Goal Update Oct. and Nov!

Had a great Birthday today! Joanne at work made me one of the best Apple Crisps I have ever had and mom took me out to eat some yummy Indian Food tonight! I am so lucky to have so many people in my life who messaged me today, left me a note on Facebook or stopped by my office to give me well wishes. This has been one of the most peaceful birthdays I've had in awhile. (I even ordered some new running shoes as a happy birthday gift to myself!)

I was a little off my game during October and did not get a goal update. So you are getting two months worth of progress in one read! For a couple of busy months I'm proud of what I got done! 

Read 20 Books: 17/20  

In October I finally finished The Stand. For some reason in 2021 a book about a plague is not that scary. So this was just a great drama. And at over 1,100 pages it is like a TV series with two or three seasons. I missed the characters once it was over. 

In November I read The Happiness Project and The Aviator's Wife. I feel extra accomplished when I read a non fiction and a fiction in the same month. I don't know why. 

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin gave me some good inspiration for 2022 goals. For every month of the year she worked on a new area of her life and tried to figure out how to be a happier person in general. I'm going to steal her method of tracking daily habits to improve yourself. Benjamin Franklin did this daily logging to try to constantly improve. I'm just really motivated by checking a box so I'm going to see if I can make and keep some good habits! 

The Aviator's Wife was a novel about being the wife of Charles Lindbergh and living in the shadow of an American Hero/American Enemy circa WWII/Then Hero again. A fiction that felt too real as a woman tries to not loose herself being a wife and then a mother. I would recommend! 

Only three books in December to get this goal done! 

 Run 800 700 miles: 627/700

The past two month I've done mostly 2-3 miles runs with one 10K thrown in. My hip is feeling good and I'm happy to be ending this year with pain free runs. Will I make 700 this year, probably not. Will I stop running in December, Nope! My monthly goal is 53 miles for Dec. Let's end this year on an even number. :-)  

Money Goals: Still trying to get a contractor signed up for my stairs project. The money is saved, just need to get on someone's schedule. 

• Pay Off my Car - Done March
• Replace my Car's Windshield-Done Jan. 
• New Fridge
• Fix Stairs
• Install a shower in hall bathroom and fix the sink in my bathroom Done July 
• Add $2,000 to savings  Done August 
• Replace some windows

Knit four new things: 2/4

I'm still not feeling my sweater project so I started a fancy dish towel. It's the kind that hangs from the oven handle. It only took me a week to knit and I love it! I'm going to make more! 

Before the boys left on Sunday they gave me my gift. 
World's Best Boss! LOL 

Thank you for dinner mom!!

And thank you for my flowers! You have been my 
birthday date since day 1! Back in the 80s!! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 The boys, mom and I headed north for Thanksgiving this year. The Stiles family hosted us in South Dakota and there were no blizzards, so we were able to make the trek this year! 

I hardly took any pictures and I think that's because we were all just enjoying being together. We visited, ate, played cards, ate, chased cats, ate, watched football and ate some more! Diane and Asa are incredible hosts and they thought of everything. Diane even made me a birthday cake and my whole family had to sing to me! Sorry, youngest child just gets special treatment no matter how old they get. LOL 

I was happy all the cousins got to spend some time together. We were only missing Canyon, hopefully we will have everyone at Christmas. 

I can't end this post without letting you know I bet my brother on three football games on Thanksgiving. The stakes were high, it was a dollar a game. I WON all three games. Take that Asa! 

Alex expanded his taste palette this year to include
mashed potatoes. His Thanksgiving plate is filling up! 

Daryl at least has something green! 

Cousin picture!

On the way back we had to stop at Falls Park in Sioux Falls.

This is our favorite stop to stretch our legs
the boys get to climb rocks and this time
they were breaking the ice! South Dakota is a tad
colder than Kansas right now! 

4-H Achievement Night and Soccer

Daryl had a big November and I'm still trying to get it all documented. He had three weeks of Middle School Soccer and started varsity. He hasn't played soccer since he was five but there wasn't many experienced players on the team. They did have fun and improved immensely! They didn't win a game, but sometimes you are on an undefeated team (football) and sometimes you are on a defeated team. The boys showed really good sportsmanship every game and still left the pitch smiling and joking around with each other. 

On the 13th Daryl helped lead the Achievement Night program since he was an Events Council Officer last year in 4-H. The event celebrates all that the youth and volunteers have accomplished in 4-H and it really motivated him to do more this year. He is the president of the Shunga Valley 4-H Club and for the first year he is also part of the 4-H Exchange group. They will be hosting a club from Texas this summer and next Summer he will go visit their state. 

I'm glad that he has found things that interest him in 4-H and he is starting to see that he can be a leader and plan things for the club on his own. 

It's not all rainbows, he has his struggles but he is figuring it out. For example, if you normally talk to him by phone, he might have that back on Tuesday after school, or he will have it after Thanksgiving break. Depends on what happens in school this week. 😁

I had a new seat at Achievement Night, the program
was great! I enjoyed being the AV lady! 

Taking pictures of Soccer is really hard! 

I Ran a Race

 I am so behind in posting! But that's ok, I'll catch up! 

My hip  has been feeling pretty good so I was happy to sign up for the 10K distance of Gobbler Grind on Nov. 7th. My Cousin Kayleigh and our other friend Casie did it too! Kayleigh made up shirts and we were team "World's Okayest Runners." It was appropriate. LOL The run was through Cooperate Woods in Kansas City and the weather was perfect!

I've done a 10K before but it was years ago so I don't know what my PR is but I'm pretty sure it was under an hour. I was very happy with my time of 1:00:48, if I had pushed I might have gotten under an hour, but I also might have reinjured my hip. I just enjoyed my race! 

I don't always race with other people, in fact I normally don't but this year all my races have been with friends and I loved it! So who is running TopCity Half with me on April 23rd? You know you wanna!!! 

The Okayest Runners Team!

Casie Finish Line!

My Finish Photo

Kayleigh beat all of us!

Come on girls!!! Let's do a half!!

Happy Halloween!

 I know, I know, I'm  late with the Halloween post. But this week was a busy one for work as I prepared for a meeting last night. It went very well, I might actually be getting the hang of this director thing! 

Ok, the boys had three days of Halloween with school celebrations Friday, a haunted treasure hunt Saturday and trick or treating Sunday. I was so tuckered by the time they went to Kelly's at 5pm, I didn't even turn on my porch light. **Gasp** I worked at the office for about an hour, went home and ate a late dinner, then went to bed! On the positive, I was very rested for Monday and have been kicking this week's butt! 

Here are our Halloween pictures, October Goal Update to come next! 

Designed and Carved by Alex!

Daryl wanted a creepy hand, nailed it!

Daryl went as Bevis!

Alex was Black Panther! I wish I had a better picture
he picked his costume in September and LOVED IT!