I took with my phone. I want to try something a bit different from what I usually do. 

How is your weekend going? Any projects or plans in the works? 

Weekend

The weekend was quite a peaceful one. I did manage a walk on Saturday and Sunday. My foot was still hurting, but the weather was colder and my feet were freezing so I couldn't feel the pain that much. Not sure that's good or bad lol. I did stay off it most of the afternoons. 

I did a little bit of crafting, but the mess in the craft room is just putting me off (to be frank) so I worked a bit on sorting out some things elsewhere so I can perhaps get some things out of the craft room! I did do a bit of cross stitching. I did a bit of my beaver cross stitch (which I haven't shared in a while) and a bit more on the little kit that came with a magazine. I have a lot of these little kits and want to get a few of them done!

This is the weekend update. I have done a bit more but no photo yet

I am glad I did go out Saturday morning as the sunrise was absolutely beautiful. It's so quiet and peaceful there in the mornings and a perfect way to start the day when I'm up that early. Taken with my phone. 

Sunday was a lot chillier. As we've decided to try to go to some closer places, and we haven't researched really close ones yet, we went to a park up in Grand Rapids. It's a huge park 1400 acres. It has 18 miles of trails, a splash pad (in summer) a six-acre beach (in summer) and boat launches and such too. It has several ponds and there is a path along parts of the Grand River. We went on a favourite trail but have bookmarked another trail to do another time! 

The trail we went on was flat and really easy. Husband is just starting out walking again so we're trying easy to start with - better for my foot too. By the time we were done it was pretty achy and I didn't want to do any more walking!

You can see by the photos that everything is still quite brown looking. There are some closer parks I want to go to but I want to wait until they have some spring flowers in them. Hopefully soon!

Plans this week - to continue sorting. I have a half full bag of things that are ready for donation that I want to fill up by the end of the week. I can't believe we're almost done with March! Only a few more weeks until we see daughter and Baby A

Last Day of February

We had a lovely morning out yesterday. The sun was shining and it was quite mild. We had a good walk along the beach. There was still lots of ice. We were lucky enough to see 13 eagles out on the ice! They were quite far away but we were able to see them. Husband saw one first and we walked a bit further out on the pier and then saw the rest of them. They must have been a family unit. It made us both smile. It was quite far away to get a decent photo but I managed a snap of a few of them. They just look like little blobs lol, but there are two adults in these one and five juveniles. The adults have full white heads. 

I did manage a few photos when they flew overhead. 

They are so majestic! 

Before we saw the other ones out on the ice I was walking along and stopped as a few flew overhead. A lady walking in front of me also stopped. It was quite the sight to see as they aren't that plentiful in this area. 

Today, the weather was all change. Lovely sunny, but chilly morning and snow this afternoon. Not a lot and I'm hoping it won't stick to the roads so when we go out in the morning there isn't an issue. It seems the weather always seems to be bad on Sunday! Mind you, it's supposed to be chilly but at least sunny. It looks as though Monday will be the last sunny day for a while as the forecast calls for rain from Tuesday to Saturday. March is forecast to be a rollercoaster of weather from cold and snow showers to rain and high temps. Ah Spring must be coming!

I went for a walk this morning. It was beautiful and peaceful. I was planning on coming home and doing some crafty things, but it wasn't to be! I was reading my email and came across an email from the tax place I use (online) saying prices would go up to file taxes through them by 40% after tomorrow! It made me think I wanted to get them done, so I dragged things out, added up all my shipping receipts and inventory receipts (took a while) sigh and the time was gone. Daughter and Baby A chatted and when I told daughter what I was doing she said I should check another sight and it looks as though things might be a lot cheaper through them, so I decided not to file with the original company. At least I have all the numbers ready to go! 

Everybody here in the US has to file a tax return. Taxes are taken out of husband's pay, but you have to redo them and make sure you've paid the right amount. Sigh. Not sure why things are done this way, but hey, suppose it's a US thing. 

Tomorrow, we're off out somewhere. Depends on the weather. 

I've added up the decluttering totals for February and will share tomorrow. Have I managed the 28 in 28 days challenge I committed to at the beginning of the month? If I could insert an emoji here it would be gritted teeth. I'm struggling. 

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Weekend

Another dull day. I did get up and go for a walk. It was really calm after the winds yesterday. It was quite peaceful too. Usually Saturdays are quite busy. I suppose it was the dull weather, chilly temps and chance of snow again. I didn't mind. It's nice when it's quiet. 

Husband and son went out this afternoon, and I took advantage of the empty house to get a bit of sorting and reorganising done. I feel quite productive - especially for a Saturday lol. I also took a nice long bath while they were gone. 

As I write this, it's snowing a bit outside. I'm hoping there isn't too much of it so we can go out in the morning. The winds are supposed to be back tomorrow and I'm hoping to go up the lakeshore to take some photos of one of the lighthouses in the wind. Fingers crossed that the weather will co-operate. It's hit and miss in the winter. I don't think the weather people really know what it's going to do. I think part of that is being so close to the lakeshore and the lake-effect snow showers that come with it. 

Things that made me smile today

A peaceful start to the day

A nice bath

Reading through my favourite magazines - decluttering them as I go - and having a chocolate (or two!)

Have you got plans for the weekend? 

Just a Post

No great words of wisdom or things going on. It's been rather blah here and I've been feeling rather blah. Granddaughter had her birthday party yesterday and unfortunately we couldn't make it. It's just making me a little sad and I also realise how hard things must have been for Mum when we were so far away from her. We will be going to see her for her actual birthday. It was a choice between the two. Husband is still working and can't take any more time off in 2025. Only another two and a half years and we won't have the restrictions we do now. That's what I keep telling myself.

It doesn't help that it's been a horrible dreary weekend. Yesterday was grey and dull and a little drizzly all day. We did go out for a bit, but it wasn't a great day out. Today it rained all day. All day. No break at all. We did go out and take a few things back to some shops that I needed to. Other than that, it was a blah kind of day. Tonight, temperatures are supposed to drop dramatically and then we are under a Winter Storm Warning for between (maybe) 4-8 inches snow. It's pretty windy - I can hear the wind howling outside even now - so there will be blowing and drifting snow. 

All that means I probably won't get out for a walk tomorrow either. Sigh. I am going crazy. I would really like a walk! I'm hoping things will at least clear a bit so I can get out on Tuesday. 

Couple phone photos from yesterday.

I did finish my 98th book of the year yesterday. A fun read. 

I needed to get it finished as it was a Kindle Library Loan and it was about to go back!

Hope everyone had a good weekend - and maybe some sunshine (please blow a little this way please!)

Weekend

Not a good start to the weekend. FIL rang last night to say that he had to call an ambulance for MIL. She is currently in the Neuro Intensive Care Unit at a local hospital. I'm not going to say too much about her condition, but please keep her in your thoughts. We did go to visit her today and she was able to talk to us for a little bit which is encouraging. I played a video of Baby A to try to keep her spirits up. I think I might print off some photos to take to her. 

I had a walk this morning, not a long one. I thought I had turned on my alarm, but apparently, I hadn't and I almost overslept! I suppose I needed the sleep. I didn't sleep that well last night, a couple of nightmares, probably because of the worry and when I woke up husband was snoring quite loudly. I could hear him through the earplugs, and it took me a while to get back to sleep. Hopefully tonight's sleep will be better. 

I had plans for the afternoon, but after the visit with MIL I was sort of knocked off-balance and I really didn't get a lot accomplished. I procrastinated more than anything.

Tomorrow husband and I are going to the lakeshore for a walk. It's been unseasonably warm the last few days so hopefully it's not too hot for a walk. Thankfully, the nights have been cooler though. As the days are shorter it takes longer for it to heat up and it cools down more quickly. The weather hasn't felt a lot like Autumn. I'm not complaining too much lol, change is on the way - from a high of 83F/28C we will drop to 66F/18C on Tuesday. 

Photo for today - one of the beavers from last week

It certainly makes me smile to watch them!

Weekend

It's been a pretty good weekend. Hot. Too hot for me. I did go out for a walk with husband both days. Ugh. We were both sweating even with a little exertion. We did quite the walk today. Husband chose the place to go as I was uming and ahing. I wasn't that enthused with his choice, but I went along with it. Saugatuck Dunes State Park. Husband said, we haven't been there for a while. I was thinking, yup, that's because of the hills. I don't like walking all uphill. I think he had forgotten about them, though the name should have given him a clue - dunes=hills. The hills just about did him in! It's pretty much a mile and a half to the beach through the hills, down to the beach, then you have to climb up the sand hill to walk back through the woods up some more hills. I think the sand makes it worse. Needless to say, we were both sweating when we got back to the car, but I think I fared better than him as I walk most days. I still don't like hills though. 

Before we stopped there, we stopped at a Sunflower field. It isn't completely in bloom yet, but there were quite a few sunflowers. I reckon I'll miss most of the blooms and I wanted to see at least a few. I really did enjoy that stop - much more than the hilly walk!

I think it's really generous of the owner to allow people to visit. This is one of the few fields where there isn't a cost to visit or take photos. There are even little cutouts amongst the flowers so people can take photos without trampling in the flowers. They do have a little stall with sunflowers and (today at least) some tomatoes. We bought a couple of both. I want to support the farmer and hope others who visit do the same!

The Weekend

It's been a bit cooler here over the weekend though it's going to heat up again tomorrow and onward. Still, I have enjoyed it while I could. Saturday I was actually up in the craft room. There was a lot of moving things around from one spot to another, but I did sort out a small pile that I'm willing to get rid of. I am in the process of clearing off the desk, so I'll at least have a spot to work. I'm hoping that once I start creating, I can see what brings me enjoyment and what I can decide to get rid of. At least that's the plan! It isn't a big room but, if it wasn't for all the stuff in there, it would be enough for me. 

Today husband and I went out for the morning. We did stop by the beach. It was quite pleasant as we were there when it was fairly cool. There is still smoke in the air, so the sun wasn't really hot. There weren't a lot of people around either (which I particularly enjoyed lol). There were quite a few people fishing. After we had stopped there, we drove along the lakeshore a bit and stopped at another park. That was also quiet (at least for a while). We sat on an old bit of concrete (think it used to be part of a pier) and enjoyed looking at the lake and hearing the gentle lap of the water. I really miss the sound of waves on the beach, but there was a tiny breeze so a little bit of sound!

This afternoon I chatted with daughter and Baby A. They are all feeling so much better now. Baby A was her usual funny self. I so enjoy spending time with her. Even at her age (while it holds her attention) she's good at carrying the phone around and even propping it up so I can watch her lol. 

This week I have to really work on the budget. Last month was quite a strain on finances. This month I need to buckle back down. I am really debating whether I should start writing down everything that we spend. Do you do that? I'm sure I'd find out some things that we spend more on than we should.

Phone Photos for today - 

All-in-all it hasn't been a bad weekend. I've been pretty productive too! How was your weekend? 

Weekend

It wasn't a bad weekend. Quite productive. I did some walking, some relaxing and some sorting/cleaning. I did actually get up in the craft room (despite the heat) and although the worktable isn't all cleared off there is some space to work on. Hopefully I'll be able to get up there again this week. 

On Friday husband took the donation boxes to the charity shop. I have started to fill up another bag, but I don't want it sitting around too long so the plan is to fill it up and then drop it off. There is only a little bit more to sort in the living/dining room and then I will be (sort of) happy with the way things are. 

On Saturday, I went for my normal walk. It was quiet and peaceful. Today husband and I took a little visit to the beach and a walk along the lakeshore. It started to get a bit hot, so we didn't last too long lol. On our way back home I found a Sunday Farmer's Market and I really fancy some fresh tomatoes, so we stopped there and picked up a couple, some fresh eggs, a cucumber and some radishes. Not the cheapest, but both the eggs and the tomatoes were so good! The tomatoes actually had some flavour which I find the ones I find in the shops not to have. I really need to grow some next year!

This week - I have a list made for tomorrow. I do need to make a menu plan. It's on the list to do. I want to make sure to use some items from the freezer in the meal plan. I don't think there will be a lot of food I'll need to buy this week, but I'll make a list and go on Tuesday. 

A couple of phone photos from today

It was actually quite peaceful early in the morning, only a few people around. 

Weekend

It's been rather a relaxing weekend. Yesterday husband and I went to the flea market (a cross between a boot sale and market). It's been years since we've been. I thought it would be something different to do and have a little look around. We lasted about half of it before we both agreed it was too hot, and we left.  We'd like to go back perhaps when it's a little cooler. We wouldn't want to go there all the time, but we agreed it was rather fun to have a look around!

This morning we got up really early (I was up at 4.30am, husband even earlier) as we had decided to drive across the state to go to the National Wildlife Refuge drive and see what we could see. It was a fun day. We walked just a bit (still hot and humid) on the trails but had a good time seeing what we could see. The wildlife refuge is basically just an unspoiled green space that wildlife and birdlife tend to gather close to as there are a lot of waterways. We say loads and loads of egrets and herons, a couple of eagles and lots of other birds. We both had an enjoyable time. 

Later, when we were home, middle son and his girlfriend came over and ate with us. A nice ending to the long weekend. 

Some phone photos from today. 

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend and a good start to the week! What are your plans this week?