Category Archives: christmas shopping

Lazy Saturday

Had changes of schedule today, unplanned.  I woke up after 7, which was nice again.  Still can’t seem to sleep too late.  My gym opens at 8, so I had a balance bar to fuel for a planned 5 mile run.  I got to the gym at 8:05 and it wasn’t open yet! 👿   I sat there until 8:15 (there were some other people waiting, too) and then I decided to go home.  No telling how long it would be before someone showed up.  Not sure what was up with that.  I was really annoyed because I had eaten a balance bar already.  I gave 2 thoughts to run outside, but it was 20 degrees and I wasn’t feeling it.  So, I had breakfast instead:

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Country Choice steel cut oats. Those are those little dehydrated marshmallows you get in hot cocoa!  I scored some on the internet, as I thought they would be really good in my chewy granola bars.  Of course, I needed to try them out.  Fun!  Some of them may have ended up in my coffee cup as an experiment.  It might have been a mistake to get these…..

John and I got some errands done including grocery shopping, then he started making some things to send to his family including my very favorite candy in the whole world!

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Pralines!  I could seriously put these in a feed bag and just hook it to my face.  They are so easy to make, too.  I told John these need to be up really high to keep me out of them, like up to the moon!  Good thing they are leaving the house on Monday.

We decided to head on to a free concert down in Saratoga.  I caught Pixie looking decidedly suspicious near the tree before we left:

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But, she was good and didn’t bother it.   The concert was good.  It was a string quartet.  I was bothered a bit by the audience behavior, though.  First off, some people brought children under the age of 5.  It really isn’t fair to bring them to a concert like this and expect them to be able to sit still.  There are so many family orchestra concerts to go to, why choose this one?  It really spoils it for people trying to listen, not to mention the performers themselves.  Then there was the gentleman that decided he wanted a picture of the quartet and just walked up the aisle until he was about 30 feet away from them (it was a smaller room), his digital camera beeped *and* it was a flash photo while they were playing.  He did this twice.  Unbelievable…..  Having been on the receiving end of stuff like this as a performer, too, so I know how they felt.

Cold day today, so it was a nice comforting dinner:

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Chicken and dumplings!  I’ll talk more about these on Monday for the giveaway post (big tease…)

We went for a walk tonight, and I am really glad we did.  It was cold, but still 10 degrees warmer than this morning.  I was feeling out of sorts because my exercise routine got bumped.  I definitely let calories get a little out of control today.

Ornament of the day:

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My sister made this for me, probably 15 years ago or so?  It’s been a long time.  She was really into cross stitch at one point and made this for me.  She used to do wildlife rehab and would do fawns, so it was a theme for her.

This ornament showcase has been really interesting for me, because I am really and truly looking at them this year and remembering.  🙂

Friday Fun day!

Yay – the weekend is here!  Today went by really fast, too.

I actually slept in until 7:15 – which is pretty late for me.  I moseyed on down to the gym, where I did my workout:

  • Chin up:  2
  • Barbell squats:  3 sets of 8 at 85 pounds
  • Widegrip lat pull down:  3 sets of 8 at 70 pounds
  • Pushups:  3 sets of 10
  • Static lunge:  3 sets of 10 with 25 pound plate
  • Prone Cuban snatch:  3 sets of 10 with 10 pound dumbbells.
  • Incline reverse crunch: 3 sets of 10.

Then just zoned out walking on the treadmill for 1/2 hour.  A little easier day today, since I ran yesterday.

Came home and had some oats with fresh pumpkin, protein powder and blackberry jam!

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Then sat and relaxed and chatted with John.  Sometimes I really have to make myself relax.  I always feel like I have to go, go, go.  Need to remember that down time is just as important as up time!  It’s very difficult for me to just do nothing.  Some of that is just my inner energy and some of it is spillover from working a production-based job.

I hung around the house the rest of the morning and made some more granola.  I’ll post the recipe this weekend some time.

Lunch was a wrap made with laughing cow, pear slices, and chicken.  Heated up in the X-box.  With brussel sprouts for lunch!

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I wanted a warm filling lunch, as I was headed out shopping and didn’t want to be tempted at the mall.

I was hoping that the stores wouldn’t be so crowded on a weekday, but it was pretty crowded!   Eeeek!  I could almost feel the flu germs around. 😯  I actually rocked on the shopping.  I got all of my purchasing done – so no more stores for me for the rest of the year – put your hands together everybody!

I really, really wanted a hot pretzel.  They smelled so good, but I declined.  Instead, I took a break for some sustenance:

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Caffeine and I are partners for life, forever and ever, amen.

Got home right around dinner time.  I am almost embarrassed to show my photo of dinner – can you say rut?  I know you readers have never seen so many salads on this blog than you have in the past few weeks!

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That’s tea in the mug.  It is cold and windy out and I needed something warm!  It’s an almond cookie tea that I got at Sensibiliteas a couple weeks ago.

Ornament of the day:

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This is another ornament I made this year.  The first one, actually, I think.  I used this pattern with a bit of editing (my globe is bigger than the one in the pattern).  I have been having fun doing these. 🙂

Question:  How is your holiday shopping coming along?

Stay tuned on Monday – I have a giveaway coming up!

Festive feelings!

Boy was there ever a windstorm last night into today.  Gusts were up to 60 miles an hour!  It wasn’t cold, but I certainly wasn’t in the mood to run outside.  I sat around at home and ate a balance bar while I waited for my gym to open.  Then I did 4 miles on the treadmill.  I have to say with just doing cardio while taking a break from strength training, it has been a breeze!  Lifting really can take it out of you.

Came home and made some oats:

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  • 4o grams of oats
  • PB2 added during cooking
  • apple butter on top
  • a sprinkle of granola for crunch.  Yum!

Not sure where the rest of the morning went, but somehow it became lunch without me noticing!  I had another waffle sammie with turkey, cranberry and laughing cow.  luch1128

Not sure if it was the run or what, but  I need more food, so I had some of these:

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If you have not tried these, you must.  Go now.  I’ll wait…..

We then went to the open house at a local artist building called the Troy Shirt Factory (think I mentioned this last year).  This place houses potters, painters, fabric artists, jewelers, metal smiths,  yoga studio, woodworkers, photographers and more.  Plus a tea shop!  It’s a cool spot and I would so love to have a space here.  John, my mother, and I went and both of them managed to find Christmas gifts for other people and I just came home with 2 ounces of tea LOL!

After spending several hours there, we stopped by the Chocolate Mill for a snack and coffee.  I had an apple pastry:

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This was very good.  Quality baked goods are one of my favorite things.

Ate a quick dinner.  I love how things can be on the table in 15 minutes!  Frozen clam strips done in the toaster oven with some broccoli and apple sauce:

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Needed to eat quick to get down to the yacht basin for the annual lighting of the memory trees in Fort Edward.  Each tree is decorated by a family for a loved one.

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I met my mom there:

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It so festive and beautiful.  I love lights!

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It was pretty chilly, though!  I had walked there, but hitched a ride with my mom to get home 😀

I am so excited that we put the electric blanket on the bed today!  Yay!  And the flannel sheets.  I don’t care if that makes me lame for being excited about that :mrgreen:   It’s one of those simple things in life to get into warm and cozy sheets.

Saw this today looking at how people get to my site.  This has to be the best search string so far:  “all good things to share and enjoy a simple happle life”  on Baidu and my site came up first! Sweet!

There is another blogger out there that is doing something incredibly generous.  266 is going to be giving away food to those that need it based on how many comments she gets.  Let’s get her up to the 100 she has set!  Check out her post here

Christmas shopping

Went out Christmas shopping today at the outlet malls. There weren’t many people at first, it was before lunch, but a lot of people were there after lunch. We had gone to downtown Lake George in search of Indian food, but most places are closed for the season now, including that place. So we went to a cafe and I had a egg bagel sandwich. Thought that was a better choice than Indian food at any rate! Did have a scone, so we walked around a lot when we went back to the outlet malls. Parked further up and kept walking.

I thought there seemed to be a lot of people out shopping, but who really knows how much anyone is spending. Hope the holiday season is good for the retailers. Seemed like all the shops had some sort of deal or special going on. Several shops were going out of business as well. We have seen some decline in our business this year, not sure what next year will bring.

I about died when we went into Harry and Davids. They have eggnog truffles!! Good thing they didn’t have those as samples! Maybe some of those will end up in my stocking.

I noticed one really cool thing this year while shopping. I knew that I could go into any of the shops there and find a lot of clothes that fit (except the Lane Bryant, of course!!). That was exciting! I tried on jackets and coats in medium, and still find it quite the thrill to see that size. I don’t care if it is vanity sizing nowadays. From a 24W to a medium is pretty damn cool.