Legoland

Two weeks to go😬

Flights? Check.

Flying out of Eugene at the buttcrack of dawn. I have considered getting a hotel close by so I get a little more sleep before I need to be at the airport. Otherwise I will have to leave the house by 3am😲 so that has a pin in it for now.

Park tickets? Check.

A two day park hopper was around $155.00. This includes the regular theme park and the water park. BTW I also love water parks😁 This is going to be an awesome trip!

Hotel? Check.

We picked a hotel that was about a mile away from the park. We looked into the Legoland Resort, which was cool with all of their themed rooms but it was just too expensive. Around $300 more which could buy a lot of legos lol.

Packing? In progress.

The suitcase is on the floor, conveniently placed so that when I think of things I need I can just throw them in. I will organize it in a few days. I got a tip from a reader to try rolling my clothes for packing. I usually use stuff sacks but I have heard of this but never tried it. I will see how this goes. A small backpack for the park with a hard sided food container for snacks, water bottle, sweat cloth, battery pack for my phone, cord, antibacterial wipes, bandaids, duct tape for blisters, lip balm and sunscreen.

Dog sitter? Check😁

Axel, Kohl, Ozzy and a plus one, Sunny lol and the cats but they are pretty self sufficient. Krystal is dropping Sunny off on their trip down. They will be driving. Kris will take care of them Saturday and then Tracy will take over starting Sunday. She is the best and all the animals love her.

This is going to be a bonzai trip for sure. Same time frame as Disneyland. Fly out, park for two days and fly back. The only difference is that I had more time to prepare.

Legoland

In less than Thirtydays

So, the title says it all. I’m going to Legoland with less than a month to plan. My daughter, Krystal, is my opposite. She could pack tonight and leave tomorrow for anywhere. I need at least three months to plan a trip. I am not a spontaneous person. I am calculated lol.

She came up with the brilliant idea to go to Legoland for Camden’s birthday, next month. I’ve always wanted to go. For those of you who don’t know me, I love theme parks and Legos lol. Roller coasters are my favorite. I know that the park is geared more towards little kids but I would love to experience it through Camden’s eyes. So here I am, scrambling to plan flights, hotel rooms, dog sitters, pack and organize details.

Flying Allegiant would be my first choice because of price and convenience. It’s a direct flight, but they only fly on certain days of the week. I can fly out of Eugene, choosing the dates but it’s twice as much as Allegiant and there is a layover in San Francisco. I could fly out of Portland which is cheaper but there’s the three hour drive. So, I need time. Much more time to figure out the flight and packing and doing the walk throughs in my mind of how things will go down.

Packing. I have my paper list going. I feel like it makes the trip seem more organized if I write it all down. The trip would require two days of travel clothes and two days at the park so that wouldn’t require a lot. I am going with carry-on. It’s so much easier than dragging a big bag. In all reality, if I forget something I can buy it when I am there. I guess I shouldn’t stress so much on packing but it’s just in my nature lol.

Thirtydays 2021 recap

Well, and just like that. 2021 is one and done. I guess that should have been my new year’s resolution. Blog for a whole year. I’m actually kind of proud of myself for sticking to it. I think I’m going to print it out so I can read it beginning to end.

So, recap. I’m a little late with this. I quit the gym for a couple of months and I found that was when I blogged the most. So, back at the gym and back to the blog. How do I blog and workout at the same time? Well, my favorite machine is the ARC trainer. It’s just like an elliptical but no arms so that leaves my hands free to type on my phone. Lol helps with my balance too!

Twelve 30 day goals.

1. No online shopping

2. No candy/chocolate

3. Shop small

4. The Purge

5. Green drinks

6. No snooze

7. 64oz water

8. Trash less

9. Trash less 2.0

10. No social media

11. Anti-inflammatory diet

12. Bullet journal

Favorite thirtydays?

It would have to be trash less. I learned a lot about my garbage habits and how I look at packaging of the stuff I purchase. I am still using the un-paper towels and handkerchiefs. I rarely use paper plates and disposable silverware. I bring my reusable shopping and produce bags when shopping. I still use the composter for food garbage.

I cringe with every piece of garbage I put in the trashcan. I wrack my brain on how I can reuse it. I know, by keeping it kind of goes against my second favorite thirtydays.

The Purge. It was very freeing donating bags of stuff that I knew I would never use. I didn’t do the Marie Kondo method, holding it while asking myself if it brought me joy🙄. Nope, I held it up and asked myself how much would it cost me to replace it. Pretty much all of it was minimal dollars except the stuff that had sentimental value. I’m still going through the house now. Someday it will be cleaned out.

Hardest thirtydays?

Has to be the no social media. I don’t really consider myself a social person but social media makes it easy to be social while not in person. You can connect with people near or far with a post, message or a like on their page. Covid kind of cut off the in person meet ups so I think for some it was a needed interaction. I gravitated more towards Instagram because of no politics, just fun stuff. Reddit is my second favorite. Just a forum you can talk to others with similar interests. There is some political stuff but not as much as Facebook and Twitter. They have really gotten more about politics and advertisements which I find annoying but some of my friends only use those venues so I can’t dump them. Tiktok is probably the worst. Laying in bed, swiping through video after video while not realizing an hour or three has passed. I did learn some stuff about plants and iPhone tips but was it really worth it?

Easiest thirtydays?

Had to be the 64 Oz of water per day. I found I drink twice that a day. I love water. Room temperature, not cold or with ice. Just gulpable, sitting out on the counter, water lol.

Which thirtydays have I kicked to the curb?

No snooze. That one was impossible. I am not going to lie. I’m not a morning person. My alarm is set for 6am and most days I make it out of bed by 7am if I’m lucky. Maybe I need to go back east for a month so when I get back I’m used to getting up at 3am 😂

The bullet journal was tough. I live a pretty boring life so the daily bullets were hard to find something interesting to write about. I still keep a bullet journal but it’s just a recap of the month or if something exciting happens.

I am sad that this blog is over but I think a foxpartyofone trip may be in my future. Stay tuned😊

The Fodmap diet

Definition : FODMAP stands for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols, which are short-chain carbohydrates (sugars) that the small intestine absorbs poorly. Some people experience digestive distress after eating them.

It was suggested that I try the fodmap diet and a probiotic for my stomach issues. So here goes nothing. I was already avoiding foods that contained gluten but I had become lax in consuming foods that contained wheat and my insides have not been my friend for a while.

I pulled up the food list and there were a lot of food items on there that made me sick. By sick I mean bloated, thinking I might have swallowed a bowling ball, and nauseous. All. The. Time. So, the big one was wheat and gluten which seems is in everything. Bread, bars, cereal, soups, sauces and most prepackaged foods that I am used to eating. Apples, pears, beans, cauliflower, yogurt, tomatoes and regular pasta had already been taken out of the equation as known irritants. The surprises were avocados, processed meats, yogurt, pistachios, ice cream, honey and granola. I eat those a lot. The premise to this diet is to eliminate the bad items and then add them back and see what happens.

It’s been two weeks. Wish me luck 🤞🏽

Thirtydays

Bullet journal

December is done and what I thought would bean easy thirtydays, was not. Unless something out of the ordinary happened it’s hard to write something every day. I have come to realize my life is pretty boring. During the week I go to work, work, come home and go to bed. Oh, I eat and play with the animals in between all that but it’s not that note worthy lol. The weekends are a little more interesting. I hang out with my partner. Maybe we go do something or maybe we just sit around the house and vegetate.

I do like the concept of bullet journaling. It kind of reminds me of a calendar. Small bits of information for the month. It also allows for a little time to reflect on the day. I do wish I had kept all of my calendars from the past. There was so much of my life written down in one small square. I think I will continue with a scaled back version and write bullets of things to remember just not every day.

Stay tuned for my recap. 😁

Thirtydays

Anti-inflammatory diet

Welp, I have to say that this thirtydays was mostly a bust. My list of foods not to eat was pretty much my entire diet. Why did I choose to do this one? I have had stomach issues because of gluten and some minor joint pain from overuse and abuse probably the last ten plus years and I felt like it was worth a try.

The list of foods to avoid was long and intimidating so I picked a few and went with it.

I cut out gluten and wheat. I’m no stranger to that diet so it was a noticeable improvement in my stomach health. I abstained from fast foods and cookies brought in to work by coworkers. I also quit eating processed meats. That was a tough one. Lunchmeat, meat sticks and Spam. I like to eat things that are easy lol. I added tuna, tilapia and salmon for dinners. For lunch I ate avocados, nuts and hard boiled eggs. I continued drinking a green drink in the morning. That’s probably the only way I get my veggies lol. This got old real fast. I am not a super chef so cooking for just myself is a chore. If someone could just invent a breakfast, lunch and dinner pill I would be fine with that.

Will I continue with this diet? Gluten and wheat free, yes. I will try and throw in some of the, “yes foods” intermittently but probably not everyday.

Now, onto my last thirtydays of the year. Seems crazy that it’s already December. I read an article about bullet journaling. Basically you just write a few words for each day. No big commitment to writing paragraphs but it could turn into one. It also helps focus on what happened with your day. Instead of always moving forward it gives you a chance to reflect. My plan is to write something every day in December.

Wish me luck🤞🏽

Thirtydays

Anti inflammatory diet

No social media- done. I woke up this morning and contemplated what apps to re-load.

1. Instagram yes. No politics.

2. Facebook yes. There are a couple of my friends not on Instagram and I like to see what they are up to plus I am an admin for my Lions Club page.

3. Reddit yes. I feel like that is more about discussion threads. You can choose to talk politics or not.

4. YouTube yes. The how to videos are needed lol.

5. Tiktok no. It was too easy to scroll through video after video and have two hours disappear.

6. Pinterest yes. More about getting ideas and info on things I am interested in.

It only took about 45 minutes to download the apps and catch up on what everybody was up to. I think I will limit myself to checking them once a day and max of an hour or maybe just weekends. I just don’t want to fall back into any old habits.

On to my anti inflammatory diet. For those of you who don’t know me and what I typically eat during the day. Here is the short list.

Breakfast :

Green drink. Power greens, orange juice, flax, chia, hemp hearts and blueberries.

That’s good but it’s all downhill from there.

Lunch:

I am the queen of easy. If I just have to open a package of anything, I’m good. So, pepperoni, cheese, lunch meat, hard salami, crackers, peanut butter and bananas. Those are all my fast foods lol. The peanut butter and bananas are the only healthy items.

Dinner:

Precooked hamburgers and a can of green beans. A bowl of cereal/granola. A cup of instant mashed potatoes. Mac n cheese. Chips and cheese.

Baby steps. There is no way I can change everything. The list is way too long. I will start with a few things at a time.

Stay tuned for the list and me luck 🤞🏽

Thirtydays

No social media

This has definitely been one of the longest and most difficult thirtydays of 2021. You don’t realize how much you look at social media until you can’t. I did replace some of that time wasted with the television lol but not a lot.

In addition to no social media I also quit my smart watch. It may have been all in my head but every time I wore it my wrist hurt. The last straw was when I got back from a week of camping and not wearing it. I put it on for work Monday and by ten o’clock my wrist was throbbing and it had worn off three small round dots of my suntan where the watch sensors were sitting. When you think about it, is it really good to have the equivalent of a cell phone sitting on your arm? I did miss the voice to text feature and the find cell phone beeper but I’m sure there is a work around for that lol.

The after effects of no social media. Call me crazy but I feel like my mind is a little sharper. I am always misplacing something and last night I lost my phone somewhere in the house and I actually remembered where I set it down! That never happens lol.

So, the next thirtydays? I will be following an anti-inflammatory diet. That entails more vegetables and less processed foods. I. May. Die. Lol. Wish me luck 🤞🏽

Thirtydays

no social media

I seem to be finding a lot to do without social media. Cleaning, organizing, getting hooked on “Survivor” again, driving 75 miles to drop off my dog for a sleepover with my grandson lol.

Coincidently, Facebook was down. One of my coworker was silently going insane not knowing if she forgot her password or something was wrong with her phone. She later found out about the outage.

I’m finding there are times that social media is useful. YouTube. I was looking up how to reseat a toilet on the internet and most of the videos direct you to YouTube. I finally found one that was just on a website.

I watched my grandson get his next belt in karate. I took pictures but since this thirtydays is still going on I couldn’t post anything. Same with the Aftershock trip. I think that’s what social media is for me. A timeline of what has gone on in my life. Before, there was film cameras or my memory. Both of those lacking lol. Film, you took a picture and then when you remembered you take it in to get developed. Fingers crossed that the photos came out in focus and it wasn’t a roll from two years ago. My memory, lol, most things are written down on calendars but unless I keep them forever they are gone.

Only seven more days lol. At this point I don’t know what I will re-install. 🤞🏽

Aftershock

Discovery Park Sacramento CA

Aftershock. It’s a huge four day music festival. I’ve been there in 2016, 2017 and 2018. I had planned for 2020 but we all know what happened to that year. Rescheduled.

We started the drive at 10am. We just made it to Grants Pass but had to turn around. My friend, Tracey, neglected to tell me I needed a vaccination card or a negative covid test to enter the concert. I had a photo of it on my phone but we couldn’t find any information that said they would accept it. So, an hour later and we are on the road again lol.

Passing by Lake Shasta was depressing. The water was so low going over the first bridge it was down to a small stream. The second bridge was worse. No water at all. Since I was driving I had to rely on my navigator to take photos. Not good lol not good.

Staying at the Arden Star hotel. Not far from the Arden Fair mall. Yes! Shopping 😁

Driving around Sacramento had its challenges. I used the Maps app on my phone which sometimes it spoke to me and sometimes it gave me the silent treatment. I had to rely on Tracey as navigator but she didn’t do so hot either. I either missed the turn and then was directed to do a U-turn at the next light or had to drive in a large circle lol. Most of the U-turns involved a lot of curbing. I was in the PU and I’m sure the other drivers were saying, “redneck Oregonians!” lol.

One of the mornings we picked Bacon and Butter restaurant for breakfast. It was only around 15 minutes from the hotel. Well, it was like driving into downtown Portland. Tiny parking lot and parallel parking on the street. Nope. Not happening. We picked another restaurant. The Morning Fork. Drove there. Same situation. Finally picked 18 Grams Coffee Roasters and ended up two blocks from the hotel😲🙄🤣. Oh well. It was delicious.

We went to Jimboys Tacos for lunch. Luckily it wasn’t far from the hotel and on the way to the park and ride shuttle. I love that place. The tacos are sooo good. Softly fried corn shells with parmesan cheese stuck to the outside. 😋 yum!

We ended up going to the venue late afternoon on all three days. The weather was perfect. Not too hot. I did freeze a little the first night lol.

Day one: Avatar, Skillet, Butcher Babies, Volbeat and Metallica

Day two: The Offspring

Day three: In this Moment and Metallica

It. Was. Epic.

We did get some pictures of Lake Shasta on the way home. We stopped at Packers Bay where Kris and I put the boat in Memorial Day weekend 2018. It’s hard to even imagine it could ever get that low. Craziness.

All in all it was an awesome trip. I hope to do it again next year 😁