Five on Friday!

Greetings All! Hope you are enjoying some nice weather and the end of February! NO MORE SNOW PLEASE!! With that in mind, I have my occasional list of FIVE ON FRIDAY!

1. Nice Weather! After those weeks and weeks of way below-zero temps and way too much snow, we have been blessed with temps getting into the 40s this week! And loads of sunshine! It's been so welcome and has improved everyone's mood so much! The outlook for March has some days in the 50s!! Bring it on!!

2. Birthday! My oldest son's birthday is on Sunday!! Happy Birthday Philip! He's going to be 36! Wow -- how in the world did he get to be 36?? The day he was born it was 68 degrees! Sooooo nice! Of course, I think there was snow on the day we took him home from the hospital. We have missed celebrating so many birthdays during this long shutdown and hope that will change soon. I think Rickster and I will be up next for vaccinations. Fingers crossed. Philip loves crazy socks and I found these on the wonderful Amazon!

3. Powder Room Refresh! We have a small powder room on our main floor. The tile in it has bugged me for the last 20 years - it's ok -- it just looked like bathtub tile! Anyway, the Rickster knows a handyman who I contacted and he's re-tiling with subway tile. I LOVE it! It's a small room, so he should be finished today - I hope!

4. Maddie Update. I don't think I've updated anything on Maddie in a while. She's doing well and working so hard on her courses at Southeast Community College in the Health Sciences Division. She's looking forward to nicer weather so she can get her camera out again. There was a sweet profile of her as a young photographer in our neighborhood newsletter recedntly.

5. Meteorological Spring. Yay -- Monday starts Meteorological Spring! The official spring is later in the month -- but we are just so happy this year to get through winter that we are celebrating March 1 and Spring! Happy Spring friends!

Temperature Thursday!

On my word -- we have been having such a brutal cold and snowy time for at least the last 4 weeks! Every. Single. Weekend. More snow and cold! I think we are up over 25 inches and for the last week, the highs have been zero and lows bottomed out one day at -24 not even counting the wind chill! BRRRRRRRRR!!! It's not like Texas, but we did have rolling blackouts the other morning due to the heavy usage of power. Praying for relief for Texas and everyone there! It gets cold inside the house fast when there is no heat! However, our temp is supposed to be maybe 18 today and maybe 30s on the weekend, so we feel like celebrating!!

Last year at this time, Maddie and I were in Orlando on a quick trip! We were so happy to have some nice sunny days and enjoy our favorite place. And after we returned home, the shutdown occurred, so we were doubly happy to have had a little getaway before that happened.

We are definitely hoping for another trip there later this year.

Stay warm friends!

So Long January; Hello February and other Miscellaneous Stuff

Yay - January has FINALLY ended! Don't you feel like that month goes on and on and on and . . . on!!! We are so happy to get it over and done with. Welcome to lovely short-month February!

Maddie and I decided to try and take back some of the joy that covid stole from us during most of 2020. So, we joined a gym again. We had given up our membership up when the pandemic started and most places had to close here. The one we're going to is nice and has great cleaning protocols plus it's fairly quiet. Yes, I am the old lady that does not like noisy, crowded gyms with music blasting and millenials running from machine to machine and room to room for their workouts. At one gym, I was nearly knocked over a couple times. I swear I was the oldest person there. Now, I'm definitely NOT the oldest. Anywho, M and I like to use the treadmill, elliptical and bicycle at the gym. She is definitely the Youngest person to go there and she is happy to excerise and listen to something on her headphones or watch one of the tvs. We are both feeling better from the exercise. Of course, we had planned to walk outside, but the cold and snow and cold and more snow prevented us from doing so. I wish I was one of those people who exercise outside, all year long, but no, we are weather wimps!

And, what do you do when you don't like the family photos? We had some scheduled for outside in July and then October and November and our photographer cancelled each time. So, we found someone else. She was very nice, but . . . not fans of the photos. Maddie and Connor were also there, but they didn't like them either and will be mad if they find out I posted any. But seriously, look at me and my turkey neck. Couldn't the photographer have suggesed I put my chin down or something to minimize that gobble gobble look??? I guess we can all get a laugh out of those. Wish I would have thought of My Big Greek Wedding and how the older ladies stood together and pulled each other's necks back! Do you remember that? Brilliant!! I do like my cute jaunty hat and have made a big note to myself -- wear more turtlenecks!! And really, does anyone want to see old folks like us kissing??? I don't think so.

On another note, I must get back to work. Yes, I am still working in Rickster's office. It's ok, but let's just say I enjoy my part-time seasonal gift wrap job more! Happy February!