Sentence a Day 03.2025

Good morning, good evening, good night, my friends.  Thanks for joining me for Sentence a Day 03.2025 – a long-winded review of March, and the first month of spring, coming to you in one run-on sentence a day.  My former English teachers would be mortified with my liberal use of the semicolon and colon!!

Before We Jump In

As I have always said, I write these sentences for me.  As a way of keeping track of what all has happened and when.  I know this is really a lot of gibberish.  A bunch of stuff I really don’t expect anyone to wade through!!  But it helps me to reflect on each day, and record the important things so I can keep them straight, if not in my mind, on ‘paper’ at least.  Would never dream that anyone would read this bunch of hooey word for word!!

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Sentence a Day & LMNOP

Every month I try very hard to get my SaD post together once the month is over, in order to make the What’s Been on Your Calendar?- WBOYC – link-up with Deb at Deb’s World, Sue who blogs at Women Living Well After 50, Donna from Retirement Reflections and Jo who can be found at And Anyways. The link-up opens on the last Friday of each month and is only open a few days.  So I am not always successful in joining the gals.  Hope to link up this post with for Jennifer’s Thankful Thursday series over at Overflowing with Thankfulness, too.  My OGT after each sentence is ‘one good thing’ – something I am especially thankful for.  Also try to incorporate thoughts and experiences around my WOTY = word of the year into my SaD posts.  And when I have had occasion to get dressed for the day, I like to share a few OOTDs = outfits of the day.  That’s a lot of ABCs and LMNOPs.

Sentence a Day 03.2025

I don’t think I am ever really sad to say goodbye to a month.  To the contrary, I am usually hopeful and optimistic going into a new month.  And felt that way about welcoming March, and with it, SPRING.

Morning from Phoenix

• Awoke in our Air BnB in Goodyear, Arizona; watched and fast-forwarded our way through the last episodes of “Yellowstone” until time to check out and head to Wildflower for breakfast; enjoyed generously-filled southwest omelet and coffee on the patio; picked up saline for PC’s allergies/sinuses; headed to the ballpark for the 1:05 pm game between the Cincinnati Reds and San Diego Padres (which is the team our hometown Chihuahuas feed into); walked around the team shop (scored a cute Dia de los Muertos-themed Reds cap) and then the stadium before finding our seats behind home plate; gorgeous weather, sunny and warm, bouncy breeze; enjoyed taking pictures of the players at bat; Reds WON for our bday boy!!; off to find our second Air BnB – an interesting situation, 3 rental rooms in a family home where the smell of marijuana was heavy in the gargage and all over the house!!; guests all have to share a single bathroom; ran to get a sandwich at Sandwich MasterZ – I had a turkey-stuffing-cranberry sauce sammie; back to the room, showered before the other guests started using the bathroom; watched one of my favorite movies, “Stranger than Fiction” which is kind of on which I am basing my “Susan” story; Lauren’s little face is still terribly swollen from the gum grafting; PC is still congested and coughing, 6172 steps.  03.01.2025  OGT:  laughable situation at the Air BnB, Reds’ win, Phoenix spring weather

And Home Again

• Rolled around some last night worried about our safety in this crazy Air BnB; we rinsed off real quick, dressed, threw things in our bags and jumped in the car; we drove across town to meet Paul’s friends from his Army (and other marriage) days – Patty and Phil at iHop; they were very friendly, breakfast was quick and we were soon on the road for home; I drove about 300 of the 430 miles; stopped for gas and potty breaks then back in the car; purchased these mini urns to divide up some of my parents’ ashes before we sprinkle the rest this summer; arrived in El Paso about 4:45 and went straight to Casita Linda’s for dinner – they were extremely busy; home to our house by 6:00ish; got the bags unpacked, laundry started, kitties fed, dishwasher emptied and we were going up to bed before 9:00 pm; love love love being home but it was a good trip; when I wasn’t driving read blogs on the Feedly app on my phone; read The Sober Diaries by Clare Pooley on my Kindle before bed, only 2,913 steps today.  03.02.2025  OGT:  safe travels, Lauren’s face looks better
• Slept so well in our own bed; woke up about 7:00 so got up, fed kitties, checks messages, did quiet time, continued laundry and then PC was up – felt like a morning before PC retired; we ate breakfast, figured out our day, did banking, bill paying; wrote on my #100DayProject – entries for To My Children’s Children, responded to comments on my blog; time for gym – did stairstepper, abs weight machines, treadmill; lunch, got supper started with PC’s help – a HelloFresh from Lauren, shepherd’s pie; scrapbooked with my sister for 2 hours; short walk in the gusty 60+ mph wind; our baby tree we planted in fall is alive and going to bud – YAY!!; dinner, finished laundry, Supernatural workout, colored on my Proverbs coloring book; starting a new nurture activity, turning off the laptop and relaxing for an hour before bed, 9836 steps.  03.03.2025 OGT:  being home, enjoying down time and working out, too

Blustery

• Up early again and enjoyed a few minutes quiet time before starting the day; winds continued to be very strong again today; after showering, cleaning our bathroom and dressing, we had breakfast then put together all of the things that blew about the yard and patio last night; after banking and email checking, I wrote on several projects – my “Susan” story, To My Children’s Children and started work on a new module through my DailyOm memoir workshop; gym – stairstepper, arm weights workout; returned library books, lunch; took apart and cleaned this pantry door rack that I had forgotten to clean when we did our winter spring cleaning of the kitchen; scrapbooked with my sister and took an hour to put together a tiny basketball and goal for my 2-page spread; made this shrimp tortellini Alfredo for dinner; not sure what PC thought – he ate it!! but I liked it; watched Trump’s address to Congress; Brennyn and family were in the closet hunkering down for a tornado warning at 5:00 am, bless their hearts; Lauren is feeling better, thank goodness; not many steps today, 4680 steps.  03.04.2025  OGT:  sweet Ft. Worth family was safe from tornado

O’er the Mountain

• Awoke around 6:00 am and just dozed until the alarm at 7:00, showered, dressed in one of my Amazon matching active wear sets – they are so comfy and yet I feel put together (somewhat) when I wear them; over the mountain to take the girls to gymanstics camp as Lauren had 5 back-to-back meetings today; breakfast at Piedmont Cafe (checkmark on ye olde  winter bucket list) which was interesting, I had Moroccan toast – focaccia, chermoula, avocado, Aleppo pepper, lemon, arugula, olive oil and one egg – don’t even know what some of that stuff is!!: stopped at Walmart to pick up a few things including spearmint seeds I hope to plant in a big pot outback; we worked all afternoon on cleaning our offices – PC really tore the bone out in his; I dusted all the mementos, organized my journals – should I just throw them away?? while listening to the end of The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife by Anna Johnston, so, so good; met with Christie for another good session of life coaching; leftover HelloFresh for dinner; Supernatural workout; enjoyed seeing my girls and their mama; winds will be back tomorrow, boo; 7,398 steps.  03.05.2025  OGT:  working around the house

• Happy birthday to my brother-in-law, Roby; Straight to the gym after breakfast; my exhusband was there again; not sure how to handle this but feel like I need to say hello if we are face to face with each other; did the stair stepper and leg weight machines; showered and dressed for lunch with Lauren; over the mountain to pick her up; we had soup at Jason’s Deli and ice cream because she still can’t eat with her gum stitches; a terrible dust storm – weather people said it was the worst they remember ever – came up as I drove home, almost no visibility on the mountain; wind and dust continued all evening and will continue until tomorrow night; Facetimed with Brennyn and Dec while they were on a walk; picked up grocery order at Walmart; leftovers for dinner; watched “The Blacklist” before bed; felt like a unaccomplished day; 3215 steps – waaaaaa!!  03.06.2025  OGT:  lunch with Lauren, quick but a nice treat

SS Victory

• PC slept unusually late this morning so I tiptoed out of our room to do quiet time, feed the kitties and read before he woke up; after breakfast we decided to hit up a local nursery and Lowe’s to get some replacement plants for those we lost over the winter; stopped at the gym on the way home, did the elliptical machine and treadmill; missed a phone call from the Social Security Administration again!! – trying to find out about filing my request for Social Security now that Biden and Congress passed the Social Security Fairness Act for public employees; scrapbooked with my sister for an hour and we visited with my brother at the same time; showered, dressed and drove across town in the terrible wind and dust to eat at Jason’s Deli and blow from store to store at the Fountains of Farrah; home to work on blogging before bed; 10,626 steps.  03.07.2025  OGT:  dinner out, laughing with Paul

Weekending

• Cold again last night, awoke to find myself buried under all the covers and scrunched down toward the foot of the bed, the space I call the ‘basement’; showered, breakfast and PC was out the door to play ball; I worked on blog reading, writing and my #100dayproject; Valerie and I scrapbooked for about an hour before Paul got home; gray clouds moved in and through with a cold front; we took a walk late in the afternoon – I wore a coat and gloves – thought we were finished with this; fixed sloppy Joes for PC for dinner but they didn’t sound good to me; did my Supernatural workout and for once our standing abs video; made popcorn and started “The Conclave” before bed; going to be in the low 30s tonight, hopefully without wind; 8705 steps.  03.08.2025  OGT:  quiet day
• Woke up with the sheet wrapped around and around my neck – must have gotten really cold!!; off to church, took donations to the food pantry; message was pretty good; breakfast at iHop; walked around the outlet mall, picked up Claire’s gift cards for Lucia’s birthday, and a happy unbirthday for Cami; bought a couple of cute tee shirts for the girls at Old Navy; stopped by the cemetery so PC could visit his friend George, we were sad that there still isn’t a headstone, wish I could find a nice, large cross to set there for him; met with a new Rover client and kitty for a month-long twice a week job; changed clothes and off to the gym:  stair stepper, elliptical, leg weight machines, treadmill; home to work on the rock garden; leftover sloppy Joes for PC for dinner, I had a salad; finished “The Conclave” and started watching “Dexter”; finished my  Ageless Style post; have lots to do this week, anxious to get started on Monday, 9,218 steps.  03.09.2025  OGT:  looking forward to the week, no wind, beautiful weather

Trouble in Paradise

The admin side of my blog has been down since Monday. Tonight, by some miracle, Faizan at GrfxStudio on Etsy has fixed EVERYTHING.  I haven’t received his bill yet.  Kind of worried…but he has come to my rescue before and always been very reasonable.  When I started trying to figure out what to do with my blog this morning, I thought maybe it was time to hang up my hat.  But tonight, I feel encouraged that maybe my blogging days aren’t over yet.

Coding Struggles

• Planned to work on my upcoming blog posts but awoke to find a fatal error message on the admin page formy blog, and was unable to get signed on – so frustrating, hoped that maybe it was just something with WordPress so decided to try again later; did laundry, a little writing, then off to the gym – did treadmill, ab weight machines; lunch and then worked in the yard, cleaning the rock garden; pulled out my Easter/spring decorations from the bin in the garage; went for a good walk with our dumbbells; fixed this really tasty better-than-fried chicken for dinner, we both really liked it; watched “Dexter” before bed, 13,944 steps.  03.10.2025  OGT:  calm day without wind; good dinner

• Busy day beginning with the drive over the mountain to have my tired checked (they’ve been squealing) byt the car dealership – couldn’t replicate the sound, ugh – ate sweet bread and drank coffee while waiting for the car; PC had an appointment about his shoulder at 8:30 – he and doctor agreed not to do anything more for now as it seems to be better, will continue using it carefully; I went to Target and Michaels on my own for a little window shopping, Easter shopping and Lucia-birthday shopping; skipped the gym because Paul wasn’t feeling 100%; took a 2-hour nap instead; up just in time to get ready for writing – one of the members, Mason, did a lesson on poetry and we all wrote poems; home just as the wind started kicking up again; blog isn’t working, 7,946 steps.  03.11.2025  OGT:  Paul’s shoulder is better, less sore

Gabba and Campa

• Grandbaby babysitting day so Lauren could get some work done; we picked up the girls after working out at the gym; they were in fine form – we played ‘Babies’ back across the mountain, they put on make-up in our bathroom for about 30 minutes while PC and I folded laundry in our room; lunch at McDonald’s and the girls played up a storm; played shop, painted Easter bunnies, colored in my Proverbs coloring book, made photo clips then got in the hot tub; Lauren came over after work; we ate pizza for dinner – junk food for lunch and dinner; love being with my girls and looking forward to Brennyn’s visit; watched “Dexter” before bed, pooped; blog still isn’t working but my web hosting company determined the issue is in the coding for my blog theme; 9,041 steps.  03.12.2025  OGT:  playing
  

  

  

  

Recuperating

• We were both pretty wiped out today; wrapped my BFF’s birthday present; went to the gym – elliptical, legs machines; picked up small grocery order; scrapbooked with my sister for a short time; walked to our 2 kitty drop-in visits, about 2.5 miles round trip; leftovers for dinner; Supernatural workout; more terrible winds blowing in; still not working so contacted the designer for my blog theme but she isn’t designing (or repairing) WordPress themes any longer; 12,059 steps.  03.13.2025  OGT:  lots of exercise
• First order of business after breakfast was to take care of a few things that have broken that we ordered from Amazon – a lamp and a kitty toy, and finally got a refund for my Google phone that quit working after 3 months; talked to a representative at Social Security about my application; gym – stairstepper, arm weights, treadmill; home to shower and change and off to the movies to see “The Black Bag” with Cate Winslett, which was interesting and popcorn was yum; did our drop-in visit with Boogie et al; made HelloFresh Chesapeake cheeseburgers for dinner; tired tonight and just want to be home, tired of running around everyday, accomplishing very little of the things I used to do; reached out to Faizan at Grfx Studio on Etsy to see if he can figure out my blog issues;  6,646 steps.  03.14.2025  OGT:  popcorn

Weekend Again

• Saturday…awoke to more wind and possibly a little more rain overnight; Paul drove across town for baseball only to have the game cancelled; my sister and I scrapbooked most of the day on pictures from her last visit here a year ago; stopped long enough to fix PC leftover cheeseburgers for lunch; walked in the wind to do our drop-in visit with Tink and then to do our drop-in visit with Boogie and his brothers and sisters;  Casita Linda for dinner; Supernatural workout; hoping tomorrow is windless; woohoo, Faizan got my blog fixed and I can now sign in again; 8268 steps.  03.15.2025  OGT:  a day at home

• Slept the whole night through – NEVER happens; wore my purple cowl neck sweater dress, tweed lady jacket, tights and low heels to church, I like going into the closet and making a fun, ‘new’ outfit; another message about the Holy Spirit, sat with Marisela from writing group;  PC and I split lunch at Taco Tote; walked around the outlet mall; ran to Michael’s to get a drawing pad and pens for Lucia’s bday; scrapbooked with my sister for a couple of hours then time for the gym: stairstepper, leg weights, treadmill; last kitty drop-in with the 5 kitty fam; brackets announced for March Madness, leftovers for dinner; caught up on “1923” and “Doc” before going to bed early, 9,859 steps.  03.16.2025  OGT:  no wind, warm, sunny day

Sicky-Poo

• Up over and over last night with diarrhea – TMI? – at least 7 times before I got up in the morning, then 4 more times before noon; not sure what it is, the semaglutide or food poisoning or a stomach virus; I just laid around on the couch and then moved back up to the bedroom; PC fetched me some Immodium along with Panda Express for dinner but I couldn’t eat it; did a little ironing, got the laundry washed, folded and put away and those were my big accomplishments for the day, 4,333 steps.  03.17.2025  OGT:  just letting things go and taking care of myself
• Happy birthday, Lucia Carolina!!  So very glad you were born!!  Happy birthday, BFF Sharon!!  Glad you were born, too.  The danged wind was just terrible all day, probably the worst I’ve ever seen it, first order of business today was getting that baby girl’s presents wrapped and sorted, and Cami Jean’s happy unbirthday presents wrapped, too; I felt pretty punk as my dad would say all day long, finally talked to Lauren about feeling bad and she said it was probably from the semaglutide injections I have taken the last two weeks – a side effect; to be on the safe side, though, we decided not to go to the party this evening, which broke my heart; I’ve missed several of her birthdays with things with my mom; when we dropped off the presents, the girls came out to the car and put their hands on the window against my hands and cried with me; how I love my babies; 3,959 steps.  03.18.2025  OGT:  my precious babies

Bouncing Back

• The danged wind gusted all night and kept us from sleeping well; had 2 trips to the bathroom first thing but then started feeling better, thanks to some medicine Lauren gave me last night when we dropped the presents off; managed to eat a little oatmeal, part of a sandwich and a tamale today; easy workout at the gym; dusted the downstairs, ironed; cleaned our bathroom, took a nap and did another life counseling session with Christie – I think I am making progress in allowing myself down time, ME time,  not pressuring myself to do too much; I haven’t consulted my to-do list all week (mostly because I wasn’t up to doing anything) and yet I have gotten things done; watched the 100th birthday of the Grand Ole Opry, love country music, so moving; more “Dexter” – what are we going to watch when we finish it; 6,028 steps.  03.19.2025  OGT:  feeling better

All Together Again

• Really surprised myself with how unstressed I have been about cleaning the house and getting ready for Brennyn, Mustafa and the kids – yay, me!!;  after breakfast, Paul picked up our grocery order and I did a few chores around the house – dusted our room, cleaned the kitchen, downstairs bathroom, front porch; Paul vacuumed and mopped and washed off the patio furniture; finished the ironing; my stomach began feeling queasier and I laid down for a bit; the kids texted that they were 15 minutes out so Paul and I went outside in the sunshine waiting for them to arrive, lots of happy hugs and smiles; got toys out for Declan and we were soon playing with all the Little People, the race cars and dinosaurs; met Lauren, Francisco and the girls at Taco Tote for an early dinner; enjoyed chatting with everyone, seeing the love around the table; Lucia came down to where I was sitting to hug me; I was in pig heaven with my babies around me; 6,435 steps.  03.20.2025  OGT:  safe travels to El Paso for the Oryas, all the family together

Miscommunication

• Happy, heavenly birthday, Mom.  I miss you every day.  So glad you were born.  Kind of mixed up day; didn’t realize Lauren was off work today so waited to contact her about plans to get together until we thought she would be off duty only to find out she was off all day!!; sad miscommunication and some hurt feelings all around; Bren baked her fabulous sourdough bread; we went down to the park and played for about an hour; had lunch and quiet time and then Brennyn, Cady and Dec soaked in the hot tub while PC and I fixed dinner – the same better-than-fried chicken recipe above and it received rave reviews; everyone was tired by bedtime; got Declan in the tub and he smelled so sweet with pink Johnson’s baby lotion slathered from head to toe; read him 2 bedtime stories; helped Cady get her nails polished; off to bed; 10,794 steps.  03.21.2025  OGT:  my mom; family love through thick and thin; PC’s help

Family Fun x2

• Best day of the visit yet; everyone slept well, after breakfast we headed across the mountain to watch Cam and Cia at gymnastics; they were tickled and waved to us several times from inside class; Cam had to go potty and ran to me to take her; we had lunch and fun at Peter Piper Pizza – Bren and Tafa treated, the kids enjoyed the games and everyone laughed and played; home for quiet time then the EP kids came over here to soak in the hot tub, eat wings and leftovers; we dyed Easter eggs and ate brownies and took baths and played and played some more; Lucia fell into the pool and Mustafa was so quick to grab her and pull her out – scary moment; read “The Little Red Hen” to Declan and he was so attentive; watched a bit of the TN-UCLA NCAA game and worked on a few minutes of blogging stuff; EXHAUSTED tonight but the best kind of tired; took my tracker off too soon – giving myself 10,000 steps.  03.22. 2o25  OGT:  all of Paul’s patience; love of sisters and cousins

• What a fun day!!  It was our family Easter Sunday.  Everyone slept well and fairly late; we had breakfast and went to the park and played for an hour or more – Declan and I on the playground equipment with some neighborhood kids, and Bren and Mustafa walked a mile around the park; Lauren and fam arrived about 12;30, the kids unpacked their Easter baskets – candy, bug microscopes, books, tee shirts, bubbles and for Cady, earrings, a tee shirt, an Ulta gift card; they all had Silly String but we read that it is bad for the environment (and hard to clean up) so nixed it; had an egg hunt in the backyard (PC hid all the eggs) and the kids seem to enjoy that; leftovers for lunch; warmed up the hot tub and spent several hours outside soaking, laughing, talking; gave the 3 littles a bath; Buendias went home and we had Burger King; watched March Madness until we got Declan ready for bed, read him “The Little Red Hen” again tonight and he could tell the story!!; Cady and her boyfriend broke up and got back together and broke up all weekend, so she was sad; a really nice weekend full of so much love; 7,739 steps.  03.23.2025  OGT: Paul’s patience and support, our kitties’ patience, love of family, sweet babies, precious daughters

I Hate Goodbyes

• About 4:45 am, I heard a few whispered voices and then quiet, when I texted Brennyn to see if there were still here, she said they had just left; she had begged me not to get up with them so we could avoid a tearful goodbye but I hate not having one more hug; we slept until 9:00 am and then spent most of the day putting the house back together, washing laundry, linens; went to the gym:  stairstepper, ab machines, treadmill; visited with my sister and scrapbooked for a bit; took a walk around the park with weights; leftovers for supper; “1923” and “Dexter” before bed, 9,140 steps.  03.25.2025  OGT:  safe travels home for Brennyn and family
• Set the alarm to get up and go to the gym first thing: treadmill, arm weights machines, bike; picked up fruit, flavored dessert breads, and fixings for sandwiches for tonight’s writing group meeting; folded laundry and towels galore while watching the Nicole Rice roommate murder trial on YouTube; did our drop-in visit with Pebbles; home to shower and get ready for writing; PC suggested an interesting prompt – write about your first memory; home to watch “Dexter”; 8,248 steps.  03.26.2025 OGT:  the fellowship of our writing group

Loving Self-Love

• HuMp dAy.  Actually, Wellness Wednesday, so we were over the mountain to take the girls to school and then to walk with first Cia, then Cami during their PE class, hugs from both babies, Cami Jean and I found heart-shaped rocks on the playground; bread soup bowl at Panera for lunch, love their harvest soup; walked through Bass Pro Shop for binoculars – actually, a monocular – for our cruise; bought the girls new books at 5 Below; stopped at the library, Lowe’s and then home; we curled up for an hour nap, then I cleaned my dresser drawers; PC worked on the new walk; hot dogs and fresh fruit for dinner; watched “Doc” and “Dexter” and did some blog reading; 11,772 steps.  03.27.2025  OGT:  spring sunshine
• Up early to head to the gym first thing, did stairstepper, leg weight machines, elliptical; home for breakfast, banking, email checking, sent out the book summaries to the book club members and the voting link for our April book of the month; put together a taco soup in the crockpot for dinner; worked in my closet most of the afternoon, trying on clothes, organizing clothes, purging some; finished a scrapbook page while talking to Valerie; took a 1.5 mile walk with arm weights after supper; Supernatural workout; worked on my spring bucket list post; ordered waterproof hiking shoes for Alaska; watched “Dexter” and talked to Brennyn before bed; my  Christmas cactus is blooming!!; 9491 steps.  03.27.2025  OGT:  getting my closet neatened and organized

Fri-YAY

• Over the mountain after breakfast to watch Cami’s PK transportation parade – the kids were all so adorable, wearing boxes designed like Barbie cars, police cars, ambulances, planes, the Titanic – and Cami’s one and only hot air balloon!!; visited with Lauren for a bit at the parade then went to her house for my semaglutide injection, then walked my grandpup Pumpkin so Lauren could get to work; home to drop off grass seed for PC, he was busy moving 3 tons of topsoil delivered early this morning all around the yard; appointment with my doctor for antidepressant prescription refill and hearing referral, she was pleased with how healthy I am – knock on wood; Whataburger for lunch; we soaked in the hot tub for a couple of hours then headed to Boozy Taco for Margaritas and a quesadilla; home in time for the KY-TN sweet sixteen match-up, the Vols ruled; did a little Supernatural workout; 4,681 steps – need to get back to walking every day.  03.28.2025  OGT:  feeling good, have lost weight, sleeping well, enjoying more ME time

Final Weekend of the Month

• Dreamed I was on our cruise ship, getting excited – watching YouTube videos about what to pack, what to expect; PC had a ball game so while he was gone I did some blog reading then scrapbooked for several hours while watching the “Beaten and Burned Murder Trial”; Paul’s team lost but he was 2 for 2; had lunch then did our kitty visit for Pebbles; helped Paul move a little more of the 3 tons of dirt delivered yesterday; scrapbooked until I finished the page I had started, really enjoyed myself; took a walk around the neighborhood with my weights; heated up leftover taco soup for supper; March Madness all night on TV; terrible wind gusts again tonight; our pumpkin and squash are peeking out of the dirt in our raised garden; 5,568 steps.  03.29.2025 OGT:  all the work Paul has done in our yard, enjoyed the peace of scrapbooking most of the day

• Dreamed about being on the cruise again and trying to buy a pound of Velveeta; up early to go to the gym:  stair stepper, leg weight machines, bicycle, treadmill; returned leftover sand from the walkways to Lowe’s and picked up more grass seed; Paul worked on distributing the last of the topsoil around the yard; I baked a pound cake and some baked beans, watched another YouTube video on packing for an Alaskan cruise; watched the disappointing losses of Tennessee to Houston, and Michigan State to Auburn, there goes my bracket!!; Lauren and the girls arrived about 2:30 to soak in the hot tub; we had hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill for dinner; made a version of the lamington cake that was mentioned in our March book of the month – it was tasty; poor baby Lucia cried and didn’t want to go home; Facetimed with Brennyn and Declan; watched an episode of “1923” and some “Dexter” before bed; need to get back to exercising better, eating less, getting more done this week; 6103 steps.  OGT:  laid back Sunday

Sayonara, March

• I liked this day…great way to end the month; slept like a champ; off to the gym after feeding the kitties: elliptical, arms with free weights, treadmill; after breakfast – protein instant oatmeal – cleaned downstairs, dusted, swept, mopped, tidied, started laundry while Paul worked in the yard; turkey hot dog and clementine for lunch; started the spring, spring cleaning in our room but didn’t get very far until it was time to scrapbook with my sister, we did more chatting than scrapping, however; fixed pork chopes and pumpkin fettucine for dinner; took a short walk after we ate; PC worked on, finished and filed our taxes; I have to get after my Social Security application; 10,632 steps – oh, yeah!!  03.31.2025  OGT:  ended the month with an up day

April and May and June promise to be busy, action-packed months – for at least a few days each month.  I look forward to the trips we have planned but also to quiet days at home, opening our pool, being outside more each day.  Bring on April!!

1 Second Each Day

Here’s a quick video review of my March.  Not a bad month at all.

OOTDs

Ha!!  When I went back through my photos, I only found pictures of 2 outfits that weren’t gym clothes.  YIKES!!  I did enjoy wearing my spring sweatshirts and my Old Navy balloon jeans this month.  But the rest of the time I guess I was in sweats!!

2025 Word of the Year (WOTY)

My word of the year is nurture.  And I originally planned to try to nurture a little better those I love most.  But somewhere early in the year, I realized that in order for me to love others better, I need to love myself better first.

Enter my friend Christie who blogs at So What? Now What?.  In February, Christie wrote about becoming a health coach.  She received her mindbodygreen Health Coach Certification, and was beginning to work earning NBHWC board certification. In order to gain hours of the practical coaching experience required for board certification, Christie offered free online health coaching to a limited number of clients.  I signed up right away!! Figured this was a great way to nurture myself, or to get a little nurturing for me.

I had no idea how much these 30-minute sessions would help to improve my outlook on day-to-day life.  The focus of our conversations has been helping me to build-in more ME time into my days.  And to find a way to gently suggest to my now retired PC that I need some alone time now and then.

One of the things I am concentrating on over the 2 weeks until our next session is identifying 2-3 things that need to be done each day and doing those.  Rather than having this huge list of t0-dos for the week and just working all day every day to try to cross off as many activities as I can.  When I get those 2-3 tasks accomplished, I can play or do something for myself.  Scrapbook, read, nap, paint my nails.  And now I have a bit of fun packed into  each day.  This has worked well for me.  I didn’t get all bent out of shape about cleaning and cooking for Brennyn’s visit, or the couple of times the girls have come to play.  I feel so much less stressed!!

Your Turn

Was your March a thumbs up or a thumbs down or somewhere in between?  I am grateful for the good month we had and hope it is one of many more to come in 2025.

Subbing for kindergarten today.  Whew!!  Should have eaten my Wheaties.  Hope whatever you are up to this week, you find a little ME time (YOU time) to do the things you like doing best.  Thank you for poppin’ round!!

Hugs and kisses,