Winter Fun List!

How'd your Thanksgiving go?  Was it everything you hoped and dreamed for?  Was it relaxing and enjoyable?
I've put together my Winter Fun list!  Some of them are area specific, but I'm sure you have things like it around your part of the world!

• Christmas Decorations!
• Festival of Lights: Luminosity -- Powell Gardens
• The Magic Tree
• Holiday Luminary Walk - Overland Park Arboretum
• Sar-Ko Aglow
• Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop -- Christmas Open House or Shoal Creek Living History Museum - Victorian Christmas (These are the same weekend)
• Olde World Christmas Night Time Tour in Strawberry Hill (might have to sub something)
• Wonder, Wonder Museum (I have a groupon that expires in December!)
• Winter Solstice Event at Ernie Miller Park
• Holiday Movie Marathon
• Lights at Deanna Rose
• Holiday Baking!
• First Day Hike!
• Bowling!
• Ride the Streetcar and visit Union Station and Crown Center
• Homemade Hot Chocolate
• Zoo/Nature Sanctuary
• Participate in Book Exchanges
• Mini vacation in February!
• Wine Tasting (another groupon expiring!)

What is on your list?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi friends!  Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope you have a wonderful day and you spend it in a way that makes you happy!

Enjoy my  turkey and a wonderful smelling candle. I'm sorry you can't smell it through the screen!

November - What's up, Wednesday?

What We’re Eating This Week

• Monday -- Mac and Cheese
• Tuesday -- Had dinner at the movies with a friend!
• Wednesday -- Ugly Soup
• Thursday -- Thanksgiving Goodness!
• Friday -- Pork Chops and left overs
• Saturday -- Parm Crusted Chicken

What I’m Reminiscing About

• Fun holiday times of the past!

What I’m Loving

• Thanksgiving!
• All the decorations!  For all the holidays!
• Book Exchanges!

What We’ve Been Up To

• Alli started her new job!
• Peyton is doing better in school.
• Christmas Shopping

What I’m Dreading

• Nothing!

What I’m Working On

• Reading more
• Walking 10K steps a day!
• Bout Production things for Roller Derby

What I’m Excited About

• Thanksgiving
• Decorating
• LONG WEEKEND!!

What I’m Watching/Reading

• Finishing up the shows going into Winter Break.
• Just saw "Last Christmas" in the theatres
• Just finished "Waiting for Tom Hanks"
• Just started "I owe you one"
• Getting ready to start "25 Days Til Christmas"

What I’m Listening To

• A lot of instrumental music
• Meg Myers
• Lana Del Rey

What I’m Wearing

• Leggings and fuzzy boots!

What I’m Doing This Weekend

• Decorating
• Cleaning my Room!

What I’m Looking Forward To Next Month

• All the holidays!
• 2nd KCRW Bout
• Setting goals and crushing them!

What Else Is New

• Not a whole lot!
• How bout you?

Confessions...

Happy Hump Day!  I'm going to do a confessions post.  If you are looking for some really juicy things, this isn't the place to be.  In 2020, my goal is to make my life more exciting!

Confession #1:  My bed room is a mess.  It's just so cluttered and everything is down there.  I want to clean it, but by the time I do everything else, I just want to go down to my room and sleep.  My TV conked out and I don't have a care in the world about that.  Good thing there are TVs on sale for Black Friday. :)

Confession #2:  I was hoping to get my Christmas shopping completed before Thanksgiving.  I did a good job, but there are still some things that I didn't get yet.  Like, my sisters entire list.  I still don't have it.  She doesn't understand my need to get things done.

Confession #3:  I want to be offered this teaching position more than anything.

Confession #4:  Impostor syndrome at an all time high.

Confession #5: I cannot wait for my five day weekend.  I am over my workplace at the moment for so many reasons.  I do not want to come back to the holiday to a new manager, but so is life. 

Confession #6: My Christmas Corner is ready to go.  I want to decorate, but I want to make it through Thanksgiving first.

Thanksgiving Recipes

How do you do Thanksgiving?  In my family, we all split the food making up to make it easier!  We all like to cook, it brings all of us joy!

For my family's part, we are making: Green Bean Casserole from Scratch, Candied Sweet Potatoes and two appetizers.

The Green Bean Casserole was a hit last year.  I got the recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction.  It is so easy to follow.  It's made in a cast iron skillet.  It's the one in the middle of the picture.

The Turkey is the appetizer I make each year.  It lasts a few minutes each time.  I use two types of cheese, pepperonis and pretzel crackers!

The other appetizer I am making is cranberry jalapeno jelly over cream cheese served with crackers!

I got the Candied Sweet Potato recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction also.  I haven't tried it yet, but it is linked. 

What are you making for the holiday?  What is your favorite thing to make?

Weekend Rewind

Happy Monday, friends!  Who is ready for the short work week followed by yummy foods and time with family and friends?  This girl, right here!

My cats have been cuddling in the closet lately.  They've been pulling clothing down and making a little nest to sleep in.  It's really warm in there, so I know why they are attracted to it!  Most of the time I wake up and they are back in the bed with me though. :)

Alli had her cheer tournament in Topeka this weekend!

They were so adorable. 

Alli is a main base when they stunt.  That means she does the majority of the lifting and holding the other cheerleader up.  There is a picture of her in the online newspaper for our county. 

We stopped on the turnpike to eat dinner!

Taco Bell has their rolled chicken tacos again, so delicious! 

Our Dunkin Donuts fancy drinks were so gross though!

I'm not a coffee drinker, but I will occasionally have a fancy one, this one was not good.  Alli ended up drinking it.  I just couldn't do it. 

My cats have also been under the bathroom sink lately.  The air vent is under there and I think they are loving the warm arm blowing on them!

Our second trip out to Topeka this weekend was for my nieces birthday party!

She is turning five on Thanksgiving!

We went to Chuck E Cheese, ate the pizza, played the games and ate cake.

Funny story...my daughter is 16, same height as me and looks older...they kid checked her.  They actually shut the door on us as we were following my mom in and made her get a kid stamp.  We laughed about it for a while.  When we were leaving, they checked the kid stamp.  Glad she didn't try to walk outside on her own or anything!  They would have blocked her! 

Alli had her second night of work!  She worked three hours this time.

I did a quick stop by Marshalls after I dropped her off.  Picked up a few candles, found a cute sweater and some colored jeans.

Went home for a while, took care of mammals, did a little cleaning, then went to pick her up.

After I picked her up, we went to Walmart to pick up a few things.  I had three things on my list and I had to sub things for all of them!  They were out of fresh green beans!  I ended up still getting fresh ones, but they were pre-bagged, so they cost more, but I didn't want to go to the store again this week.  Because. Bananas!

Since I do not have practice this week, my goal is to walk 10k steps each day and to exercise three times.

Also to just enjoy the week!

What do you have planned for you week?

Fri-YAY!

Weekly Review:  It was a decent one.  :)

I let Alli drive my car one evening.  It was terrifying.  Look at her smile though!

Two derby practices!  We only have one more coming up before we are off for a week. :( 

I went a purchased new wheels and bearings from Legacy Skates KC.  A new skate shop and my friend, Dizzy Aster, works there!  I plan on getting a new helmet, mouth guard and knee pads within a few months. 

I actually went out one night after practice!  It was so nice chatting and hanging with friends!

I accidentally ordered a Hello Fresh box (I forgot to cancel it) and I received those on Tuesday.  We will eat them over the weekend.

Alli started her new job and work 2.5 hours, she goes in again on Sunday.

I've gotten a lot of Christmas shopping done.  Both nieces, most of Peyton's presents and a few of Alli's.  I still have to do my sister and my moms and Tanners.  Not too bad.  My sister is the only one I'm not sure of what I'm getting her.  My children asked me if I bought Amazon.  I let them know that there is also two Target boxes in there. :)

How was your week?

Three Things Thursday!

Prompts from Life According to Steph

Lipstick is First Class #lipstories by Sephora

Things I'm looking forward to before the end of the month

1. Thanksgiving and Days Off!!

2. Family Fun!

3. Making food for Thanksgiving

Things I’m happy with
1. Getting an interview for a teaching job.
2. Decisions I've made regarding Roller Derby
3. The Long Weekend coming up!

Things I don’t understand
1. Some of our clients

2. All the road closures downtown

3. Why I'm not doing well on four hours of sleep? :)

Things I love to eat at Thanksgiving
1. Cranberry Jalapeno Jelly on cream cheese with crackers!
2. From Scratch Green Bean Casserole
3. Pumpkin Pie

Things I need from the store
1. Nothing I need!
2. But I want chocolate Advent Calendars for the kiddos
3. Buffalo Check Blanket

Things I don't like to do
1. self deprecation -- I do it too much though
2. Wash my hair -- dry shampoo for the win
3. Go on dating apps

Things I've said out loud to strangers this week
1. "Please get a pink ticket" all day long
2. "It would not be advantageous to do that right now"
3. "I always run out of cat food"

Things that smell good in this season
1. Apple scented candles
2. Burning leaves
3. Pre-snow air

What's In My Bag?

A whole bunch of craziness!  I decided to do this because my bag was heavy and I needed to clean it out.  What a more perfect time to do it then on your lunch break?

I know everyone has their perfectly laid out items on a pretty background, but this is what I took out of my bag!  

• My bag was so heavy because I had a good $10 worth of change in there.
• Random bills floating around.
• A sticky note pad
• Tickets to Exiled
• My wallet
• A lot of stickers
• A perfume stick
• So many lip products!
• So many pens!
• Kansas City Roller Warrior Flyer
• A whistle
• My broken FitBit that has been replaced
• the car charger
• My keys
• Earrings
• a binder clip
• A random bracelet that is not mine
• Receipts that promptly went in the trash after the pic was taken

My bag is cleaned out now.  

What is in your bag?

Kikkoman Party #sponsored

I applied at Ripple Street to host a Kikkoman Party!  I was selected and soon a box arrived in the mail!  

For being a party host, I received the following items:

• 1 $25 Amex Gift Card
• 1 Pot Holder
• 5 T-shirts (Extra Large)
• 6 T-shirts (Large)
• 11 Recipe Booklets
• 11 Coupons for Free Kikkoman Product

I immediately thought of my derby team, the Victory Vixens to be the perfect people to share this with!  

Check out the parties on Ripple Street and enjoy the pics in our Kikkoman attire!

Welcome to Friday!

It was another short week!  Yay!  The kiddos still had school, so I was up early as usual. 

On my day off, I completely cleaned out the laundry room.  It looked so nice.  Then the world's oldest cat threw up.  It was easy to clean though.  I think my vacuum is it's last leg though, I'm going to start looking for a new one.  Any recommendations?  I have mainly hardwood flooring, but my stairs and two of the bedrooms have carpet.

I accomplished a few things this week:

• went to all the practices and had so much fun
• set up auto debit for my student loans
• applied for a teaching position and a few jobs within my agency
• ordered a new Christmas Tree off of Amazon
• ordered Holiday pillow covers from Amazon
• Finished Christmas Shopping for my oldest niece
• Made Thanksgiving plans with the Fam
• Updated the derby calendar for the league
• Ordered books for the November book exchange (and one for myself)
• Planning for future bouts and delegating tasks and getting volunteers!
• scheduled all payments for the end of November

My Walktober team at work won the Most Improved Category!  We get a $50 gift card.  We decided to get it for Walmart or Target, that way we would buy food for our upcoming holiday party.

How was your week?  

Friday Eve

On Wednesday morning, I didn't want to leave my bed.  Sure, it was warm and snuggly, but all I wanted to do was pet Fred's belly.  He was so cute.  When I had to get up, he was a little perturb that I would no longer be giving the belly rubs.  I gave him plenty when I got home though.

I have been finding lots of good things at Costco lately.  The star shirt I purchased a few months back.  On Tuesday, I found these boots!  I had been looking for black boots with fur for a reasonable price.  Costco is always reasonably priced.  I picked up some soft boot socks that I am sure my feet with be living in this winter.  Have you had any fun Costco purchases lately? 

I don't do bathroom selfies often.  Here I am before scrimmage. 

Here are my legs after scrimmage.  I am watching my friends do the derbies and waiting for All-Star Open practice to begin.  Tryouts are in three weeks!  So excited! 

Peyton and I waiting for Alli to get in the car.

I had made her breakfast (sausage biscuits, muffin and a protein drink) and she ate that in the car on the way to school.  She is donating blood today.  They had a teacher that passed away unexpectedly over the summer.  The school didn't even know she died.  When she didn't show up for teacher work days, the principal started calling her family members.  He found out about her passing.  Her family didn't even know she had passed for a while.  They found her in her home after a few days of people trying to make contact with her.  Such a sad situation.  The blood drive is in honor of her.

Alli got her driving permit last Friday and got hired for her first job on Wednesday!  She will be working on weekends only, so her school and cheer won't be interrupted.   Her first employer was my first employer when I was 16!  How exciting!

And now, it's time to work.  It was so busy yesterday, I hope it is a little slower today.

Thursdays are usually our "slow" day.  I put on makeup also, because I am too pale without it. :) 

Wednesday!

It's been so long since a blog!  I don't like it.  I need to be better.  Work has been kicking my butt.  That a whole other story to tell though and I will in another blog.  

Speaking of work, on Friday, I did an event at Memorial Hall.  My home away from home.  It was busy and we saw around 60 vets and gave them resources.  It was an all day event and it started earlier than normal work time.  We were out of there by 2 pm and free to start our weekend! 

On Saturday, I joined my friends, Annie Maul and Black Mamba, and participated in Chalk Up for Burpees.  We did seven minutes of burpees.  It was hard, so hard, but not as hard as it is for our military in their daily lives.   

Saturday night was our awards banquet for Fountain City Roller Derby.  

My women's team won first place again.  The first back to back champions in the leagues history.

I coached a couple of games for a coed team and coached practices.  I got a medal for that.  I don't feel like I deserved it though.  One of the skaters I coached though said I did though, that made me feel a little better.

I did "retire" from the league this year.

At the end of the awards, they called four of us up.  The four of us had been in the league over five years (my count was seven).  They retired all of our derby names.  That way no skaters coming into the league can use our names as their skater names. 

Best M.A.D.E. team ever!  Shotgun Sheilas! 

Guess who had a two year adoptaversy!  Little Kibben here!

Love his face so much! 

Freddie and I played around with portrait mode on Sunday morning. 

I went to the mall the other day.  Mainly to get some Bath and Body Works items, but stopped by Sephora and a few other places.

This was my Sephora pick up.  They had lipsticks in a bundle.  They renamed the colors with winter themed names and changed the labels.  I had been spying quite a few of these colors and the salesperson showed me this and I was in love!

I found the cooling eye masks and can't wait to try them out.

I was looking around for my daughter for some Christmas gifts, but couldn't remember which brands she loved.  I wrote down a few and asked her.  There is a cute gift set that I am going to go back and get her. 

This is Busters guilty face!  He just yelled at one of the cats, then felt bad about it. 

Sunday practice!  I love my Vixens! 

KCRW is working on a relationship with a growing men's team/league.  We are allowing them to rent our practice space for two hours on specific Sundays.  This was their first practice!  So many showed up!  I am hoping this takes off! 

When I locked up for practice, this was on one side of Memorial. 

And this was on the other side. 

Buster looking cute! 

The kitty cuddle puddle! 

I did another event on Tuesday morning.

This one was slow for the first hour, the last hour, I did end up seeing around 15 people. 

I was prepared for the slowness, I brought a book!

It was 14 degrees when I got there and didn't expect much traffic. 

Tuesday night was league practice and open All-Star practice!

It was a good night.

My friend, Shush and I, are tag teaming the locking up of Memorial.  Safer for us and we hold each other accountable. (When we were locking up by ourselves, people kept leaving us in the building alone!  It's a big, old building with lots of sounds!) 

How's your week going so far?!?