Saturday Morning Musings Coffee Edition

 
Good Saturday morning to you all.  I am feeling pretty accomplished at how my weekend is progressing and after my to list is done around the house this morning, I will be cranking up the volume on the Christmas music station and getting started on turning the house into a gingerbread version of itself. Here is my morning brew-vanilla hazelnut, ready to help my energy level rise. I avoided all stores yesterday and my only venture out of the house was to meet up with my sisters and a few nieces for a couple happy hour brews of a different kind, and some appetizers.  Before Black Friday became such madness and selfish mayhem, the Friday after Thanksgiving used to be a sociable shopping day with my mom and sisters, leaving the men behind with kids, as we went about our day helping each other pick out just the right gifts, and ending with a later lunch, or as we did yesterday, a "lunch like" grazing of assorted treats. 

Being one of the youngest, it wasn't until I hit my teen years that me and my younger sister could come along.  A few of us have done some of this with our own daughters and daughter in-laws, but the fun factor with the craziness has dwindled.  The meeting up though in the later afternoon has continued. Even after my mom no longer shopped for gifts as she and my dad went the money route as it got to be too many  people to shop and wrap gifts for, she still looked forward to meeting up with her "girls" for that afternoon post Thanksgiving hen gathering. I missed my mom and sister yesterday afternoon-both would have been happily at our big table, listening in on the successes of gift buying, and generating ideas for the elusive gift for the hard to buy for.

I love days out with the girls-sisters, daughters, friends, and cousins.  Whether it is  shopping,  a movie, a museum, or just hiking around exploring nothing in particular, ending the day around a table whether with a coffee or a beer, is near perfect in my book.  On vacation, when it was still all five of us, my daughters and I would slip away and do our own thing while the boys did there's.  We'd end with a coffee shop, or if meeting the guys up for dinner, a child friendly bar and grill type place, earlier than they would arrive.  As DD#2 got older, it was a really good bonding time for the three of us. It is important to me to have traditions that are not formal traditions.  I like the comfort of certain routines, even if the people and the places vary.  I like knowing on a day that is blustery and cold, or humid and sticky, there are places to pop into to wind down or renew that are also encouraging for lingering and conversation. I hope you have a productive Saturday!

DD#2 unwinds in a coffee shop, while doing homework.

Making the Most of Three Day Weekend

I have been at my company a lot of years and we have a good vacation policy, so the combination means I have quite an accrual of hours banked up.  Unfortunately, my work load has been such that taking more than the odd day off every now and then has meant I am often at the point of maxing out further accrual. Since I have taken so little time off, I need to take a vacation day a pay period or technically I lose the benefit, so I will be trying to get some three day weekends in between now and the week of Christmas.  I might trade for a Thursday as that is when hubby has his day off as he works Saturdays. Today is a teacher workshop day, so no school.  With both daughters home, I was able to clear my calendar in the office.  I brought work home, but that's another issue. .

It's gray and chilly today-typical Minnesota November, but I got a mess of errands done this morning, and in between loads of laundry, am helping my daughter decide what to purge before her move next week.  She baked a double batch of chocolate chip cookies this morning as well, half to take along for her last weekend on the film set. In my last blog, I did a little brainstorming of ways to fight the urge to stay cooped up each night, now that the daylight is so fleeting.  A few things are in motion.  Eating the remaining cookies is not on the agenda.

The moonlight walk wasn't with a friend, but I did take pup for an extra long one last night.  It was already getting a little cloudy, so the moonlight was dim, and not the type that lights up the walking path.  We went an extra few paths and made it a pretty good walk even so.  

I did a good browse of the community ed calendar.  I was disappointed in the contents this time for my interests.  There were lots of yoga, zumba,  and computer classes, of which i should probably be more interested in. but very little crafts and cooking, more what I had in mind.  there is  lefse making class on the 20th, but I have a conflict. I was intrigued with the Over 50 offering of a scotch tasting class, but i am  "under age."  I haven't had that apply to me in 30 years when it comes to having a libation.  It looks like no community ed class then for the near future, but, another catalog starts in January.  It did serve as a reminder to pick up my walking  pin, which for a $15 fee, gives use of the high school field house walking track, much appreciated in the height of winter.

With the extra day off, I'll continue to knock  lot of things of my to do list, today, and put Saturday and Sunday to less mundane  use.  DD#2 folded a load of towels last night, without request, and even gathered up a load of jeans and sweatshirts, and did a load of clothes as well.  I topped off groceries, hopefully the bulk needed for the rest of the month, minus some specif Thanksgiving purchases, and she also put away all the things in the bag.  She might be trying to butter me up for something, but so far, nothing has been asked for.  While I'm catching up on blogs, and we're between laundry loads, She was doing some violin practice, so I've been treated to a a little concert.  She has been playing for three years now, and it is a delight to hear how she has progressed, though she is critical of her skills. 

I popped into the dollar store near my house, not really for anything, but to browse and think ahead to items that are cheap but enhance the holidays.  I picked up some greeting cards, a deal at 2 for $1.00, and I was ahead of the game so they weren't picked over.  I found some cute  stretchy gloves to have extras for purses and the car glove box, and some thin, non-pulling, ribbon type, head bands for DD#2 for basketball season. They have to be the soft ones-no plastic or metal at all. The stretch fabric kind can be quite pricey when you consider how many are lost in a season so at 6 for $1.00, this was  bargain. 

The woman ahead of me was buying an assortment of star shaped bric-a-brac, for what she said was going to be an awards night theme birthday party for her 12 year old daughter.  The last one, she said, so decided to go all out.  she had a bunch of star shaped helium balloons, star candy dishes, and glitter covered star twinkly lights as some of the décor items.  Not trying to be nosy, but heard her total was under $20, so not too bad considering what the party stores would have charged her. She mentioned you can get directions for various party ideas on-line, which include games, recipes, activities, and story lines if you want to throw some role play into the event.  Maybe if i am so bold to have impromptu guests over, I an do a quick internet browse and make it a theme night. Yeah, probably not. 

I need to get back to task -load number three for today will be done soon, and I hope we are the final purging stage.  It would be good to get the usable items out of the house and to the Goodwill or Family Services donation center yet this afternoon. Do you have fun or productive plans for the weekend?  We have wine club tonight, and I am looking forward to some new reds to try.  Have a fabulous weekend.

Ignoring Your Inner Couch Potato

Remember thee days when coming in after dark meant the clocks were well past 9:00?  Late run to the grocery store or an extra walk in the neighborhood was just regular parts of the evening  Now I find myself diving to and leaving work in the dark, and once home, I kind of would like to put my feet up, and make peace with the couch.  Really though, the earlier darkness should provide more incentive to ignore the inner couch potato within me.  Here some strategies and activities I came up with.

• Schedule moonlight walks with walking buddies.  I have the lunar calendar to work into my own schedule and the brightness of the moon creates terrific ambiance to grab that gal pal that unfortunately I see less of once fall comes to an end, and get at lest a couple uninterrupted chats going
• Seek out author readings.  The Twin Cities had some good ones recently, held in a couple coffee houses in partnership with a next door independent book store.  Besides some good Q&A, the java jolt should keep me energized for the drive home and to read a few chapters. I have enjoyed these in the past and don't know why I let regular readings escape my planner.
• Try a community education course.  I am very fortunate to live in a community that has low cost  education programs, taught by local experts on every thing from computers, to personal finance, to cooking and home organizing. I'll give the catalog a look this weekend and see what peaks my interest.
• Don't waste the weekend days doing housework.  If I knock off a few things from the chore list during the work week, once I am home and settled in the house for the night, that should save prime daylight hours on weekends
• This one is bold for me.  Invite people over for dinner or drinks and h'ordeuvres, on a week night.  This would motivate me to do the previous item, cleaning during the week, and since it will be dark anyway, I'll be less self aware of lurking things in corners.
• Window shop and browse at malls and downtown.  This could be dangerous though if I move beyond window shopping.

How do you squash that wanting to just cocoon every evening?  What ideas would you share to  keep a winter calendar full?

Refueling the Tank

It is late here in Minnesota, so just a little post to close the work week.  There is an internet meme going around Facebook that says "Tuesday is just Mondays ugly sister."  I couldn't agree more.  Is it because Monday seems like the fresh start to the week, but by Tuesday you realize you still have the  long week ahead of you?  Businesses have acknowledged this as well.  Kids eat free Tuesdays, and Two dollar Tuesdays at certain movie theaters.  Super America doubles gas coupons on Tuesdays, and they accept from any other station.  We try and stagger fill-ups to take advantage of this.  With 7 tanks a month, $9.80 savings per month, and over $100 per year, it is smart to refuel the gas tank on Tuesday's. 

What about our own tanks? I like Thursdays for that.  I feel very productive on Thursdays, without any scientific or social reason.  I'm often quite tired when I get up as Wednesday night is typically girls night out. It is by no means a down day at work or home.  With coworkers flexing schedules or taking vacation days on Fridays, Thursdays are usually crammed. Between sports and school functions, nights are equally full, so there is no inherent rest built into the day. Maybe there is something astrological about a persons refuel day.  I was born on Thanksgiving day, 1965.  This of course was a Thursday.  I try to defer important decisions to Thursday when possible.  I avoid doing so on Tuesdays.  I'm not a superstitious person, but this day of the week thing is ingrained in my head.  What day do you find your inner energy tank refueled?  If you have days that just seem to be off, what tricks do you use to push through and make the most of what reserves you have?

When your cup is not running over

I'm still feeling the malaise of earlier into the week.  As much as it was fun to have a weekend with my daughter, the go-go lifestyle, getting home after midnight and back at work at 8:00 the next morning, sort of emptied my reserves.  My little kiddo is in her second week of school, cross country practice, and about to head into her first soccer game season for fall.  Today she had a running meet, and then soccer practice, and about 25 math problems still to get done.  She was also spent by 9:00 tonight.  It was time to just let those cups drain and look for a refill somewhere else.  We spent the last hour before sending her off for a quick shower, teeth brushing, and bed, playing with the pets, and just vegging out. There are three baskets of unfolded laundry, and I think it will stay that way, and I am fine with fishing socks and underwear out tomorrow morning.  Well, I'm really not fine with it, but I have succumbed tonight to the power of nothing. 

 It wasn't a totally unproductive night.  I'm getting this blog post done, and while daughter was at soccer practice, I brought the pup along to explore the walking tails around the athletic park.  He was a happy dog.  Megan refueled while doing home work, but then while relaxing, she sipped on some juice.  She started playing around with the cup trying to lift it with her toes.  Both girls got in the act and decided to see if they could actually pic it up and hold it with their toes, and drink from it.  Megan could, though in honesty the cup was empty when she did this stupid human trick.   

No work in the office for three days as I have my class reunion and have also come to my max in vacation accrual.  Tomorrow is a vacation day, but I'm also fitting in a doctor appointment to recheck some things, and seeing if my lack of energy has any other sources besides trying to burn the candle wick at both ends. So, I'll end for now, and plan to read some posts from a few of you other bloggers, ones with boundless energy, and see if something seeps through the screen

How's this for a trick?