Monday, March 18, 2024

A Whirlwind of a Road Trip...

 

This is my first picture ever of Buc-ee. I was introduced to the beaver at the Madisonville (TX) store by my dear friend Michelle. I don’t think either of us expected things to turn out this way—me dragging DD all over the southern United States to visit every Buc-ee’s there is. :0) But I think she’d get a kick out it.

Any who, day one (Saturday) was mostly about travel. But we planned a visit to the Memphis Zoo to get some physical exertion after seven hours in the car. And the Memphis Zoo is awesome. So if you’re ever in Memphis and have the time, visit their zoo.

DD and I had an awesome experience with a lion... We got to hear the lion roar! And it was just the most amazing thing to watch him and to hear him as it echoed and vibrated in the air. It was just more incredible than I can really describe.

Check this out...same critter, two different perspectives:

On Sunday, we hit the first of two Buc-ee's locations with lunch with a friend sandwiched between beaver sightings. We also traversed the bottom section of the Appalachian Mountains which was both a surprise and very beautiful. We weren't on roads with any kind of steep drops, but they were very windy and very narrow and so just a little anxiety inducing.

This doesn't do the scenery justice, but here you go...

We also got to experience Atlanta traffic at rush hour and, yowza, it was more harrowing than cutting across the Appalachians!

We passed the Olympic Torch Tower which was actually not the official Olympic Torch Cauldron from the 1996 Olympics.

Monday was our trip to the World of Coca Cola Museum, lunch with another friend, and two more Buc-ee's visits.

The museum was fun and we got to taste all kinds of Coke products from around the world. I took some pictures, but am just sharing this:

Tuesday was another looong travel day with a stint through Dallas traffic at rush hour to cap it off. But we had fun and made it home in one piece--obviously.

Now to turn my attention to my friend's visit. She arrives tomorrow and *we're going to hockey game together!* Her team is on town playing my team, so that should be a lot of fun.

I'm very excited. :0)

Take care and catch you in a couple of weeks.

 

Monday, March 11, 2024

Postponed Due to Beavers

 

Your regularly scheduled blog post will return next week. DD and I are visiting new beaver dens…

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Life is a Highway...

 

Image courtesy Wikipedia.

Have you seen Hamilton? The Broadway production now showing on Disney+...

DD loves the production, and I've gotten suckered into watching a few scenes now and then, but had never sat and watched the whole thing start to finish.

Until a couple of weeks ago. I'd been reading Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill again and in one chapter he discusses the Stock Market crash of 1929 and its cause, so I did a Google search on that, and then somewhere in conjunction with this mini research jaunt, I read that, while we learn how important Thomas Jefferson is in our history, Alexander Hamilton played a crucial albeit more background role in the forming of our nation. Which led me to sitting and watching Hamilton from start to finish.

And isn't Lin-Manuel Miranda amazing too? He wrote the book, wrote the score, and played Hamilton himself in the original production!

Image courtesy Wikipedia.

And then, wouldn't you know, DD learned that Hamilton is coming to Dallas and will be performed at the Winspear Opera House--guess who's going? :0) We have tickets and a parking pass. Now, sadly, Lin-Manuel Miranda is not performing in this particular production, but it ought to be a fantastic watch anyway.

* * * * *

Back to Doing...

Last post I reported that the to-doing had tapered off, and so it had. BUT! I've been really working hard to get back to getting things done despite the changes in my schedule and routine.

I also have motivation--a friend of mine is coming to visit and she's a pretty meticulous housekeeper. And while I can't get the whole house to a level of clean that's I'd prefer, there are some rooms (guest room, anyone?) that I can definitely make nice. 

So I am doing again while trying to build up strength and stamina.

* * * * *

The bursitis I experienced last year seems to be a thing of the past, thank goodness. The Hinge Health physical therapy regimen has worked wonders and I'm super pleased with its efficacy. If you have Blue Cross Blue Shield, I highly recommend it. There are several areas (hips only being one) to choose from.

I've also added yoga back to the mix. I alternate my Hinge Health routine with the yoga and the yoga has added a new level of challenge. And it feels good.

The next thing to conquer is the bad eating habits we've fallen into once again.

* * * * *

And after four and a half years, I've finally seen my dear friend N in person once again. We met for lunch this past Saturday, and it was so lovely so sit and chat and catch up.

So good to see you, N!!

* * * * *

Image courtesy of Amazon.

Started reading The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel and it's super interesting. He talks not about psychology mumbo jumbo, but about what drives people to make the decisions they do about money. He's divided it up into twenty items / chapter, and there are a couple of them where I felt like he was speaking directly to me... *Jen makes notes to not forget those points.*

As I said, very a interesting read and I highly recommend it.

* * * * *

And that's all I have for this edition. Have a super week.

Catch you later!

 

Monday, February 12, 2024

Buc-ee's Here We Come

 

Last summer, I'd planned / hoped to have DD and my March Buc-ee's Road Trip fully funded by December 31st 2023. Well, that didn't happen, buuut...it will be fully funded* by the time we hit the road. And I'm not counting any of the money from Mom's house. I've also got a line item in the personal budget to fund next year's trip starting in March.

* I won't have 100% of the money in hand, but once I finish a proofing job, I will. It's just that I probably won't finish the job and get paid until after our trip.

And not only is there a line item for our Buc-ee's Road Trips, there's also one for my annual road trip to visit my family. I'm excited to stop going into debt while taking these trips.

* * * * *

I watched this a couple of weeks ago and I highly recommend it. It's a bit sad and a bit bittersweet and hit a little too close to home, but it's really, really cute just the same.

The tag line is "It's never too late to chase a dream." It spoke to me...does it speak to you?

Anyway, the main character, Martha, became a cheerleader as a senior in high school but had to immediately drop out to care her mom who'd gotten sick. Fifty years later, she herself gets a cancer diagnosis. She decides to forgo chemo and move to a retirement community as she never married and doesn't have children.

One of the rules of the community is that you have to join a club, but there are no clubs of interest so she's encouraged to start her own. She ends up starting a cheerleading club with seven other senior women. They encounter a variety of obstacles but eventually overcome, and the journey is a lot of fun and amazing.

If you check it out, let me know what you think.

* * * * *

Remember all the to-doing I was doing and going to do? Well, less of that is happening now. We implemented some changes at the office, so I'm working till five these days. It took a few days to adjust, but now I'm handling the extended hours pretty well, but yoga and cooking and cleaning lost their time slots, so now I've got re-think things. I'm not keen on shifting all the cleaning to the weekends, but I may not have a choice.

I did start to do yoga on the non-Hinge Health days (for the hips/bursitis) and that seems to be working well. It's not the every-day yoga practice I was going for, but it's a good compromise. And to be honest, I was having issues remembering to yoga on the weekend afternoons when we're all home and hanging out. And even if I remembered, it would have been weird to put whatever we were in the middle of on hold so I could do yoga for twenty minutes. :0)

* * * * *

And last but not least--I got my car back! It was in the shop for 2.5 weeks getting fixed. Did I mention I got rear-ended right before Christmas? Well, I did, and now it's fixed and it's soooo nice to be back in my own vehicle.

Hope you're well. Back in a couple of weeks. Take care.

 

Monday, January 29, 2024

One Month In ~ How We Doin'?

 

 

Doin' pretty good at this point... :0) And I'll tell you why at the end. But misc updates in the meantime:

Most of the country was besieged by various levels of UGLY COLD weather when the last post came out on January 15th, but we survived. I read that 80% of the country had temperatures below zero degrees that day. WOW!

DD and I had started a Harry Potter re-watch right before the end of the year as Peacock was showing the extended versions of the films. We got through the first days of the nasty freezing weather by finishing up our HP fest. DH even joined us each evening.

Speaking of Harry Potter...last weekend (the 20th/21st) I took the official sorting hat quiz and was officially sorted into Hufflepuff House. DD and I are House mates... :0)

* * * * *

So the "year of doing" started off pretty good...

I began a couple of 30-day challenges to help me stay motivated. One challenge is to do yoga every day and the other is to do (or start, for longer tasks) one of those to-do list items I've been meaning to get around to. I've only missed two days of yoga (both Saturdays) but, sadlyy, I've missed too many days of to-do items thanks to the weather.

If my stride gets thrown off too soon, I struggle to get back to it. Having to hunker down because of the cold pushed me off track, so I'm trying to get back on it. I did, however, get one thing done...

The junk drawer next to the back door has been cleaned out, and inexpensive shallow baskets have been purchased to keep the remaining items tidy. I have no before picture because that drawer was nasty.

On a side note... Several months ago I bought some contact paper to cover the ramen boxes I save to use as organizers.

Although now that I'm thinking about it...buying the inexpensive baskets at Dollar Tree is cheaper than the contact paper and I get more of them for the price of the contact paper that only covers three boxes... Hmm... I was gonna use up the remaining contact paper but it's not sticking well to the one box I covered, so into the trash it went. I'll just go straight for the Dollar Tree baskets next time I need to sort and organize anything.

* * * * *

On a random note--I've discovered the ease / convenience of depositing checks via my cell phone. In the last six months, my bank, which is centrally located between the office and the house, did away with one of its ATMs. Now, that branch gets a decent amount of traffic, especially around paydays, so you can imagine one ATM with tons of traffic. And, occasionally, it's just plain out of order. The next closest branch isn't far, but it's definitely out of the way so it's very inconvenient.

A week or so ago, when the ATM was out of order again and I just didn't want to drive to the other branch, I tried out the mobile deposit and -- easy as pie -- I'm a convert!!

* * * * *

Last but NOT least and the reason I'm feeling pretty good is that my mom's house has finally sold. I'm so relieved that the house and the property will have someone to take care of it and find pleasure in its beauty.

The selling price is way below the original sales price, but between Oregon state property tax invoices and one very thorough appraisal, I've come to the conclusion that we were asking too much. The final sales price was a couple grand below what the state said it was worth, so I'm going to count my blessings and wish the buyer well and happy trails.

And that's all for now folks... Have a super couple of weeks.

N--looking forward to seeing you!!