Sparkly Snow and sunshine and triggers

Pic from Friday night

Saturday was a wonderful, remarkable day for us up here Northern WI.  Remarkable because it was sunny (which is indeed amazing in itself) and NOT -20 and NOT windy.  This resulted in a day that felt warm!  You can tell we are all delusional here because the warmth was  grand total of maybe 18 degrees, but wow this year it is all relative!! Fred actually left the door of the cabin OPEN while he was doing his little project outside, because it was colder in the cabin.  Now to me whether the cabin was 7 degrees or 17 didn't seem to make much of a difference when he was working outside, but hey, whatever floats your boat, honey.

I was struck by the sparkles.  This doesn't give what I saw justice.

The cool thing is that TODAY is supposed to be about the same, only a touch warmer!!  I am  hoping for sun, too, but that might be a bit much to expect.  We shall see what comes.  Today is Sunday and it is the day that I try to shove all the things in that I didn't get done Saturday.  Fortunately the house is clean (YAY) and the groceries and food are dealt with too, but I do want to work on one more thing to eat this week.  I also want to get in a walk on the road, get to the gym and try and work upstairs for a while.The upstairs is an ongoing project of clearing out 25 plus years of accumulated kid stuff and well, some of our old stuff as well.  I have already taken several boxes to the library, thrift and transfer station and I know I have at least 2 more boxes of books and who knows what else to the thrift and dump.  It is cathartic and it also has brought back a lot of good memories looking at some of those things I have come across.

I recently read an article about how to make something a habit.  It was one of those things that seem innocuous, but turned out to be something that I have thought and thought about!  One of the steps is to have a trigger.  A trigger is an event or place or time or object that will trigger your memory to do that process that you want to have made into a habit.   In other words- finding something that will make that action automatic.  I'm trying to do a "Lola a Day" picture on Instagram, and I'm trying to establish getting outside about 7 am (before I have an armload of school bags) to take a shot of Lola. I put it on Instagram later- So my trigger is when I am putting my boots on, before I put my coat on.  This isn't working perfectly yet, as I have had to go back to the porch to take a pic with an armload....  The other thing is that I want to add a little meditation to my morning routine, but that definitely needs work.  My schedule is very lazy in the morning. BUT I do like the results of my attitude for the day when I remember it, so I want to establish that routine.

Why do I talk about this today?? Good question, I just found it an interesting way to think about a habit.  Conditioned response in psychology class!  My conditioned response to leaving school is to drive directly to the gym!  I am a random sort of person with occasional gusts of linear thought, but today is not one of those gusty days.

So what to do, what to do....  I want to have about 4 extra hours this afternoon to be able to do what I want- but that won't happen so I need to prioritize.  Since I have a 5 mile Snowshoe coming up here in 3 or 4 weeks, I need to get some distance under my feet, I will also go clean upstairs later and def. get to the gym by noon.  Then I have time to snow shoe after that if I want or do some other things- what those are will appear to me later.  I definitely will be hoping for a good photo day, though.

I hope you enjoy these pix from yesterday, I wish I could reproduce the amazing, blinding sun and the sparkle of the puffy snow and the really nice day it was to be outside.

On a side note- this has been a really WINTERY winter.  Cold and a lot of snow.  I mean, you can't believe how much snow we have out there when  you walk where no one has.  I've been breaking new snow shoe trails for myself and when I get going the snow is higher than my knees.  I tried to take a pic to show how deep it is, but it just doesn't work very well.  Holy smokes. This will be good for the trees and the water table, so I won't complain. (Oh yeah, yes I will- but you will forgive me, right??)

See?  These do not show how deep the crazy snow is.

Anyway, on to a new day and a new week.  I feel like there are new possibilities coming to me.  I am trying to hold this great attitude, in spite of a very stressful week coming up with appointments and the end of the quarter and new things I have to do at school and such. But for some reason I am willing to take them on and make them mine - whatever the outcome.  I'm going to search for a few triggers to add 2 new habits to my day/week and always ALWAYS be a joy giver.

Snow Day and other late April oddities

So yesterday was a little strange-ish.  I mean, face it, it is unusual to have all this snow left and unusual to have a snowday so late in April.  I mean on top of snow, snow and more snow.  It was pretty, I have to say, but I'd rather be looking at green.  I'm so over white right now.  I don't think mother nature should be wearing white after April 1!

Feed me!

So what did I do yesterday?  I sat most of the morning and read my book club book!  It is a collection of short stories by Alice Munroe called "Dear Life".   It was ok, I have a lot to say at the discussion that is indeed NEXT TUESDAY!!  YES, I went into book club and realized, myself, before I even got in there, that probably it was next week.  It is the last Tuesday of the month, and this May finds 5 Tuesdays.....  Oh well.  I'm ready for next week!  Probably, our fearless leader, Cat, was snowed in up in Glidden anyway!

Other than that, I did some cooking!  I had found a recipe while perusing my Pinterest Vegetarian board, and knew I had all the ingredients or at least most.  Other than fresh ginger, which I picked up on my way to the gym.  It took determination and aggressive driving, but I got OUT of my driveway!  lol.  By the time I left the house at 11 or so, the roads were fine- just the driveway was a problem.  It is a quinoa and lentil crockpot stew- I will be blogging that later.  I think the flavors are going to be better today, so I want to know before I write about it.  I also made some roasted chickpeas- technique also will be blogged and some Lara bars....  Nice to have some extra food around, so I don't have to cook much this week!

It was a low key and enjoyable day- I got more Ella pictures!!  YAY!!  Only 10 days until I can actually see, smell and hold that little thing.  Gramma is coming sweetie!!

I LOVE this pic!!  She is thinking- what ARE these people doing to me??

Lotsa hair!!  

With her daddy!

I also woke up at midnight with the hiccups!  Now I haven't had the hiccups in YEARS and YEARS!  IDK what the heck that was all about. AND THEN the full moon shined in on our bed and almost blinded me- it wasn't a real restful night sleep.....

So I have a short week coming up, which is kinda cool!  REALLY short as we have an early dismissal day on Friday- good for the kids, sometimes somewhat painful for us.  Who knows what meeting we are going to have to sit through.  Hopefully something useful...... we shall see.  I'm holding off judgement!

On to Wednesday now!  And hopefully it will be full of some unexpected joy! (and no snow!)

And where is spring???? Daffodil "watch" 2013

More like- Daffodil- PLEASE snow please go away, PLEASE!!!! watch.  2013.  The year winter would not quit.

Daffodils?

Ok kids, I just realized something over the weekend- spring is truly behind this year.  Now, many of you are going to say, oh DUH!!! ~ put down the paint brushes, you've been sniffing too many fumes these days~ but in my defense, I was trying to be positive with myself.  I recently emerged from a cocoon of "busy" and I got a chance to actually look around and see what has been going on.  This may seem like an exaggerated over-dramatization of things, but it really is true.

Any sign of spring?

This past weekend, it became April, thankfully, and I have one big thing change in April (aside from the imminent arrival of Baby Girl) - and that is that tax season gets FINISHED- and you-know-who is going to be hanging about the house again.  This is usually not an issue at all, as he will ordinarily come home, doff his work clothes, don his "play clothes" and go "frolic in the woods" as so many of us know is the MO of the said M-A. He does not allow a lot of grass growing under the proverbial feet- he gets outside and puts tax season out of his mind, quickly!!  WELL- holy crap.  I realized as I was reassuring him that April is indeed almost upon us, that he will most likely NOT be able to go outside and rake the crud off the lawn in the late afternoon of April 15, as I am pretty sure the snow will NOT be gone!  THIS is a problem!!!  THIS has only happened a few times in the years we have been up here- like only 2 or 3 and the last time has not been for at LEAST 10 years.  So hence and therefore, spring is ACTUALLY slow to arrive this year, it is not me just assuming that we are not having a scary warm spring like last year- but it is SERIOUSLY COLDER!!!  UGH.  And now I am seeing that there is a forecast of 3 plus inches of more snow this Saturday.  REAL CUTE MOTHER NATURE, REAL CUTE!!!  and there are not super warm temps forecast for the next 10 days either.  Sigh.  **sob**

I'm not sensing imminent yellow flowers anytime soon

He will find plenty to do out there, regardless of the snow, so that isn't a real big deal, but what is to me is the fact that I am going to be waiting a long freaking time for my flowers and for me to be able to garden..... which is such a bummer.

There might still be ice on the lakes here for the opening of fishing season, too, in just 4 weeks!  That hasn't happened for a long time either!  All I want to do is go for a walk without my long underwear on and my hood up- is this too much to ask for in April????  Hmmmm????

I guess I will have to keep doing cardio at the gym, hit the weights, attend classes and then come home to sit like a slug, er, um, a Princess in my new livingroom instead of walking outside until the precipitation decides to turn to rain. Which will be totally fine with me!  And heaven knows I still have a lot of cleaning and putting away to do in the rest of the house- as it is in a bit of disarray from that reno project.  I can't find ANYTHING!!!  Who ever knows where I put it.

Speaking of weird- I had the strangest dream last night, it involved me going swimming, my uncle Bob was letting me ride his BMW motorcycle, my dad was there in some fashion and then someone stole my purse!  WHAT is going on in my brain??  I woke up a billion times with a seriously dry mouth and stuffy nose, so it probably had something to do with that.  Oy.

So I better get on with my day, I do enjoy a Wednesday, so this shall be a nice thing to look forward to.  I am obviously still feeling a little out of sorts for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to all the things listed above, plus the fact that I feel like I need to do something challenging in terms of my exercise or diet and I am not finding success in pinpointing it.  But I am working on it, so stay tuned.  It does involve dropping a bit more weight, but that is also unclear at this point.

On a REALLY FANTASTIC POSITIVE NOTE:
*I have maintained my weight now since January at 147- with few fluctuations.  AND I don't feel the need to weigh myself obsessively a million times a day.  WIN!

Pretty, but....

*I have made good strides forward in my strength, as measured by a 135# bench press a few weeks ago!  YAY!

*I have a canoe in my garden shed!!!

*I have plans to organize and set up my garden shed and to finish up a few mosaic/concrete projects as SOON as it bothers to warm up.

*I have had quite a few people mentioning how they are trying that banana chocolate ice cream thing!  It is seriously good!!  And it is a hoot to have people want to try it!

Favorite tree waiting stoically for yet another season of growth

*AND I am feeling way better as far as the sickness I acquired a week ago, so that is the best thing of all.

So daffodil watch has turned into yet another random post of odd ball things, but that is how I roll!

And it is part of how I find my joy

Picture of the day and a few others.....

I took some pix today with my bigger camera- I finally feel like I have some focus and center again!  I found this first pic, and my pic of the day!- from March 5.  Which is right about the time I was beginning my whole living room reno thing.  Makes sense that I forgot about it I guess.

Today I had the misfortune of being sickish, and I am not thrilled about it.  However, life is like that and I rested a lot.  My wonderful children did things for me like make dinner and fed the horse and all, so I feel very pampered and lucky. And my lovely hubs took us all out for lunch, so I only made breakfast for myself!  Tomorrow will be another story, what with pancake day and Easter dinner and all.  But that is ok.

This morning there was a lot of rain and a bit of snow in there too, at one point it looked like snow balls falling from the sky.  Hard to see, but that is what I attempted to capture this morning.  

Later this evening, though, there was the wonderful sight of mist rising from the snow, which means melting is going on!!  YAY!  And it was lovely.

You will notice that Lola has made multiple appearances in this post, and she is quite grateful for it.  She thinks that she has been quite neglected lately.  I haven't been talking to her too much lately, I have been preoccupied.  To say the least.  So let's finish off this evening with beholding the lovely Lola again and bid her good night!  Don't worry Lola, spring is on it's way and soon you will be surrounded with color!

Be a joy giver!  No joy stealing allowed~

Pic of the day!! and a few other things....

For being a bit of dreary afternoon- which as soon as I got my snow-covered self into the house was sunny again- I was out in the right place at the right time.  I sort of love this pic.  A perfect combination of clouds, sun, white, dark, shadows and light.

Sun and shadows and snow

To review yesterday's post-

I accomplished most everything and then some! This is awesome.  Today I should be able to mostly do what I want, but I need to take in Dorothy's dress.... something I didn't realize I had promised to do.  which is ok, since I adore the Dorothy in question (Rachel) and have known her all of her life.

I am weirdly sore today from BEAST MODE weight lifting.  I hit my back muscles hard,  which  is unusual, since I always do my chest workout first in the week.  It was a weird week, so I decided to change things up.  It is a strange feeling having the back all stiff and sore and not the chest.  Usually I am so sore from benchpress I don't notice my back at all.. Interesting sensation.  I am looking forward to balancing it out this morning!

So I got a little cooking done and a little (a LOT OF) laundry, but did not get the card table. It is weird trying to live without a table to eat at and a couch to plunk down on......  But it is temporary and I can put up with a lot temporarily.  Actually I can put up with a lot, long term!  Lol, hence the ugly carpet and paneling.  I am going to work on the card table next!

Anyway, now that I am over my morning feel-sorry-for-Debi fest (mornings kill me, I am always doubting myself and wondering why)  look out at the sun rising and am hoping for a great, relaxing day, because it will be a few days before that happens again.

An added job for the day is to choose a paint color, so I need to do some looking and thinking and google some images of wood floors......  I'll keep you posted on this color the walls thing.  and I am really thinking that the front room is going to need to be painted too, in a few weeks.  I'm seeing a blue-grey perhaps!

So, it is pancake day, and time to get the MA up, who went through one of his can't sleep nights last night, which of course resulted in me being able to use all 4 pillows to make myself comfy (**grins guiltily**) and sleep for at least 3 hours very deeply and contentedly.  AHHHHHHH!!!  I have to imagine that he was playing bejeweled blitz last night, as there is no tv--- as you all know.

I think I should send this pic to Justin on channel 9- even though I won't be seeing the picture, which really is unfortunate.  But oh well, it's all temporary........ she keeps telling herself!

Life really is a good, enjoy the ride everyone!!  And find your joy whether the driver or just along for the trip.

Chippewa River Photos

I do have about 2 other posts I want to do today, but I have to get the house straightened up, and get ready to get to the gym in a little bit.  However, these photos took precedence over all of these things!  I went to Hayward to check out the little Health food store over there, and it was just generally a good excuse to drive somewhere on a gloriously sunny day.  I went with my friend and colleague, Adam, a fellow vegetarian and general good sport who will put up with my shenanigans and seriously attention deficit line of conversation and actions.  And he even ENCOURAGES it, so he is a great traveling companion.  While driving on County B in the middle of heaven knows where, we came across the Chippewa River bridge and it was a heads-turn-together moment and we simultaneously expel the words "DID YOU SEE THAT?"  "LET'S TURN AROUND!"

So turn around I did and we took a few pix off the bridge, I of course, this morning, went off on a tangent and edited my little fingers off, including several versions of one pic to make a few abstracts and then a black and white or two.  So much fun!

And for the record, I have investigated 4 natural/healthfood/organic specialty stores in the area and so far Golden Harvest in Rhinelander is the clear winner, closely followed by the Chequamegon Food Coop in Ashland. (I'll say that the Ashland location is so close as to be a virtual tie- especially with the trifecta of fabulousness of the co-op, the Black Cat and the Bakery right there)  I have a lead on a store just off the freeway in Madison by HoJo's and  East Towne that might need to be looked at, not to mention the very cute place in Janesville.  We will see how much time we get next weekend (we?????  that would be just me!) to check out the Janesville store, whose name escapes me right now.... but I know where it is!

Anyway, I digress, here are some really nice pix from Saturday's sunny, tho very very cold glory.

 Glad we went this weekend, as next weekend is the famous Birkebeiner and I don't think that casual shopping would be a particularly easy thing to do!!

Until next time, find your joy in this sunny, cold, lovely weekend.

Remember, sweetie, Spring is Coming!  ;)

Snow-shoe baby!!!! Picture post

I LOVE to snow-shoe!!!  It is a fantastic exercise and it gives me the mode of transportation that is right up my alley- walking, nature, raising the heart-rate, as I go for the deeper snow, not any sort of trail.....  I don't listen to music when I snowshoe usually, as I like to listen to the woods and the sounds or lack there of.

I get my gear together which includes my camera and not as many clothes as when I go on the road.  The forest has much more cover and the terrain makes me warm fast- I have found an unexpected thing that is pretty awesome too!  My hiking boots that I purchased from eBay last year, ones that were slightly tight and a touch too small, are now PERFECT!  Who'd have ever thought that I would have skinny feet???  I also could get in and out of the snowshoes so much easier. Stronger legs?  More agility?  Just used to it?  Idk, but I was really pleasantly surprised just getting dressed and outfitted.

YAY for snowshoes!

Heading out

In the way-back field

It had snowed here a few days ago, so I had my little point and shoot camera with me, and depending on the weather I might take my SLR out today.  We will see what that next winter front is going to be doing.

And the walk is done

So here is a nice selection of lovely winter photos, including one kinda cool spooky full moon picture from Friday night.

spooky moon

Instagram sunrise

So to quote one of my favorite blogs in the world- Here is your pretty for the day, kittens.

I hope to add to the pretty later today!  And I WILL be finding some joy.

Until next time, be a joy giver, and remember - DON'T sweat the small stuff, and you guys, really, it is all pretty much small stuff.  ;)