August 09, 2013

A picnic

Last night, instead of going to Kohl's after dropping the kids off at Vacation Bible School, I had a better idea. I still had a lot of PointsPlus left after dinner, and knew I wouldn't be home until after 8:30, so I decided to go to Tim Horton's/Cold Stone. I got a small cup of Cake Batter ice cream and a medium decaf coffee to enjoy while reading my book. It was SO nice to sit and relax with a yummy treat and (uninterrupted) reading.


The ice cream was amazing, and 10 PointsPlus wasn't a bad price tag at all!

After a little while of reading, I went to Ollie's to get some new cat toys. The cats ADORE these feather toys that I found there. I bought four of them a few months ago, but the cats had worn them out so I had to get rid of them. While I was there, I saw some carpet tiles for less than $2 each, and it reminded me of something one of the veterinarians from Purina ONE suggested. I told her that my cats aren't interested in their scratching pads, and they just want to scratch the carpet. She suggested getting a small piece of carpet in a different color for the cats to use as a scratching pad and to squirt them with water if they tried to scratch anywhere other than that piece.

I bought two squares last night at Ollie's. When I got home, I set one next to the cat tree, and the other behind the treadmill (where Phoebe and Estelle can usually be found scratching the carpet). Immediately, the cats were totally drawn to these "new and exciting" pieces of carpet. Literally seconds after I put it down, Phoebe and Estelle were scratching it. I praised her, and put some catnip on it. Chandler joined the party, too, even though he doesn't have front claws. I swear, those carpets have become cat magnets! I'm going to pick up two more the next time I go to Ollie's, because the cats have been fighting over who gets to lie down on them. It's pretty funny, actually.



So far, it's worked very well to get them to scratch there instead of the carpet. I wish I'd tried it sooner!

Today, I wore my running clothes when I dropped the boys off at VBS in the morning, so I could run right from the church. Since I turned left out of the church for a six-mile run yesterday, today I decided to turn right (I had six miles at a recovery pace on the schedule today). I was feeling adventurous, so instead of just running straight out for three miles, I made a few turns so that I could run underneath a busy road instead of getting stopped at the traffic light (as well as enjoy a change of scenery). I had a flashback of running on Duval Street in Key West; it looked similar for a minute.

At around mile 2.25, I came to a park that I usually turn into so that I can avoid running on a busy road. But today, I decided to keep going straight. I noticed that the shoulders of the busy road were really wide, and could pretty much be considered a bike path. It was fun to run somewhere new, even if it was for less than a mile.

I turned around at mile three, and just planned to run the same route back to the car. I got to the River Walk, which is a path that goes right along the river. I ended up passing the spot where I was supposed to turn and get off of the River Walk, and instead, kept going for a little bit. I reached the end of the path, and was confused about where I was. I ran down a couple of streets, and didn't recognize anything. I knew how to get back to the River Walk, so I did that, and retraced my steps. Finally, I found the spot that I was supposed to turn down, and eventually, made it back to my car. My 6-miler turned into a 6.8-miler! But it was a really nice run--no pressure to go fast, I wasn't in a time crunch, and I was just having fun exploring.


After I drove home and showered, I got ready to go pick up the kids. I decided to surprise them by taking them on a picnic for lunch. I made some quick turkey wraps, and threw in some pretzels, apples, and three Twizzlers to the bag. I grabbed a blanket and headed out to get the kids.

They were really excited about going on a picnic. We drove around to a couple of different spots to find where we should set up, and eventually went to a local park that has a big hill. We spread out the blanket on top of the hill and ate lunch.


Noah was so cute--he kept saying, "Thank you SO much for taking us on a picnic!" I told him maybe we could go on a picnic every day next week, and choose a different location for each one. The kids loved that idea.

This afternoon, Jerry picked up our rings from the jeweler (he got his resized, and I got mine soldered and refinished). I was in awe of how pretty mine looked! They were so shiny and sparkly. I really like having them soldered together now, too.


Just in time for our 10 year anniversary, which is a week from today :)

5 comments:

  1. How nice idea to go to picnic. Love your rings. Beatiful!

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  2. My kids love picnics too! I love that they are happy with something simple like that. I always get nervous to run in an area I am not familiar with, because I have the WORST sense of direction a person ever had. Seriously. My kids have to tell me where we parked when we go to stores, because half the time I forget. lol I love the rings! Mine haven't fit in 2.5 years, and I can't wait to get them re-sized so I can wear them again. My husband got me a ring for christmas, and I wear that sort of like my wedding ring for now. It's getting too loose now though!

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  3. Isn't it funny how kids appreciate the little things like a quick picnic in the park? Great idea! Your rings are gorgeous. I remember when I finally got mine resized (I had them made bigger about 20-25 years ago--they had to cut them off), about a year and a half ago, already six months into maintenance, and got tired of wearing them on my middle finger. When I got them back from the jeweler they were so shiny and looked new. I resolved to keep them cleaner so they would sparkle like that more often, but here I sit, a year and a half later with very dull rings. Oh well.
    I love your cats!

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  4. Your picnic makes me miss the days of when I used to stay home with the kids and do fun stuff like that.

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  5. Now I want to go have a picnic! Your rings are beautiful, Jerry obviously has good taste.

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