My Winter Bucket List: Second Progress Report, 2.14.2017

 

Sweet friends,

Thank you for joining me today for this second progress report on my winter bucket list.  Sure thought I had written an earlier post, maybe mid-January or the end of the month?  But I double checked and no! So I have some catchin’ up to do.

Winter Bucket List, Second Progress Report

As we planned our activities, I had to pull out my list the last few weekends to see what we still haven’t completed.  Let me give you another look at my list, too, to refresh your memory.

I did post an update the first part of January, so if you missed that you might want to start here.  Had to start there myself to see what I had reported on last time.  Geez, my short term memory is…what was I saying?

Build Snowman and Play in the Snow

Not giving up on this one til the last day of February.  Although, we have had snow in March in El Paso. On Saturday, though, we had a high of 86!  Sunday was cooler, 64.  Today was cold, 46.  And look at tonight’s weather forecast.

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You can bet that if I see a single flake of snow, I will try to make a snowman out of it.  Stay tuned.

Basketball Game at UTEP

How about football game at UTEP…University of Texas, El Paso.  PC surprised me with tickets to the Sun Bowl game.  We have well over 300 days of sun in the Sun City but it was dreary and almost foggy on the day of the game.  Had fun, though.  North Carolina at Chapel Hill (always imagined I would marry a doctor and live in Chapel Hill??!!) vs Stanford.  Cheered for Stanford because my dad did a sabbatical there in the 80s.

Cocoa Jammies to See the Lights

This is an activity that I discovered through Shay Shull at Mix and Match Mama.  Wrote about it last year, here, renaming it Jammy Cocoa Christmas because I could never get it right.

Let’s see, where was I?

Oh, yeah…Christmas is loooong over so this won’t be happening.  PC and I did drive downtown after church one evening to see the lights at San Jacinto Plaza.  Actually, I jumped out of the car to take some pictures while my Prince drove ’round the block.

Family Picture

Not exactly.  At least not in the typical sense of the family picture.  No portrait studio, special lighting for us. No matchy-matchy outfits.  Just an impromptu pic under the sign at Chico’s Tacos after lunch. Still frame-worthy, huh?

Except PC played photographer.  Wish he had been in the picture with us, then it would have been a real family portrait.

Hike

x2+.  I posted about a hike we took while the kids were here over Christmas.  Most recently we hiked about 3.5 miles round trip up to Mundy’s Gap and back.

Hot Tub Soak and Fire in Fire Pit

We have had a number of soaks in the tubby-wubs but haven’t had a fire yet.  And now we are selling our hot tub in order to make way for our in-ground POOL and adjoining HOT TUB!  Oh, yeah, baby!

Sunday night we had our au revoir dip in the tub.  Enjoyed a Margarita, snuggled and watched the cold front move in from the southwest.  The same cold front that was supposed to bring snow this week.

We have had a lot of good times (and a few fights) in this ole gal.  But she is going to a good new home. Thanks to my friend, Christina.  And they break ground on the pool Thursday!

January Winter Door Decor (and that rhymes)

Posted my how-to earlier in January for this simple door decor (that rhymed again).  You can take a peek, here.  Ever hopeful that it might still snow, I have left it up.  Even with 80+ temps this past week.

Stuck some hearts in it from my sweet BFF Sharon for Valentine’s Day.

Mix-up Some Mexican Hot Chocolate

Years ago, one of Lauren’s boyfriends brought all of the ingredients to our house and made a big pot of Mexican hot chocolate.  I was in love at first sip.  The kids broke up not long afterward and I never got Mexican hot chocolate again.  Until now.  Found this recipe on Pinterest and whipped some up the other night.

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So. Good.  No, make that SO GOOD!!!  Whitney from Whitney à la mode, if you are out there, this is the recipe to try!  I know you mentioned liking Mexican cocoa.  Here you go.  Only, as with all recipes, I changed it up a bit.  I will share my version in an upcoming post very soon.

Skype with Yeny, Catch-up with Jenny

Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote a post for The Blended Blog about a favorite student of mine that I have tried to stay in touch with over the years.  We first met when Jenny was in second grade at a school where I was the librarian.  She and her siblings would come to the library after school everyday until I shooed them out to go home.  But as winter approached, and the children came to school without warm wraps and mittens, I started taking them home.  One day Jenny and her brothers and sisters disappeared.  Read my post on The Blended Blog to learn what happened next.

Since I wrote that post last year, I have lost and found Jenny again.  We reconnected shortly before Christmas and finally got together for a few moments in January.

Isn’t she beautiful.  And she has four darling children of her own now.  Her oldest, Daisy, wasn’t home when I stopped by but I hope to visit with them again very soon.

There is a very long story that goes along with the other Yeny (pronounced Jenny) in my life and named in this bucket list item.  I need to take a deep breath and write that post sometime in the near future. She is another treasure.  We recently Skyped for the first time in several years, and I met her baby girl Victoria.

This is a photo taken about the same time that Yeny and I met in Panama.

Hope 2017 is the year for reconnecting more often with both of my Jennys and with my BFF Sharon, too.

What’s Left?

So, what am I lacking?  Won’t be making Christmas ornaments or decorating place mats with family.  At least not until closer to Christmas.  Just not enough time to do everything when my girls come to visit.

Have done a few good deeds but not an actual pay it forward.  Will get that done.

Record a Christmas story.  Nope.  Maybe I should start trying to do that now ten months early.

Run a winter 5K.  We signed up for one and then it rained that morning and was terribly windy.  So we skipped it.  We are hoping to participate in the Run for the Fallen on April 1.  So moving this to my spring bucket list.

Scrapbooking Christmas.  I have a date with my sister Valerie to scrapbook on Monday.  We will both be off for Presidents Day (thank you George and Abe, sincerely, thank you).  Will be sure to take pics.

What I’ve Learned From 2 Seasons of Bucket Lists

As I have written this second progress report, I’ve realized that putting an activity on my bucket list almost ensures we will do it.  There are so many things we think about doing, see ads for or hear about online.  But then the weekend comes and we fall back into our same ole, same ole routine.  Putting something on my bucket list encourages me to investigate more about it, to pencil it in on my agenda, to feel bound to make it happen.

Join Me?

I am going to put together my spring bucket list in the next few weeks and share it here the first week of March.  Would LOVE to have you join me.  If you blog, maybe we could write about our bucket lists on the same day?  And if you don’t, maybe you could share your bucket list with me via Instagram or Facebook, in an email?  Let me know if you are interested.

And that’s the end of this winter bucket list second progress report.  What a mouthful.

Happy Valentine’s Day, sweet friends.  Thank you for allowing me into your life for a few moments.  It means a lot to me.

Hugs and kisses,

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