Friday Night Photos

I have kind of a lot of photos this week! So I'll get right to them, because this will be a long post...

I got a surprise package via FedEx a couple of days ago, and THIS is what it was!! I had no idea who they were from and I'd never heard of Crumbl Cookies before, but they looked delicious. The only person I could think of that might have sent them was my friend Caitlin in Boston. I texted her and she said yes, they were from her--there was supposed to have been a note inside, but somehow that got left out.

Anyway, there were six enormous cookies, two each of: peanut butter, rocky road, and chocolate chunk. Considering I'm really working hard to lose weight, I knew I was going to have to share them with the family.

I couldn't help but dig right into one of the peanut butter ones, though. I ate the whole thing myself and it was worth every. single. calorie. SO GOOD. For the rest, I cut them into four pieces each so that we could all taste them--so overall, I only had one and a half cookies. I'm pretty impressed with myself! I indulged, but didn't go overboard. (And no, there is no way I could have saved them for another day; I envy people that have the self-discipline to do that!)

These were SO much better than the ones we got from Detroit Cookie Company for Eli's birthday a couple of weeks ago. And there is a Crumbl Cookies in Ann Arbor! (That's where we went for Detroit Cookie Company.)

Speaking of surprises in the mail, my friend Erin sent me this adorable squirrel bag! (She ordered it and said when it arrived at her house, she thought the squirrel looked kind of creepy; I disagree.) I think it's super cute.

And speaking of squirrels, my brother (Brian) gave me this metal squirrel decor that his neighbor made--isn't it awesome? He apparently makes metal art like this for a side business.

These two. So spoiled! 

So, the cats (and Joey) have trained me into a routine each morning into giving them canned/wet food. (I used to just give them dry food but when they were sick, I was giving them "the good stuff" in order to get them to eat.) Now there's this whole routine:

Estelle doesn't like the "chunks" from canned food, so I give her the squeeze tubes of puréed tuna or chicken (that's the stuff on the white plate).

Other than that, I divide up a can of food for the other three cats:

• I give Phoebe the smallest amount but with as much of the gravy as I can (she mostly just licks all the gravy and then leaves the rest). She doesn't like the squeeze pouches, probably because it's what I had to force feed her when she was sick.
• I give Duck the most food because he eats the fastest and I don't want him going after Chick's.
• I spread Chick and Duck's food all over their plates so that it takes them longer to eat it. They are little piggies--you can see in the picture how they jump up on the bar stools to watch me impatiently while I'm prepping everything. (Meowing the entire time)
• I used to just let Joey eat Estelle's and Phoebe's leftovers, but since I started giving Estelle her puréed stuff, I bought some small pouches of food for Joey to have along with leftovers.
• I set down Chick and Duck's plates first, because they are going crazy for it, then I bring Estelle's and Phoebe's into the living room away from the kittens so they can eat in peace.
• Estelle eats all of hers and leaves.
• Meanwhile, Joey is done and sits and waits for whatever leftovers Phoebe leaves.
• When the kittens are done eating, they go stalk Phoebe (I have to watch them like a hawk and shoe them away).
• When Phoebe is done licking all the gravy, she leaves and then I let Joey eat the rest. (The kittens are disappointed they don't get Phoebe's, but I need to watch their weight.)

Moving on...

I was so excited when I got this letter in the mail for Jury Duty! I've been summoned twice before but it was when my kids were little and I had to excuse myself because I didn't have childcare. I think Jury Duty would be so interesting, and I was looking forward to it for next month.

Then a couple of weeks later, I got this in the mail, excusing me from Jury Duty--I was super bummed. I just got done reading a book that was a memoir/true crime book written by a lawyer and it really made me interested when I got the summons. Oh well--hopefully I'll get to do it another time. 

I just turned over 10,000 miles in my Jeep--and it's now two years old!! Isn't that crazy? Because of COVID, I just wasn't driving anywhere. And since Noah got his license, I don't have to drive him to/from school. 

I went grocery shopping for the week and I planned to make pico de gallo to put on some black bean enchiladas I was making. When I got out the ingredients to make it, I realized I forgot the jalapeño. I really didn't want to make it without jalapeño, so I asked Jerry to go get one. Out of ALL the things for the store to be out of, this was the sign on the shelf: "Sorry for the inconvenience. We'll restock this item as soon as it's available." 

I've been doing a lot of reading so far this year! I just started my fourth book, actually. The ones I just finished: (Amazon affiliate links)

'The Fact of a Body' by Alex Marzano-Lesnevich - This book was written SO well. It's a memoir/true crime book which sounds like an odd combination. The author is a lawyer who took a huge interest in a case and wrote the case out in a story-like way, using the facts (30,000+ pages of documents!) from the case. The crime was horrendous and horrible to read about, and I would only recommend it to people who are okay with reading about the details of such crimes. (I don't want to spoil it, and I definitely would NOT read about the case before reading the book. I would read the book blindly--not reading reviews or anything like that.)

'Never Saw Me Coming' by Vera Kurian - This was a refreshing psychological thriller! It's about a group of students who take part in a study at a university; they are each diagnosed as being an actual psychopath. The general students on campus at the university don't know about the study (other than the 7(?) kids that are in it). The professor running the program wants to study psychopathy and see if he can't help diagnosed psychopaths lead relatively normal lives. They each have their individual set of problems/agendas, and it's super interesting to see how it all plays out.

'The Lobotomist's Wife' by Samantha Greene Woodruff - This book is basically what the title says: about a lobotomist's wife. It's inspired by the true story of how the lobotomy procedure came to be. The psychiatrist who started performing them became quite obsessed, without worrying about long-term consequences (or short-term, for that matter). I'm super interested in anything have to do with mental illness, and I thought I'd love this book. But I only gave it three stars. It was kind of redundant and I was just waiting for it to be over. It did make me look up lobotomies online and I fell down a rabbit hole reading about that, however!

'Rock Paper Scissors' by Alice Feeney - I literally JUST started this book so I can't even comment about it yet.

And finally... here is the random fact of the day:

Have a great weekend! xo

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Wordle

I'll start with the random fact of the day:

Interesting! It makes me curious about how frequently mushrooms are used for things like building and if there are any well-known buildings made with mushrooms.

Anyway, I'm not really going to write a "real" post today because today is Jerry's first day off in two weeks! I'd like to hang out with him and not be on the computer. But we both are having fun doing this Wordle game each day so I thought I'd mention it here.

Apparently, I was a couple of days late to the party on this (I'm rarely on Facebook, but lots of people have been posting their scores daily). I was curious and asked Jerry about it. It's not an app, but just a website where there is a short word game that you can play only once per day.

If this was an app where you could keep playing over and over, I'm pretty sure everyone would be addicted!

Basically, you get six tries to guess a five-letter word. For the first try, you just pick any five-letter word you want. Then if you guess any of the letters correctly (and in the correct placement), they will appear green in the line underneath. If you guess letters that are in the final word, but they are in the wrong placement, they appear in yellow.

So, you use those clues during your second try to guess the word. The letters that you try but aren't in the word at all get grayed out. Then you keep guessing and hope you get it correct by your sixth try.

It's kind of hard to explain, and I was hoping to post a couple of screen shots from my games. I have the one from today but I don't want to spoil it. (Everybody playing the game that day has to guess the same word--so don't spoil the word for anyone.) The only other screenshot I have was my first time playing, and I just got super lucky that I guessed it in just three tries! So this isn't a great example, but it's the only one I have for right now:

Anyway, once you guess the word, you have to wait until the next day to get a new puzzle! After people play, they share their scores (I'm not really a "sharer" but seeing others' scores is what got me curious about the game). Here is my "share" for today's game:

The 5/6 means I guess the word in 5 out of 6 tries. The first line (all gray) shows that I didn't guess ANY of the letters correctly (whether they were in order or not). The second line shows that I guessed those two letters correctly, but they weren't in the correct spot. The third line shows that I got one letter (the green) in the right spot, and the two yellow ones were in the word, but in the incorrect spot. And so on. I finally guessed the word after five tries.

Here is the website in case you want to play!

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Wednesday Weigh-In : Week 34

Duck was dying for my attention when I was trying to take a mirror selfie for this post. He stretched his paws all the way up the back of my legs up to the top of my jeans' pockets (with his claws--as if he was using my legs as a scratcher).

I was pretty excited to put on those jeans. I can't remember the last time I wore them! I only saved a few pairs from my smaller sizes. I love flared-leg jeans (whether they are "cool" or not, I don't care--I will always wear them) so I kept a few favorites.

Anyway, here I am, 34 weeks in since I started trying (with REAL effort) to drop the extra pounds I gained so quickly in 2018 and 2020 (you'll see the details below). I feel like I've been at a standstill for months now, but when I look back at the last few years, I'd say I'm doing pretty good.

Last week, I was at 156.6; I had a great weigh-in today!

I finally hung this on the wall instead of keeping it on its little stand.

I was at 153.6, so I am down 3 pounds this week (for a total of 43.4 pounds in 34 weeks). When I hit 153, it'll be a big milestone for me (again): that will be 100 pounds down from my 2009 starting weight.

When I entered my weight into the Happy Scale app, I got curious about when the last time I weighed this much/little was. At first I thought it was in late 2016, but then I remembered that I lost a lot of weight in 2017 (yes, my weight has fluctuated a LOT over the years) when I was hypomanic for half the year (which you'll see in the charts below).

Anyway, the last time I weighed under 154 was in July of 2018--so it's been 3-1/2 years! Because of COVID, though, the last two years have gone by so quickly; it's like they didn't even happen. I was kind of shocked when I saw 2018's weight gain: nearly 30 pounds!

Here is what my weight looked like from 2017 (when I lost a lot) to now (by year); red is when I was gaining weight and green is when I was losing weight:

When I look at the big picture I can see all of the ups and downs--I'd like there to be less "ups", but I've at least beat the odds of keeping off a large amount of weight for more than two years. 

This doesn't include my pregnancy weight--I was at 271 when pregnant with Eli in January 2006!

It's kind of scary to see the climb in 2018 to mid-2021, though. Seeing how close I was to 200 pounds again scared the bejeezus out of me which is what got me going again. Looking at this chart, it looks like my weight likes to hang out at around 150 pounds, which is interesting.

I wish I was comfortable at that weight, but I feel much better at 135-ish. However, I'm not as hung up on the actual number as I used to be. As I get older, I realize there are much more important things to worry about (within reason, I mean; I want to be at a healthy weight/size). 

Anyways, enough of the numbers stuff! You know I love looking at these kinds of graphs ;) 

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Transformation Tuesday #56

Happy Transformation Tuesday! I am thrilled to have some fun transformations in my inbox. Because of the nature of this transformation, I decided to make it a solo transformation post. This one really tugged at my heartstrings. As you know, I am a big supporter of rescuing/adopting pets rather than purchasing them. Rescue pets are the best! And they need patient, loving homes with families who will see them for just how special they are.

So, I just loved seeing this transformation...

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I’m sitting here next to my latest foster dog thinking about the amazing transformation he’s had in just a few weeks. I thought I’d share for Transformation Tuesday. These pictures might be upsetting so I understand if you don’t want to use them.

I’ve fostered for about 5 years for a local Atlanta rescue (we adopt only to the Atlanta area—Releash Atlanta).  I love highlighting these amazing rescue dogs to encourage people to look at shelters or their local rescue.

Chip is a senior little fellow who was found stuck in a ditch in rural GA with mats so severe they covered his eyes and he had large fecal masses covered in maggots.  He had a massive dental infection with fistulas, UTI, skin infection, heart problems, mostly blind, underweight and dehydrated.

So much neglect and yet he couldn’t be a sweeter little dog. He’s starting to feel better after a big dental surgery and has started wagging his tail. He’ll be with us until he’s recovered and then available for adoption. We love him so much!

Some would say, why save a sick senior dog? Spend 5 minutes with Chip and you'll know why. He's nothing but a ball of love and he deserves to know what it’s like to be loved and safe. I think he has years left to be healthy and happy—and he’s going to be the best companion dog. Nothing but up from here, little man.

The first "after" photo is from yesterday—just about 3 weeks after he was found. He’ll get a full groom once he’s feeling completely better and is going to be a heartthrob!  Three weeks and look how far he’s come :)

- Christina

Christina, I don't even have to tell you how much this warms my heart! The poor little dog must have been scared to death while stuck in the ditch and with so many health issues going on. I can just picture how much happier he is right now while staying with you! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for caring for him and loving him. You're right--he deserves to feel loved for the rest of his life (however long that may be). Please give him lots of snuggles from me!  - Katie

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Like I said, I was going to add a couple more transformations to this post, but it's just hard to follow up after this one. So, I think I'll save the others for next week. If you want to see some more rescue pets' transformations, I did a full Transformation Tuesday post on them--you can find that post here. It's definitely a feel-good post! :)

And here is the desktop calendar random facts post of the day:

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Narrowing Down and Cleaning Up Crafting/Hobby Stuff

I have been keeping super busy the last couple of days by organizing my crafting stuff. (I also milled down a couple of oak boards that Brian gave me, but I'm not done with those, so I'll save that for later.)

The problem I have with crafting is that I love all of it--I like knitting, crocheting, cross stitching (which is rare, but I like it), sewing, woodworking, flipping furniture, journaling... and probably things I'm forgetting. Anything DIY, basically. And when you have that many hobbies, it takes up a LOT of space.

Which is fine if you have a room that is dedicated to crafting (I don't) or an attic or a basement (I also do not). I don't even have storage closets! But the biggest problem for me is that I tend to go through phases of one thing or another for a while. It's not that I want to give up a hobby--I just switch to a different one when the mood strikes me--but all of those *things* still need space.

Right now, for example, I'm dying to work in the garage (I need to build shelves for Noah's bedroom) but it's so cold that I can only stand it for a couple of hours. Also, none of the batteries in my tools work when it's that cold!) Shawn (my brother-in-law) is supposed to help me install a gas heater in the spring so next year, I should be able to work in there).

Lately, I've been trying to convince myself to give up some stuff. The knitting and crocheting should probably be the first to go. I don't do it nearly as often as I used to and after Duck swallowed that yarn, I just get a bad feeling when thinking about it. So, I actually sold ALL of my yarn a few days ago! I couldn't bring myself to get rid of my needle and hook sets (mainly because they are difficult to list for sale--they are complicated sets). So now I only have one small box of knitting/crocheting stuff, which consists of the needles and hooks.

I've pretty much given up on the bullet journaling, mainly because it just takes up too much time. I could do it faster and more efficiently, but when I see the beautiful spreads on Instagram, I just become more of a perfectionist and I never get anything done. Thankfully, I didn't spend a fortune on the bullet journaling--the journals weren't cheap, but I still use those for sketching out things for woodworking and stuff like that.

The bullet journaling also took up the least amount of space. So getting rid of that doesn't really help much as far as creating space. I do like to keep my fill-in-the-blank journals (the Some Lines a Day journal and my Clever Fox planner - Amazon affiliate links). Those are fast and easy to fill in.

I was really enjoying flipping furniture for a little while (I didn't do a lot, but I could see myself doing it and selling pieces). Unfortunately, I really messed up my body and developed bad carpal tunnel syndrome; painting furniture is what makes it flare up the most. So that took care of that "problem". 

Since I can't work in the garage much, I've been thinking about sewing (there are clothes that need mending and I also like to upcycle old items). This is what led me to clean out my sewing stuff the last couple of days. 

Unfortunately, sewing takes up SO. MUCH. SPACE. I really love sewing and I don't plan to give it up, but I really need a way to organize it efficiently. I have a lot of fabric (most of it small pieces), all sorts of sewing notions, thread, accessories, and tools. And the two biggest things--my sewing machine and my serger.

The worst part about sewing has a hobby is where to put the sewing machine and serger--they should be easily accessible (otherwise they're too much of a hassle to get out and use) but out of the way of everything else (I can't keep them on my dining room table, for example). This was my set-up with my sewing machine when I made what felt like 8 million masks in 2020:

BY FAR, the biggest, most expensive hobby I have is woodworking. It also happens to be my favorite. We have a three-car garage and literally half of it is taken up by my tools! Almost all of my tools were bought at a fraction of the retail price (via Facebook Marketplace) but even buying used tools can be expensive. And they just take up a ton of space.

However, I've built myself a nice little shop over the last couple of years and I love love love working out there. Even if I'm not really making anything in particular; I just like tinkering around with tools to see all the features they can do.

Anyway, my tools and workshop aren't going anywhere in the foreseeable future, so I wanted to work on organizing my other stuff. I feel bad that it takes up so much space! Today, I took out my sewing stuff--which was in several different places--and I organized it into three separate containers. That may still sound like a lot, but believe me, I narrowed it down to the basics! (Not counting the sewing machine and serger, of course.)

This is what the mess looked like before:

Trying to keep the cats away was the worst!! I didn't want them finding stray thread to swallow.

And then this is what I condensed it down to (I've taken a couple of things out to show you the inside, but the second picture shows it neatly tucked into the three containers). 

Eventually, my goal will be to condense everything down to a small box of fabric and a box of essential sewing notions/accessories.

I always wonder how people live in those "tiny houses". I would love to be a minimalist like that, but I would miss my hobbies too much!

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Okay, here is my desk calendar's random fact of the day (in honor of MLK Jr. day, of course!):

I'd reckon that Hoover had some serious mental issues--good grief!

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Taking My Own Advice?

Well, I was able to get my prescriptions today, thankfully. This has only happened a couple of times, but never for as long as three days. When I don't take my mood stabilizer, I can feel it physically--if I ever forget to take it, I am quickly reminded (within about 26 hours of my previous dose) by the way my body feels. I can only describe it as "buzzing"--almost like a tingling, but more intense. I hate that feeling!

After taking my meds today, I was feeling better within hours. My anxiety has been super high today, but hopefully that will go down now that I have my meds again.

Anyway, my sister mentioned something today that got me thinking. She asked me if I'd be interested in doing the Glass City Marathon Relay on April 24th. (Note that I said RELAY and not just marathon--the relay is for five people running a marathon distance total.) I immediately texted back, "I'm not ready for a race."

This is a photo from the 2015 Glass City Relay--we obviously had several teams.

This was the first and only race that all of my siblings and I have done together!

After telling Jeanie I'm not reading for a race, I started thinking about it. My first advice to someone who is interested in starting running?

Sign up for a race!

Knowing that you are already signed up for a race gives you the drive to go out and get the runs done. So I always suggest that before you ever even run your first mile, you pick a race--likely a 5K--in the future (even if it's 6-9 months away) and sign up. Then you're committed!

I've been having such a hard time pushing myself to go run lately, that I'm wondering if it's time to take my own advice. Even if it's not the Glass City Relay; I could pick a 10K that's in the late spring and I think I could be ready to run it. I absolutely would not be going for any personal records in speed; the only goal would be to finish it.

The last race that I completed (I think) was the Melanoma 5K that I did in my friend Sarah's memory. That was a 5K in October 2018. I had been planning to walk it, but at the last minute I decided to run it. I was totally unprepared; I wasn't wearing typical running clothes and I didn't even have my Garmin! I ended up winning first place in my age group (but the field was VERY small--my pace was 11:04).

The last time that I really RACED (ran my hardest) was in April of 2016! I ran a 10K that I'd trained so hard for; I met my goal and then I just felt burnt out on racing. I only did a few races after that, but none that I trained hard for.

Anyway, if I was to sign up for the Glass City Relay, that would give me 14 weeks to prepare. The leg distances are 3.4 miles, 4.9 miles, 6.6 miles, 5.3 miles, and 6.1 miles. I'd like to do any of them except for the first one; I'm capable of running 3.4 miles right now, so I'd like to have to train for it. Who knows! It's just a thought right now.

I like to write training plans that are 12 weeks long, so if I should pick a race that weekend, I'd have two weeks to write up a plan for it. I have a feeling that signing up for a race would work similarly to me as my signing up for the DietBets that I have. It gives me accountability.

I don't know; I could regret this entire post tomorrow! Hahaha. 

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HERITAGE RECIPE : Scottish Shortbread

First, I have to admit that this is a total cop-out of a recipe. There are only four simple ingredients and not much work at all.

However, I am in a terrible mood today and I just don't feel like getting into a big mess with a recipe right now. 

I would like to thank Kroger Pharmacy for filling my prescriptions two days late; when you're on mood stabilizers and anti-anxiety meds and suddenly cut off from them, things can become a shit show after just one day. Just ask Jerry. I think he was excited to go to work today just to get away from me.

I understand that everything is slower right now, but I get the same meds every month and these were sent in with plenty of notice. Cutting someone off cold-turkey isn't cool.

Anyway, I feel terrible that this is how I am starting this heritage recipe! Heritage recipes are supposed to be light and fun. This recipe was submitted by Sharon Laura to the Rockwood, Michigan Area Historical Society. I promise that I will do her justice by finding another of her recipes and making up for it.

To make me feel even worse, Sharon is the daughter-in-law of my school bus driver that I had (and loved) all through elementary school! I would love to write a little about her, and I will do that in another post (she has submitted recipes as well, so I'll pick one of hers).

For today, though, I picked (what I thought was) a simple recipe. I almost managed to screw this up, though, because it started to crumble apart when I tried removing it from the pan (turns out I had to let it cool first)

As always, I made the recipe exactly as-written. I didn't make any substitutions or alterations. The "printer-friendly" version below is rewritten by me with any notes to clarify things.

Here is a printer-friendly version!

Scottish Shortbread

1-1/4 c. flour
3 T. cornstarch
1/3 c. granulated sugar, divided
1/2 c. butter

Combine 1/4 cup sugar, flour, cornstarch and butter. Rub with fingers; press into ungreased 8-inch pan. Bake at 325 F for 40 minutes. Cut into wedges; sprinkle remaining sugar on top.

My Notes:

Simple enough, right? I mixed the ingredients in my mixer and then squished it all together with my fingers. The dough was REALLY dry and I never thought it would come together, but it did--barely. This is what it looked like before and after smushing it with my fingers.

And then after pressing it down to the bottom of the pan...

It looked pretty much the same after baking as it did before baking...

Getting it out of the pan was ridiculous. The whole thing just started crumbling apart. I wondered if I was supposed to let it cool first before removing it from the pan. So I tried to smush the crumbled part back in there, and then I let it cool. (You can see on the left where I started to try to lift it out and it crumbled apart on me.)

It worked out MUCH better after it cooled. In fact, it was absolutely delicious! It was very buttery tasting and not super sweet. It would be amazing served with some strawberries on top.

Anyway, I apologize to Sharon for my sour mood. I will try making this again when I am in a better mood and maybe I'll do better at it. I'm really looking forward to making one of Sharon's mother-in-law's recipes as well!

Don't let my bad mood stop you from trying this recipe--it really is delicious!  (And if you need a super fast, easy dessert for last-minute company or something, this is perfect. Just serve it with some fruit and it'd be really pretty!

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Friday Night Photos

This week has been busy busy busy! We had Eli's birthday last Friday (which technically is last week); orthodontist appointments, Eli's COVID booster shot, I babysat Luke and Riley a couple of days ago, and Eli had his driving test yesterday.

Interestingly, I've had a surprising burst of energy this week, too. My pain level is about half of what it was a couple of weeks ago! I don't want to get my hopes up, but I can't even describe how good it feels to get out of bed without walking hunched over like I'm 180 years old. I'm not exactly spry, but definitely doing better.

Anyway, here are my pictures from this past week...

I finally finished building the backyard slingshot for Luke and Riley (it was supposed to be a Christmas present, but you know how ridiculous December was for me, so I didn't finish it until the first week of January). I'm excited about how it turned out! We launched a bunch of tennis balls over the balcony. We also had a bunch of frozen water balloons, but I was worried that they would hit the fence and then fly back into their faces--so those will have to wait until the slingshot is on the ground without any interference in front of it.

Here is a video of Luke using it. He really wanted to get some good trajectory, so he laid on his back, bracing himself with the poles. (I made the hooks where the band connects to be adjustable, so it can be shorter or longer, depending on how big the item is that they are launching.) I shot one of the balls all the way into the pond!

(On a side note: how cool is it that they have a slide that goes from the balcony to the patio on the ground?! Rather than take the stairs, they can just slide down. You can only see a glimpse of it in the video.)

I had quite the busy day at their house (I only babysat for a few hours, but I was exhausted by the time I went home). We played laser tag, which was kind of funny--it's a running joke with a friend of mine that hell will freeze over before I ever play laser tag again. I tried it before but immediately had a panic attack when the game started and I swore I'd never do it again.) This was obviously the "home version" for kids and Luke wanted me to play, so I was a good sport. We actually had a lot of fun; we were both totally out of breath when we were done. (I took this photo to send my friend--he wasn't even impressed!)

The kids wanted to show me some stuff in the basement and Riley came across her unicorn costume from Halloween--so naturally, she wanted to wear that the rest of the day. 

Speaking of Luke and Riley, remember how I wrote about Luke's bedroom last week? It's SO cozy--the ambiance in the room is amazing. Well, I just had to try to recreate it at least a little for my bedroom. I bought the light that he has--it projects stars and a whispy looking fog (not actual fog--it just looks like it) across the ceiling and all of the walls if you place it in the corner. Here is what my ceiling looks like when it's turned on:

Isn't it awesome?! You can change the color, too. I also got a diffuser like Luke's--you put in a few drops of essentials oils and some water and the whole room smells amazing (without being too strong). Note: I know that most essential oils are toxic to cats; I use lavender, which is safe. I also use a very small amount. (Here is the Amazon affiliate link for the light and here is the link for the diffuser)

This is what the light and the diffuser look like. The diffuser is the pretty-looking one--it doesn't project the colors at all though. It's the bright light that projects the stars onto the walls and ceiling.

It's been super relaxing having those on at night! I lie down with my electric blanket and heating pad and just enjoy the ambiance of the room.

My dad called me on Friday afternoon (when we were celebrating Eli's birthday) and asked if I could build a simple little workbench for Luke and Riley. I knew I had the scrap wood to do it, so I said sure. He asked if I could have it done by Saturday morning before the kids went to my parents' house. Hahaha! I told him I was celebrating Eli's birthday, but I'd work on it in the morning. Thankfully, it only took me a couple of hours. It ain't pretty, but that's what he gets for such short notice!

When the kids went to his house, he showed them how to pound in nails. They were really cute! I love how hard Luke is concentrating in the second picture--he's sticking his tongue out :)

I was feeling so disappointed this Christmas because I couldn't find Terry's milk chocolate oranges ANYWHERE. It's something that the kids and I are obsessed with every Christmas and we looked and looked, but no luck. On Eli's birthday, we stopped at World Market and they had this orange chocolate bar--it was literally the same thing as a chocolate orange, just shaped differently! I was so excited--I just had to buy one.

This is a terrible picture, I could have sworn I took more (with Jerry an Eli in them) but this is all I found. We played the game 'What Do You Meme?' and it was so funny (to me, anyway--you know I love memes!)

This one was my favorite:

And finally... to get in some more fiber, I decided to go back to my trusty old cold oats! They have chia seeds in them, which are loaded with fiber. This little mason jar has half the fiber that is recommended for the day. It's my favorite flavor that I make--Almond Joy. I wrote out a list of the recipes for different flavors, which you can find here. 

And finally, here are my desk calendar pages for today (I actually really liked the someecards one, so I'm sharing that as well):

Have a great weekend, everyone! xo

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