Friday, December 20, 2019

TGIF!

First off, I have to wish my parents a VERY HAPPY 50TH ANNIVERSARY!! 50 years - can you even wrap your mind around that? I can't! I'm very lucky to have been raised by parents who gave us such an excellent example of a healthy, happy marriage. I can't wait to celebrate this landmark anniversary in January. My whole family - all 20 of us with spouses/grandkids - will be gathering at a resort in Minnesota in early January.



Now back to the post at hand - I am especially excited that it's Friday as I am off work through Wednesday! I need to monitor emails from home on Monday/Tuesday but I am sure it will be very quiet! Here's a TGIF recap of my week!

The book I'm reading is City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert. I had 3 library books to choose from - City of Girls, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, and Recursion. I've heard mixed reviews of City of Girls but decided to give it a try. If it falls flat for me early on, I'll abandon it! The other 2 library books are due on December 28th - maybe I will get to one other one by then? We'll see!

The high of my week was several things! First, we closed on the sale of our house on Tuesday! Woot, woot! It feels good to only own one house. Then on Tuesday night I got together with some girlfriends to celebrate a friend's birthday. Most of the girls went to college with Phil - another girl and I are married to guys who went to college with them. They've taken us under their wing, though. It was a fun night with lots of laughter and delicious Mexican food.

The low of my week was feeling under the weather. This has been a theme of our fall - one of us is always sick! Paul is back to full health but Phil and I have been battling different strains of a cold virus for months. It's getting a bit old! I came home mid-day on Wednesday as I felt so dizzy and just off. I ended up sleeping for 3 hours but still went to bed around 9 that night so my body was definitely fighting something. I opted to work from home the last 2 days because I still don't feel great and don't want to spread my germs.

A recipe I made was Creole chicken and sausage bowls in the instant pot. Our instant pot is definitely our most-used appliance! I highly recommend it. Meals come together so fast!

The best money spent was the cash for Paul's daycare teachers holiday/thank you cards. We are "team cash" when it comes to gifts for his teachers. It's less personal but we include a nice note in the card about how thankful we are for them. It's well known that daycare teachers aren't well compensated. They work so hard and take such good care of Paul that we feel the best gift for them at the holidays is cash. 

My plans this weekend include very little. I was supposed to go to Phil's work holiday party tonight but I canceled our sitter and am staying in with Paul. Phil will still go. I just don't feel well enough to be out and about and to stay up past 9. Ha. Tomorrow we have our last swimming lesson of the term and some friends are swinging in the late morning to see our house. That's it for plans, though! We are having Christmas at our house so I'll be busy planning/preparing for that meal. We are having ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, glazed carrots, corn casserole, and chocolate pie for dessert. I'm also going to make GF cinnamon rolls from scratch for Christmas Day. I've never made them before - fingers crossed they turn out!

What was the high of your week? Are you ready for Christmas?

10 comments:

Jeanie said...

Happy Anniversary to your mom and dad! And smart idea to lay low this weekend. Next week is a busy one and this will be good time to plan, relax, get all in order.

I liked City of Girls a lot. It might be on my top 10 for the year and if not, right up there. Hope you stick with it!

katielookingforward said...

Congratulations to your parents! Do you have a favorite spot to get instapot recipes? When I read through them I get pretty confused. I hope you guys have a wonderful Christmas!

Gracie said...

Congratulations to your parents on that milestone! I have unfortunately been quite sick, too, so I feel for you- so rough to have holiday demands plus being under the weather. I came down with a bad cold that also has a lot of nausea along with it, so that's no fun! Hope we can both stay healthy for Christmas!

Carolina John said...

Wow, happy 50th to your parents! That really is an amazing milestone that few people will ever see. My folks hit 49 next August. I can't believe it.

Stephany said...

Happy 50th wedding anniversary to your parents! That's such an incredible milestone.

I didn't enjoy City of Girls but I think I'm in the minority with my opinion. Many people rave about it! It just wasn't for me. Hopefully it works for you!

The high of my week was book club with my friends! It was just a really great night and I left dinner feeling so thankful for my friends. And I'm basically ready for Christmas! I need to pick up a gift for my stepdad (and have to wrap all of my presents!) but otherwise, I'm good to go.

Amber said...

Such a milestone anniversary for your parents, so amazing!

Your Christmas menu sounds absolutely delicious! We are hosting Eric's parents and nephew on Boxing Day for our Christmas celebration with them and I still haven't really thought through the menu. We have had a local organic turkey in our freezer since Thanksgiving though so we will definitely make that and Eric might even deep fry it like he did last year.

You'll have to let me know how you like City of Girls - I am on a LONG waitlist for it!

Jolene - EverydayFoodie said...

Sorry to hear that you were under the weather. I am almost ready for Christmas, but I am less ready than I have been in previous years. I will go out first thing in the morning on Monday and finish up the last of my shopping, then I'll come home and wrap some stuff, and spoil myself with a massage appointment and a hair appointment after that. On Christmas Eve I have to make cabbage rolls, but that's all the Christmas cooking we have to do, so that's nice.

Erin said...

Hi friend! Look at me commenting on blogs :) This is what can happen when I’m free of my work stress for awhile! Congrats to your parents! This is such an accomplishment. And I am going to try your recipe today! Just need to go to the store to get the sausage. The high of my week was having a student from 15 years ago surprise me at my current job! She didn’t even go to school here—but rather I had her at my first job in Maryland!!! I was beyond shocked and just in disbelief when I walked into the office to find her!!!! It was honestly one of the best pre Christmas surprises!!!!!!

I am really looking forward to my time off. I plan to stay in comfy clothes a lot and just relax. I took a lot of the normal stress out of my life this year. I ordered cookies from the local culinary school (my former students are now students there) instead of trying to squeeze baking them in. I got a bunch of bags, instead of rolls of wrapping paper, to take care of my gifts! I am choosing quality time for myself and with my family instead of trying to cram in everything I have made myself do in the past! It’s a good feeling—so far!

Marlys said...

I just took a break from cleaning house to check your blog! Thanks for posting about our anniversary. I have never kept a journal,but it would be fun to see what those 5 decades entaild for us. The thing I know is that they sped by too quickly, and we're looking at the final decades of our lives, I'm sure. There have been many more highs than lows, so we thing we've had "a wonderful life"!
Enjoyed this blog!

San said...

I love that your parents have been celebrating 50 years. That is amazing! My parents will be celebrating 46th this year, so they're following closely behind :)

Congrats on closing on your house. How exciting!