Dryer on the Fritz (Apr.30, 2025)

I slept so good last night!

I made sure to hop on the treadmill on my lunch hour and I ran 5k.

I watched The Spring Baking Championship while I ran.

There aren't many cooking competition type shows that I like anymore but I do like this one.

Hard work feels good.

The heating element in our dryer stopped working again, this is the second time.

Jason ordered a replacement but I need to get some laundry done before it is due to arrive so I got Kody to pick up an indoor clothes dryer on his way home from work today at Walmart.

The dryer still works but there's no heat so it takes forever.

This dryer will help.

When I got home from work, I decided that I wanted to do a puzzle.

I picked a smaller one, only 300 pieces.

It was fairly easy to do and I finished it in no time at all.

I ordered myself a new tabletop light for doing puzzles and it arrived today so I was able to test it out.

It splits so it covers more area which was cool but it's not very bright.

It helps a little so some help is better than none.

There was an episode of Dateline on that I hadn't seen before so I watched that before Jason got home from work.

I've been back on track after a bit of a splurge on the weekend and that feels good.

I also officially have 4 months of 12,000 steps at least each day under my belt.

Today at work I was listening to my latest book choice, The Three Lives of Cate Kay and I was just getting to the good part in the book near the end when everything was about to be resolved then I ran out of minutes on Spotify.

I only had a half hour left to go, I was so bummed.

I really considered topping up just so I could finish it off but that costs 15 bucks so tonight when we went to bed, I got Jason's phone and listened to the final few chapters on his Spotify account.

I wasn't sure about it at first but I gave it a chance and I liked it in the end.

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

Adventures of Papa and Eden (April 29, 2025)

 I didn't have a very good sleep at all last night.

The kitties napping by the window.

I hopped on the treadmill today on my lunch hour and ran for 30 minutes.

I swear I looked at this picture when I took it and it said 36 minutes clearly but now it just disappeared.

I have no idea how that happens, so weird.

Felt good to be running again - I really want to try to be more consistent and get a few 5k runs in each week and build my way back up to be able to run a 21k in the fall.

Jason went over and picked up Eden while I was on the treadmill - he's going to keep her for afternoon just to hang out so I got to see her for a few minutes before I headed back to work.

She did her little dancing thing she does and it's so cute.

I really have to try to get a video of it before she stops doing it.

Jason was sending me updates all afternoon of their activities.

Have a bubba break.

Playing with the toy we picked up for her at Ikea.

Exercise time.

Tuckered out after playing hard all afternoon.

Jason got her all tucked in - she looks so sweet.

Don't they always look like little angels when they are sleeping.

She woke up rested and happy.

He took her outdoors to play - she loves it out there.

When I got home, we took her home so we could take Kody to the dump then Freya wanted to come over.

Zepplyn came over as well and they all played outdoors with Jason while I worked on filing mom's taxes.

As usual, I've left it to the last moment - I wanted to make sure I got it done by April 30th so I made it by the skin of my nose.

Feels good to have that checked off my list.

We all were going to walk down to the store but then it started raining out of nowhere so we went back home and drove instead.

Then we dropped both girls off at home.

Freya was named student of the month for grade one.

So proud of her - she really is such a pleasant, thoughtful little girl.

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

Weigh In Day and Election Day (April 28, 2025)

 Today was weigh in day.

I had some treats on the weekend so I was expecting to be up, I just wasn't sure by how much.

I was 220.4 lbs.

That's up 2.8 lbs since last week.

What a roller coaster but at least I'm trending down overall.

Back on track today.

Jason looked up his results from the run yesterday, he came in 16th place overall.

He came in first place for the men's 50-59 age category.

I'm so proud of him!

I had planned on hopping on the treadmill when I went home at lunch time but Crystal was there giving Mom a massage so Jason and I went out for a walk instead.

Today is election day and while I'm hoping the Conservatives pull out a win, I kind of have a feeling that that is not going to happen.

I didn't want to stress about it so I didn't watch anything on TV at all.

My sister called early in the evening just as Jason and I were heading out for a walk and vented a bit.

She really dislikes the Liberals and was upset that it was looking like they were going to win.

We chatted for a bit - we voted and that's all we can really do.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions and obviously can vote whichever way they please - arguing about it gets nobody anywhere.

It is very frustrating though to see how things in this country have gone off the rails over the last 10 years under the Liberal government and government spending is out of control.

Alberta is a very Conservative province and we contribute a substantial amount to the Federal government dollar wise but yet we seem to have no say in how things are run.

I was really hoping for change this time around.

I guess we'll see what happens.

Jason and I went out for another short walk so I could get the rest of my steps in.

I spent the evening finishing up this puzzle that I was working on.

It was a hard one because the colors are all so similar but I got er done.

I had to check on the election results before I went to bed and saw the Liberals won a minority government.

At least it wasn't a majority government I guess.

After that, I just couldn't sleep.

I tried but I tossed and turned so I had to get back up for a bit, did some cleaning and blogging then tried to go back to bed.

I had a fitful sleep because my mind was on hyper drive.

I hate it when that happens.

Anyhoo - that's all for today, until next time, be happy!

Jason Runs the River 21k (April 27, 2025)

Jason was doing the Run the River Half Marathon this morning in Edmonton.

He had signed Freya up for the kids run as well but when we got up she was tired and she was cold so she opted not to do it. 

So we dropped Jason off at the run then we found a spot nearby to have some breakfast (Tutti Frutti).

I had yogurt, strawberries and granola, an egg and some bacon.

Freya had a Nutella and banana crepe, bacon, eggs and fruit.

She ate all of it and had a slice of my bacon as well.

Guess she was hungry.

I wanted to go cheer Jason on but it was pretty cold out so we popped into Winners to get hoodies.

Freya picked out a whole outfit.

We went over and parked at a spot that I thought we'd see Jason run by but then I did the time calculations and figured he'd likely already been by there.

We jumped back in the car and headed over to the finish line thinking we could catch him there but right before we parked, he texted me to say he was done.

I felt so bad that we'd missed him - I really wanted to be there to cheer him and for Freya to experience it all.

We found him down by the finish line.

He said he was feeling pretty good after the run, he'd had a very good run.

He finished it in 1 hour, 45 minutes which I thought was awesome.

His 'medal' was actually made of wood but still cool and another to add to the collection.

He was hungry so we went over to the Rosewood cafe.

He got a breakfast burrito - their hashbrowns are so good.

I got Freya a slice of chocolate cake and I got a slice of orange olive oil cake.

I tried both - they were dense, moist cakes which I really liked.

Freya really wanted to go swimming so we ended up taking her to Millennium Place in Sherwood Park and we swam all afternoon.

Jason got to spend some time in the sauna and the hot tub.

That is such a great place - if I lived there, I'd totally buy a membership.

Selfies in the car on the way home.

She just loves these crop top/bra things - she picked a set out at Winners earlier and would just wear this alone outside if I let her.

It was around 8 when we got home and Kody was there visiting with Eden.

Freya had been saying she wanted to go home but then when it came time to go, she ended up changing her mind and staying instead which is fine with us.

Jason is off tomorrow so he can take her to school.

I still needed to get a few more steps in so I had to go down and get on the treadmill.

It was the last thing I wanted to do at 9:30 at night but I did it anyway.

It took me about a half hour to get the rest of my steps in that I needed.

Proud of myself for doing it even when I didn't want to.

I have not missed one single day this year of getting my 12,000 daily steps.

Freya came down and worked out a little while I was on the treadmill.

I really hope we show her by example how healthy it is to stay active.

She got these new jeans today too - they are super cute on her.

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

The Travelers Made it Home (April 26, 2025)

I checked Facebook this morning as soon as I got up to see if Haylee had posted any more pictures and she had - so here they all are.

Looks like a lot of fun is being had.

Looks like they had a great time.

I tested out my new shoes on the treadmill shortly this morning and they felt good so I decided to wear them out for a run.

We found a trail nearby that we decided to check out, Mill Creek Ravine Park which was not far from the hotel we were staying in.

It was really awesome, lots of stairs and bridges and trails all over, way bigger than what we were expecting.

My belly was not feeling the best so I decided to just walk, not run and Jason is running a 21k in the morning so he just wanted to take it easy too.

I just love how these sneakers too - they are so pretty.

There were nicely packed dirt trails and there were also some paved trails too.

The buds are starting to come out on the trees - spring is truly here.

There was an overpass with some graffiti.

Jason is so observant - he noticed a bunch of things that I was completely oblivious too.

Like this dream catcher which came in handy later when we were finding our way back to where we parked our car.

It was our Hansel & Gretel crumb.

Someone was leaving positive message around the trail.

Just a random heart.

I was starting to get hungry and we could kind of see that there was a residential area up the hill from the trail so we went up there to see if there was a store or restaurant nearby.

It came up near this funky looking house.

Someone got creative with sidewalk chalk.

They could really draw.

Another cute bunny - very Easter themed artwork.

Cute joke, it says;

Why was the Easter egg frightened?

Because it was a little chicken.

We figured out that we were fairly close to Whyte Ave so we decided to walk over there and get some breakfast.

We put our name in a brunch place - it was a half hour wait so we were just walking around.

Well lets go check them out then.

We stopped in here to get coffees.

Then we noticed that there was a baker downstairs - Better Bakery - you know we had to check it out.

They had delicious looking bagels so we decided to just stay here for breakfast.

They had all kinds of baked good.

I forget what this thing was called but I really wanted to try it - it was very sweet and sugary - one bite was enough for me.

They had baguettes so we tried one of those.

The crust was a bit too crispy in my opinion.

I also tried their almond croissant which I also felt was overcooked.

We both ordered the bagel and lox and that was very good.

We walked by Yelo'd and I love their ice cream and since we aren't in this area that often, we decided to just go ahead and get one to share.

It's called a Champaro

It has warm chocolate rice pudding in the bottom topped with a scoop of your choice of ice cream.

We picked the soft serve ube which is kind of their specialty.

They then top that with Cocoa Pebbles.

It is so good.

Whoever came up with this concoction is a genius.

They had ube cookies too - we didn't try them but I like the color.

Maybe next time.

We made our way back to the trail and with the help of the landmarks Jason noticed (dream catcher) we were able to confirm that we were on the right track.

We did make one wrong turn but figured it out pretty quickly.

My feet were hurting when we got back to the car.

I noticed when I first tried the new sneakers on that they had a slant forward into the toe.

I noticed that when we walked downhill that my toes really slid forward into the shoe and it hurt.

So as pretty as they are and as much as it disappointed me, I realized that I didn't love them $250 worth and I decided to return them.

I think I'm going to just stick with what I have for sneakers right now and take a break from shoe shopping.

We stopped at a bike shop so I could look for a cell phone holder for my bike.

There was a Norco there on sale so Jason took it for a test drive.

He liked it but ultimately decided not to get it.

We walked around Ikea for a bit - something we rarely do.

I like this faucet.

I'm still thinking about redoing our bedroom and I'm also kind of considering getting a new couch.

I really liked this corner cabinet and it had a lot of storage.

This couch was nice - I like the lounge type section - I want to be able to put my feet up.

I like the color too.

This couch was cute too and comfy.

They are options to keep in mind but I am going to keep shopping.

I liked this bed and the price point.

I like the headboard - it's simple.

It was available in this wood color too which I think is what I would go with.

They had this yellow single bed that pulled out into a double bed that I think would be great for Freya.

It was only 399.

It is available in white too but I think I prefer the yellow.

I'd like to get a couple of dressers - I'm not sure if like the bump out on the bottom of this one.

I do like this one - not sure if it's enough drawers for what we need though.

We saw this and I thought it might be a good option for toy storage in the basement.

After Ikea, we were getting hungry so we stopped at Chick-fil-a for a bite to eat.

I had a salad with the grilled chicken nuggets.

I am so happy we have Chick-fil-a here in Canada now.

There was a Brick right nearby and they were having a sidewalk sale.

We went in looking for a swivel rocker - we didn't find one.

But I did find this couch that I fell in love with.

It slides out so that is double the width and it is so cozy.

It's on sale and I'm really considering buying it.

Stay tuned.

We checked out a few other furniture spots including Lazy Boy which I think is a little out of my price range.

I really wanted to go back to FN'ZA and try a few more of their pizzas.

We got three small ones, this time we went with the LA Dip, the PB & J and the Yuzu Chicken.

This is the L.A. Dip, it was my favorite.

Creamy horseradish sauce, mozzarella, beef-caramelised onions, thin-sliced crisped roast beef, topped with fresh parsley

The PB&J

Classic tomato base, duo of creamy mozzarella and sharp cheddar, sweet pineapple, savoury bacon, spicy jalapeño, and drizzled with housemade jalapeño hot honey

Finally the Yuzu Cruz

Yuzu barbecue sauce, ginger soy chicken, mozzarella, red onion, mushroom, green onion, fresh cilantro, sprinkled with sesame

Surprisingly, I didn't really like this one.

From there we headed over to the airport to pick up Freya.

They were flying in at 9 this evening.

We were so happy to see her and Eden - we missed them so much.

Their flight got in a little early but then they lost Kody & Haylee's carseat so we ended up being there quite late.

We told all the others to take the shuttles and go get their vehicles then we would bring Kody to meet them once he got his claim submitted.

Then Freya wanted a pizza so we picked her up one on the way back to the hotel.

It was after midnight before we got her settled and into bed.

Late night but happy to have our girl back.

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