Super Creative Skeleton Displays for Halloween! (repost)

I was going to post a "Wordless" post today because I've had an insanely busy day, but then I remembered that I'd completely forgotten about collecting photos from readers' skeleton scene decorations for Halloween this year. 

I meant to send out a request early this month! I absolutely LOVE seeing skeleton scenes in peoples' yards this time of year! It literally brings me so much joy to see the creativity. Last year, I put together a whole post of skeleton photos that readers submitted. So, I'm just going to repost that here rather than a "wordless" post. At least it's more fun :)

Here is a new skeleton picture from a few days ago. Eli had a friend spend the night and I offered to make pancakes and turkey bacon for them for breakfast. Before the boys came in to eat, I sat the skeleton at the table.

So, below is the post from Halloween 2021...

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This is quite possibly my most favorite post ever. As you may know from reading my blog, I absolutely LOVE skeleton displays. They actually make me look forward to going for walks or runs in October because they are so fun to see! (Sadly, I do not have skeletons to display, but after this post, I really want to buy some.)

I asked on Facebook for followers to send pictures of skeleton displays in their neighborhoods so I could compile them in a blog post. And here it is! If you have skeleton photos to share, please email them to me! I'll add them to this post up until Halloween, and then I'll do another post next year. Just send them to katie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com. (Don't worry about resizing or blurring addresses or anything--I'll do that before posting.)

You all are so creative... I love it!

 

Thank you so much to everyone who shared these--this totally made my day!

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My Plans for 75 Hard

My plan to start the 75 Hard program starts in just three days, on November 1st. I've really been looking forward to it! I think that because I'm doing it for reasons other than weight loss, it has a different meaning to me. I'd love to get more disciplined (especially with exercise), drink more water (I used to drink a ton, but I got really bad at it), and read some books that are out of my norm. I'm not a fan of self-help books, but reading just 10 pages a day is doable--and hopefully I'll enjoy them enough to want to read more than that.

If you missed my post about 75 Hard, here is the program in a nutshell (it's by Andy Frisella):

1. Follow a diet. It doesn't matter what you choose, but you cannot have cheat meals or alcohol.
2. Workout for 45 minutes, twice a day. At least one of these 45-minute workouts must be done outdoors. (You cannot combine the two workouts)
3. Drink 1 gallon of water per day.
4. Read 10 pages of a non-fiction book.
5. Take a progress picture daily.

The last time I did this challenge was in 2020 and I didn't make it all the way through. The only things I kept up with were the workouts (I did 45 minutes twice a day with at least one being outside) and taking a progress picture daily.

This time, I feel much more prepared (mentally and physically). My diet is simple: I'm going to continue to eat a healthy vegan diet, just like I have been all year. However, I am going to throw in a little challenge so that it's not TOO easy--I'm going to eliminate sweets. I haven't been eating many as it is, but it can't hurt to cut them out completely for a while. (I already don't drink, so giving up alcohol isn't a problem.)

I can drink one gallon of water a day when I put my mind to it. I'll start with a quart first thing in the morning (I'm always SO dehydrated when I wake up). I'll drink a quart after each of my 45-minute workouts. And finally, I'll drink a quart in the evening, a couple of hours before going to bed. I like to drink water by the quart instead of the cup, because it seems simpler.

I'll likely take my progress photo first thing in the morning. I've also decided that I'm going to wear the same clothes for my progress photos every day. That way, I'll be able to see a difference if the exercising actually does change my body composition. I'd *like* to take my photos in shorts and a sports bra, but that would take a LOT of courage. I'll probably just wear running tights and a form-fitting top.

For my workouts, I want to get creative this time! I will likely do my outdoor workout as a walk with Joey like I used to. He could stand to lose a few pounds and I know he'd love to see his buddy Roomba on our five-mile route.

For my second workout, though, I've thought a lot about it and I want to do some things I don't normally do. Other than the treadmill (which I'll probably do three times a week, and maybe for only 30 minutes before switching to something else for 15 minutes), I am going to do the old school EA Sports Active on the Wii (Amazon affiliate link). Remember that?! I used to do it faithfully in 2012 and I think there is a 30-day challenge on it. It involves a lot of strength exercise, which I can definitely stand to do.

I just read a post I wrote about it and according to what I wrote, it was HARD. So, I'm curious to see how I'll do with it! This was the summary after the first workout.

I can also use the Wii Fit U (assuming I'm doing the "real" exercise stuff and not just messing around with simple games). Finally, I used an Amazon gift card (given to me from my cross country team!) to buy two very, very random pieces of exercise equipment: 

The first is a sort of weighted hula hoop, only without the actual hoop swinging around. It's a belt that you wear around your waist and it has a weight on it that you swing around as if you are doing the hula hoop. (I used to use a weighted hula hoop and I loved it!) Here is a screenshot of a video to the one I bought on Amazon (affiliate link):

That could fail miserably, however, when I'm sure the cats will try to go after the weight. Haha!

The second item is even more random for me: it's a Squat Assist "Row-and-Ride" trainer (Amazon affiliate link). Basically, you sit on it, holding the handles in front of you, squat down while extending your arms, and then return to upright position. Hard to explain! But here is a stock photo:

It was inexpensive and it looked like it might be fun, so I thought I'd give it a try. It folds flat, so it won't get in the way, either. But it looks like it would be a decent workout and definitely something different for me.

I also have a good jump rope that I am pretty sure I've never used, as well as some body weight exercise cards lying around somewhere. I have a bike in the garage that I rarely use. I even have about 10 exercise bands. So, I have a ton of options! I'm going to try to mix it up as much as I can. 

Finally, for my books... I'm a very slow reader, so I'm not sure how much I'll get done in the 75 days. But I've had this book called Running & Being by Dr. George Sheehan that I got when I was invited to the Runner's World headquarters way back in... 2014? It's described as the "philosophical bible for runners". It's not a typical running book, like 'Hansons Marathon Method' or '80/20 Running' (both books I love). It's about much more than just running; from what I understand, it's about how exercise and competition (including running) can be thought of as fun and a lifelong wellness plan for personal growth.

As you know, I LOVE my Kindle Paperwhite; however, since I've had this paperback for so long and it's literally brand new, I'm going to go ahead and read the paperback for 75 Hard.

Once I'm done with it, I'll give it away on my blog for anyone who may be interested in reading it.

In a nutshell, my day should look something like this for 75 Hard:

Wake up, get dressed in exercise clothes, then take a mirror selfie.
Drink a quart of water. Eat vegan breakfast while I read 10 pages of my book.
Go for a 45 minute walk with Joey. Drink another quart of water.
Go on with my normal day, eating a vegan lunch.
Sometime in the afternoon or evening, do another 45-minute workout--some sort of combination of the things I listed. Follow up with another quart of water.
Cook and eat a healthy vegan dinner, either before or after the second workout.
Have a healthy snack if I am hungry after dinner. Drink another quart of water.

That will get in all of my 75 Hard steps for the challenge. The hardest part for me is going to be fitting it all in. Despite the fact that I don't work a 9-5 type job, I'm very busy throughout the day. So I'll just have to adjust things around to fit everything in.

But I'm excited about getting started!

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Friday Night Photos #89

I had another very long day of working on the bathroom, but I at least made some good progress! I had been stumped about how to drywall around the shower surround because the surround material is 1/8 inch thick--and that 1/8-inch sticks out from the stud that I would screw the drywall into. So if I tried to screw the drywall into the stud, it would likely crack and even if it didn't, there would be a bump in it. I stared at it for DAYS trying to figure out a solution.

Finally, I ripped some 2x4's to 1/8's thickness (the same as the surround thickness) and glued them to the studs to make the studs flush with the edge of the tub surround. It took forever, but I was finally able to hang the drywall (it's blue instead of green this time, for some reason, but it's meant for high moisture areas). I obviously still have to tape and mud it, but at least it is screwed in and ready for the finishing work.

 

And the water works! I don't want to use it until everything is totally done, but things should move much more quickly now. Tomorrow, I plan to do the taping and mudding of the drywall. In a couple of days, I'll put the trim on, and the shower head, and it should be good to go. Jerry finished putting the Luon on the floor (it's like a very thin plywood that will make the floor smooth before he lays the planking). He'll probably lay the planking on his next day off work.

Anyway, here are some more photos from this week:

These roasted potatoes were SO GOOD. I bought them from Whole Foods when Jerry and I stopped in while we were in Detroit, and they were the tiniest potatoes I'd ever seen. I just had to buy them. I tossed them in olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roasted them for about 25 minutes. I'm tempted to go back to Whole Foods just for these alone.

This broccoli just looked so pretty after I cut it into florets, I had to take a picture. I roasted this, too; and after eating about half of it, I forgot to put it away and I left it sitting on the stove all night--bummer!

I drove my parents to the Henry Ford Hospital in West Bloomfield--it was seriously like a fancy resort, it was so nice inside!--and their gift shop was absolutely amazing. I could have spent all day in there. Check out this cafeteria:

The whole hospital was that nice! I had brought my computer to work on transferring my photos (yes, I'm still working on it), so I was sitting in a (very nice) waiting room when my mom came back from a walk with a gift for me from the gift shop. How cute is this purse?! It was so perfect for me. 

My first concern was that it was leather, but then she pointed out that the card said it was vegan. And they even donate 5% of their annual profits to an animal rescue foundation. I thought it was super thoughtful of my mom to think of that when she bought it. 

Here is my dad before surgery. We got to sit in the room with him for a little bit while he waited, and we had a good chat. Even though he was under general anesthesia for the procedure, the surgery wasn't a huge deal--he has an enlarged prostrate, so they did something with it it to help shrink it. Everything went well and he's recovering just fine. His surgery was at 7:00 AM and we left for home by noon. 

I love how cat siblings cuddle with each other. It's rare that my cats have done that. Chick sleeps with Joey sometimes, and Chandler used to cuddle with Phoebe once in a while, but now it's just Chick and Duck. They like to groom each other too.

A few days ago, I had some time in the morning and I was sick of working on the bathroom, so I decided to alter some of my jeans. A lot of them are size 27, 28, or even 29 waist and they're just too big. And ever since I tried using elastic instead of darts to tighten the waist, I'm obsessed! It's SO fast and easy, and you can take about two sizes off. I just use a seam ripper to cut a small hole on the side of the waist band about three and a half inches from the button hole (on each side), then slide a piece of elastic through, and sew the ends shut where the hole is. They look a little puckered from the elastic, but once you put them on, you can't even tell.

The only jeans I can find at thrift stores right now are skinny jeans, and it's driving me crazy! I hate skinny jeans and now that they are pretty much out of style, everyone is getting rid of them. So, I'm just altering all of my too-big jeans down to size 25 or 26 waist. Even sizing down from a size 29, they still look fine.

I was SO excited to hear from my friend Jessica last week--it had been several years since we got together (or even talked, really). We made plans to go to the State Park for a walk. It was a gorgeous day out and we spent an hour and a half or so walking and catching up. I'm so glad to be back in touch with her! (She is the one that I trained for and ran my first marathon with, back in 2012)

The very next day, I had plans to meet up with Jen, my reader-turned-friend who I'd met up with a few years ago (pre-COVID) and I hadn't seen her since. So we made plans to go for a walk at one of the Metroparks. I wore my Garmin just for the heck of it, and I was not at all prepare for the long walk--we talked the entire time, so I wasn't really paying attention to our distance. When we finished, I saw that we had walked EIGHT MILES. I haven't walked that far since probably 2018! My calves were killing me for the next two days. Clearly, I am out of shape--let's hope that 75 Hard will get me back in good shape again.

I thought this was so funny, but I *loved* that Noah asked me this. He has been wanting to grow out his hair forever (I have no idea how long he wants to let it grow) but he hates how it looks when it's frizzy and sticks out all over. He asked if I knew how to straighten it, and I said sure--I have a straightener, so I got that out (I never use it) and I taught him how to straighten his hair. He's been doing it for the last few days, and I think it looks so much better! (He wasn't as pissed off as he looks in the photos--he just has resting bitch face). He really liked it when it was done.

This was when Riley came over yesterday. She helped me feed the squirrels by scooping peanuts into the squirrel lunchbox. (I have to remove them at night because the raccoons will eat them, so I replace them every morning, and she helped me).

Brian showed me how to solder a pipe. I like learning how to do new things, and this was really interesting to me. Also, he made sure to tell me that you pronounce it like "sodder"--without the L--because I always say "caulk" with the L and it drives him crazy. (I looked it up one time to fact check him, and he's right--it's pronounced "cawk" and not like it rhymes with "walk".)

I got so tired of searching for spices when cooking that I finally organized them in alphabetical order. I'd avoided doing it because I thought it would be SO nerdy, but instead it's just convenient. 

I just finished eating this cookie while writing this. Noah's girlfriend, Claire, came to visit from Eastern Michigan University (where she goes to school) and she brought one for me and one for Jerry. So nice of her! She and Noah frequently get cookies from Crumbl and unfortunately, Crumbl doesn't have any vegan ones. So I was super excited to try this. And it was one of the best cookies I've ever eaten. You would never know that it's vegan!

Finally, I just took this picture of my parents' tree because I love the fall colors this time of year. My favorite is is super bright yellow that is just starting to turn orange in spots. The colors don't last super long, but Michigan is truly gorgeous on the fall.

And that's all I've got this week. Have a great weekend! xo

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Three Things Thursday #4

Now that cross country is over, I feel like I've been trying to catch up on all of the things that I neglected for the last couple of months. Especially the bathroom and bedroom project! I've worked more on it over the last few days than I have in the last month.

Anyway, for Three Things Thursday today, I figured I'd write three things that made me laugh recently...

This first one had me in awe and I was cracking up. Brian came over today to get the bathtub/shower hooked up. It works! We just can't use it until I finish the drywall and stuff around it. But we have running water there now. Anyway, he brought Riley with him (she's my niece who just turned four years old in August). Luke is in kindergarten now, so Riley has been coming over with Brian when he's here working on the bathroom.

I have to say, Riley is literally the smartest four-year old I've ever known. I'm not exaggerating or being biased because she's my niece; she has an adult vocabulary and sometimes she uses words that *I* don't even know what they mean! She can work things out in her head really easily, too--how stuff works, why things happen the way they do, etc.

Even knowing all of this, I still laugh when she says something that is totally not typical of a four-year old. So today, she was sitting at my kitchen island (remember the one that was a total nightmare to make?), and she was asking me questions about the pictures on it and she was spelling out the words.

Then out of nowhere, she ran her hand over the top of it and asked, "Is this made of epoxy?" 🤣  I had never even heard of epoxy until we decided to use it on our countertop. Anyway, she is so goddamn smart. Here is my favorite picture of her, so you can see how cute she is as well:

The second thing that made me laugh recently was the first Halloween costume I ordered for cross country. I had a pair of muscle pants at home (just a fun pair of tights that I'd used for running) and I was looking for a shirt that would go with them, but I had no luck finding one.

I found a full-body muscle suit, however, and it had next-day shipping (I needed it for our trick-or-treat run on Monday, and I ordered this on Saturday). I wasn't sure about it because it had a hood that covered the face, which I wasn't crazy about. I ordered it anyway, thinking I could just cut off the hood if needed. I found another muscle body suit that would be delivered Monday and I hoped it would arrive before I had to leave for cross country practice. Then I could return the one with the hood.

Well, the one that arrived on Sunday was SO HIDEOUS. It was totally creepy! When I put it on, I couldn't see anything at all because of the mask, but Joey started growling and barking at me and even Duck ran away from me at full speed. Since I couldn't see, I asked Noah to take a picture. I nearly died when I saw it! Hahahaha. How creepy is that face?! It was weird because it covered my entire body, including my hands and feet.

I am SO glad that the other one was delivered in the early afternoon Monday, because there is no way I would have worn that one above to cross country practice. The kids would have cried, hahaha. This one below is what I ended up wearing--I really like it!

And the third thing that made me laugh recently was what happened to our poor pumpkins that we'd carved. I don't know if it was the warmer weather we had for a couple of days or what, but they basically turned totally black and moldy on the inside, shriveling up and inward.

They all looked funny, but Jerry's looked the creepiest. When Riley came inside today, she said, "Jerry's pumpkin looks very creepy!" So we ended up throwing them over the dike into the woods. But check out Jerry's pumpkin. It looks so evil, haha.

Anyway, those are three things that made me laugh recently. Now I'm going to go work on the bathroom some more. Dave and Renee are supposed to come over on Halloween, and I *need* to get the garage cleaned up. The mess is ridiculous--drywall, plywood, dust, etc.

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Wednesday Weigh-In: Week 74

The costume in the photo above is what I wore for our cross country trick-or-treat run last night. I told the kids that I built up all those muscles from carrying my huge bags full of prizes and games and running "stuff" that I brought to practice everyday ;)

I almost forgot to weigh in this morning. My dad was scheduled for surgery this morning and my mom asked if I could drive them to the hospital (which was an hour and fifteen minutes away). It was raining and they had to leave at 5:00 AM; they really didn't want to drive in the dark and the rain in an unfamiliar area, so I agreed to drive them.

I couldn't fall asleep last night until about 1:00, and then I got up at 4:45. I jumped out of bed to get dressed quickly and then remembered to hop on the scale. I have to say, I was pretty shocked at the number.

I weighed 129--which isn't a huge deal (I'd like to stay between 125 and 135)--but what shocked me was that I'd put on quite a bit in the last two weeks. I was at 125.4 two weeks ago. I'm not upset about being 129--it's below my "goal" weight--but I am a little worried about how quickly I put those extra pounds on. I really don't want to continue the upward trend like this.

I really shouldn't be surprised about the gain, however; I ate WAY too much peanut butter this week! The peanut butter isn't bad for me (the ingredients are just peanuts and salt), but the two ounces that I used to eat in the evening has been getting bigger and bigger. Also, I've been eating a lot of fruit! Which again--not bad for me, but I don't need to be eating three bananas and two apples a day. A couple of days this week, I had pretzels with hummus before bed, too, even though I wasn't even hungry.

Sooooo... it's no wonder that my weight has gone up. And I know what I need to do in order to tone it down. Since I'm starting 75 Hard next Tuesday, I'm hoping that it will help me to keep my weight from jumping up and down so much. While my preferred range is 125-135, I'd like to try to keep it pretty steady rather than the big jumps.

It's so interesting how I can actually feel the weight difference in my clothes when it's only a few pounds! I just altered most of my jeans to fit me the best I could, and gaining five pounds makes them feel a little tight in the waist. When I went for a walk with Jen a couple of days ago, we talked about clothes--how we have several sizes and it's hard to know what to keep and what to get rid of when your weight doesn't stay very consistent.

I've felt like this current weight loss is permanent (at least for as long as I can foresee) because I've lost it more as a lifestyle change than temporarily counting calories. However, it's always in the back of my mind that the loss is only temporary, so I wonder if I should keep all of my clothing "just in case".

Anyway, I just hope it doesn't come to that. I'm going to cut my peanut butter back to 1-2 ounces, eat only a couple of pieces of fruit, and if I really want hummus, I'll *try* to like vegetables with it instead of pretzels. I really love red peppers, so maybe I'll start with red pepper strips.

I'm actually really excited to start 75 Hard! I decided against creating a Facebook page for those who would like to join in with me--the pages I've done before are pretty inactive and I feel too much pressure to try to keep things moving. But I plan to write frequently about how things are going, so hopefully everyone who is doing 75 Hard with me will check in as well. Maybe I will do some sort of giveaway for anyone who makes it through all 75 days (without modifications!). I plan to follow it exactly as written, and I'm looking forward to seeing how I feel at the end.

I really like the idea of doing it for self-discipline, but the main thing I hope to accomplish is establishing a regular exercise routine. When I did 75 Hard before, I didn't finish the challenge--but I did complete the exercise part and the taking a photo per day part. (You can read all about it here--this is the final post in my 75 Hard series from 2020.)

Well, I'm super tired from my early day today (my dad's surgery went fine!) so I'm going to chill with Jerry and watch a movie or something. I worked on the bathroom all day long yesterday and I'm making some serious progress! I'm hoping to put in another long day tomorrow.

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