November Turns to December

A final wrap up of our holiday weekend. I did my Black Friday shopping on Wednesday. I saw that flannel was 75% at Joann's. The sale ran from Tuesday through Saturday. My sister and I spent a couple of hours combing the racks. She makes cute flannel PJ pants for Christmas and I am always looking to increase my stash for baby blankets. At one point we had two cart loads of bolts. Thankfully, I was able to narrow mine down. I buy two fabrics for each blanket to make it reversible. I try to stick to the rule of not buying unless I find two I want to put together. I might have bought a couple this time that I didn't match because well, I just couldn't stop myself.

We ran into Sam's Club. I am looking for food storage containers to use to store a few things for my niece (and myself). I love the pint/quart containers our local Chinese restaurant uses for soup. I couldn't help but notice something odd on this sign. Check out the difference between the soda prices if you buy the pizza combo or if you buy the hotdog combo. Why?

I didn't join the early morning Black Friday shoppers. I did finally venture out around 6 p.m. on Friday. I didn't buy anything interesting. However, I did happen to be in Walmart when they marked down their chickens for the day. I ended up buying this cheap chicken. We had a nice chicken dinner.

The bones went into the stock pot this morning with carrots, onions and celery to make some delicious chicken broth for my soup adventures. I am thinking of the Brussels sprouts and how good they might be in a soup, maybe with some rice...

This was a first for me. I have never bought veggies you steam in the package. I love snap peas but my husband is not a fan so I took this package to work. They were delicious.

Saturday we had a grand adventure with my niece. We kinda failed in the aunt/uncle department for her birthday this year. We could never decide what to get her. Well, six months later we finally celebrated. She wanted a day with us just having an adventure...so sweet.

We decided to take a short road trip and just poke around the little towns we came across. Our final destination was my husband's hometown (until he was three). Our first stop was lunch at a little family owned restaurant. I brought this candle with us so we could celebrate and sing happy birthday to her any time we ate. Despite pictorial evidence to the contrary, my niece is not a sour cream freak. We actually ordered her sour cream on the side, but then they inadvertently put it on top as well as brought it on the side. They ended up making her a new batch without sour cream and my husband and I ate the sour cream batch. So much for a small lunch.

We weren't planning dessert at this place, but after the owner saw our little celebration (and the sour cream incident) he sent over this brownie sundae. It was so nice and made the day a little extra special.

We weren't planning dessert at the first stop because I had seen this soda fountain online that I wanted to try. I was so excited to be sitting at the counter watching the girl make the sodas. I was taking this picture when she says...ummm this one is just an ice water. Ooops!  That was a little embarrassing. 

I made sure she was actually making my husband's root beer float before I took the next picture!  I love how it worked out getting my husband and niece's reflections watching as she made the float.

And this is my float in the making....a Green River. It is a lime soda with vanilla ice cream. It was good, but we all agreed we should have all just shared one float.

They shop had tons of Coca-Cola memorabilia.  We found these signs in the restrooms. Apparently Coke relieves fatigue....

But our favorite was the "ideal brain tonic".  I am not even sure what that means!

One of our favorite road trip activities is the Photo Safari. I have a basic list and then try to tailor it for the area we are driving through. #49 a used candle...of course, I knew we would have one by the end of the trip :)

We walked around the town square of my husband's hometown. His parents both grew up and went to school together in this tiny town. They built their first house here then moved when my husband was three and his brother nine. It was my first time visiting the town.

When his maternal grandfather (the town blacksmith) passed away they planted this tree in the square as a memorial. It has had quite a growth spurt since 1981.

I had to check out this shop. It was perfect. We ended up chatting with the owner who had gone to school with my husband's parents.

I could have parked myself for hours looking through all the books.

I should have bought this one about the Stalker Skunk.

We also visited the cemetery where his paternal grandfather is buried. This is not his gravestone, but I was intrigued by all the details included - I see a tree stump and an anchor. Makes me curious. Unfortunately, it was cold and rainy, but if we go back again I want to examine it a little more closely.

I love when people make fun things out of scrap.

We walked around another town square on our way home. There is so much character in those old courthouses.

I think this train is going to run out of track soon :)

Love, love, love these paintings on some of the old buildings.

I was a little disappointed that most of the shops were already closed by 3 p.m. I thought for sure places would be open until 5 p.m. at least since it was Small Business Saturday. I was stunned by the hours at this shop!  As we walked up the the owner was locking up the shop :(

Okay, so that wraps up November and now it is time to move into December. I have been thinking about how to handle the holidays. I am not doing well by any stretch on my eating. I think I would be setting myself up for abject failure if I try to go hardcore during December. However, I seriously can NOT afford to gain any more than I have.  I have decided on three goals for this month. These are in addition to my ongoing Jedi exercise streak....15 days until The Force Awakens.

1) 100 ox. of water per day
2) 5 fruits/veggies per day
3) Make the next best choice

That's it nice and simple. I am going with an "adding" approach instead of a "subtracting" approach. I will let those goals help me define my food choices. Last summer when my ladies group had these goals it made a difference in my overall eating since I was filling up with good choices making less room for poor choices. The "next best choice" will keep my mindful that every choice is an opportunity to make a good one. I am getting a late start on this goal (December snuck up on me), but starting with December 3rd I will posting my results for each day.  For accountability, I will post how much water I drank, which fruits/veggies I ate and an example of my "next best choice" for that day.

What are you plans for health/fitness through the holidays?