Leaving Townsend, Mt… on to Yellowstone!

We have loved our time here… I’ll continue from where I left off…

We had decided to check out our roof to see if we could find the leak… but to no avail.  Just could not see what was wrong up there… We’ll just have to hope and pray that we just don’t have many issues until we can get things looked at in California when we arrive.

We were able to get back out on the Canyon Ferry Lake, but we weren’t sure how long for… because the rain clouds were all around us.  But, we headed out and it was great… able to catch a bit of sun, eat a bit of lunch and even Christopher and my cousins jumped in the lake for a bit until the water started to quickly turn choppy and then it was a rush to the dock.  That quick ride back was exhilarating!

Cousins Anne Marie and Steve had us all over for a lovely dinner at their home and it was a great night spent talking and just enjoying family time… After dinner the “men folk” retired to the front porch for lovely views of the fields and mountains, while the women cleaned up and then talked in the living room… a lovely walk back to Kelly and Jeff’s and then it was game night til the wee hours.  Great fun!

The following day, we went seperate ways… Jeff took Ivan and Christopher out to the countryside for some awesome views of the Missouri River and hills/mountains,

while, Deedee, Kelly and I went to Kelsey’s baby shower in Helena.  Kelsey is Tommy’s wife (Tommy is Kelly and Jeff’s son).  I have been on facebook with her, but it as my first time meeting her and I also got to meet Jordyn (Trey’s wife)… another son of Kelly and Jeff’s.  I had the time of my life being with family that I haven’t met in person, but now that I’m moving to the West Coast, I hope to know more of.  🙂

On our way home, Kelly drove us to the other side of the Canyon Ferry Lake and I got to see the Dam and the lovely views…

The evening was spent going to a real hoedown, Montana style!  There is a local family who runs Watson Irrigation in Townsend.  Every summer for the Fourth, they throw a big party and it’s sort of a thank you to the community for their friendship and business… how awesome and just good ol’ American is that?  This shindig invited everyone… come one, come all!  Big country band playing live music… a bronco bull for the kids to ride… fire pit, free bar, huge buffet line of some real awesome food and even sundaes for desert!  The huge topper of the evening was a fireworks display unlike any I’ve seen… for a private display, it outshone many a public display!  It was fantastic!  More hanging out at the house afterwards… Ivan was showing Jeff his roman coins that he likes to tinker with…

I made a promise to Kelly last night that I’d bring Ivan back for Jeff to play with… I’ll have to bring Christopher back for Nathan to play with and I’ll have to come back for Kelly to play with… all in all, our time here was fantastic and we can’t wait to return!  We’ll miss Townsend and our family time here.  It’s now goodbye time and off to Yellowstone!  Not sure of our wi-fi there, but I’ll post when we can!

Day 25 – 100 Day Challenge

Today was a good food day. Plus I came home and exercised with a Leslie Sansone video, too! I did two miles. I felt really good about that.

Also, I discovered a new song that I love! It’s not a new song, actually, but a song that I hadn’t heard before. I was listening to the Ten Tenors on my tablet today at work and they covered a song called Throw Your Arms Around Me that was written by Mark Seymour with Hunters and Collectors (an Australian Rock Band). I had never heard of them before, but I’m downloading an album of theirs from the 80’s and seeing if I like their music. We’ll see.

I love finding new music to listen to.

I’m going to try adding a bit of activity to my day in little bursts… even if I just did minute bursts throughout the day of ab work or arm work, I think it’ll help in the long run… I’m going to give it a go… I think I can try different exercises at work, get away from my desk during my breaks, to stretch and see how that works out… I’ll let you all know how it goes.

I’m heading in to work early in the morning, it’s another Plasma donation day for me, then my son and I are visiting a college on Saturday… so, we are heading into another fairly busy weekend. Unfortunately, that’ll cut into our weekend walk around the lake, but I am sure we’ll fit in a walk on Sunday!

Days 19, 20 and 21 – 100 Day Challenge

Been a busy weekend! We had our huge Scranton St Patricks Parade weekend here. 9th biggest in the country, I believe. Anyway, it’s always a huge production here.

Friday was a normal day, Work but then I donated Plasma. That went well and was alot more relaxed than the previous Tuesday. The only concern is that later that night, I still was bleeding a bit from the needle spot… I’ll have to ask about that next time I donate. Usually when I give blood, I clot up pretty fast, so I’m not quite understanding why it’s not the same with this… size of the needle? Just not sure. Also, my iron is just borderline, but it always is… so I’ll keep having to eat the broccoli and spinach and just keep up with the leafy vegetables and such.

Saturday was parade day… I meant to walk in the parade with my son’s Marching band, but I had no idea when the parade started, so I walked downtown too early and because I only own one green shirt and it’s a short sleeve, low-cut one at that… and the day was a bit cool and windy… well, I was VERY COLD! I just figured that once I got walking, I’d be fine… but instead, I stood there, nearly 2 hours waiting for the parade to start… so just about when it did start, I opted instead to walk to the mall where my former boss was with his son and ordered a hot tea and stayed a bit warm! LOL I did, however, walk downtown, walk to the mall, walk around for the 2 hours trying to stay warm… but then he and his wife drove me to my car where I waited for my son after the parade… then drove home! OH well! I tried!

Today, we went grocery shopping for some healthy foods, got fruits for the week, our greek yogurts, some ground turkey and some canned salmon, etc. I did get some instant cream of wheat, I think that’s good for iron… so I’ll eat that the day before donation day and maybe that will help in my iron levels, too…

Ohhh, and this isn’t quite on plan, but then again, it’s mostly for my co-workers, but we do cut a bit for ourselves… back in December, a girlfriend of mine on facebook posted a 60+ fudge recipes post. Well, I started making different recipes of fudge once a month since then and taking it in to my co-workers. Well, I call it “Fudge Friday”… this Friday coming is going to be “Fudge Friday” and the fudge I’ll be making is a Mint Oreo Cookies and Cream Fudge in honor of St Patrick’s Day… (it’ll be green, of course)… so, I had to purchase the ingredients for that, too… I’ve been picking different recipes every month. Last month’s was the best thus far with a Neopolitan Fudge (strawberry, vanilla, chocolate layered fudge, pink on top for Valentine’s day) I’ve been trying to get very creative! Next month’s fudge is Banana Cream Fudge! It’s been fun, because alot of these I’ve never made before and people at work have never tasted before, either.

Anyway, This morning, I walked around our lake with this guy from work… he’s on a journey to lose weight, too. It was our first “buddy walk” together. He’s a nice guy. My son went with and did his running thing. I like that he goes up there with me, even if he doesn’t walk with me, but I love that he’s fit as well and at least we talk on the way home. The only cause of concern today was that it was very cold, temps in the low 20’s… and my lip was swollen and numb after the walk… almost as if I had been to the dentist and had a procedure done. That’s never happened before and to be honest, it’s still a bit numb and swollen now… even after I’ve typed all this. I don’t know what I could have done to have had that happen… so this is a bit odd and I guess I’ll have to keep an eye on it.

Day 14 – 100 Day Challenge

A beautiful day today! Walked the lake again and today was sunny and gorgeous! Still cold, though, but it felt good to be out in the sunshine! I was able to go with a friend today, which was nice and the walk went by quickly, too! The video posted to Giveit100.com/Cinnamarie1 was just a shot of the lake, I didn’t give any vocals to the video, thought it was too nice to talk, just wanted you all to enjoy the beauty that I did!

Watched a great movie today called Pulling Strings. Well, maybe not “great”, but I enjoyed it… it was a romantic comedy and the lead was handsome, sang well and it was a cute love story and since I’m just such a sap, I always enjoy happy endings, so that’s really all it takes for me to be happy.

Today was basically just a lazy Sunday… after taking my son driving again, I just spent time watching the rest of Season 2 of Showtime’s The Big C (love that show!) and then started watching Season 4 of Nurse Jackie, another favorite of mine and my son’s. We have four more episodes to watch, then we are done with that season, too…. that will be finished tomorrow night, as the only reason I stopped watching it tonight was well… it’s midnight now! LOL

Well, that’s about it, Monday mornings come early and I’m pretty useless at them, so I best get to bed now!

Day 13 – 100 Day Challenge

A nice day today! Started it off with a walk up at Lake Scranton. Christopher wanted to get a run in… and since I don’t run, I got my walk in. Haven’t walked the lake in a while and it was cold! I bundled up! Two pairs of socks, two gloves, two tops and a scarf! It was 32 degrees out, but once I got going, it was fine! I think I’ll go back out tomorrow. I did call a friend to see if she’d go with me, but I ended up walking by myself. Took my husband’s phone and listened to The Killers, that was pretty upbeat and I had a good pace in. The lake is 3.5 miles around, so it was a good walk. I’ll go tomorrow, as well, and a friend has facebooked me that she’ll come with! Yay! It’s always nice going with a friend, seems that the walk goes quicker!

This photo shows my view of my son, who doesn’t walk with me, but instead runs and usually I never see, but when he’s done, he catches up to me, then runs ahead, then back, then ahead, then back! LOL  This is him way ahead of me.  

Today was also spent spending a bit of drivers training time with my son. He’s 17 1/2 but he’s a busy kid. We had driving time in almost a year ago, then last summer, after my hip replacement, he and I were walking the lake and afterwards, we were both in a car accident. I think that shook him up a bit and he hasn’t driven since. It wasn’t our fault, but seeing that another car can just show up out of the blue when we didn’t see it coming, was quite a scare! I always tell him that you can be as safe as you want out there on the road, but you really have to watch for the other drivers as well. I guess it’s a good thing that #1, we were safe, but #2, he got that lesson early on! Most kids who start driving just are still in that “We are invincible” mode and he really got a jolt of reality. So, maybe a blessing in disguise, ya know? Anyway, he did very well today and we’ll probably go back out there tomorrow for more practice.

Then this evening, Ivan and I got some healthy groceries for the week and picked up ‘About Time’ from Redbox. I loved it… really a good movie!

Well, that’s about it for me, going to get to bed as it’s the time change tonight and I don’t want to lose an hour sleep if I don’t have to! LOL I’ll make sure that I get in early so that even with the time change, I’m able to sleep a full 8 hours!