Category: Lifestyle

Have you made the drive on Interstate 35 through the Flint Hills of Kansas? If you’re from the KC area, then you likely have. Perhaps you’ve made that drive on a road trip? My family made this drive regularly when I was growing up as we would drive south from KC to a small town just west of Wichita, Ks to visit my grandparents. As a kid this was a boring drive through Kansas. As an adult I began to appreciate these flowing hills and became in awe of their beauty. The Flint Hills of Kansas is actually 10,000 sq miles of flowing pasture, some privately owned and some government owned. I’ve only seen a small part of it. This year I decided to attend an event I’d heard great stories about, but never took the opportunity to see for myself. The weekend met all of my expectations as I […]

Hey Friends, The last few weeks have felt so good! Taking an actual vacation, heading out to restaurants with the hubs, meeting friends for coffee, planning trips for 2021 and doing a WW Workshop this week with no mask! Yep! Our members that are vaccinated are now welcome to enjoy the workshop with no mask if they choose, enjoy food and drink during the workshop, and everyone can now take off their shoes to weigh as long as they are wearing socks. These are HUGE changes back to normal for the members and I’m so happy to be moving forward as I know so many of us are. I have several members that I met only after Workshops opened back up in 2020, so I’ve never seen them without their mask. I was excited to see whole faces and meet that smile I had envisioned under the mask. I loved […]

With so many cancelations over the last 12+ months (like everyone else in the world), Mike and I finally got to follow through with a planned trip! We joined some friends in Mexico last week and I’d like to go back, today! A friend of ours recently celebrated her 50th birthday, and after we all began getting vaccinated she started talking about taking a trip to Mexico to celebrate and inviting all of her friends to join her. Mike and I decided to join everyone for three days of the trip then stay an additional three days just the two of us. It was the perfect mix of celebrating with friends then reconnecting with the hubs. We had a great time enjoying friends, the beach, the pools, the food, the drinks, the entertainment, the staff at the resort, the guest we met, the sunshine, the views and time away from […]

For a few different reasons, all day Saturday felt like Sunday to me. It was actually late in the day when it dawned on me that it was only Saturday and then I felt as though I’d just gained a bonus day! I woke up Sunday early, like 6:00 am early, and could not go back to sleep. Apparently I was excited for bonus day. I headed to the couch with my favorite blanket to look for a good movie to watch. I was thinking a good chick flick, or maybe something romantic. I curled up on the couch, hugged my biggest coffee mug and decided on The Woman in the Window. A thriller suspense movie on Netflix with Amy Adams. Not at all a chick flick or a romance! Not my typical Sunday morning either, but it was really a good movie! Following the thriller I…….wrote a blog post, […]

It’s Sunday late morning and I’m curled up in my robe with a blanket on the screened in deck, sipping my coffee while listening to a hard rain and lots of thunder cracks and booms. Occasionally the rain completely stops and it’s silent except for the owl I hear in the distance and what sounds like an angry bird in the tree that I could touch if not for the screen. Then the rain quickly starts up again, the sky lights up followed by more cracks and booms. It’s the best morning! I’m especially enjoying this rainy morning because for most of the day yesterday, I thought it was Sunday. I feel like I have a whole free day to sit here and listen to it rain if that is all I decided to do today. We’ve had a few busy weekends playing with the grandkids. Kate Looking good and […]

Firewood + Beer = Happy Girl Last May we received our first half cord of wood to burn while enjoying the deck fireplace. When it was delivered, Mike was in shock of how much wood it was and made a comment somewhere along the lines of….”That’s gonna last four years!” I giggled. He knows how much I love a fire, but because we’ve never had a wood burning fireplace, I guess he didn’t realize just how often I might enjoy it. He soon realized he really enjoyed it too. We made it almost a year with that first load! I did use the wood pile for a few camping trips as well. When he called the company recently to set up a delivery, the guy said they were so busy he couldn’t deliver, but we could come pick it up, so yesterday we did just that! Half cord fit perfectly […]

Hi Friends! I hope you all are well! Spring has sprung here in KC and it’s making for some gorgeous walks these last few days. Every spring I’m fascinated by this tree trunk! We were able to have a family gathering outside at Mike’s parents for Palm Sunday. My mother in law was so happy to have her children, grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren over for an egg hunt! We really missed having Tess and Manuel there but look forward to a huge family gathering later in the year. Miss Kate down over 100 lbs!! Our Easter was unusual but wonderful. While I drove my dad to Bella Vista, Arkansas to visit his sister and her husband and some friends for the weekend, Mike drove his parents to Winchester, Kansas on Easter morning to visit his moms sister and a few extended family members. Typically Mike and I spend Easter in […]

Before sharing the Funny, I have to share this with you! I Love My WW Members! Such a great Workshop yesterday. During the first half of the Workshop we discuss what is working, what isn’t and how we can continue to do the things that work and how we can make changes to the things that are not working. One member shared how this week she had some recent feelings of frustration with having to track her food and the many other things she was doing in her life that were all in the name of good health. This week she decided to look at the work she was doing and the time she was putting into taking care of herself as an opportunity to, in her words “manage my health”. She turned her thinking around and decided that it was not something she HAD to do, but something she […]