Monday, January 6, 2025
January 1 may have been this past Wednesday but as far as New Year's goals go, January officially starts today as far as I'm concerned. (see above)
Sunday, January 12, 2025
Sunday, January 5, 2025
Christmas Season 2024/2025: The Twelfh Day of Christmas & Twelfth Night
Sunday, January. 5, 2025
Haven't been to church since Advent due to travel and illness. Finally made it during the Christmas season for the Second Sunday of Christmas. Sang lots of good hymns including Once In Royal David's City, Gabriel's Message, What Child Is This, In the Bleak Midwinter, and The First Noel. Good to be back.
Dale and I had brunch at The Howe afterward.
We headed to the grocery store and then home. I had a cigar and Dale went to the gym.
We’re celebrating 12th Night tonight.
Watched Big Bang Theory and ate gingerbread cookies for dessert.
Christmas Season 2024/2025: The Eleventh Day of Christmas
Saturday, January 4, 2025
Noel cancelled on me for today so Dale and I went to lunch at Northbound. Although the food there is very good what we ordered was not the most healthy. We’ve got lots of goals around food for the coming year but we’re really giving these last two days of vacation something a soft landing.
Dale went in to the office after lunch. I had a cigar while he was out. Again, we’ve got lots of health goals for the coming year. I’m planning on cutting back on cigars but, like I said, these last two days of vacation are going to be a very soft landing.
After my cigar I headed inside and listened to some music.
Trying to eat a little lighter tonight since I had a pretty heavy lunch at Northbound of a burger, fries, and coleslaw and a couple cocktails. Salmon broccoli for dinner.
And we watched The Bishop's Wife tonight.
Saturday, January 4, 2025
Christmas Season 2024/2025: The Tenth Day of Christmas
Friday, January 3, 2025
More Sunday scaries today but I talked myself down. Now it just feels like the verge of a regular weekend. Anyway, Mom’s decided recently that she needs an Apple Watch so we ventured to Southdale (It opened in 1956 and was the first fully enclosed, climate-controlled shopping mall in the United States. My family did a LOT of shopping there when I was growing up.) I asked her why she wanted the watch and she said that all the old ladies (the ones in their 90s which does NOT include her - her words) in her senior living building have them. The watch has an I’ve-fallen-and-I-can’t-get-up feature which is why all the old ladies (again, her words) in their 90s in her building have one. I know there are probably cheaper options but I didn’t feel like talking her out of what she wanted. We went to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch and took some time to get the watch set up while waiting for our food. She was actually quite giddy playing with it and was like a kid with a new toy. I hope Sam and Pete and I showed as much joy as kids with our new Christmas toys and that Mom and Dad witnessed it. It’s actually quite touching to see.
Another little cigar this afternoon despite the cold. Smaller cigars are the answer to freezing weather. I can last 20 minutes outside if it’s in the teens and I’m dressed for it. Besides, it wasn’t windy and the sun was out. Nice weather.
Simple dinner of a frozen pizza tonight and also broccoli salad from the Lund’s deli. Mom gave me a bag of Christmas candy today so we had that for dessert.
We also got into the bottle of Prosecco that Mike and Charisse gave us on New Year’s Eve.
Friday, January 3, 2025
Christmas Season 2024/2025: The Ninth Day of Christmas
Thursday, January 2, 2025
Started feeling the Sunday Scaries this morning. They’re hard enough to deal with on a Sunday let alone a Thursday so I had a little pep talk with myself. I decided I could sit at home worrying and anxious about going back to work on Monday or I could sit at home and enjoy still being on break. I decided to not overthink it all and just go with the latter. I was actually impressed with how easy it was to shift gears.
Got in some nice cuddle time with Sylvester.
Never-the-less, morning cigar in the garage with coffee.
While outside I got the table covered.
Also got in a few loads of washing and folding, new sheets on the bed, dishes, cat box, garbage out, recycling out, tidied up the fridge, resistance bands, 12,000 steps, and touching up the bathroom to name just a few.
Turned out to be an awesome day. Dale and I went to Lund’s for dinner of prepared foods. Dessert was vanilla bean ice cream with gingerbread cookies.
Oh, and tonight we watched White Christmas. The movie turned 70 years old in 2024. Wow, when I first saw it it was just over 30 years old and I was younger than that! Now it would be like the movie had been made as recently as the 1990s. Yowza.
Thursday, January 2, 2025
Christmas Season 2024/2025: The Eighth Day of Christmas - New Year's Day
Wednesday, January 1, 2025
Brunch with Julie and Regina this morning at a restaurant called Book Club over on 54th and Penn. They took a road trip to North Carolina and spent Christmas there. We told them about our Christmas in. Arizona.
Lit up around 3:30 while Dale was at the gym.
Finished up at 4:00 pm. The cigar would've lasted longer but it was just too cold outside and it's supposed to get colder and remain cold for the next few weeks.
Leftover spaghetti from last night for dinner. Left over chocolate Bundt cake and ice cream too. Laid back New Year's Day.
Wednesday, January 1, 2025
Christmas Season 2024/2025: The Seventh Day of Christmas - New Year's Eve
Tuesday, December 31, 2024
Time to wrap this year up. Dale and I went to the downtown Lifetime this morning to do weights. This is something I’d like to be better about in the New Year.
Went to The Howe for lunch. I had an Old Fashioned. Hoping to cut down on calories and booze in the New Year. I haven’t been bad about those things this year but I could be better.
After lunch we stopped at Lund's to pick up makings for dinner. We’re having Mike and Charisse over tonight and Dale wants to make his awesome oven baked spaghetti.
Mike and Charisse arrived at about 5:45. They each brought some house shoes to wear inside instead of their boots. Mike showed us some slip-on lace-less sneakers he got as an assignment from a student years ago. The assignment was to make a craft related to a piece of literature and this particular student painted a different character from the story on each shoe along with some quotations from the book. I wasn’t familiar with the story but the shoes sure looked cool.
I showed them my craft of Peeps and sugar in a clear jar. I made it last year with the Christmas tree peep and this year I added the gingerbread man peep. This is about as craftsy as I get.
Mike and I stepped outside to shelter in the garage while we each smoked an Oliva. It was nice to catch up as I haven’t seen him for a couple months.
After cigars Mike and I joined Dale and Charisse inside for appetizers. Charisse brought some smoked salmon from Ingebretsen’s which we had on crackers. It was delicious. Spaghetti for dinner and chocolate bundt cake and ice cream for dessert. It was nice to just sit around and talk. We didn't make it until midnight but we made it to 10:30. Not bad for people growing older.
[Added New Year's Day] Dale wrote the following on his blog: "We had one of Joe's high school friends and his wife over for NYE last night. It's become kind of a tradition to spend New Year's Eve with them and we absolutely enjoy their company. They're the kind of people who make you comfortable just being yourself. We talk about anything and everything. Since we hosted this year, I made a Brian Lagerstrom spaghetti dish that was several steps above your standard spaghetti dish and I had to say it was bangin'. Super deep flavor in the sauce and with a real kick. We just sat around the table the whole evening and before we knew it it was 10:30 and well past everyone's bed time. I haven't made it to midnight in several years, but we almost made it to 11:00 (Central time) so actually did make it to the eastern time zone's new years anyway."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)