Visit with Freya and More Crafting (Nov.21, 2023)

I drove Freya to school this morning and then picked her up as well.

She wanted to go over to my place to hang out with Mom for the afternoon so I took her there.

She immediately 'did mom up' - ha ha.

She's very proud of her work.

At least it's not the usual marker she uses so this will be easier for mom to clean up.

I had planned on getting my work out done on my lunch hour but I just hung out with Freya instead.

I can work out after work.

I was expecting Freya to still be there but Haylee had picked her up so I was able to hop on the treadmill and get my workout done right away.

The workout on the training plan today was 5 minutes easy run followed by 5 repeats of (4 minutes hard running and 3 minutes walking) and then ending off with 5 minutes of running easy.

It was a good workout and I felt great when I was done.

I got the greenery added to my Holly Jolly sign - I'm very happy with how it turned out.

I cut out enough fabric to make two stars and I got those sewn up tonight then I also dolled one of them up.

I'm happy with how they turned out as well.

I think I make a few more but I think I'm going to look for a different star pattern, maybe one with rounded ends instead of pointed.

Jason took this picture of Freya standing in the fridge trying to decide what she wanted the other day and I thought it was so cute.

 

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!

Weigh In Day & Craft Prep (Nov.20, 2023)

You know what Monday means - Weigh in day!

I was 2018. lbs today.

That's down 2.8 lbs since last week.

So close to Onederland - I'm just about there.

Work was busy but that's good - I like being busy.

I had to take mom for bloodwork this afternoon - she's been tired so they are going to check her iron levels again.

While she was in there, I walked around out in the parking lot so that I could get some steps in.

Today is a rest day but I still need to get my 13,000 steps.

When I got home from work, I hopped on the treadmill and just walked until I got the rest of my steps in.

Yay - done!

I cleaned and organized my craft room tonight - I wanted to do some crafting but it took so long to get organized that it was kind of late by the time I finished.

I did get a couple things done and tomorrow I'll be ready to go as soon as I get home from work.

I used my IOD stamps to stamp Holly Jolly 

I have a few ideas of some things that I would like to do to this to pretty it up but that will have to wait until tomorrow.

I made these bells last year but when I took them out of storage, a couple were stuck to each other and when I pulled them apart, it pulled a bit of the paint off of them so I got those fixed.

Then Morgan asked me if I could update this little gnome I'd made for Tanner last year.

 I painted his hat over and once it dries I'll put Kalem on there.

I'm going to make these cutting boards into reindeer and they needed one last coat of paint - once it dries they'll be ready to go.

These are wood slices that I had and I painted them red, they are going to be reindeer noses.

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!

17.2k Run and Cookies with the Kiddos (Nov.19, 2023)

I had to run 11 miles today (17.6k) and luckily it turned out to be a nice day so I was able to get outside for it.

Freya had spent the night and she didn't really want to go home so that I could go for my run but I promised her that she could come back later so eventually she agreed.

I decided on a route and got going.

It started off ok, about 5k in I had to head back to my house to use the washroom so my route got a little side tracked but I headed back out and got back on track.

I had a fibre one bar with me and I was having a bite of it every 5 songs or so but by the 10th km I was feeling really tuckered out and I was getting a blister on my foot.

I kept going albeit very slowly but by the 11th km I decided to head home and change my shoes because I was close by.

The first 11k of my run today.

The exercise details.

My average pace and splits.

I felt like I was going much slower to be honest.

Back to the house after finishing 11k.

I changed my shoes and had some water and then I decided that I didn't want to go back outside, instead I decided to hop on the treadmill to finish up the last 7 k  that I needed to do.

It took me FOREVER.

I was really struggling.

I had to stop to use the washroom a few times, 

I also needed to stop and stretch my back because it was hurting.

I also changed my shoes again and went upstairs to get water a couple times.

It took me WAY longer than it should have but eventually I finished and I was so happy that it was done.

I was so happy to be done but I was exhausted.

I rested for a bit then I had a nice bath.

Then I called to see if Freya wanted to come back since I'd promised her that she could.

She was over at Crystal's but did want to come and Zepplyn wanted to come too so Randie brought them over and dropped them off. 

As soon as she came in, Freya started asking for Hunter so I called to see if he and Alivia wanted to come over for a bit.

Adrien said he'd bring them by after supper.

I'd promised we could do a craft of some kind or maybe make cookies - they opted for the cookies so I made a gingerbread recipe that I found that was good for cutting shapes with and the girls got busy.

Kids just love doing stuff like this and even though I was wiped out, I'm glad I did it with them.

Once I got up and got going it wasn't so bad.

She was using ALL of the cookie cutters.

We got those cookies in the oven then when Alivia and Hunter arrived, I made a salt dough so they could all make some ornaments.

The dough was really tough, the kids had a bit of a hard time rolling it out but they did manage.

She is obsessed with baby bottles.

She saw I had a bottle cookie cutter and that's the only one I wanted to use.

Hunter was on a tight schedule.

As soon as he came in he told me that he could only stay for an hour because he wanted to get home to play his virtual reality game he just got.

He's so funny.

Alivia is growing up and doesn't always want to come over and do stuff like this anymore so I was really glad that she came.

She made a bunch of feet for her friends.

The ginger cookies that the girls made.

Zepplyn said she didn't like ginger but she ended up loving the cookies and took the ones she made home with her.

The salt dough ornaments had to go in the oven for 90 minutes and the kids couldn't stay that late because they had school in the morning so I said they could come back another day to paint them.

The school posted some pictures on their Facebook page and it's Zepply and Hunter's class with the pumpkins they carved so I had to share.

Saw some cute Christmas craft ideas.

I've been in a crafting mood lately so might get to making a few things this week hopefully.

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!

Virtual Baby Shower and Christmas Decorating is Complete (Nov.18, 2023)

We were leaving for Slave Lake at 8 this morning and I told Nadine I'd walk over to her house this morning to meet her.

I was treated to another spectacular scene by mother nature.

The sky was looking absolutely stunning - again.

We've been treated to some really gorgeous skies this last little bit.

I met Nadine then we picked up Bonnie and Shennelle and were on our way.

We did a bit of shopping, checked out the craft fair and had a treat at Tim Horton's then we were back on the road by 12:30.

My cousin was having a virtual baby shower for her son today.

She's in PEI, he's in Australia, her daughter is in Scotland and Mom and I were in Alberta so that was a lot of time zones to try and coordinate.

I thought it was at 1 pm my time but it was actually at 4 pm so I had some time.

I worked on the tree and it took me pretty much until 4, I was hoping I'd be done sooner because it was an absolutely gorgeous day out there but it too me right up until the virtual baby shower to get it done.

It was nice to see everyone even if it was virtually.

We stayed online for about an hour and we played some games and they opened some gifts - it was nice.

After the shower finished, I got all of the containers taken downstairs and put away.

I also cleaned the house up, vacuumed, dusted and then I just sat in all my Christmassy decor and enjoyed it.

Some pictures of the final product.

The fire place.

Every little nook and cranny got Christmasafied.

My front window.

The tv stand.

The entryway.

Behind my couch.

The tree - I love our tree - I think it's so beautiful.

The dining room.

I used the bells I made last year in my decor this year.

The spice rack.

'Window' in the kitchen.

Some signs and a tree that Freya made last year.

The pantry.

I took down all the pictures on my gallery wall and replaced them with Christmas pictures.

These are our stockings from when we were kids, I don't know why I have them all but I hang them up every year.

The bathroom.

I love this Christmas shower curtain.

Hard to see because of the lights but I have some reindeer up around the mirror.

A wreath that I made last year.

Another arrangement just by my end table.

I added some of the bells I made last year to this wreath on my door.

I had this little wreath at my booth last year and nobody bought it so I brought it home and I'm happy because I actually really like it.

I had told Freya yesterday that she could spend the night tonight so Kody brought her by after supper.

When Jason got home she randomly decided that she wanted to make a pizza so Jason helped her.

They mixed up the dough and she wanted to roll it out with the snowflake rolling pin.

She only wanted cheese on it.

Freya makes a pizza.

That's all for today, until next time, be happy!