Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Upsides



Time has gotten away with me the last couple of weeks ... pretty much since daylight savings. On the upside, it is finally light enough in the mornings that I can pick up dog poo before I go to work. This is a goal of mine ... to keep it picked up daily. The snow is finally all melted and the crocus made a visit this week. Everything else it behind.

Our neighbors moved out over the weekend. They are a super nice young couple and we'll miss them but we won't miss their dog digging holes under the fence and coming through. He did it twice last summer and blood was shed.

I am hanging in at work but my short timer's flu is no secret. I'm not gonna lie about that.

I know it's Tuesday and late for Monday Upsides so I'll just call it Upsides and scrap the Monday.

  • 8 working Mondays to go
  • Flowers are starting to bloom
  • The taco crawl starts in two weeks!
  • I have a couple of photo shoots on my calendar now
  • The hubs is going to the west side tomorrow for 4 days, leaving me to my house alone (that never happens)
  • We've decided to start a Pros/Cons list regarding moving at the end of summer
Hope you are seeing flowers come up wherever you are in the world. It was a long winter, wasn't it?

What are your upsides this week?  Tell me!

love, susan

Thursday, March 21, 2019

High Tea for Me

Today was a floating holiday for me. Where I work, we are awarded one day a year called a floating holiday. It can be used any time, with or without approval. It's a freebie. I used mine to attend a tea party this afternoon.

I've never been to a high tea before and didn't know they serve snacks. I ate a big lunch earlier but I wasn't going to be rude and not try the beautiful finger food the ladies of the Moose Lodge prepared for this event. Along with scrumptious hand-made mints, miniature cupcakes, filled strawberries, little crab and chicken sandwiches, and crustless cucumber sandwiches on rye crackers, they had each table decorated differently. The ladies of the club brought tea pots and cups from their own collections to decorate each table. It was hard to choose which table to plant ourselves but I settled on one that had real bone china cups as I knew my tea would taste the best there.

There was a super interesting  presentation by one of the ladies who is a former teacher. She had brought some pieces of her Blue Willow collection and with it she had a made a poster report that would have gotten an A+ if I was grading it. She gave about an 8 minute talk on how bone china made its way to the United States in the bottom of ships. I'll never take old china for granted again. 

I really enjoyed sitting with a couple of retired women I did not know while I listened to some stories and enjoyed a few good laughs. We talked mostly about family reunions. One woman said her family once did a reunion in Ireland where 19 family members attended. She belongs to a couple of church groups and she helps in the kitchen at the Moose Lodge, and serves dinners there on the weekends.

To my surprise, the water for my tea was boiling hot when they brought it to our table and I  enjoyed two cups of green tea while stuffing my face with the above-mentioned snacks.

All I could think about is that I can't believe I am almost 60 and have never attended something like this before, and that I would love to do it again. It was nice to be among service minded women who came together to enjoy a cuppa in the middle of a Thursday afternoon. Add to this the fact I was being paid while not working, making it even sweeter.

After the tea party, I stopped by my friend T's dog grooming shop and was talking with her and another friend about my experience and was asked if they has crustless cucumbers sandwiches. Who knew that's a thing? Apparently, it's not a real tea party without this.

This may be a lot to do about nothing to you but for me it was such a beautiful surprise on an otherwise surprisingly beautiful day. Oh, I almost forgot to write about the Ireland/reunion lady talking about her hearing aid app.  Say what? Yeah, she has an app on her phone that adjusts her hearing aids for different places she goes. For instance, when she is in church, the music is too loud so the app automatically turns down her hearing aids for her. OMG, you know, a person only needs one good idea to make it big. Why didn't I think of that?

Have you ever been to a tea party? Did you enjoy it? Did you know there is a hearing aid app?  Have you ever had a crustless cucumber sand?

love, susan

 
 
 
 

Monday, March 18, 2019

Monday Upsides: Bring. It. On.

This last weekend was like a 48 hour party! Book club, dog photos, a birthday party Saturday night, a Sunday afternoon taco birthday party with best friends, and a nap. And, just like that it's Monday again. Yesterday, while walking to our car, the hubs and I saw two young boys outside playing. One was shirtless. Brrr! There is still snow on the ground but I loved his optimism. Are you ready for some Monday upsides? The snow is nearly gone. The daffodil greens pictured here were more crooked on Saturday from the crush of a months' worth of snow. Be a daffodil ... don't let winter crush you. Nine more work Mondays to go. I'm feeling less stressed about this retirement thing. You wouldn't think it to be a stressful thing but it's change. There is not a cloud in the sky this morning. Warmer weather is here. There is a full moon this week and it brings out the crazy is people.

Bring. It. On.

love, susan

Sunday, March 17, 2019

March Mood: Don't Give Up

Have you ever met people for the first time and you just have to know more about them? It happened to me yesterday when I showed up for book club. Let me back up a minute. 💝 A casual friend mentioned on FB that part of her New Year's resolution was to do a few things she'd been thinking about and one of them was to start a book club. I have always wanted to be in a book club but never had the courage to either start one or join one with people I don't know. 💚 Long story short, a couple of women who all know each other got together for coffee and we started a book club. Ironically, the idea person hasn't been to a meeting since that first one but we are not giving up on her. We just keep making it go and grow. Two new women joined us for coffee yesterday and after a lot of discussion, we discovered all of us yearn to be creative in one way or another. 💙 One of the ways I stay creative when I haven't energy for anything else is my breakfast presentation. I like color and texture. Give me a serving of oatmeal and I will add cherries and almonds to it in just the right way to make it look gourmet. 💋 Our little club decided to read The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown this month. Luckily, I already had purchased it on Audible and I'm now looking forward to hearing it and having a reason to meet for coffee with these fantastic women.

THE MORAL to this story is don't quit just because there is a lull. I had a lurking feeling that perhaps book club was not going to make it past March but my commitment-junkie friend came through with some new blood and it's just what we needed. Our original founder may even join us again at the next meeting. We never know what is happening in other people's lives that pulls them away so my motto is to just keep showing up and see what happens.

Do you belong to a book club, or have you ever wanted to? If so, how many members do you have? What book are your reading right now? 

love, susan



Monday, March 11, 2019

Monday Upsides:

Day light savings has me dragging this morning. You wouldn't think an hour could have such an effect on the body but it does. I could barely get out of bed this morning, which is highly unusual for me. I'm a get-up-with-the-chickens kind of girl.
 
Running late so here's my Monday upsides:
 
  • Only 10 more working Mondays.
  • Got all my laundry done over the weekend.
  • Ran the hubby's car through car wash yesterday and it feels good to see it clean.
  • It's not snowing.
  • I'm no longer sick.
  • Because of my day light savings time stupor, the dogs got fed twice this morning. They are not moving very fast right now but fat & happy.
  • Plans are coming together for a road trip with a friend to Denver in early summer.
That's about it for now.  Tell me your upsides today!
 
love, susan


Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Monday Upsides: Get the Poop Here

(I couldn't get enough of these two)
Oliver
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
🐾  This Monday Upside is a little late posting as I was sick Monday and Tuesday. I got to dog/cat last weekend for these critters I had not sat with before. They are the sweetest fur kids. I had a bed to sleep in but preferred sleeping on the couch so they could sleep with me. They nestled in and never move an inch all night. Really warmed my heart. The cat is the most friendly feline I've met in a long time. He could make a cat lover out of me. 🐾 The weather is still very cold and the snow we received in February is still on the ground. There is an upside to that. See below. 🐾 At the end of this week, I have an appointment with a speech therapist. According to my ENT doctor, I have bent vocal chords. He thinks it can be corrected with therapy. We'll see. I cannot imagine the rest of my life with this hoarse voice but I will accept it if I have to. I'm just thrilled it is not cancer. 🐾 Not much else on my calendar this week accept doing my best to stay warm. I'm wearing long underwear in March. That's just not right.
 
MONDAY UPSIDES:
  • The snow is still so deep that no dog poop has surfaced so no poop pick up just yet.
  • Only 11 more Mondays to retirement.
  • It is light now when I leave work at night.
  • I got a box mailed off to my kids that has been hanging around.
  • I get to drive my garaged car with its heated seats to work this week now that the snow has packed down on the side streets. Warm car, happy woman.
How about you? Anything good going into this week?
 
love, susan

Kai and Twinkles

I have perfected doggie massage

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