Category: Uncategorized

Francis the Piano

The Piano man made it here yesterday to tune Francis. This poor guy. I asked all sorts of questions. He was so nice to answer all of them. He and his dad have had a piano business for years. His dad is now retired, but when we had this piano moved here in 2007 from my dads house, this man and his dad moved it and tuned it for us. My dad had kept their business card all this time. Not a surprise. I learned a lot about the piano from Piano Man, then shared the story with him of how it came to our family. According to my dad, it was gifted to my grandma from a women that she worked for sometime in the early 40’s. Piano Man said he tuned it the best that he could and did share that these old pianos never really can get […]

A Fun Project Day

Well, it is by no means finished, but I did get started painting the fireplace last night after a full day accomplishing all sorts of “to do’s”. The first thing on my list yesterday was to buy a turkey. Have you ever bought a Trader Joe’s turkey? They’re all the rage. Fresh, never frozen. Trader Joe’s opens every day at 8 AM and they got their first turkeys in last Friday. Every day they’ve sold out. I was there at 7:55 and brought myself home a turkey. If you’re a Trader Joe’s shopper then you know occasionally at check out you will hear a bell ring. They do that for various reasons. Price check, someone needs help to their car, etc. Yesterday while ringing up my groceries the cashier rang his bell and I heard about 10 employees from around the store make a noise. Did you just gobble, I […]

Therapy? Yes Please.

My gift to myself yesterday? Therapy. I know it’s not for everyone. I also know it is much more common than it was years ago. In the past, therapy or counseling could often be viewed as a weakness. When in reality, therapy can help you learn about what you are feeling, why you might be feeling it, and how to cope. It’s really about taking control of your own well being, and what better gift to give yourself than that! I met Hope (my therapist real name!), several years ago. More than anything, she helps me to feel validated for feeling what I’m feeling, then give me the tools I need to work through it. It’s no secret that I’ve been struggling with how my body feels and fearing it will always feel like this and also I’m having a hard time going from 9 weekly WW Workshops to now […]

Coffee & Weekend Chores

Good morning! It’s Sunday and its my favorite “coffee in bed” morning. I’m kidding. Every morning is my favorite “coffee in bed” morning. When I’m behaving myself, Mike brings me coffee in bed, and THAT is the best “coffee in bed” morning. I try to behave as often as possible. Today is Mikes birthday and he’s out the door for a cool morning of golf. I didn’t get to painting the trim for the living room floors yesterday, so I’ll be in the garage working on that, doing a few chores and hope to do a little meal planning for the week. It’ll be a good “get stuff done” day. It’s Halloween! Trick or Treat for you? What will you do tonight? Trick or Treat with a few little ones? Hand out candy? Dress up and hand out candy? Turn off all the lights and hide in your house? We’ve […]

Sunshine and Food Finds

Happy Monday friends! We’ve had three beautiful sunny days here in KC, which meant beautiful outside walks, time spent outside enjoying a good book and evenings spent on the deck. I hope you’ve all had some sunshine as well along with an opportunity to get out and enjoy it! Today I’m sharing lots of food pics and a few new useful kitchen tools! I’d love to know in the comments what your favorite kitchen tool is!! When Tess came recently for my surgery, she was pleased to see that we had decided to up our knife game. We’ve had really really bad knives like for……well for always and it was just never something I put a lot of time into thinking about spending the money on. And as much time as I spend chopping, you’d think I would have. Anyhow, we have new knives and I can’t believe what a […]

Creating Spaces

You’re likely tired of my word for 2020, “Create”. Or maybe you’re not? This word seems to be swirling around in my head in most things I do lately. It might in fact be my new favorite word. I’ve recently been focused on creating spaces. While I am truly enjoying my new work space in my basement office (why didn’t I do that long ago?), I’m now working on spaces for playing and relaxing. I’m creating spaces that spark joy. Shout out to Marie Condo! Okay, that made me giggle a little bit. I’m working on a few things in Effie, my travel trailer, and I’m super excited to share those soon! I’ve asked my mom to make me some new curtains (I should learn how to sew. She also made my first set but now I’ve changed my mind on the vibe I want.) for Effie and I’m headed […]

It’s Wedding Month!

Happy Sunday peeps. We are counting down the days to the wedding. We are three weeks out. I can’t believe we’re so close. I went to Dallas last weekend and that was my last trip there until wedding week. I will spend the whole week of the wedding there so Tess and I will have that last week to wrap up any last minute details. She has done an amazing job of being her own wedding planner and sticking to her budget. I’m super proud of her. She has made all of the decorations for the reception, centerpieces and all of the signage. She’s super clever and definitely has an eye for exactly what she wants. Three more weeks!! She picked me up early last Friday morning at the airport and we headed out for coffee and breakfast to brainstorm ideas and finalize a few logistics.   It has been […]

Early (Like Really Early) Morning

I was wide awake at 3:30 am. I woke up from a dream that included Bradley Cooper and Tess’s wedding. I think in my dream I wanted Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga to sing at the wedding. The wedding has been on my mind pretty much 24/7, and apparently so has Bradley Cooper. The last three weeks have really been a whirlwind of work, wedding planning and a cold I couldn’t seem to shake until just the last few days. Mike and I had one weekend at home after vacation, then headed out to Dallas for a couples shower for Tess and Manuel. We went out Saturday morning and came home early Sunday morning so it was a really quick trip, but the shower was absolutely perfect. I’m so excited for these two and their upcoming wedding! March 30 is approaching quickly.   They’re really are a bunch of other people […]

Hola Amigo!

We returned from a fun, beautiful and adventurous nine day vacation in Cancun to ice and temperatures in the teens in Kansas City. What the heck?? Welcome Home. You have re-entered reality! After many many difficult months, 2 years in a row of canceled vacations, five surgeries and recoveries over a 15 month period and just a lot of life obstacles, Mike and I were so happy to be able to go on this vacation. I was so happy to feel physically well enough to do whatever we wanted while we were gone. Oh my gosh, I have SO much to say in this post before I share our trip with you. Let me share this first. I’ve only shared this with Mike, my daughter Tess and a few others, so forgive me if you are reading this here and I did not share it with you in person. I was trying […]

Walk with Me Through the Snow

Life is just so busy and full and happy right now. I know it’s early, but I had big plans for 2019 to be filled with happiness and positive energy and so far the year is right on track. I know it can’t be all puppies and rainbows everyday, but I’m expecting the majority of the year…….to be filled with really good stuff. This post feels a little dated now as most of the 11 inches of snow that we had a couple of Saturdays ago has melted. However, these pictures are just too pretty not to share. I was trapped that Saturday (not literally) by the dining room window with a cup of coffee watching the snow fall. The flakes were so large and the snow was so heavy. I kept filling my cup of coffee and plopping back down to simply watch it snow. Finally, I had to get […]