Black Friday Shopping Experience (aka Joe's Amazing Adventure)

On Friday morning (aka Black Friday), Joe and I drove to Saint Michael Cinema 15 for their annual popcorn bucket sale. This was the only shopping we did for Black Friday.

Normally $40.00, the cost of the 2025 refillable bucket was on sale at $25.00 with a $5.00 concession coupon. The grands (Caleb and Charlotte) each get a treat and a soda at our movie outings. Caleb ALWAYS loves to have popcorn with extra butter. The refillable popcorn bucket is a deal! I figure it will pay for itself the first two movies we see in 2025 - with or without the grands. With two FREE refills per visit, we can easily share. If we want to take home popcorn, we can re-fill it for $1.00.

We got on the road for the 7-minute drive at 8:15 am. When we got within two minutes, about half of a mile from Cinema 15, we noticed cars were on the shoulder. Up ahead we could see flashing lights. Joe thought it was an accident. We cautiously proceeded on and quickly discovered the cars on the shoulder were in fact in line for the drive-through pick up of their popcorn buckets. The flashing lights came from the Sherrif's car providing traffic control for the popcorn sales event. 

Joe was totally amazed. I was not too surprised, given that I grew up in Ohio with popcorn as a primary snack food. I told him "Midwesterner's love their popcorn." A synopsis of Joe's comments: "Wow! I was expecting to get here and there would be like four cars." "Wow! Do people really eat this much popcorn?" "I can't believe there are this many people willing to get up early to buy empty popcorn buckets.” These phrases were repeated and repeated and repeated. Joe’s wonder did not cease during the entire experience.

We had no difficulty making our way into the drive-through line as eventually the people on the shoulder had to merge back into traffic to get to the cinema parking lot. Once in the lot we had the opportunity to pretend we were at Disneyland or driving an obstacle course as we weaved around the parking lot. Eventually we could see where people were taking the money and handing out the empty buckets. About four cars from reaching the pickup point, the workers suddenly began waving people on. The pickup point was out of buckets!

Fortunately, there was a second pickup point at the back of the theater. We paid $25 cash, the worker asked the number of buckets we wanted (only one for us), and we were on our way back home. I was driving, Joe was ogling the backed-up traffic and marveling at the even longer line of cars as we headed home. 

I do not know if annual popcorn buckets are a thing in California. I just know my sweet California boy was amazed and I think for the very first time the cultural difference of living in Minnesota may have hit him like a ton of bricks. In a positive way! 

By the way, we were home with our bucket by 8:45 am. I marvel at the efficiency.

Hello Eleanor!

Thanksgiving has been my favorite holiday since I married Joe Coehlo thirty years ago. His non-traditional meals have opened up a world of flavors. This year we are cooking a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Last year we helped Megan cook her traditional meal.

This year, Megan, Jeremey, Caleb, Charlotte, and Baby Bean (due to be born end of January 2025) will come to our house for dinner
and have been promised leftovers to take home.

Turkey, ham, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, steamed carrots, cranberry sauce, and Hawaiian rolls as the main event. Appetizers of deviled eggs, olives, pickles, summer sausage, and cheese and crackers with a rest in between should be sufficient to keep us all from starving. Dessert will be pumpkin pie and Joe’s cheesecake.

This past month has been eventful for us. My friend, Kim, came from California and spent four days hanging out with us. We enjoyed having her here! Then on November 16th we had about twenty-five people in our home for a baby shower for Megan and Jeremy. The guest list included family, friends, and Jeremy’s co-workers. The shower was hosted by Megan’s best friend (Shasta and her wife Jackie), Jeremy’s mom (Shelly), and me. One of Jeremy’s sisters, NaTasha, arrived early and helped Shasta and Jackie decorate. The house was full with nine kids, ranging in age from four to twelve, taking over the lower two levels of the house while Megan and Jeremy opened gifts.

A few photos from the shower:

Megan and Jeremy with their cake. Shelly's niece, Amanda, created

the Woodland themed cake.

Close up of the cake.

Megan's step-mom, Kathy, made the most beautiful sweater and a blanket. Beautiful work!

Shelly created a meat and cheese tray using Woodland animal cake toppers.

My contribution was an owl and raccoon veggie and olive trays.

After everyone left, Joe walked through the house and did not find anything amiss. We did gain a white headband with a bow on it (courtesy of Charlotte). Joe found it in the lowest level guest bedroom.

This month I also had the joy of a video chat with my friend Anne in Pennsylvania. A conversation with Anne always lifts me up.

Of course, this was pre-election day. In the week leading up to the election, I worked as an election judge for three shifts and then eight hours on election day. On election day I got to do four different jobs which made the time go fast. In Saint Michael 92% of registered voters voted – with 50% of them voting during early voting. On election day I was rotated from checking in and registering first time voters; handing out ballots and giving ballot instructions; ballot counter judge [the voter inserts their paper ballot into the ballot counting machine) which monitors the space around the ballot box to make sure that people are given privacy, assists voters with instructions if they have difficulty feeding their ballot, and thanking the person for voting while handing them an “I VOTED” sticker and finally, I helped at the end of the night to count and make sure all ballots for our district matched the number of people who came in to vote.

I am happy that I participated in the election judge process and would gladly serve again. I did get paid a lovely $14/hour for my work. The money was not the reason I served though. It does allow me to buy more items for Baby Bean!

The hardest part of November has been the election results. I have felt many emotions – none of them positive – about another four years of President Trump. Along with his new side-kicks Elon Musk and J.D. Vance. There is so much to unpack with the damage they will do to our country and economy if they do put through the tariffs they have been talking about. The massive deportation they are promising will also have an impact on food prices. Thank goodness Joe and I plan to have a big garden this coming spring and summer. Our son-in-law works for a produce company, with Mexico as one source, and this could impact them negatively.

Frankly, food costs are the least of my concerns with the new administration. I am more concerned about the lower and middle class devolving further with billionaires running the show. And frankly, being able to say, “I told you so,” when more and more money is fed into the coffers of the ultra-rich and less to working people does not make me feel better. Then there is Project 2025 which should scare anyone who does not want to live in a religious state/country. I worry about my friends who identify themselves as part of the LGBTQIA2S+ community. I worry about women’s rights. I worry about what has happened to responsible free speech. I was reared to believe that free speech had a responsibility and that was to tell the truth. Please, do not ask who’s truth. I do not believe in alternative facts. A fact is a fact.

I could write ten pages about my concerns. Instead, I am trying to take each day as it comes, meditate, eat healthy, and build up my stamina in case I get thrown in a concentration camp as an enemy of the government because I am a liberal and thus classified as an “enemy from within.” I hope I am in the same camp as Heather Cox Richardson, Joyce Vance, Robert Reich, and all of my friends who care about democracy. My conservative friends may be laughing by now. Go ahead. I will still worry about you and how you will feel when you discover that President Trump and his ilk never intended to drain the swamp, instead they created the swamp.

Done. I am so done with trying to be considerate. Please, if you voted for Trump, do not tell me. I would prefer not to know anyone’s politics. Voting is a private issue. When someone tells me how proud they are and excited to have Trump in office, I automatically am appalled. I am grateful to my neighbor Ellen, who gently reminded me that we can focus on local offices as this is where a lot of the important work gets done for our communities. If I were a decade younger, I might even consider running for office at the local level where most offices are nonpartisan. Anyway, I have no idea how my neighbors voted. I cannot assume that the neighbors, who told me they were conservative, voted for the new administration. I do not want to know. I just want to enjoy the time I have spent in their company and look forward to seeing them in the near future.

On to a new topic. I had my annual wellness visit with a new physician’s assistant (PA) two weeks ago and my blood pressure was an incredible 107/74. All of that meditation is paying off! Also, almost two full years of retirement has also been a powerful help! My 2024-2025 goal is the same as all of the other years in my life: More activity and losing weight to improve the odds of living longer. I am still medication free and still battling keeping my cholesterol in check through diet. Joe also got a clean bill of health and remains cancer-free.

We had a bit of snow this afternoon. Between October 30^th, our first snow fall, and today we had one other snowfall that came and went fairly fast. The temperature is in the mid 40’s to low thirties since I last wrote.

Joe and I went to the movies this past week and again yesterday. The first time we saw Red One, which made me laugh and cry. This week we saw WICKED. It made me cry. Joe fell asleep. He does that when it is quiet and comfortable or when his senses are overwhelmed. In the case of WICKED it was sensory overload. The volume was too high, and it took me the first ten minutes to adjust my hearing enough to understand the words being spoken or sung. I had read the novel years ago, so I had an idea of what to expect. At the end of the film, I could barely breathe I was so overcome with emotion. Joe did get the gist of the movie even though he slept through parts.

Another way I am keeping myself occupied is with a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle of Terry Pratchett characters. It is made double challenging by our cat, Alto, who has now jumped twice on it and knocked completed sections to the ground. The first time I had just completed the bottom edge. That setback took me two days before I wanted to even look at the puzzle (or the cat). Today, she jumped on it, reached under the Styrofoam I had placed on top of the entire completed outer edges, and knocked one side to the floor. She looked at me as she did it, so I know it was intentional. There are now heavy books on top of the puzzle – let’s see her try to move those!

As usual over the past twenty-seven days there have been multiple trips to Menards. While Kim was visiting, we went to Buffalo to shop at Target. Except I was busy talking to her as I drove and ended up in the Menard’s parking lot. Thankfully, the two stores are less than a mile apart. We also did two trips to Wright County Recycle with cardboard from Joe’s shop purchases. The second trip included dropping off our microwave that died. (I think in fact we were going to Target to get a Microwave when I ended up in the Menard’s parking lot). On one of the Wright County Recycle trips, Joe was able to scrounge in the metals discard bin for scrap metal to practice his welding.

Joe has been studying up on welding and then practicing in the garage for four or five hours at a time, three to four days a week. One day, a neighbor boy saw what Joe was doing so Joe gave him an extra helmet and let him watch. Thrilled Joe to no end to have a youngster (I think it was one of the ten year olds) interested in what welding was all about. He has fantasies about teaching Caleb and Charlotte how to weld. He wants to come up with a welding badge for girl scouts and boy scouts …

My second video chat with a friend this month was with my cousin, Eleanor. She told me that she checks my blog every day to see if I have written anything. She is not on Facebook. I told her she will know when she goes to check, and the title comes up Hello Eleanor! So now you know why this entry is entitled as it is. I have not lost it! Also, I will send her a text to let her know.

I’m not sure when I will check in again. Just know I think about my family and friends, I do miss writing on the blog each day but think it best I limit myself to what I post as I am working through my plan for surviving and thriving over the next four years. Stay strong. Keep the faith (in whatever religion you practice) and be kind. Count your blessings – an attitude of gratitude really can brighten your world view.

Happy Thanksgiving.

 

Goodbyes

Goodbye leaves! About 90% of the leaves are off of the trees in the neighborhood. Our Maple out front still has leaves but almost all of the backyard trees have half a dozen leaves. We are expecting rain tomorrow. Joe decided it was time to get the leaves over to the compost center so they would not be caked onto the lawn over the winter. The leaf pile in the above photo represents four black garbage bags worth of leaves. We had twenty-three bags total. 

A photo of the side yard on the northern side of the house. The brick stacks

are free brick Joe picked up at the compost center awhile back. The

bricks will be used to finish the backyard next spring. 

The shrubs turning from green to red. 

And the ground cover is blooming again! The purple flowers are pretty.

A closer view of the shrub and ground cover.

My job in the leaf disposal project was to hold the bags open while Joe filled them. We are hoping the next rain will help the rest of the leaves to drop. Then it will be time to clean the gutters, again. Joe wants to get gutter covers next year so we can eliminate the gutter cleaning work.

It was lovely being outside in the fall weather. I stayed warm in my flannel jacket (thank you, Costco). It was 54 degrees outside and overcast. I double checked the weather forecast for tomorrow and was surprised to see they are predicting rain, snow, and wind! Of course, it's Halloween!! Last year it snowed on Halloween. 

Hot chocolate weather! I am looking forward to watching the snow fall while I am cozily ensconsed in our sunroom. I may even need to use the fireplace. 

In other news, I am going to stop writing this blog daily. I will write an ocassional blog when something strikes my fancy. Thank you to the folks who faithfully read!

Ambition

I was surprised this morning during my morning reflection time to discover that I am still ambitious. The reality hit me like a ton of bricks. I thought when I retired, I'd stop with the need to succeed. 

When I cook, I search for the "best" recipes. In my mind that is the most often rated along with the five-star rating. If the recipe has five stars but only one hundred people reviewed it, I won't use the recipe. I would rather have a 4.9 with one thousand reviews. 

While serving as a poll judge, I want to behave in a way that reflects well on the voting process. I am not happy to just do the bare minimum. It is not like this is a new career move for me. I want to be one of the best, so I have the option of doing it next year. I am being very mindful of how I present myself to others so there is no question of election integrity.

While moderating the recent Pampered Chef (PC) fundraiser for Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue (HBGRR), I was very aware that I wanted to present PC and HBGRR in the best possible light.

Tonight, while sorting candy for trick or treaters into cellophane gift bags, I tried to make sure that no child got two pieces of the same kind of candy.

Whew! I am not going for perfection, here. Even in preparing for our company this weekend, I looked around the house and told Joe that the house looks good to me so I will only clean a bit on Friday. I try to always keep the house up; however, a little bit ago I realized that I may have seen fingerprints on a cabinet door I had not noticed until right then. Sigh. 

I am not sure I want to be ambitious or a perfectionist or any other label that may be flung my way. It may be too late, though. This just may be who I am. For better or worse. 

 

Monday in Minnesota

Retirement life means I can get up on a Monday morning and bake brownies (I wanted to try out a new brownie pan), bake a skillet chocolate chip cookie, and make up a batch of potato salad. We are having leftovers for dinner because yesterday I made meatloaf and twice-baked potatoes. 

The brownies came out perfect! The cookie is good as well. I never, ever get complaints from Joe on potato salad. I am surprised to discover that cooking is more fun when (1) I don't have to go to work at a job, and (2) I have the tools to do it right and not always trying to figure out a work around.

This morning, I closed the fundraiser we did Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue and Sanctuary. I am incredibly happy that my first fundraiser was a success. Great feedback from four of the participants about the fun they had checking out recipes, reading about the work HBGRR does, and learning about Pampered Chef products. I came away feeling like I had new friends! If you know of a non-profit organization that would benefit from a fundraiser, please let me know! I want to bless as many non-profits as possible. I am not 'selling' Pampered Chef for income.

I am sharing a % of my commission with the non-profit and I use part of the commission to cover the expense of prizes for the fundraiser/party. If someone wants to host a regular party where a host can earn discounted and free products, I will. Pampered Chef also has a bridal registry, and we can link this to a "Wedding Shower" party. I guess I could even have an in-home party if it were local. I like the virtual parties though as I don't have to (1) haul everything to someone's home; (2) cook in front of other people; and (3) the host doesn't have to spend money on ingredients or clean her house.

Nine days until election day! I am scheduled for three more stints as a poll worker. So far, I have enjoyed learning the process! 

I hope more people will serve as a poll worker in future elections. It really helps to see the work that is done in Minnesota to protect anonymity and to make sure there is a fair election. I have confidence in the process. 

 

Brief Check In

I accomplished quite a bit for a Sunday. If you consider making twice baked potatoes, meatloaf, and a green salad for the next three dinners an accomplishment. 

Today is also the last day of the Homeward Bound Golden Retreiver Rescue fundraiser. People can place orders for another five hours. I am excited that the fundraiser was successful and that I learned a lot in the process. A double win!

May your coming week be filled with good times!

Learning the Poll Ropes

On October 13th we attended the Flannel-Up Festival. During the event they took photos. So here we are in our flannel!

Today I did a 3-hour shift as a poll judge at City Hall during early voting. I am so glad for this experience. Everyone who has concerns about voting security would be well served to understand the processes in their own states. I love watching people of all ages exercise their right to vote. The number of voters was steady, and the time flew by! It was actually quite satisfying to answer "how-to" questions of first-time voters. A couple of today's first-time voters were beyond the age of eighteen. One person told us, "This is my first time voting! I thought they picked jurors from the voter pool. But I got called for jury duty anyway, so I figured I might as well vote."

It is funny what people choose to share! We just smile, answer 'how-to' questions and direct people to the voting booths. During my shift we had two people on crutches come into vote. I asked each of them if they would be more comfortable sitting to vote. Each person's face lit up and they gave a huge sigh, and you could tell they were relieved. It is difficult to stand on crutches and fill in bubbles on a ballot in a lightweight booth. The person working in my area with me turned to me and said, "Wow! That was really nice of you to think about their comfort. I would never have thought to ask either one of them." I was surprised that the other person would not have automatically thought there might be a problem for the person to vote with limited mobility. My poll judge partner has been working at the polls for thirty-five years.

Joe made the decision this morning to forgo buying the lathe we saw yesterday. We drove over this morning and picked up the deposit we had given the seller. She was understanding about Joe changing his mind. Once he had gotten home and started looking into putting it in the shop, he realized it was going to be more of a project getting it up and ready to use than he wanted to take on at this time.

After I finished at City Hall, we drove to Maple Grove and bought groceries at Costco. When we got home Joe washed all of the fruit while I cleaned vegetables and chopped and diced them for our meals for the next five days. 

Tomorrow is the last day of the Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue fundraiser. It has been a terrific experience for me. I have enjoyed getting to know online guests through the past six days. I made new friends in the process!

Banking Exhaustion

 

This drawing is the closest I could find to explain how I felt dealing with the reality of withdrawing cash from my own credit union accounts today. Of course, this is not limited to credit unions - it applies to regular banks as well. I know this from an experience with local banks when we moved from California to Minnesota in 2023.

It is impossible to get more than $4000.00 cash in one day. However, I did not know this until we had driven around for two hours checking in at different credit unions. We wanted $6400.00 in cash for a metal lathe Joe found. I called Golden 1 customer service and explained what I wanted to do. I was assured that the credit union would lift my minimum cash withdrawal to $5000 with a teller and $1400 through ATM and that I could use a co-op bank.

We went to two different credit unions and three different ATMs that have a co-op agreement with Golden1 to get $4000. Each credit union had a different maximum that could be withdrawn. We did not know, until later, that we had hit paydirt when the first credit union agreed to give us $2500 of our money at the counter. The maximum ATM withdrawal at the first place was 600.00 which, even though they were a co-op, they charged us $2.50. Joe ran into Kwik Trip and got $200.00 from a co-op ATM (no charge!). We used this $3300 to put a deposit on the lathe. The second credit union maximum was $500.00 with a teller and $200 at the ATM. Still, $2400 shy of our goal, I was exhausted.

Frustrated, I called Golden 1 - this time the customer service representative explained that the first representative explained things to us incorrectly. That the maximum withdrawal of cash is $1000 at an ATM and $3000 at the window/counter. 

Fortunately, we have until Wednesday to get the remaining cash to pick up the lathe on Wednesday. 

Meanwhile, I am harboring ill feelings toward the entire banking and credit union industry ...

 

Cozy and Quiet

It was a quiet day at our house. Joe practiced welding. His goal is to brush up on his welding skills by practicing for two hours every day. Every day, until he believes he has reached his previous skill level at the time he welded almost every day. He did a little bit of welding in his job during the past thirty years.

Yesterday we drove over to the machine shop that thought they might want to hire him in a week or two on a part-time basis. The guy basically told him that the shop had slowed down and he'd call Joe when it picks up again. He mentioned it would most likely be after the election. Joe stopped in at another shop across the street from the first guy. This business was a husband-and-wife team and their two adult sons. The guy told Joe that he could use an extra hand during busy times but doesn't expect it to pick up again until after the election. 

So, I am waiting for the election to be through so I can stop seeing political requests for money and of course the results of the presidency and congressional seats. Joe is waiting for the election to be over in hopes of hearing about a job.

It is raining tonight. It is dark outside so I cannot see the rain. The weather app reads "Heavy Rain" for the next hour with a 40% chance it will rain for three more hours. Tomorrow it is supposed to be sunny again with a high of 57 degrees. Our house feels cozy, so the rain is welcome! In the sunroom I can turn on the fireplace and feel even cozier. 

Happy Dancing!

Two things have made me really excited today. One is that the Pampered Chef Fundraiser I am doing with my friend Deb for Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue and Sanctuary is loads of fun and it is all about the dogs! Well, and Deb's funny recipes she shares daily alongside the 'serious' recipes I share. If you are looking for gift ideas or want Pampered Chef for yourself, please consider buying - 15% is donated directly to the Rescue by Pampered Chef. Here is the link to purchase:

https://www.pamperedchef.com/party/hbgrrfundraiser?redirect=shop-landing-page

One of the products that people are excited about is a temporary special on a guacamole gift set:

The fundraiser closes on Sunday!

The second thing I am excited about is that my friend Kim is coming to Minnesota and will stay with us for three days before she heads to her corporate office a couple of hours north of us. There are no words for how happy I am that I will be seeing her! There is a lot of happy dancing going on.

Bill and Ericka (aka also part of Kiss N' Tell band)

 and Kim (the hippie) and Sarah dressed for a party they attended recently.

I suspect Kim will not arrive here dressed as a hippie - even though it is

a good look on her!

In more mundane news, I had my 6-month dental visit and cleaning. Everything is good. No cavities. I had chipped a front tooth about 3 or 4 months ago - on a loaf of my homemade sourdough bread. It was in the evening and didn't hurt but the rough edges were making my tongue crazy. I got a file from Joe and was able to file off the sharp edges. My dentist’s response, today? "That is not a procedure we recommend. Still since it doesn't look rough now, and isn't bothering you, we will keep an eye on it." That cracked me up. I told him he needn't worry, I was retired and not looking to begin dentistry practice. He did not laugh.

Joe was at the dentist at the same time having an old filling replaced. 

From the dentist we met with a CPA. I have been doing our taxes for the past three years. This year is a bit more complex with the sale of the house in California. After experiencing sticker shock on the cost to have our taxes done this year, I appreciated that I will not have to pay someone to do this next year.

So here is Deb's recipe for today on the Fundraiser site. I know it is one you will want to try right away.

Let me know if you try this recipe and how it worked out for you!

Worthy

 

Somedays the universe sends me messages to reinforce the need for kindness in the world. I appreciate all of the help I can get. This one came in a moment after my sweet husband had asked, "Why did she call YOU?" He was referring to a 45-minute phone call from someone I met once for five minutes. Her dad knows me though, and she was calling to talk about his health. So, she talked for forty of the forty-five minutes and at the end, she said thank you for listening to me.

I realized she had nobody else to talk to and that she felt safe with me. I told Joe that and he seemed to understand why I would listen to someone that I hardly know. Then the above popped up on my Facebook feed and it hit me that I don't have to know someone for me to listen to them. And maybe, just maybe, I can learn to be grateful when someone trusts me enough to feel safe.

Anyway, all of this to say, I love the thought that our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy.

Election Work

Today was the first day I worked at the election office. There were six people in our conference room and at least ten in the larger conference room at City Hall. Our job was to remove completed mail-in ballots from an outer and an inner envelope. The outer envelopes are stored separately as they have personal voter information on them. Once these envelopes were set aside, we opened the second envelope which contained the actual ballot.

This process is done so that nobody knows who the voter is for a specific ballot. Once the ballots are opened and the precinct is checked, the ballots are put in stacks of 25 and two judges initial the top of the ballot. After all of the ballots for a specific precinct are compiled and the ballot count is verified, the ballots are fed into the voting machine.

The voting machine has a flash drive that stores the data. This flash drive is behind a sealed door. The seal will be opened on November 5th at 8:00pm when the polls close and the results of these ballots will be learned at that time. Meanwhile, the paper ballots are handled/stored by election officials.

Two of us in our room were new to working at the polls. The other four people were supportive and nice. I love Minnesota nice so much. There are three more days I am scheduled to help at the polls. This coming Saturday is my next shift of three hours. I am a bit excited to see which job I will be assigned.

Meanwhile, Joe continues to work in his shop. He had another delivery today - I think it was the surface plate that weighs 600 pounds. I know he loves that he has an engine hoist that can lift up to two and a half tons. 

And the fundraiser for Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue started today! I am so excited at the online turn-out so far. And the host, Deb, is AMAZING. She is witty and is making her own recipe posts as we go along. See the thing is that Deb does not cook ... So here is her first recipe!

Joe's Shop

Joe took photos of his shop to share with you. He still has equipment he will be buying in a few months, once he replenishes his bank account. Today, he installed new lighting in the garage.

The air compressor is ready for power. Might happen tomorrow.

Joe's shop is one-half of our two-car garage. He says it is plenty of space. Remember he still wants to add a manual lathe and mill and thinks he has space to put them?? 

*********

I did not make it to the couch last night. Instead, I found chores to do. That is how I roll. 

I DID make it to the couch this afternoon. It turns out it is a lovely nap spot. Joe claimed he could not find me, which means that part of my nap was uninterrupted. 

Today, I had a lovely virtual chat with two friends, Jen and Elizabeth. We were in three different time zones and my internet seemed to be on the fritz. Again! On Wednesday, during my chat with Eleanor I was getting messages that the internet was unstable. On Thursday, I experienced internet issues while chatting with Jen. There were no messages so Jen and I thought it might be at her end. Now, I suspect it is something to do with our provider. They recently upgraded our service at no charge BUT did they really? We did not ask for an upgrade. Something is happening because we had better service BEFORE their supposed upgrade. Very definitely a first-world problem. 

Anyway, it has been a good week catching up with friends, virtually.

Couch Time!

I finished the fundraiser content I have been working on today and plan to spend the evening watching my favorite video podcast at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSiQ26g5nio.

With a teaser of "The One with a New Puppy" it sure sounds relaxing. For me. I am not sure that people with new puppies will get to relax for the first six weeks or so.

The other treat for myself is to have an alcoholic drink and sit on the new sectional in the family room. And you might have thought my retired life was boring. Obviously, I am a bit of an introvert if my idea of having an enjoyable time is sitting on the sofa.

I haven't bought pillows, yet ...

I need to get out some throws and buy pillows!

Since I have been developing and writing for the upcoming fundraiser over the past three days, I am going to make this short this evening.

Joe has promised I can take a photo of his garage shop when it is "a little more cleaned up." It looks good to me now. He wants to get two more pieces of equipment staged properly before I take photos. He has been running back and forth to hardware stores today getting bits and pieces for the air compressor installation. I guess air compressors are often hardwired so they do not come with electrical cords.

When Megan was over the other day, she helped me to order orange, purple, and black light bulbs for the porch and outdoor garage light receptacles. Joe was a bit resistive at first to putting them up as he does not like drawing attention to himself (or the house). I told him he didn't have to do it; I'd get someone else to do it for me. He went ahead and did it - after all it is for the neighborhood kids when they come by for trick or treating. Who can resist doing things for children? Certainly, not Joe. The light bulbs are now installed. I'll try to get a photo tonight to post tomorrow.

Now it is off to evaluate the new sofa!

 

Forgot I Was Retired ...

Well, another day got away from me. I have been busy creating content for upcoming fundraisers. I probably would have been simply fine with my time except we started our morning by driving to Delano to dispose of a couch. 

The old couch was left behind by the sellers of our home. They had cautioned us that it still looked nice but that the support was worn out. We had temporarily used cardboard between the cushions and the couch to give it support. Otherwise, I would occasionally lay on it and then have to roll off and onto the floor to get up out of it. Earlier this week we purchased a sectional that is like new (only 6 months old). I am no longer required to roll onto the floor! 

Yesterday, when cooking split pea soup, I accidentally cleaned lentils. So today, I made lentil and rib soup. This specific recipe has multiple steps and takes more time than other soups I make. Since my method of cooking involves prepping everything before I actually begin cooking, I had a boatload of dishes to wash as I went along.

Sigh. I discovered in the process of cooking, trying to complete self-imposed deadlines on content, cleaning, and errands - all in one day - is like having a job! I can like all of the bits and pieces individually BUT I need to learn to pace myself a bit better. Some habits never die, I always get wrapped up and engaged in what I am doing and before I know it it is bedtime.

I did manage to text with Megan a bit today and check out her Facebook post of her most recent cookie order. 

Ray is Jeremy's co-worker.

And I also managed to sign up for another year of Universal Yum so we can continue with our international family nights through 2025. We are going to go big this year with their Super Yum box which contains 12-15 snacks with a beverage. 

Joe went off this afternoon to visit Toll Welding Supplies, Lowe's, and Menards for shop supplies. None of these stores are here in town so it was a big adventure for him to do his own navigating. He got home so we will count that as success!

It was an excellent and productive day for both of us!

Italy - October's International Family Night

Calebs's family portrait - Caleb asked us to choose our favorite colors of

the four crayons they were given. He then colored our clothes based on our favorites. Note that my hair is white versus Grandpa's hair ...

Charlotte's family portrait. We got to choose colors foro ur clothing. Megan, Baby,

and Grandpa are green as they are Hulks. She also made the top cat into a dog so that 

both Sylvie and Pan were represented.

We were all excited to celebrate Italy at Biaggi's Ristorante Italiano in Maple Grove. Biaggi's happens to be a family favorite. We started with two appetizer's, fried ravioli (spinach and ricottta) with a scallion cream sauce and stuffed mushrooms (Italian sausage, spinach, garlic and white wine butter sauce).

                         fried ravioli                                  stuffed mushrooms

While the adults were eating appetizers, Charlotte made mustaches with her pieces of bread:

We shared minestrone soup and a salad of honey roasted beet and arugula with avocado, sun-dried cranberries, spicy walnuts, and goat cheese with a honey balsamic dressing. The entrees for the evening included spaghettti and meatballs (Charlotte); pepperoni pizza (Caleb); baked ziti al forno (Jeremy); ravioli quattro formaggi (Megan); eggplant parmesan with three-cheese alfredo rigatini (Joe); and salmon and shrimp risotto (Beth). 

ziti al forno

 eggplant parmesan

 Pepperoni pizza

 Ravioli

 spaghetti

 salmon and shrimp risotto

Desserts were ice cream sundaes for the grandkids (Caleb - Chocolate; Charlotte - Cherry); and the adults shared lemon marscapone cake and sorbets (cherry, cappucino, and blood orange).

 

When we got back to the house, Jeremy helped Joe to move our new sectional (new to us, 6 months old and seller couldn't fit it into their new home) into the family room and get the old couch into the garage. They also managed to move Joe's new air compressor from the driveway into the garage.

Next up was taste testing snacks from Italy and trivia. Charlotte was the trivia winner. Her best response was to the question: The richest person in Italy owns which of the following brands? (a) Ferrari (b) Gucci (c) Nutella and (d) Versace. Charlotte was the only one to guess Nutella. When she delivered her answer she said, "I don't like Nutella, other people do, so it will be Nutella." 

Charlotte wearing her trivia winner sticker on her face.

Caleb did our snack taste testing scoreboard. Joe won the picky eater sticker as he liked the least number of snacks this month. 

The grandkids decided they would like to try another year of international snacks and dinners. With the latest grandbaby coming in late January or early February, we will have the dinners in our home for most of the new year. Charlotte let us know she likes going to the restaurants so Jeremy and Megan told her that maybe later in the year when baby is a little older we can return to dining out.

Today, Caleb and Charlotte spent part of the day hanging out with me. We went to the movies to watch Nightmare Before Christmas on the big screen. Fun day!