One Of My Current Favorite Snacks

 Hello, all my good friends!   I hope this day is bringing you good energy.  And in return, I also hope that you're putting out twice as much positive energy as you're receiving.

Several weeks ago, I made of one my least favorite trips.  I had to go to Walmart.  I usually like to do most of my grocery shopping at Aldi, but occasionally I'll need some things that Aldi doesn't have.  I try to only make this trip no more than once a month, and I try to stock up on needed things when I do have to go.

However, sometimes I found some awesome treats that I wasn't even trying to look for in the first place.  Since it was a week or 2 before the Super Bowl, you know they were showing off all the game time snacks.  As soon as you walk in to the grocery side, they have some shelves of "seasonal" food items.  Such as back to school snacks, Christmas treats.  Or in this case, game snacks.

Snacks are my weakness.  I love food in general, but I love snacking throughout the day.  I carry multiple snacks in my lunchbox, and I also keep snacks around my desk just in case.

A few years ago someone introduced me to Zapp's Voodoo chips.  They are delicious!  The tangy flavor is to die for!  Zappos has some other flavors of chips that aren't bad, but the voodoo ones are my favorite.

So when I saw that Zapp's now has flavored pretzel chips, I had to try them.  They had both the voodoo flavor ones, and they also had a honey mustard flavor.  You know I had to try them both.  I decided to try the honey mustard ones first.  Oh my, they are heavenly.  I thought I liked the honey mustard and onl=ion Snyder's pretzel bits.  These are even better!  I think I could easily eat half a bag in one setting if I wasn't careful.  I highly recommend these if you enjoy the honey mustard flavor.

I have not tried the voodoo flavored ones yet.  I'm trying to wait until  finish the bag of the honey mustard ones first.  However, if the honey mustard ones are any indication, I am expecting them to be just as good.

I am thinking of adding my PayPal link to my blogs.  If you would be interested in supporting me by making donations, please let me know.

Have a great weekend!  I don't forget to sprinkle kindness everywhere you go!

My Review Of Everything Everywhere All At Once

 Good day, my friends!

I am so happy that it's Saturday!  While it's not the warmest today (high in the mid 40's), at least the sun is shining!  

Since I had some Amazon digital credit that I needed to use before it would expire, I decided to buy the movie Everything Everywhere All At Once.  It is a long title, so I am going to shorten the title to Everything Everywhere so I don't have to type the whole thing out each time.  

I wanted to give my review of the movie, from someone that isn't a movie buff.  I hadn't really heard much about it until recently, until it started to win some awards.  There was a lot of buzz around it, especially due to the lead actress being older and Asian.  I am loving that people are breaking the molds to what it means to being a leading actress in major movies.  And to see Jamie Lee Curtis celebrate Michelle Yeoh's win at the Golden Globes was awesome!

Ok, now to the movie itself.  This is not a movie where you can be scrolling through social media and get what is going on.  Put your phone away.  If you check your Facebook as the movie is playing, I can pretty much guarantee that you are going to miss important details.  You will get lost in the plot and may not know what is going on.

This movie has a lot going on.  An Asian family is struggling to get by, and gets audited.  I don't want to actually talk about the plot too much, I think it might make my head spin a little bit if I try to put it writing.  But let's just say that Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) needs to save the world(s).   There are multiple universes, and they connect with each other.  Evelyn "jumps" from one to the other to use different skills in the universe that she is from.

There's action, drama, comedy, and a little bit of sci-fi, all wrapped up in one movie.  If you want a little bit of Everything, Everywhere, All At Once (see what I did there? lol), this movie is for you.  It comes in at a little over 2 hours, and I will say I paused the movie once or twice so that I could go to the bathroom or get a drink.  But other than those couple of very short breaks, I did watch it all in one sitting.  

So, I do highly recommend this movie.  Put your phone away.  Or at the very least, know to pause the movie if you do need to check it.  Even though I technically didn't pay for this movie due to all my digital credits, I would've been happy to shell out a few bucks for this one.  If you have watched it, please feel free to share what you thought.

It's Super Sunday!

 Good morning, my lovely friends!

First of all, it's Sunday!  That alone makes it a good day.  And on top of that, It's Super Bowl Sunday!  It's my holiday.  I have no problem with working most holidays.  I am lucky enough to get to work with my sister for most of them, including the past 5 Christmas's.  However, when it comes to the big game, I take it off.  It's the one day where I simply enjoy the day.  I even usually take the next day off.  Not because I drink, I choose not to.  I take it off because I might be eating a lot of junk food, and I like to give my system a day to recover.

When I started my current job, I was scheduled to work the 4 Super Bowls that I was in the position (direct care for individuals with intellectual disabilities).  That was just how my rotation worked out.  I tried to switch with people, but that never panned out.  Now don't get me wrong, we had fun.  We had parties, ate some delicious food.  We would get the big stuff done, and then we would enjoy the game.  We did have lots of fun.

When I accepted the current position at my work, I told myself that I would then take the day off, and I haven't worked the past 5 big games (this year will make 6).  There's nothing like getting to watch the game at home (or wherever you would like to celebrate).  I get to make the food that I want, watch the game in my jammies, and just generally relax and enjoy the celebration.

With whatever you choose to do today, I hope you get to enjoy it (even if it's the commercials).  

I'm On A Yogurt Kick

Good morning, my wonderful friends!  I hope you are living your best life!

It's February, and yesterday felt like spring!  Here in western PA, it was a nice 70 degrees outside.  I evened opened up the doors to let some fresh air in!  In ways, I love it being warmer this time of year.  In ways, I know it's not necessarily a good thing due to climate change.  But I did enjoy the day.

I haven't posted much lately on here, and I am sorry for that.  But I need to get back to this creative space. I know I don't stick to one topic on here, it's kind of just a hodge hodge of things on this page.  

As you may know, I follow a plant based diet.  I am in between a vegetarian and a vegan.  Normally I don't seek out food that has eggs or dairy in it.  But I don't really mind if they're in the ingredients.  Lately, I have been really enjoying vanilla honey greek yogurt.  I'm not sure why, I am not normally a huge fan of yogurt.  I don't know if my body is needing something in it, such as more calcium or perhaps the protein.  But about every other day, I have a bowl of it.  And I add mixed berries and granola on it (I love my crunchies!).  

I definitely understand this is not vegan.  If I do continue to want yogurt, I am going to get the Silk Yogurt (it's plant based).  I've had the silk yogurt before, and it's not half bad.  However, I like the consistency of greek yogurt, it tends to be creamier.  Silk does make a greek yogurt, but I haven't been able to find the bigger tubs of it my area.  (Silk, if you're listening, please make the bigger tubs of greek yogurt.)

I know this was a quick, short post.  I'll try to write more next time.  I hope you all have the best day!  

Thanksgiving 1988

The year is 1988.  I am 10 years old, and I love food.  It's Thanksgiving Eve, and I love the smell of the turkey baking in the oven.  If you know me in the least, you know I love to be around the food.  I ask my parents if I can call Grandma and ask to spend the night.  Luckily, she says yes.

I only need to take a couple of things, my grandma only lives maybe 2 blocks away.  It's probably around 6 pm or so, and I walk through my backyard and walk the well known streets over.  If I see any neighbors, I am sure I say hi and gleefully continue on my way.

Grandma is getting a few things ready for the next day.  We find something to watch on tv together (I pray it's not Little House On The Prairie or Bonanza.). I'm sure we don't stay up late, the next morning is going to be busy.  I pick out my favorite blanket that I like to use at her house and snuggle in on the couch and fall asleep probably by 9 or 10.

It seems like I have just fallen asleep when I hear Grandma getting up and getting out the pots and pans and starting the turkey in the roasting pan.  It's a busy morning, and there's lots of work to do.  There are potatoes to mash, yams to make, and green bean casserole for me to drool over.  (One time, she didn't make it, and I almost cried.  She made it every time after that.)

Slowly family starts trickling in.  It's a smaller house, but somehow we managed to probably get 20-30 people in there.  Since it's such a big family, it's kind of a free for all when it comes to where to sit.  I'm lurking in the kitchen, keeping an eye on things.  I want to know as soon as the turkey is coming out of the oven (I am basting it every so often).  It's around 12 pm, and it's finally done.

My dad traditionally carves the turkey.  My favorite part of the turkey is the crispy skin, and I am ready to fight over it.  I am normally first in line, and I load my plate up in the dining room.  Turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, and the jello whip cream dessert.  I hurry up and find a seat.  I am quick, and I find a seat in the living room.

After everyone is done eating, us kids are in the kitchen working on the dishes.  It's a bit, there are lots of things to wash and dry.  And it's a good day.

Times have changed.  My grandma passed away back in 2009.  Lots of us have moved away from Blairsville.  Some of us have jobs that don't close on the holidays.  This year, our little dinner at my mom's is on Friday (my sister Bekah is working daylight on Thanksgiving and I work 3:30-7:30). And I am now plant based/vegetarian.  My mom is awesome.  While I would've gone out to get some sort of veggie turkey, she was kind enough to get me something as a substitute.  It'll be much smaller dinner than the big holiday dinners of my youth, but it will still be memorable.  And I am grateful, happy, and blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving, all my friends.

Update On My Virtual LOTR Challenge

Hello, my beautiful friends!

It's been a bit dreary in my neck of the woods for the past few days.  Hopefully we see some of those lovely sun rays today, but I think it's doubtful.

I'm a little over the halfway mark for the first stretch of the Virtual Lord Of The Rings Challenge from The Conqueror Events.  I have to say, I'm really enjoying this challenge.  I bought and downloaded the kindle version of the entire book.  Fun fact, instead of the 3 books the we have come to know, I guess it was actually written as one long book.  Since I bought the kindle version and it's one long book, it's a little difficult to know at any given moment.  So as I have been working on the virtual challenge, which is around 140 miles, I have also been reading the book.  I've really been enjoying to it, and I have been plugging away at it.  In fact, I've liked it much more than I thought I would!

Well, I thought I was getting towards the end of the first "book."  I was pretty proud of myself.  And then, as I turned the page on the kindle app, I discovered that I was only half way through the first book.  (I know it may be confusing to those that have not read LOTR before, but each of the 3 books actually has "books" in it.  I was kind of disappointed that I was only halfway through it, but then also happy knowing that I still had so much of the story to read!

I normally get roughly around 5 miles in every day (I have it synced so that it calculates my total mileage for the day).  Sometime I get more.  However, this past Friday, the weather forecasters weren't joking when they said it was going to rain all day.  From early in the morning until late in the day, it rained.  and rained.  And rained.  I think I had almost 3 miles in for the day.  And then Saturday, I worked 12 hours.  I did go out for a quick walk before work, so I did manage to get in about 4 miles for the day.

I would like to finish this challenge before the end of the month, and it shouldn't be too much of a problem.  As long as the weather cooperates, I would love to have my finishers medal in hand before Dec 1.

I hope this motivates you to get moving, in whatever way works for you.  If you would like to join the conqueror challenges, please go to https://www.theconqueror.events/

My referral code is theconqueror.events/r/BH9295 (copy and paste into search bar)

LOTR Conqueror Challenge

Hello, my good friends!

I hope you are all safe, blessed, and doing well!  I have been enjoying the decent weather lately and I am looking forward to the 70 degree days we are going to have soon!

Several months ago, I decided to start doing some virtual distance challenges.  I always like having a challenge when it comes to workouts.  While I try to walk on an almost daily basis, I wanted to push myself a little harder.  I had been seeing The Conqueror Challenges online, including a Lord Of The Rings event.  I looked into this site a little more, and noticed that they had different challenges.  They had varying distances; anywhere from 21 miles to well over 2,000 miles!

For my first challenge, I decided on Estrada Real, which I believe was a little over 80 miles.  If you registered early, there was even a chance to win a gold plated finishers medal (unfortunately I didn't win).  I also put out a request to my family to see if they wanted to join.  My sister Bridgett also signed up!  It was so cool that we got to work together to meet our goal!

These challenges are pretty cool.  There is a virtual map to follow, and some even have street views, so you can see where you would be on the actual trail!  They also send you virtual postcards along the way with some interesting local facts about the area. 

Since my sister and I loved this challenge, we signed up for the next new virtual event, Cotswold Way.  This was set in England, which is cool because we have a lot of family ancestors from this country. I also once again opened this up to the family, and my cousin Sarah decided to join us on our challenge.  With all 3 of us, we crushed this 97 mile challenge!

Since The Conqueror Events seems to put out new challenges about once a month, I was patiently waiting for their new one.  My patience definitely paid off.  Their new even was in Transylvania. and I think that is just plain awesome!  And to top that off, they had a buy 2 get 1 free offer.  I kept shuffling the random cards until I got the bundle that I wanted.  My 3 challenges: Transylvania, Appalachian Trail, and the first in The Lord Of The Rings Challenge.

I'm pumped!  I'm saving the Appalachian Trail Challenge to start on New Year's Day.  This will be opened up to anyone close to me that would want to join me on this almost 2,000 mile virtual challenge.  For the Transylvania Challenge, I opened it up to my family, and Bridgett and Sarah are once again with me on this challenge.  I believe we are roughly 25% done with it (maybe more).  

And then there's the LOTR challenge, which I am doing individually.  I have never read the books or seen the movies.  It's not like I never wanted to (unlike Star Wars, I will NEVER watch that).  I just haven't.  I figured what a perfect time to start reading the books!  Since I know that these are long books, I purchased the kindle version.  I didn't want to order a physical book online and then the print be too small for more.  It's not that I need large print, but I don't like what seems like tiny print.

I am going to continue writing about this these challenges, especially LOTR.  LOTR has I believe 5 challenges total, so it may take me a bit.  And I am very much enjoying reading the first book already!

I hope I inspire you in some way.  Whether it be to get out there and exercise or to read more.  I'd love to hear from you if I do!

If you're interested, hear is my referral link for the Conqueror Events: theconqueror.events/r/BH9295 (copy and paste if needed)

Vacation Reflection

 

Good day, my friends!  I hope that you are happy, blessed, and doing well!

It's back to work tomorrow after my wonderful vacation week.  I could not have asked for a better time off. 

As you know, I worked a little extra before my vacation started last weekend.  But once it got started, it was great from beginning to end.  It got off to a great start with an overnight trip with my Aunt Karen to Erie.  I was blessed to be able to spend a coupe of days with her.  My Aunt Karen is a very special person to me, and I will cherish every moment of this trip.  I have a feeling that we will be doing more trips every so often from now on.  (And going to my new favorite chocolate store Romolo if the trip is to Erie.)

The rest of the week I just took day by day.  I got some lovely little photo trips during my time off.  I could not have asked for a better time to go out and take some pictures.  The weather and the fall colors were perfect.  Other than about a day or so of rain, the rest of the week was gorgeous!  I used both my Nikon and my iPhone to take some pics, and I will honestly say that I am loving my new iPhone!  For some of the pics, I may not know which camera it was if I wasn't the one taking the pics.

I also got to spend some extra time with my mom.  We went out to Buttermilk Falls one evening.  It had been years since she has been out there.  We also went to Hell's Hollow so that she could see the waterfalls.  She had never been there, and she was very impressed with the view.  This is also one of my favorite places for some photography.  We lucked out.  Since it was still a little early in the day, it wasn't too busy.  A couple of groups of people were already on their way out on the trail and one gentleman was packing up his camera gear as we walked down the stairs to the falls.  You may know that I love slow shutter pic when it comes to waterfalls, and I think I snagged some great pics.

I will say that yesterday (Saturday) I did go in to work for a few hours.  The schedulers promised me Reeses, apple cider, and party mix if I would go in.  And you know how I like my food.  Even though I really didn't want to go in, I know they were in a pinch and I decided I would help out.

Today has pretty much been a chill day.  I got some laundry done this morning and I had to go to the store to get some groceries.  Other than that, I have just been relaxing.  And by relaxing, I mean I did go for a 3.5 mile walk through town.

Sadly, my vacation is just about over.  I am certainly not dreading going back to work tomorrow, but don't we always wish that we could have 1 more day off?  I am now looking forward to my next time off, Thanksgiving weekend!  I see you, Holiday Friends And Family Party!

I'm Now A Fan Of Farmer's Markets

 

Howdy, folks!  I hope you are blessed, healthy, and doing well!

This might be a short post, but I wanted to share with you that I am now a big fan of farmer's markets.  Up until recently, I had never really been to one.  I have always liked the concept, but never actually got around to going to one.  The idea of supporting local is of course very important.  However, I thought it was difficult to find the time to go to my local markets.

My local farmer's market in town is on Mondays. I almost always work until 4 pm on Mondays, and I try to get my workout in as soon as possible after getting home.  By the time I would be ready to go, it maybe would be pushing 5:30.  And you know I have to eat dinner before it gets too late.  I believe my local market is open until 6:30, and I wasn't sure what the options would be like getting that late.

About a month ago, I wanted to make an effort to actually try going one Monday.  I figured it would be a light workout day, with the walk to and from being the workout (it's roughly about a mile walk to get there from my house).  In fact, the first time I went, I had to wait out a short rain shower.  

Well, I am glad I went.  While there were only about 2 or 3 stands, they had everything I wanted.  My purpose that day was at least getting a few green peppers and just generally checking the place out.  I was also pleasantly surprised with the fact that they also took credit cards.  (You have to understand, I live in a small town and I wasn't sure if the small local vendors would take plastic.)  I did take cash just to be sure, though.

The people were very friendly.  They answered the couple of questions that I had and were helpful.  

I have since been going almost every Monday.  And while I don't think he was there the first time I went, there is also a guy that sells mushrooms!  I believe that he grows most of the mushrooms, but he also goes out and harvests some from the woods.  I leave with my reusable bags full and a big smile on my face.  While there may not be too many weeks left in the season, I will definitely be making sure I go and supporting our local farmers going forward.

And please cross your fingers for me that they have apple cider this upcoming Monday!

Much Needed Trip To Erie

 

Hello, my good friends!

I hope you all are blessed, healthy, and doing well!

I am on vacation!  It's a good feeling!  I have been looking forward to this for a bit.  Oddly enough, my sister and I planned for the same vacation week but not on purpose.  

Last week was a little crazy.  Someone in the family, not naming names, decided to throw their back out.  Guess it's just a sign that someone is getting old lol.  At work, it was also the Employee Family Fall Picnic.  It was so nice seeing everyone gathered again for the first time since before Covid.  And guess what?, they also had a Nacho Bar!  Freaking awesome!  And then, while my vacation was supposed to start at 3:30 Friday afternoon, I decided to work an extra 12 hours.  4 hours Friday evening, and then a full daylight shift on Saturday.  The schedulers even tried to get me to work Sunday, and I had to kindly tell them that I was on vacation and would be out of town.

I had been looking forward to this overnight trip for a little bit.  Last month, my Aunt Karen and I talked about how we had been wanting to do something together for quite some time.  We actually started taking about doing something way back in 2019, but didn't get around to it due to that stupid Covid 19. 

Time is short, do the things.  And what a better time to do something than in October when the colors are so beautiful.  After texting with my aunt for a little bit, we decided we would go to Erie.  For me, it's about a 2 hour drive.  For my Aunt, in a semi different direction, it is about a 3 hour drive.  What I love about Erie is that it's far enough to feel like I am getting away, but I am not sitting in a car all day.  

We never finalized a time to meet in Erie, so I texted her that I was heading up Sunday morning, but she didn't need to rush.  Right as I was getting to my favorite bookstore in Erie (Werner Books), I get a message back from her that she was in Erie.  After shopping for a few minutes and finding a couple of books, I headed her way.  She was in a little coffee shop up from the hotel.  We chatted for a bit there, until it was time to check in at the hotel.  Unfortunately, our rooms weren't quite ready, so we just hung out in the lobby talking about serial killers and documentaries (my favorite topics of late).  

After we got our rooms, I quickly changed and we went across the road to Sloppy Duck to grab some dinner.  I love the atmosphere of this place, but my options were limited.  I basically had a couple of appetizers and a veggie wrap to choose from (I chose the wrap).  

My aunt had never really been to Erie before, other than a graduation years back.  We drove to the land lighthouse, which I had also never been to.  It was cool to see, but tours were over for the day and weeds/small trees blocked to view from the lake.  If any officials in Erie are reading this, please cut the overgrowth down so that people can actually see what is probably an amazing view of the lake.

Since it was getting close to 6 pm and I could tell the sunset was going to be pretty, I recommended that we drive to Presque Isle.  I could tell my aunt wasn't overly impressed at first.  As you're driving up Presque Isle, there isn't much of a view of the lake.  There are trees/hills of sand blocking most of the view.  At a certain point, she decides to head back down the road and I think pretty much decides that she may as well get out and see the lake.  And then BAM...... She sees the view as we get out of the car and get a view.  The sun was just starting to set and get in the golden hour.  As we start to see the water, the wind slams us in the face.  It was weird.  There was pretty much no wind until we walk on to the beach.  This was the windiest I had ever seen it.   The waves were also the biggest that I had seen.  I could feel the san pelting me in the face.  However, the view was beautiful.  And my aunt was in awe.  I was so happy to see her in that moment.  While the whole trip was amazing, this moment made it all worth it.

We both got some nice pics.  I quickly played around with editing some of them, and I look forward to playing with more pictures to pull out the color.  

By the time we got back to the hotel, it was a little after 7 and I think we both were ready just to settle in to rooms at that point.  It was an especially long day for my aunt, I believe she worked her night turn shift the night before.

The next morning, we were both excited to try to chocolate place we saw the day before.  Oh my yummy goodness.  Romolo Chocolates smelled amazing the moment we walked in the door.  Everything looked amazing.  After a semi quick walk around the place, I decided to get a few things.  I had to stop looking, I kept seeing tasty treats that sounded wonderful.  (I'll be trying to melt-a-ways next time).  I left with some peanut butter cups, caramel chocolates, and some chocolate sponge (didn't know what it was, but I guess their's is really good).

On our way back, we met up the Grove City Outlets, and we both got a few things.  A lot of the stores had some good sales, and you know I love my Under Armor gear.  And this is where we parted ways.  

I can't tell you guys how much this trip made my heart smile.  Seeing my aunt so happy was amazing.  While this trip was way too short, I think we both are looking forward to the next one.  And who knows, maybe Mommy Pants will also be coming along.