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Organizing

I spent the last two days organizing. I spent my days going through all of our kitchen cupboards and pantries to maximize our storage. The kitchen has been looking a bit cluttered and we have mugs, plastic cups and water bottles coming out our ass. Honestly, we have way too much stuff in here. This weekend I l culled through our kitchenware and will be donating at least half of it. Some of it isn’t in a good enough condition to be donated, so we’ll be throwing it out.

It feels good to get rid of the extra crap we don’t need. Moreover, I find mind kitchen more peaceful now that it’s better organized. We have two big boxes of stuff to donate, which is awesome. I also had three bags of garbage from the endeavor. Thankfully, I’m almost done. The last piece of the puzzle will be to match all the tops to the travel mugs and water bottles.

Yesterday I baked some Pulla and mixed up cookie dough for more the mint cookies and my favorite Finnish cookie. Today I baked fresh bread to go along with the beef stew I made for dinner. The family loved the stew and the bread. In fact, they ate the bread and there’s only a little bit of stew left. Obviously, my boys eat a lot, so I made a double batch so the Hubby, Goalielocks’ girlfriend and I could actually have some.

While the bread rose, I got my run in. I ran two miles and walked a mile. Today’s run went really well. It’s so much easier for me to run later in the morning or afternoon. Honestly, I feel like I’m dying when I run before work. Obviously, I feel great afterwards, but it’s tough. Before I started dinner, I did a nice yin practice on the Practyce app. I’m loving the Practyce app and the variety of yoga practices it provides.

Tomorrow, I’ll finish organizing the kitchen before switching focus to our room. Again we just have way more stuff than we need. We really need to go through everything and get rid of some stuff. Hopefully, this will generate a few more boxes of goodies to donate to Goodwill. Moreover, I hope we actually get around to dropping the donations off this weekend.

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Day Off

Today was my first day off since October 10th. It was definitely needed. I started my day by sleeping in a bit, which felt great. My goal for the day was to get a run in, finish the banenschnitten (Austrian banana dessert,) and work on organizing my kitchen. Fortunately, I got my run in, finished the dessert and made great strides in the kitchen.

I got a new food processor last week since the one we got for our wedding was on its last leg. Despite upgrading to the next model up, the new Cuisinart food processor cost me less than the old one. It also comes with a much better setup. All the accessories including all the very sharp tools are stored thoughtfully in a storage case. I’m excited to use it. Apparently, I’ve been watching the Great British Bake-off too much!

Both boys had games to officiate today, which was nice. They both are very expensive, so I’m excited to have their own spending money. I’m going broke subsidizing their social lives and Chipotle habits. I think the Mayor was just happy to be back on the ice after taking the week off. Fortunately, all of their games this weekend went well. It also gave me some quiet, alone time off at home on my day off. I don’t get much time to myself outside of my workday.

I am excited for the week ahead. Last week was great at work, so I’m excited to carry the momentum forward. Hopefully, the remaining six weeks of AEP are lucrative enough to fund my travel wishes for 2022. Honestly, I cannot wait to get back to Scandinavia and Europe. Obviously, I’ll be making another trip to Utah in the new year, which will be awesome. As for the rest of the night, I’m ready for bed. I don’t know why, but it feels three hours later than it actually is.

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Happy Birthday Hubby!

Join me in wishing my hubby a very happy birthday! Today we chilled at home, which was nice. I’ve been a bit under the weather, in addition to the broken toe. Also, the Mayor was exposed to Covid last week, so today wasn’t a day to paint the town the red. (“Paint the town red,” what a brilliant bromide.) It really was a nice, low key day at home.

The hubby smoked a nice pork butt and grilled some yummy ribs. We used the ribs from Butcher Box for the first time today. While the ribs were tasty, they were pretty fatty. Moreover, some pieces had a lot of cartilage on them. Nevertheless, they tasted amazing. We also had some of the Hubby’s amazing grilled potatoes. Additionally, I air fried up some home made french fires. The food was awesome!! As was the company, since my brother was able to join us for lunch.

The Mayor tested negative on the rapid home test, but I still took him to Urgent Care tonight for a PCR test. Obviously, it’s never a fun time waiting at the Urgent Care, but the waiting room was mildly entertaining. First of all, the guy that came in immediately after us was looking to be seen because he got Palmolive (yes, the dish soap) in his eye. Given his conversation with the front desk, he’s definitely a frequent flyer. He was quite the character.

Secondly, a mom and her teen daughter came j for a Covid test. The daughter had two positive home tests and was coming in for the PCR. Wh they were in the waiting room, the mom called her daughter’s boss to tell him she wouldn’t been into work tomorrow. Moms, dads, guardians of the universe don’t do your kids dirty work. If they’re old enough to hold a job, they’re old enough to tell their boss they have Covid and can’t come in. #helicoptermom

I was also finally able to get my toe checked out by a doctor. Unfortunately, the urgent care (like many others) is short staffed and did not have an X-ray tech on staff today. Nevertheless, I was able to have a doctor evaluate it and re-wrap it. It’s broken, but I’ll go back tomorrow to have X-rays taken of my toe and foot. For the interim, the boot is back to ensure I don’t flex or bend the toe injuring it further.

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*I’m reading Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel.

*I still can’t run because my toe. It feels like deja vu.

*This morning I made homemade cookies and cream and chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. For the Hubby’s birthday, we had ice cream sandwiches.

*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. The tropics are heating up again. Hurricane Ida slammed into Louisiana today at a Cat 4 storm. That is a scary!

*The Hubby picked up coffee for me today since I was not feeling great this morning.

* I watched the live Safaris on YouTube today. The safaris absolutely inspire me. The vistas are extraordinary and the animals wondrous. I simply have to see it in person!

*For dinner, we had bbq ribs, potatoes, baked beans and brags. It was awesome!

*The word of the day and it is excellence. I had an interesting conversation on the topic over the weekend. The thing about excellence is that it should come intrinsically. One shouldn’t be reliant on outside influences to find excellence.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a. I put on his harness every morning. Otherwise, I have difficulty controlling him on the leash. He’s incredible strong and can pull me off balance.

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Homemade Ice Cream Take Two

So tonight it was homemade ice cream take two. I started the first attempt last night, but the bowl wasn’t cold enough. Consequently, the ice cream never formed up. To be fair, the directions said to chill the bowl for 6-24 hours before making homemade ice cream. Clearly, in a hot and humid climate like Florida, I should have chilled the bowl longer.

Initially, I had planned to use the same mix that I made last night. However, I forgot to make sure the fridge door closed after putting it in one of our garage fridges. Naturally, I didn’t figure it out until I left to get my coffee this morning. The door to the fridge had been opened all night, so not only was my ice cream mix spoiled, my waters were all luke warm.

The trip to Dunkin’ took significantly longer than usual due to an accident on BB Blvd. I knew it was bad when the I saw that the police had taped off the area with crime scene tape and were directing traffic. All lanes of westbound BB Blvd were closed, which snarled traffic as the turnpike was also closed down due to a fatality. Consequently, I had to take a very round about way home.

As the hubby started dinner, I mixed up the ice cream mix and put it in the fridge to chill. Fortunately, I had enough heavy cream at my disposal for another batch. I also crushed the Oreos, thus ensuring I’d have enough cookies for my cookies and cream ice cream. After an absolutely abysmal pasta dinner, I turned my focus back the ice cream. Huzzah!! This time my homemade ice cream was a success. Right now it’s firming up in the freezer, so I have to wait a little longer until we can eat it.

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*I read the Norse Queen by Johanna Wittenberg.  I love it. In fact, I have started researching Queen Asa. 

*Goalielocks made it home safely from Orlando around 1:30 this morning.

*I ran 2 miles and walked a mile. It went really well, which was fantastic.

*The family and I are watching The Simpsons now that we’ve finished our movie and dinner.

*The Hubby cooked a Blue Apron meal kit for dinner. Tonight we had some type of pasta.

*After dinner, I successfully made ice cream!

*My favorite surprise on the underwater cams, I watch during work, is seeing an octopus. Today I watched the safari cam, which never disappoints.

*Today’s word of the day is whirlwind. It’s been a whirlwind of success and joy since I started my new job.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a walk. Today he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness, so I’d have more control over him outside. Also, the flies are still here. Did I mention I hate gnats, flies, and mosquitos? I was finally able to hang the fly traps. Nobody loves flies.