Friday Nights in the Cave

bird quilt .. I really like the colors in this quilt

Wednesday or Thursday night from the cabin cam  -- 

One more night of subzero temps

I'm so over the cold --

Truck got fixed today -- $300 "electronic throttle" .. condensation, varnish, gunk .. so "you need to drive more in the winter" .. what a funny guy ...

I spent my night on some easy returns, dishwasher running, 2nd load of laundry perking and I'm about to start on the next project pile ... piles are the story of my life 

thinking warm thoughts 

 

memories ...

Cousin Fred giving us a tour of his lake front property during the 2010 fall floods .. it was 16 years ago .. where does the time go .. I was running for the County Board seat -- Fred was giving tours .. 

A lot of life since I took this pix.  I was 50 .. Fred was 64.  Fred was at a trade show in Florida last week and got sick -- and while prepping for surgery had a heart attack.  God has plans - it isn't ours to question .. or so I keep telling myself.  

keep the rain, sun and beautiful weather coming - we'll plant the blooms, veggies and fun stuff ....

wth

   I'm just going leave this hang out here ...

   I'm struggling -- the events of the day -- horrifying -- simply horrifying .. 

seriously ....

Did ya hear?  It's freaking cold outside   -17 per the F150 on the inbound commute this morning.  I was an idiot, I started the truck and then walked over and fed the barn cats ... walked over  -- 

I had a meeting in Lower North on Wednesday -- it was snowy and salty on the way over and it had warmed up enough to be sloppy and wet on the return ... the black truck is no longer black.  I should have dived into the car wash when I got back to town.  should have - the famous last words

Yesterday the Jeep got it's oil changed -- so both of them should be good to roll for the winter -- Jeepy didn't like the cold commute home last night.  Neither did I.  

It is remarkably quiet today -- between cold closings and the ICE out closings -- it's quiet -- there is a protest at noon ?  2:00pm? in the park .. 

 

brrrrrrrr

with all the chaos surrounding us - I've tried to focus on the things that make me smile.  quilts , lots of cool quilts are popping up on wastebook  -- 

me thinks the one above is cool -- if the blacks don't "bleed" onto the whites ... 

this one is huge -- I'm tempted to purchase the pattern -- it's an 11 month black a month gig at $50 a month -- highly unlikely that I'll join the party .. but it's a good launching pad for a project, someday 

scrappy 

I loaded up on homework before I came home yesterday -- it was kind of productive so far -- a couple of nasty projects, a bunch of 1099's ... and I left a few projects for morning -- I'll leave the house later than normal with the brutal cold.  It's not safe to wander around in the dark with -35 windchills . argh.  the whole freaking week.  

I did manage to strip beds, roomba the bedrooms, 4 loads of laundry, the dishwasher ran twice -- I did pop into the office for more projects and then went to the grocery store for the weekly haul of eats.  the store was pretty picked over and trashed.  nothing has seen a snowplow and even with the few flakes parking lots and city streets are messy .. 

supper was spaghetti pie -- lots of leftovers .. good eats for a couple of days .. I've got 4 more meals for the office freezer -- I'll be eating well for a couple of weeks.  

on the positive side NO FREEZING RAIN .. 

 

this week in snaps

blowing snow at the cabin .. the tree is strong and tall

Mrs H's favorite piece of office equipment pooped out .. even YouTube couldn't tell us how to fix it .. priced a replacement -- still musing it

Wednesday night I zoomed into the R9 gig .. and worked at the same time -- I don't think they knew I was in my jammies .... shhhhh

today, I "blew" snow with my leaf blower -- cool idea -- wear coat next time 

a container of happiness ... expensive but well worth it

sunset -- dead center is a fish house - must not have been biting -- gone later

life in my office -- it's colorful.  bubble wrap, ragg rugs, quilts and everything wedged into the cracks and crevices .. it works, somewhat .. I've since moved the plant (bird of paradise) to a warmer location -- the goofy thing is getting taller ( and getting more leaves )

 

yep

   more resolutions got smashed to pieces today ... 

   more fabric on the way ... argh.
   and then the clothes -- 
      nice sweatpants for the office -- need to be warm when it's cold.  argh
      and those damn fools at Old Navy -- maxi dresses and t shirt dresses - DIRT cheep
          not sure that I needed 4 -- 2 maxi -- to swing and a pair of sandals

   postage and printing bill arrived for the packet project yesterday -- more than the cost of my first car ...

   and yesterday we celebrated Jane -- it was a nice service -- I had a fun conversation with her brother Harold about the crafting habits -- he told me how much she enjoyed spending time with the Scrapbooking Divas .. .. made for some tears and smiles .. 

   I'm avoiding mentioning the mess of Minnesota -- it is hard to fathom -- evidently none of us remember the lessons from the sandbox.  play nice and be respectful.  it is not a hard concept ...

   

unsettled

unsettled -- chaos -- all of the issues happening locally, regionally, nationally are well, somedays just too much to comprehend -- I don't function in constant chaos and I seem to be bombarded with all the drama way to frequently.  

Drama isn't the correct description -- the lack of civility, the ability to accept / respect someone's opinion without so much .... anger, rage -- rudeness -- it's all so awful.

when the chaos gets so bad -- I find a sunset -- rare occurence around here lately -- must have been enough sun today to power the lights on the tree .. taking what I see -- from afar -- best I can do at the moment  

I think for my own mental health - avoiding social media is going to be the next move -- I literally sat and watched a 7 minute video of ICE at the local bp station -- it sucks you in and --- argh.  

Today was productive at the office -- more stuff got done -- all the little things add up to big things in the busy months.  The homework this evening has been good too -- 55 more 1099's are done :)  IKYK, will get up early and whip out a bunch more W2's .. we're perking along really well on all of it ...

It was also project day at home -- Mom now has her own amazon account and kindle unlimited subscription -- she's downloading books and reading away .. the cats got fed, laundry got washed and I managed 15 minutes on the treadmill .. all good in a crazy world.

 

I am a slob

last month picture of home office

disaster -- utter disaster

this is a spring picture from a couple of years ago -- it is an accurate representation of the mess of my shitshow office.  Today I attempted to tame the chaos.  the bookcases are better organized, binders ready to label.  the table is ready for tax season .. I got new monitor cables last week -- no more outages on the screens -- I scanned for 90 minutes I filled the shred can -- that was emptied yesterday .. 

I didn't find any treasures or money -- yet .. good grief it was a mess ... a spot of actual work may have got done -- Robyn got stuff done.  

argh argh argh

tomorrow will be good -- a date with the vac and dust rag will do wonders ... 

i really should be better at this ....

 

Janie M Mead

 

once there were 6 and now

we're down to 4 ....

just an old age moment ..

so much life and death since this picture was taken in 2011?

pictures from our first trip to the Pine City Scrapbooking Co retreat center 

aka: a remodeled hardware store without any windows

food at this bar was pretty tasty 

so many Jane stories -- endless Jane stories ...

the car accident -- I mean -- who runs over themself and can describe it in detail -- the move from the townhouse to the senior living complex -- 

that damn weight bench she was attached to ...

 40 years of payroll check stubs and performance reviews  -- 

hauling her home from Nicollet with an accumulation of stuff -- in Ruby -- "next time bring a bigger car, this one is nice -- but I think we needed a bigger car today -- how am I going to get out of this thing" .. mind you it was loaded -- trunk, backseat and stuff on her lap .. ( an unplanned afternoon of moving Jane) .. 

oh Jane 

we're going to miss you -- 

SQUIRREL

not so subtle message to self 

time will tell

 

What is Marie up to today?

 Peeps - you'll never guess in a zillion eons.

Baking Christmas cookies -- yep, finally.  And yes the tree is still up.  

Mom and Jean were in Mankato for a doctor appointment and while there picked up the frozen pre cut out sugar cookies.  Life in December was out of control and I didn't get them baked.  (and now I've been busy typing and one pan is a little browner than the others - shit happens)

They're in the oven as I type. 4 dozen stars, santas, trees and snowmen.  

Other projects on today's list of stuff:

Vacuum -- whole house (although I just got notification the clean lady is coming on Thursday) .. 
   the basement and porch need it bad
Stand Up Desk - just get the damn thing put together and in the house
Trash -- good start 3 bags of both trash and recycling are in the truck.

Cats -- get water over to their heated dish
Walk -- walk down and get the mail.

Finish up the quarterlies and W2's I have at home .. 
Finish up the 2 partnerships and trust return I have at home
Finish up the 1099's I have at home
Do a little software training -- the document mgmt plan

Attempt my own tax return -- always good to use real numbers when testing the software ... it is merely a test -- not sure how complete or robust it actually is

Go to work - eventually I'm going to run out of homework and need to restock.  

My Goal for the WEEK ...

Get all of the Q's, W2's and 1099's done -- at least the ones we have and right now if I had to guess -- I think 3/4 of them are in my hands .. that is a good thing.  

Get my office organized - there is piles of stuff that I have no idea what is in them .. literally piles.  I've been boxing up stuff to scan -- but this is other "stuff"   argh buried in paper ...

Nick

17 year old pictures of Nick showed up in my wastebook memories this morning.  What caught my eye however was the large Christmas cactus in the background.  I still have it .. it really needs to be repotted .. fresh dirt never hurt anything or anyone.  

and on day 3 - another resolution bites the dust -- although bras and undergarments should be exempt from the "no new clothes" rule -- bra's and a storage bag for the fake Christmas tree that is still up in the living room -- will wait for the bag to be delivered .. 

Progress on 3rd street yesterday -- 1.5 piles of stuff on my desk is gone.  as in DONE.  1.5 piles to go and there is the oversized scanning pile.  the first 65 1099's are done and I've got 100 +/- w2's ready to input and print -- probably tomorrow ... 

on the home front -- one of us emptied the dishwasher -- used the dustbuster and cooked.  a large, darn tasty pan of lasagna -- there are no recipies (however it is spelled) in this house -- so things never taste the same twice -- but long story short -- a lot of leftovers .. 

I have 3 tt hotdish services, 3 funeral hotdish and now 3 lasagna froze -- on tonight's menu ... pork chops and squash -- if the squash is good -- I'll freeze that too .. eating well is a good thing  -- leftovers and turkey sandwiches keep me fueled.

I overslept this morning == didn't sleep well either .. only to see that the President felt the need to invade Venezuela and snatch their President .. with all the other crap happening internationally, regionally and locally -- I'm not seeing the backstory on this dude .. that's bad -- we're so torn with the media it's difficult to find the issue amid the constant clutter/chatter/spoonfeeding

 

busted !!!

yes, my peeps, less than 6 hours into the new year ... I caved.  

sometimes the pretty fabric is just too darn hard to pass up

while fabric peeking last week -- I grabbed up some cool stuff -- coupons, ya know, and spied some really cute dots/plaids/stripes

I swear on every past crafters grave -- Missouri Star was tracking my viewing and the cute dots/plaids and stripes were January 1st's Daily Deal 

 

below is what I thought was the last purchase ever ... 

not my normal color choices but it "spoke" to me 

fabric always speaks to me ... argh...

layer cakes, charm packs and yardage for both

is there a 12 step program for fabric accumulation?

there was no other shopping for self -- helped my Mom order shoes -- 2 pair -- 2 different sized feet -- need to one to fit over her brace gizmo .. grateful that Shuler Shoes -- still carries them and ships them out .. she also requested some new Lands End pants .. and they were on sale!  

I did manage to get a couple (8) hours of work in, 2 loads of laundry and finished my book .. grocery store was interesting -- empty of people -- 

Every year I start out with a new planner, a mini calendar and a fresh desk pad --- can't find the planner or calendar anywhere .. I'm lost without them.  Amazon to the rescue.

New Year - back to resolutions

my 2026 Resolutions 

1    work smart so I can work less
2    decide on a retirement date and make it public
             I don't think it's a full retirement - rather a cut back and
             be choosy on the clients -- that leads to a lot of other 
             things to think about
3    take a vacation - a solo vacation
4    participate in the 2026 declutter challenge
            I got to much stuff -- work stuff, fun stuff, stuff stuff
            and stop buying more stuff 
5    stop whining about the weather - I can't change it
6    i will be more charitable -- there are people and organizations 
            that need help and I have the means to do so 
7    i will drink less coffee, walk more, keep reading, lose 
            weight, brush and floss more -- all the healthy stuff
8    less screen time
9    enjoy the daily joys in life ... 

and my 2026 word(s) of the year

Engaged - I'm not going to look the other way 
Grateful - every day is a blessing 
Healthy - it's the age gig ..