Planning Part 1 – Where to first?

I have been seeing a therapist during our lockdown. Being home alone for days, weeks and months at a time is really wearing on me, why I decided to reactivate my blog. She reminded me that retirement is actually going to come some day, in the not too terribly far off future. It has been brewing around in my head and to be honest the idea scares me. Both for what I want to do and how it will all work out without a paycheck. I want to travel and explore the world. One plan is to take my daughter on a river cruise after I retire. But I am thinking I really want to settle in somewhere for a couple months and explore, get to know the place and not just skim. Visit my roots and discover more about my heritage in Denmark, Norway and Bohemia. Or do I volunteer somewhere for a while? Maybe start housesitting? At her suggestion I have now started a Travel Planning Journal with places I want to visit. My first idea was Caye Caulker in Belize to decompress for a couple weeks. But where next is brewing around in my head and I don’t know where to start. Any good resources, ideas or suggestions out there?

My journal from Archer & Olive. It has great paper, lays flat, dot pattern, nice and white. Highly recommend.
My set up page, setting up my dreams for future travel.

My first step? Take a WordPress class to learn more about how to work this site! I signed up, just haven’t started yet so I am feeling around a bit blindly. 🙂

Another One Bites the Dust

Costco Photo Centers around the country are, unfortunately, closing. I have seen some very nice and inexpensive print products from them so this is indeed sad news. Please know that there are other options out there for preservation of your precious memories. From free photo storage accounts, to pre-paid storage, to printing of a wide variety of products and pictures, Forever is one option, but that tends to be my favorite since I use them all the time and have a sales account with them (I have a total of ONE customer, so I am definitely not in it for the money). The key is to wait for a monthly special to get a good deal! If you are looking for a specific product, such as a mug or wall hanging, just let me know and I can keep an eye out for you.

https://www.forever.com/app/users/leslie-stovring

Above is a picture I had converted to a metallic wall hanging for my office.

First Night Out of 2021!

Experiencing Covid-19 has been very tough. The longer this drags on, the more I stay home. I have been slowly worrying more, making it difficult to head out and shop much less socialize. But today, Minnesota restaurants opened back up and I was all in for getting out to see real people! Not on Zoom, not on Teams, not on Kumospace, not on WebEx. But in person.

For lunch I met my friend Therese at Bacio’s, a favorite restaurant in Minnetonka. I had the shrimp scampi and she had the risotto. I have missed being able to meet up and talk. We did try a couple times, once outside and once in the mall for a quick walk, but nothing is the same as sitting down at a table, enjoying good food, relaxing, and talking about this and that.

For dinner, my daughter asked if I wanted to meet up with her and her husband for Happy Hour! We went to 6 Smith in Wayzata and it was so nice. Happy Hour on a Monday, who would have thought I would enjoy going out on a work night! LOL My favorite were the cheese curds, they were tossed in a fresh, spicy sauce. Yum. I will definitely have to head back and have them again! Maybe cheese curds and beignets? (They were very tempting, but my diet today wasn’t that great so I resisted).

I hope you are doing well as we all work towards figuring out how to better control the spread and extent of this disease. I did donate blood last week, and found out I don’t have any antibodies in my system, so no immunity at all from this awful disease. But I am glad I did it, as much as I hate donating blood (blech). Be well, be creative, connect with a friend, and enjoy a good meal!!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you are able to find your creative spark and nurture it fully. 🎉🤗

Bird’s Eye View

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One of Two

There are two male blue jays that have been visiting my deck this fall and winter. They have been my bright spot in working from home as they are very entertaining, as well as beautiful.

Christmas Snow

A White Christmas came to visit us with a roar this year. Nice pretty green grass one day, ice and snow the next. I was fine with warmer than average temperatures and green grass. I typically like the winter season, the white snow and sparkling skies are so very pretty. But rain/snow on a holiday week are not so fun. And it was a very busy season!!

Chex Mix Day is an annual event with my daughter and I, right before Christmas. We have been doing it so long I can’t remember why we started doing it! But we do love home-made Chex mix. The stuff in a bag just cannot compare! Every year it is a test to see if we can get the seasonings right, some years with more success than others. For a while we made enough for us, my sister, her friends and my brother if he was up visiting with his family. I think the record was 12 gallons? This year it was just myself, Tanya, and my sister Laura so we only made 6 gallons, loose gallons, but still a lot!!

My daughter and her husband came to visit on Christmas Eve and she brought my “granddaughter” Freya. Freya is a 6 month old Birman kitten that is about 5 pounds of strong-willed, curious, adventurous, fluffy kitten who loves to explore and play with her little balls. Bringing her with was a test to see if she would be okay coming to visit with me, so I could be a kitten sitter while they go on vacation. The visit went well so I am hopeful it will be fine when she comes in the future. She has a respiratory infection she is fighting right now, I sure hope she gets better fast. She is on her third antibiotic. We are all fell in love with her right away.

For brunch I made my Bedstemor’s aebleskiver recipe. Aebleskiver (sometimes called pancake balls) not only taste great, they bring such great memories of my childhood. My dad’s mom (Bedstemor) would make them for us as special treats. Dad and I always piled on homemade jelly and brown sugar, sometimes syrup too. I still enjoy going to the local Danish American Center for their aebleskiver breakfasts, I have missed them so much this year and look forward to them coming back in the future. I did make enough to put a few in the freezer.

We all sat and watched a movie after brunch (Psych), played with Freya and chatted. For dinner we had lasagna that Tanya made, it was just awesome. She is such a great cook, I wish I was as good but I am just not patient enough maybe. After dinner we unwrapped presents and it was a good year for me. I think my favorite present are the photo blocks above, Tanya picked some of her favorite photos and had them embedded onto acrylic blocks to put on my desktop. I actually put them under my tv so I can see them every day! They are a small photo pasted on back of an acrylic block. I think I need to send a suggestion to Forever as I know they could do a better job with these! But regardless, I absolutely adore them. Christmas arrives so fast and leaves even faster. The holidays are a lot of work, but the time you share with your family is priceless which is the whole point when you get right down to it.

Forever Protects Your Photos and Albums

Forever has started producing a series of short videos explaining how their products and services work. If interested, this is a good place to start!

www.youtube.com/watch

They also have a number of great Black Friday options for software, digital artwork, printing, etc.

https://www.forever.com/ambassador/leslie-stovring/deals

If interested please contact me or search by name (Leslie Stovring) and sign up as a customer. I am very low-key and don’t believe in sending a lot of unwanted emails. But they do have a great photo protection plan.

Uncle Hugo’s Needs Help

Go Fund Me Page

Uncle Hugo’s was a great local bookstore impacted by the violence that erupted from the protests this spring. The owner also writes a quarterly newsletter that provides excellent summaries of upcoming books. The building was literally burned to the ground and all his inventory was gone. If you can help this small, local, reader-oriented business for mysteries and science fiction books, please do.

Preserving Your Memories

I have started preserving my Memories with Forever. They have insured, permanent storage. Please contact me if you have any questions on how this works. Here is a link to their current deals.

https://www.forever.com/ambassador/leslie-stovring/deals