TGIF!! Time to share five random things about out week. Here’s mine:

1. Thursday night, the last storm blew in, bringing high winds and rain. All was fine here, but it was pretty dramatic and kept me and Maggie awake. Wizard slept through through it, LOL.
2. We continue to love the new floors. Although they aren’t self cleaning, so there’s that
3. The other day, the microwave refused to start and claimed I hadn’t put the food in. I swore at it, and then went into a mini tirade lecturing the microwave that it did not get to tell me how to do my job. Why doesn’t it just do it’s job?? Huh? Yeah, I was annoyed. Wizard was sitting at the bar laughing his butt off. Which, of course, made me laugh. It’s just a day in our life. But the microwave was wrong, just so you know. I’d put the food in, but it had forgotten that small fact (because some arbitrary amount of time passed — and it’s short term memory sucks…just saying). The microwave is lucky I need it to heat my coffee.
4. Since walking has been hit or miss with weather, I’ve upped my yoga and added some very very light weights and I’m also doing standing crunches. It’s  been a few weeks now and is going pretty well. So far, I haven’t triggered any neck or shoulder spasms. It’s been a quiet week so the little things are exciting, LOL
5. It’s Superbowl this Sunday! We are going to Middle Son’s and I can’t wait! Maggie’s invited too, she is going to be so happy! Going in the car is always the best day ever for Maggie. Wizard and I are looking forward to seeing Middle and his wife, their dogs and just hanging out for a few hours.

That’s my five, it’s been a quiet week! Now I’d love to hear yours. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

TGIF! Time to share five random things about our week. Here’s mine:

1. Monday I got my cervical spine x-ray done. I was in and out very quickly, which is a win. No report yet, but I’m not really expecting any big changes since I had the two level disk replacement surgery done. This was just to rule our bone spurs or something along those lines. I did get results on my throat swab, no indication of viral, bacterial or fungal infections. Pretty much what we expected, but again, we’re eliminating as much as we can in trying to solve the mystery of my throat issue. At this point, I’m becoming resigned to just living with it.
2. Yesterday, Wizard and I went to our sister in law’s house (wife of brother who passed away) to pack up Mike’s books, magazines and repack some CDs. We packed 36 boxes! I’m not surprised how many books we packed, Mike was very well read on a variety of diverse subjects, including wars, religion, philosophy, poetry, music, art and pop culture. He read just as widely in fiction, including many female authors (he also read my books and was a fan of Blood Magic). There were moments where I caught myself talking to him as I was going  through his books. That’s okay, of course, but I didn’t want to freak out his wife who was upstairs working at her day job   I’m posting pictures of the boxes stacked five boxes high and two rows. I had two more boxes that we took home.
3. Poor Maggie! You won’t believe what happened to her yesterday — A Bath! She was outraged. Well truthfully, she was scared, sigh. She hates baths and water. But she’s all clean now and I put on her new green collar on her.
4. Today I’m meeting Biker Witch for lunch. I’m looking forward to that!
5. Tomorrow Oldest and I are taking some of the boxes filled with books to a donation site or two. Not sure what we’ll get done, but it’s a start. Trying to help here and there has reminded me how much I don’t want to move again!

That’s my five. Now I’d love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

TGIF for the last time in 2023!! Doesn’t the year always seem fast when it’s in the rearview mirror??? Anyhow, time to jump into sharing five random things about our week (warning: it’s an intentionally quiet week for me and therefore a very short Friday Five).

1. We took our Christmas decorations down yesterday. I’m always ready to do that soon after Christmas. And we got rid of some of the older decorations we don’t need anymore.
2. There’s a lot more room in my freezer these days! I really had it packed full! It makes finding things, and grocery shopping, much easier again.
3. Is anyone else disappointed that we’re heading into 2024 and we still don’t have the pill that restores our youth and vitality?
4. We don’t have any real plans for New Years. We talked about going out to dinner, but we’ll probably stay in and maybe open some wine. Whatever we do, we’ll enjoy it.
5. I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year!! My wish is that 2024 brings us all good health and true joy! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

That’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours!

TGIF! Let’s jump right into sharing five random things about our week:

1. It rained Wednesday night and it’s supposed tonight and through today. I also wanted to take Maggie to take cookies to her vet and one other person, but we’ll see. I’ll see how the day goes and adjust as needed. Look at me being an easygoing flexible adult!
2. I’m done with the general baking that I plan to give away. I have a few more things to do for parties, but that should all be manageable. In another episode of Baking Weirdness: I made thumbprint cookies and the ones I filled with raspberry jam came out as expected. The ones I filled with lemon curd — the curd was absorbed into the cookie. It’s the same curd I used for the same recipe last year, so who knows? It’s just been that kind of year   And two fun, new to me, things I made: A version of Thin Mint cookies — I tried one and loved it. And some pretty easy but fun Grinch Cookies that are green. I didn’t try one, but Wizard loved it so I’ll call it a win. I’ll try to get some pictures to post next week.
3. A few days ago,  I had two baking sheets of cookies in a 375 degree oven, and needed to rotate the pans. That went well…I’m fine, I’ve had a lot worse burns. This one isn’t too painful, and thankfully, it’s not really in my way. This was my fault, I was mad at myself for not measuring the butter correctly, and then I destroyed my shoulder trying to fix it, so I was in pain and not being careful. However the pan didn’t “stick” to my skin, more just brushed against it, so I got off easy with this burn!
4. I finally broke down and scheduled a follow-up with the ENT about my throat. The meds haven’t worked yet, but the appointment isn’t until February 5th, so maybe it’ll clear up. This ENT and I don’t mesh well with our communication styles, so I’m going to really attempt to adjust my own style and see how that goes. I’m trying to me a proactive adult
5. We have two family parties Saturday and Sunday. I’m looking forward to those!

That’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a safe and fun weekend. And that all of you celebrate the holiday with those you love. Merry Christmas!

TGIF!! We are already a week into December, this year is racing toward 2024 now. With no time to waste, lets jump right into sharing five random things about our week:

1. I made dairy and gluten free pumpkin cookies for youngest. He’d mentioned about 7 times he liked them, so I finally took the very subtle hint and made them. Cookies are my favorite things to make for smaller projects. But I miss making cakes and decorating them. I’ll get back to it this next year though, and I keep reminding myself of that.
2. I’m not very happy with the Christmas cards I ordered, but I suspect most of it is user error — in other words, I didn’t design them very well using the vendor program to create the cards. So basically I’m annoyed at myself. I’ll shrug it off though, in the scheme of things we need to worry about, this one doesn’t even count, LOL.
3. We went to a funeral this week and needed to pick up Wizard’s mom and her husband on the way. Traffic made us late, so they were going to drive themselves. We were stressed about that, but in a stroke of great luck, we managed to arrive at their house just as they were getting in the car to leave. That was a huge relief for us! The service was lovely. However, I’m a bit concerned about Wizard’s mom’, but given her age, that worry is pretty normal.
4. Yesterday we went to his brothers (the one who passed) and got all his clothes packed up. It was just too hard for his wife, which is understandable. We took care of that, and as a bonus, I got to see their dog, Bailey! She’s such a sweetie. She and I are good friends now, and when we left, she watched us in the window. It was so cute. I wish I’d taken a picture of her, but I didn’t think of it at the time.
5. Today we are going to try to go to the Shelby Museum in Irvine, CA, unless we’re both just too tired. Other than that, I don’t know exactly what we are doing this weekend. I’m hoping Wizard can go racing Sunday. It’d be good for him to hang out with some friends. I’m going to finish up some Christmas stuff and maybe plan out a fun holiday cake (per #1 above) if time and energy allows me to focus on it. This week was a bit of a drain, and it’d do us both good to slow down for a day or two and catch our breath a bit. On the other hand, life has a way of changing plans that keeps us hopping so we’ll see.

That’s my five — one of my New Years Hopes is to be less boring in blogs and life in general Now I’d love to hear your five! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

TGIF!! Is time going faster? This week just blew by! Okay time to share five random things about out week. Here’s mine:

1. I have a chunk of Christmas shopping done! I still have one major person to buy for, and odds and ends. It’s a good start. However my brain is nagging the crap out of me to get it all done. I need to plan what holiday baking I can manage. I still haven’t found the magic elixir for energy I want to do.
2. My walking app recorded over 49 miles for dedicated walking this month. That does not include six days when I either forgot to turn the app on, or we were traveling. Even if I do dedicated walks while traveling, I don’t turn on the app. So I’m happy with those numbers as long as my joints are tolerating it.
3. For Cyber Monday, I bought Maggie a new uber fluffy sherpa blanket. She loves it! I really wanted to get a picture but this week has been a whirlwind. But it was so cool to see her so happy. Now if I could just get time to wash it and tame the fuzzies coming off it.
4. Our neighbor brought us over some lemons off his lemon tree. They are the first crop from the trees he planted last Spring so it’s really cool. I made some gluten and dairy free lemon cookies I’m happy with using those lemons! Oh and I roll them in lemon sugar before baking (I made it using white sugar and fresh lemon zest pulsed it in my blender.). I like the effect though next time I’ll use less of the lemon sugar, I think I piled it on a bit thick
5. Yesterday I saw my sister for coffee and some shopping (I got some Christmas plates I’m using for gifts), and Sunday I’m finally seeing a friend for lunch. Both my friend and I had to cancel for illnesses and then deaths in the family a few times now, so fingers crossed this lunch happens!

That’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a great weekend and isn’t too overwhelmed by the looming holiday and the crazy expectations we sometimes put on ourselves!

TGIF! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I’m sure we did too, but since I’m writing this post early in the week since we’re traveling, I can’t tell you about it :-). But I should be able to answer this Friday evening or Saturday. Here’s my 5:

1. Packing is a pain, and I never know what I’m going to need or want. Also I never wake up young, slim and beautiful with an amazing wardrobe in my closet, which is always a bit disappointing. To compensate, I overpacked and probably still took all the wrong things. In the end, none of it will matter and we’ll have fun. I’m excited to see how Maggie does too. It’ll be a whole new experience for her.
2. I bought some very inexpensive outdoor/hiking boots. I’m not sure my wonky ankle can handle the boots because I have a permanently swollen joint that can get prickly when anything presses on it wrong. When that joint gets mad, it’s painful and looks uglier than usual. So these are my test pair. If I can break them in around my ankle and use them more than two or three times a year, then I’ll consider investing into a better pair. But I’m excited to try! I won’t use them for daily walking, but for going on offroad trails where I need more protection and stability than running shoes.
3. I made taquitos in my air fryer last night, and Wizard loved them. They are still a multi-step pain to make, but much less greasy in the air fryer and I enjoy making them. I like my air fryer. It’s fun and useful at times, but I still believe it’s not an essential tool like I consider my crock pot to be.
4. And talking about cooking reminds me, we had a guy out to finally align a few cabinets in the kitchen ( more than a year after we moved in!). To do that, he was opening the cabinets and drawers. When he came to my spice drawer, he looked up. “So you’re a chef.” That cracked me up. I’m so not even close. I’m an average cook on my best day, and I’m not being modest. I know I can bake — see not modest there! But I have more time to try things now, and I enjoy being in the kitchen. That spice drawer really brings me joy, and I was jazzed that someone noticed it.
5. The Mustang is at the dealer. Wizard has suspected something was off with the fuel tanks (the Mustang has two fuel tanks), and his suspicion was confirmed when he ran out of gas not even a block from the gas station. He called Triple A because our policy with them includes bringing us gas if we run out. The driver was at that very gas station filling up, and could actually see Wizard. Talk about weird and funny coincidence! The problem with the Mustang has been diagnosed and will be fixed. But dang, I didn’t realize how protective the two of us are about that car. Both of us are uneasy when it’s not in our sight or secured in our garage. That will get better with time, of course. But we’re kind of laughing at ourselves over it.

So that’s my five and now I really want to hear yours! I will answer Friday evening or Saturday. I hope everyone has a great weekend!