30 Days of Gratitude: Day 25

Well.....where did I leave off?!? This weekend, like all holidays, was quite the whirl-wind! Wednesday night we went back to Waukesha to visit my side of the family for Thanksgiving.

Thursday was a blast, as usual! After popping the bird in the oven Mom and I went out for a nice long walk, nothing like getting the day started by trying to get ahead of the turkey gain...i mean game! There are so many things to be grateful for on this day, so many in fact, I'll start with the things I'm certainly NOT grateful for. Mostly it's just one thing. I was not grateful for the stupid tin foil that burned a batch of my cheese crisp crackers in the morning! Then I discovered Mom had parchment paper....all better!

I'm grateful for the time Chris and I had to spend with my immediate and extended family. My cousins have grown up so fast (the youngest is in college this year!), of course that also means that I've grown up so fast....where did time go! I'm thankful for family.


This is what Thanksgiving at the Wendorf/Schmidt Households looks like. Everyone in the kitchen pitching in, a few vultures flying around trying to pick up little bits of scraps before the big meal, and all in all...total madness!


This is Jax and her 10lbs...I repeat....10lbs of mashed potatoes!


Papa carving the turkey and TJ the mash potato vulture trying to sneak a taste from Jax before we sit down.




Later Thanksgiving night Chris and I headed out to Johnson's Creek with my brother, Jacki and another couple to shop til drop at the midnight sales at the outlet center. The main target was Banana Republic Outlet that opened at 10pm. We came, We saw, We conquered! Chris and I stuck around a little longer and picked up some stuff from the Adidas outlet. Worth staying up so late and getting to sleep in the next morning.....ish.....to be continued...

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 24

Earlier this week one of my amazing IA(Interior Architecture) professors was killed in a car crash.

She has three beautiful little girls and the giggles of those little girls is one of the many great memories I have from spending time in the studio at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for having been blessed with the privilege of a quality education and having known such wonderful educators throughout my lifetime.

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 23

I'm grateful for new opportunities.

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 22

So as I had another blah Monday I had to look back at all the Monday's of my 30 Days of Gratitude....long story short....not so great. Mondays must not be my day!

I'm grateful today for the eucalyptus steam room at our gym. A lot of people claim working out helps them relieve stress. For me, not so much. I think I get more worked up because I get my heart rate going and it brings all my nasty rage (<- I'm sure you can't imagine I have any of that, but Chris can!) to the surface. I heart the steam room because that is my "me" time (unless someone else is in there with me). I don't need to talk, think or listen to anything. Just focus on my breathe and chill!

I'm thankful for that darn steam room!

Not Hating on the Turkey....

I'm not hating on The Turkey....because I LOVE Thanksgiving! I mean seriously, have you been reading this blog, we love food!

With Thanksgiving though comes travels, making trips back to Port Edwards and Waukesha. I'm thinking of hosting Thanksgiving next year....make everyone travel to us! Plus we love to cook!

So I'm getting way off track here, the whole point of not hating on the turkey is because this past weekend we decked our house out for Christmas! I just can't wait...I mean we can't wait! As I mentioned last year we moved into our new home at the end of November and had practically nothing for Christmas decorations and worst of all, no Christmas tree. All that has changed this year!


Here is our tree and some of my favorite ornaments, new and old.

30 Days of Gratitude: Days 19-21

NOVEMBER 19TH
Friday....Friday alone by itself is enough to be grateful for. TGIF right? But this Friday I was extra grateful for a safe flight home for Chris and safe travels for the Mint Bailey Sisters (Barb-Mom and Carol-Aunt) who made their way to Appleton for some Christmas shopping!






NOVEMBER 20TH
I'm very grateful for the usual Saturday morning breakfast treatment I get from the hubbs. This Saturday Chris got to treat his mom and aunt to this fabulous breakfast fun as well.

The ladies headed out to brave the crowded mall while Chris and I headed up to the roof...yeah...the roof. Time for Christmas lights!!! Yipee! Honestly, I was the only one really excited about this. We did everything right. We measured where we wanted the lights, we remembered to check that the lights could plug in to each other end-to-end and that they were all the same color lights and cords <-- who knew? We checked for where on the house we were going to plug the lights in and remembered a timer, gutter/shingle clips and extension cord. We got it all! After a couple hours on the roof, a few mini arguments and a few strange looks from neighbors wondering why the wife was on the roof and the husband was watching and cracking jokes from the ground making me laugh harder than I should be up on the roof of a house! ;) We got everything done! Only to find out our second set of lights were plugged in backwards and we couldn't light them up....so we went inside and called it a day! We'll have to fix that issue another day, enough was enough! So no pictures of the lights were taken....obviously.

I figured I better work on a project I can't mess up...a pre-lit Christmas tree...sweet, wonderful, easy work :) I finished the tree just in time to make some yummy grub for the family. No pictures here either...way too hungry and tired to remember. My Bad.

So.....I was grateful on Saturday for a great breakfast I didn't have to make, for 50% off everything Christmas at Hobby Lobby, for not falling off the roof, and for Mint Baileys....yes....Mint Baileys.

NOVEMBER 21ST
I know Carol will like this one.....I'm thankful for leftovers....Chicken Spinach Melts, salad, meatball panini's and pinot grigio!

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 18

I'm grateful Chris comes home from a very long.....way too long.....trip to Indy tomorrow. I miss him very much, and dislike his job at the moment. Only dislike because hate is a very strong word! ;) Okay, Snuggle time now with my love... Lola...not Chris!

Until tomorrow...where I feel some Mint Bailey's in our future....weird!?!