My list

Well - I've given my notice at my 'second' job so that I can have more time for life, me, RB and my friends and family. But in doing so - I'm all the sudden more busy than before! LOL - it's a good thing - I'm spending time with more people and meeting new people and learning a lot.

So...the subject of this post - My List.

There are things that I want to try and accomplish in the next couple of months.

1.) Book more Tastefully Simple parties and see where that takes me. Also - tied to that is - put together a basket for the Walk from Obesity fundraiser on September 17 in Syracuse.

2.) Get my house cleaned up, spruced up, patched up, painted, and get the floors waxed. I can do all of this, just need to put my mind to it. :)

3.) Make and SEND Christmas cards this year. The make part isn't too hard - the SEND part is harder for me - I seem to have a mental lapse.

4.) Make and SEND Christmas gifts. This is hard - I usually take the approach that everyone needs something different, unique to them. Well - that's all fine and good, but it tends to make me stop dead in my tracks and not do anything. So - I'm going to think of a more generic gift for people - straight from my heart and my hands.

5.) Decorate for Christmas this year. The last few years my house has been very sparsely decorated - and this year I think that outside lights (just a few- not going crazy) and a nice sized tree in the house will be in order.

6.) Rearrange my Dining and Living rooms - which means flipping them - but that goes back to #2 - painting, waxing, patching, cleaning. :)

7.) Be there more for my friends and try to be a better friend to them.

That's it for now - maybe I'll be able to stick to it better!

Stillwater Reservoir

RB and I went camping this past weekend. It was the first time we've gone alone - and didn't have someone already at Stillwater with the camp site all picked out and set up. It was fun! First - we had too much stuff to make one trip in the boat. You have to have a boat to get to the sites at Stillwater - well there is one site that is available by car - but what fun is that?
So RB and I loaded up the boat - put the rest of the stuff on the beach by the dock and I waved goodbye to him as he went to the only site left in the whole place! I figured it would take about 1.5 hours - it was actually closer to two, but I got to meet and speak with a lot of different people. And Charlie, the beautiful golden retriever, slept at my feet and was a sweetheart toward the end of my wait.
When RB did show up, I could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't impressed with the site that we had. He had a lot of hauling - uphill to get things up to the camping area. And the beach was a whole 4 feet wide. Well - we filled the boat with the rest of the stuff and took another ride to site 18. Long story short - yes it was a haul up a hill and if you had to run from a bear it would be scary going down the root stairs. But it was beautiful. Breathtaking. Peaceful. Wonderful. Our site was set up so well - we had a huge tarp that acted as a rain break just in case - it was 10'x20' and covered the tent and a nice little space for RB and I to sit and watch the fire. Lots of firewood, beautiful view, and a privy - aka box in the woods to do your business.
Swimming was very enjoyable from our site as was fishing! I caught three keeper size small mouth bass and one baby - we (RB) let all of them go. I just enjoy the thrill of catching them - it's enjoyable....
The trip home was one boat trip - we were able to consolidate - so that made it easier. Plus RB built a trailer for the boat - so that in itself made everything much easier unloading into the truck.
Another great summer weekend....
:)

Summer, Summer, Summer

It has been one of the best, busiest, most lovely summers since childhood. It started out shaky (of course) with all of the rain and yucky weather that we have had, and I was working too much and got sick (shingles and upper respiratory infection). But now that I've dropped a lot of the hours - and spent a lot of time outside - I'm feeling tons better!

I did do the 40 mile Tour De Cure - a few minutes faster than last year - and three days into shingles and I didn't even know it! I knew something was wrong - but had no idea what it was - and in typical Michelle fashion I basically ignored it that day.

July fourth weekend we went camping up at Stillwater Reservoir. It was awesome! The weather was great - RB has a boat now - so we didn't have to borrow the his friends Ganoe (a very fun and interesting little boat, but RB's boat is a bit bigger and less apt to tip).  We set up our tent on the beach of a little island - we were with 3 other couples, they were up in the wooded area more but we had a beautiful view of the lake in it's glory.

This was the view from our tent - about 5 am - the sun was just coming up.

The first night we were there - trying out the boat - the fishing poles and relaxing - beautiful sunset - I took a LOT of pictures. 

For the last few weeks RB has been building a boat trailer - he amazes me with his talent. It turned out fantastic and "Speed Racer" ,as the boat has been dubbed, fits on it like it was born to be there!  Then he got his hands on a 9.5HP 1969 Evinrude motor and we've been out testing it - he's been doing a lot of work on it too. So the culmination of all of this is that we are going camping again this weekend. YEAH!!!!

I'm so thankful that God has put RB and all of my wonderful friends in my life. KS and I will get some time together next week - and see BH up at the Delta Lake Inn.