Monday, February 3, 2025
Hello, family! Let’s start with the LEGO wreath—I’m on bag 7 of 9, and it’s been such a blast I went ahead and ordered the Notre Dame Cathedral set. It’s 4,383 pieces, so I should be happily buried in LEGO bricks until Spring. Last weekend, I recorded 150 phrases on Sunday to create a digital version of my voice. It took overnight for the software to finish doing whatever it does to create my voice.
Monday, February 3, 2025
Good morning, all! For those of you who made New Year’s vows, it’s “National Ditch New Year’s Resolution Day.” Everyone except Alex…he’s just getting started on his marathon training for the Chicago marathon on October 13. There’s not too much to ramble on about this morning. I’m still putting the Lego wreath together. Legos have come a long way since I played with them as a child, or at least what I remember.
Monday, February 3, 2025
Good morning, world (or, more specifically, my family!) Today was the perfect day to stay inside. With temperatures hovering around 5°, I took one look out the window and said, “Nope.” Let’s be honest—what and why do I need to be outside? I spent the day bouncing around on a variety of activities. First, there was Tax-Aide volunteer work (thrilling, I know), then my actual taxes (because apparently, the IRS insists on punctuality), entertaining TV, building Legos, and some serious reading.
Monday, February 3, 2025
Happy Birthday to Geoff!! Cindy and I will do a toast. Who wants glass a Veuve Clicquot? Cheers!!! 🥂 Yesterday’s summary was a bit of a bummer to write. That one hurt. Now it’s time to get back on the horse. We are getting close to the start of the bathroom remodel. Any day now…the tile and flooring will be available to pick up. 700 lbs of tile and 1200 lbs of wood flooring.
Monday, February 3, 2025
Good morning from the Heartland! This time of year, waking up to single-digit temperatures—or worse—is just part of the deal. Yesterday was one of those frigid mornings, so, of course, the fireplace is the first thing to turn on…ahead of the coffee maker. There’s nothing like the instant comfort of plopping bare feet onto the fireplace hearth and feeling the warmth of a fire. I recommend it to everyone!! And our swivel chairs?
Monday, February 3, 2025
Good morning y’all. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO CINDY!!! This is a long one…sorry We said goodbye to Maria and Pete yesterday after a fun 24 hours filled with birthday celebrations, shopping, and cozy fireside chats. Pete even helped change the light bulb at the top of the stairs, which had been burned out for two years (!?!?). He managed to get the two old TVs, that we parked in the loft over the holiday, out of the house.
Monday, February 3, 2025
Good morning, everybody! Yesterday was a great day of getting together with family and celebrating Geoff and Cindy’s birthday along with Pete and Maria, whose actual birthday was yesterday. Maria invited us to Minocqua for some respite because it’s not cold enough here in Chicago. When we passed the offer, she thought it a good idea to invite herself to Crystal Lake…and I thought the same. It’s not often we get to see her; it is rare for Maria and Pete to be together.
Monday, February 3, 2025
Happy birthday Maria! See you this afternoon for some laughs and togetherness. Well, we have floors for the bedroom and we saved $9 over the other quote. Woohoo!! The remodel is two weeks away and we may have all our materials by then. 😃 We had a light dusting of snow yesterday. I typically always went out and cleaned up most of the driveways in our HOA. Instead, I watched from the house as our neighbor Fred, who is nearly 80, did all the shoveling, including our driveway and sidewalk.
Monday, February 3, 2025
TGIF. It was a busy week and we have a busy weekend. I missed two appointments this week. One of my doctors and a haircut. Sometimes the cold fashion way of keeping appointments on our calendar doesn’t work so well. There is good technology out there , I should use it!! Our remodel project starts in two weeks. I had flooring picked out and ready to buy. When the email quote arrived, there was a line item that was suspiciously high.
Monday, February 3, 2025
Good morning all. Yesterday was a day a quiet day. I was going back and forth on Tax-Aide stuff, bath remodel, reading, and trying to take a nap. I failed on the last one which surprised me seeing how I woke up at 2:30 am, after tossing and turning, starting at 12:30 am. My sleep app had me logged in with 4 hours of sleep. Last night was 8.5 hours. I feel refreshed today and 5:00 am felt like sleeping in!
Monday, February 3, 2025
Good morning to you all. I started my day yesterday with an early breakfast meeting with some of the Tax-Aide volunteers. I was meeting them to pass off some the leadership the items that are most difficult for me. This will allow me to keep the tasks that I can do easily from the comfort of home ( in front of the fire). One of the team members I’ve worked with for 10 years made a comment last month that weighed on my mind.
Monday, February 3, 2025
Good morning Tuesday! To keep our bathroom remodel project moving along, we went to Studio 41 in Palatine. Wow!! There are too many options for putting together a stunning bathroom. If it weren’t for the cost, I would redo the master bath. I think we will end up with an ADA compliant bathroom and one that looks modern and sleek. Stay tuned. After 5 hours of shopping yesterday and a lot of up and down to look at bath options, I was worn out and didn’t do much in the late afternoon.
Monday, February 3, 2025
Welcome to Monday! If you’re in the midsection of the U.S., then you have/are experiencing a good amount of snow. Be safe! It was a quiet Sunday as I thought it would be. I bounced around doing various paperwork projects. Watched the Bears finally win in Green Bay…1st time since 2018. Our neighbor Fred gave me more reading material. I hope I’m not as busy as last year, when I didn’t read a single book until May.
Monday, February 3, 2025
Good morning everybody. It’s a frosty day and I’m cozied up by the fire and the remote has the current temperature within 5 feet to be near 74. Cindy just returned from walk where the temperature is 12°F. In the past we would always walk Bear together and at least misery had company. It seems unfair that Cindy is picking up all the slack, and she does it without complaint…all day long.
Monday, February 3, 2025
I read the following headline yesterday: “Diabetes, high cholesterol linked with lower risk of developing ALS” Well crap, if I had paid even less attention to my diet, then maybe I’d be in a different boat Who knew? Something for others to consider …if you dare. Cindy has been running all over town trying to keep things moving along on the bathroom project, shopping for the household, and making trips to Senior Care to pick up durable medical equipment from their lending closet.
Monday, February 3, 2025
TGIF! A well deserved break for the working class. It’s always hard to go back to work after the holidays. January is a tough month because we always have HOA stuff, Tax-Aide (I only withdrew as a leader), and now home remodeling. 😵💫 Yesterday was just that…a full day of paperwork. I think it was 3:00 pm before I changed out of the pajamas so I could feel normal. Lucky nobody stopped over.
Monday, February 3, 2025
The 1st day of the new year, there is nothing like staying in the pj’s and watching college football all day. Well, that’s what I did. Cindy spent the better part of the morning cleaning up from New Year’s Eve…she wouldn’t take any help. Then a good afternoon nap for her was well deserved. I tried to make some progress on the bathroom remodel. We got our 3rd quote and it’s in the ballpark of being reasonable.
Monday, February 3, 2025
Happy New Year! 🎉🥳🎊 We came a lot closer to the midnight hour than we have in past years. It’s one of the reasons I’m late getting this to you. We stayed up past 10:00pm Can you believe that?!?!This was a party that started at 4:30pm. We had our usual spaghetti and meatball dinner. We had an expanded guest list and it was so much fun to be with family and friends.
Monday, February 3, 2025
Happy New Year’s Eve I was reflecting on 2024 yesterday thinking about all the great memories we have made this year and there were so many (see note to follow). The ALS diagnosis has cast a long dark shadow in my life and yours. It hasn’t killed my spirit although there are days where it isn’t as bright. Still, I look at what life has brought me and it is so full of positives that the light does shine through the darkness.