My NEW Uneventful Life

It was a cold day today. I wasn't sure I would be going out or for how long as it was quite windy. I did go out and have a walk. The sun came out at one point which was a nice surprise as the forecast looked pretty bleak. It was nice and quiet at Asylum Lake. The beavers were out too which surprised me as they sometimes don't come out so much when it's windy. The lake has started to freeze over again and it's always fun to see them popping up through the holes they keep open. 

Husband and I went to a couple of places when I got back. He had gone out with his dad for breakfast. He's trying to do more with his dad. He does ring him every day and visits when he can (work is busy). When husband talked to his dad on Friday, he said he hadn't been out and husband said he sounded a bit lonely, so I suggested a breakfast. They both enjoyed it. 

This afternoon was a little bit lazy - some relaxing, some sorting, some tidying, a nice bath and a bit of Asylum Lake stuff. It was nice to be inside as temps are a little low. 

Husband and I will be going out tomorrow but - once again - the place I would like to go to (put off from last week), is proving to be elusive and quite a bit of snow is forecast for that area, so we won't be travelling that way. Oh well. Perhaps it's just as well. We are off on a mini break from Thursday to Sunday next week. We are going to Minnesota, not to visit daughter, but with a friend couple to visit Sax-Zim Bog, a well-known nature place. It should be fun and extremely cold! As this requires a lot of driving, it's probably good not to go too far this weekend. 

Phone Photos - Things That Make Me Smile

I can't believe I've missed half the week! This one seems to have gone by quickly. The vote on rezoning the property near Asylum Lake is coming up and there have been more organisational meetings. I also had a camera club zoom meeting this week. A lot of social interaction for me lol. 

I've dragged myself out walking this week even when I haven't felt like it. I got pelted on yesterday by ice bits and today the wind was so bitterly cold I felt frozen solid. It was waaay below freezing today and I almost stayed home, but it was sunny to start with and the chances of sun within the next few days (until at least Tuesday) are slim, so I wanted to get out. It was quite icy out. 

The sun made me smile though

I'm sad to say that the weather did not cooperate on Sunday. We woke up to a bit more snow. As it was early morning, the roads were pretty icy once again so instead of going up north to the lakeshore, we decided to go to the part of the lakeshore closer to us. A good choice. It was really quite bitterly cold as the winds were blowing wildly. Husband got out of the car at our first stop and turned around as soon as we got down to the beach. It was SO windy.  The town we were in was under a Gale Warning, so that tells you how wild things were. It always amazes me that a lake can have such high waves!

I stayed out on the beach long enough to get some wave shots

From there, we travelled up the lakeshore to South Haven. The waves were hitting the lighthouse quite right but I managed to get one nice one

While I was wandering on the beach there I was really surprised to see two men come running down the beach and go into the lake water. Brrrr..... there was still some ice on the beach - that tells you how cold the water must have been!

This week seems to have flown by. I do say that about a lot of weeks though lol. I suppose it's because everyone was home on Monday so not much got done. They have all settled back to work now so I'm trying to get things back to normal. 

Baby A and Son-in-law are both feeling fine now and back in daycare/work. Poor daughter ended up with the flu as well as strep! She went back to the dr and got some more medicine and says today she's feeling a bit better. I was glad to hear it. I haven't come down with anything yet, so I think I've avoided it thankfully. My throat has been a little drier than normal, but it's not really sore as long as I keep drinking. 

I almost forgot that I had an Asylum Lake meeting yesterday. Luckily, I remembered in time. Good thing too as we had a lot to talk about. It was a long meeting! I did sleep better last night though. As the meeting is now at a house downtown, I usually have my husband drop me off and one of the other board members (who lives close to me) brings me home. I don't mind so much driving there in the summer but not winter. Mind you, we've been on a warming trend yesterday and today, so all the road ice/snow has melted. Even the driveway ice is mostly gone - thank goodness! It reached 50f/10C today. Tomorrow will be warmer still - 56F/13F. It's supposed to be rainy though. Then it's down again 35F/2C and snow Saturday and Sunday. Ah Michigan!

Before the rain rolled in this afternoon, there was a beautiful sunrise. It was my Phone Photos Things That Make Me Smile 

Loved that purple/pink sky. Definitely made me smile!

I still haven't completely sorted out all my goals for this year - hope to have them done by the end of the week. 

I have started decluttering/sorting. I've done my dresser drawers. I only got rid of two tops that were in the bottom drawers. I've realised that I keep the things I actually wear in there and the rest must be in the wardrobe lol. It's on my plan to sort there next. 

I did get rid of 19 (yes nineteen) pairs socks, 10 pairs knickers and 1 bra. I still have more pairs of socks than one person can wear but they are for all different seasons. My feet seem to get cold really easily and I like keeping them warm. I'll probably have another sort through later in the year. Not a bad start. The goal is to do one extra thing a day.

I have been writing to-do lists for each day :)

 Whenever I have things on my mind I seem to struggle with sleep. This morning, I woke up at 4.03am. It must have been just after husband got up. I sat up and looked at the clock. Then I got to thinking about things and well, that was it. No more sleep. I didn't get up as husband and son have their routines and I don't like to disturb them as I hate it when someone disturbs my morning routine. I laid in bed, finally ended up putting on a YouTube video and fell asleep somewhere around 5.30am when son left for work. I dozed on and off a little until the alarm went off at 6.30am and I got up. 

I hadn't gone to bed until late as I was trying to watch a local city meeting to find out the latest on the rezoning of land near Asylum Lake (the place where I walk). I ended up giving up at 11.20pm when they still hadn't got to the item on the agenda. When I did get to bed husband was coughing, struggling to sleep and then got up to go to the loo. I think it was close to midnight when I did finally get to sleep. 

All the above is a precursor - not an excuse perse - to why I fell asleep as soon as I sat down this afternoon.  Sigh. I don't usually nap in the daytime and if I try to sleep I can't. 

I did get a haircut today - another long story. I was pretty sure I had a haircut coming up soon, but I couldn't find the appointment anywhere on my phone. Usually when I make an appointment, they immediately send a text. I had a string of text appointments but nothing after my last appointment (back just after MIL died).  I felt like an idiot, but I messaged my hairdresser, and she looked and realised we hadn't made one! She fit me in today. Thankfully. It was growing quite long. I didn't have much off - only an inch - but I feel better for it. 

I did not get much extra done. Only one drawer of socks. I have several huge fluffy sock pairs and quite a few others. I sorted through the drawer, organised it a bit, got rid of some rubbish that was lingering and picked out six pairs of socks that can be gone. So, not a lot of sorting done, but it's a start. 

Things That Made Me Smile

It was a foggy morning by Asylum Lake. Really peaceful. I think I only saw three people the whole time I was there. The beavers were out and about trying to keep the water open. 

A nice cup-a-soup. This is Broccoli and Cheddar. Quite nice. Good for warming up after my walk. 

We had a wonderful few days visiting daughter (R), Baby A and son-in-law (S). Unfortunately, we didn't get to do what we planned on Saturday as Baby A and S came down with strep and daughter came down with it the day we left! I'm holding my breath hoping it avoids us especially as Baby A and I shared cake on her birthday. 

She is growing up so beautifully. I can't believe how far her speech has come just within the month and a half since we last saw her. Last time her favourite thing to say was "I got it!" this time it was "I can do it myself". She's so independent, wanting to do everything herself. She wanted to sit and cuddle with me as soon as I got there which is so lovely. We spent a lot of time playing with her dolls, reading books and colouring. 

The drive there and back - yikes! I could have done without that. On the way there, we left before daylight, and the roads were really icy. It had rained the night before and froze. Husband said it felt as though there were ruts of ice on the road and several times we slipped. He's a confident winter driver, but even he said it was a little hairy! Once we got out of Michigan the roads weren't as bad though we did go through some snow showers as we drove along. On the way back we had freezing rain for most of the drive through Wisconsin. The car heater couldn't keep up and the ice was quite thick on parts of the windshield. Husband drove steady with no sudden moments and once we hit mid-Wisconsin things dried up. 

I was in the back of the car so couldn't get a great photo of the ice, but this was it in the front. 

Baby A who always makes me smile! We were taking photos of us, but I got stuck way in the back lol. She likes to see herself in the camera!

So now I'm back home, trying to get into the groove of everyday life. New Year, New Plans. I wrote a few down on the long, long car drive lol. I'll hopefully post a few goals later this week. I think if I write them down it helps me hold myself accountable getting them done!

Hope everyone has had a good start to the year. 

The rain has turned to snow, and it has snowed all day today. The winds were quite wild too. I ended up staying home. The roads were horrible as any standing water turned to ice and then there was snow on top of it. Too many people had to go out to work and such so I just stayed off the roads. In truth, I'm a bit of a chicken anyway. It seemed a bit pointless to try to get out and take photos when the weather is something like a snow globe. I did stand out on the back porch a couple of times and take some photos of a few of the birds coming in for food. 

I was not too productive the rest of the day. Not going for a walk really throws me out of whack. Oldest son is home too and that makes things not normal too lol

I'm starting to give a little thought to plans for next year. Ideas are still forming. I know that I want to work on finances. Buying less, saving more, using what I have, sorting through what I have. I haven't said much on the blog, but I did quite a bit of reselling in late 2024/2025. It's a way of making a little extra money now and maybe once husband retires. However, I'm not sure it's working with the decluttering. I get rid of a bunch of personal stuff only to bring more stuff into the house to resell. Our house isn't big enough to have dedicated space to store a lot of things. I have to decide whether this is something I want to continue or not. Going into 2026 the goal will be to limit any items coming into the house and trying to get rid of the things we already have. I do like doing this to finance the trips that we take. Something to think about.

I am going to do start up my Phone Photos Things That Make Me Smile 365 project again. I've been feeling a little down and thinking about things that make me smile makes me consciously look for things that bring me joy. It's a good goal to have. 

Other photography projects - still thinking about. My Big Project this year was documenting the beavers' lodge at Asylum Lake. Part of my project next year will be organising these either into a photo book or an ezine. I haven't decided which yet. 

Crafting Projects - I really want to get back to doing some craft projects. Unfortunately, the craft room is even more of a mess than it has been. Late in the year it became a dumping ground and now is taken over with items I need to relist for sale. See dilemma above regarding reselling. Sigh. 

Are you thinking about goals for next year?