Scandal…if you don’t watch it, I highly recommend that you do. Unless you have no time to be sucked into a television show and then stay away. J and I love it!!! Friday night, my original plan was to head to the gym after work but I had been plagued with a headache for most of the the day and it was still throbbing by the time the last kiddo left. For some reason, my oils rarely work for my headaches even though they work for any other person I’ve ever talked to that gets headaches and even migraines. So odd! I finally took some actual meds (yuck) and when J got home from b-ball practice and asked what he could do, I replied, “Make a fire and cuddle up with me.” Luckily, he did and we spent all evening watch Scandal episodes. I think I could’ve stayed awake all night I get so sucked into them. The problem is, we always watch Scandal before bed because that’s the time we have together and then I always have the craziest dreams, lol.
Saturday, I was supposed to have breakfast with a friend but she cancelled on me so we got up and J made breakfast and we worked on our budget. Basically, we’ve been living beyond our means since the summer and it was time to reign it in. It’s going to be hard, and it sucks, especially with Christmas less than 2 months away and I love buying presents! The other thing that sucks is my Bestie that I just went and saw in CT is turning 40 in December and last year, when we couldn’t afford for me to fly to Miami for her Bday (she hates winter so she always heads to Miami for her B-Day), I told her I would do a trip with her for her 40th this year. Well, unfortunately life happened like losing all those daycare kids and the convertible completely breaking down and we can’t afford for me to go. She knew this a long time ago and it wasn’t a big deal except for then, her good friend that lives in Miami and had been the one to initially suggest the trip backed out on her. So now, she’s going to be completely by herself for her 40th in Aruba. Yesterday, she called to say a couple of people had offered to buy my plane ticket just for the weekend so she’s no alone on her actual birthday, unfortunately, J is still not on board. We pretty much have just enough in savings to pay off our credit card bills and then after we pay all our bills each month, we have about $300 left for gas/food. We both agreed before she told me this that we start living within our means this month. Well, even though my ticket/hotel would be paid for, I’d still need to buy food, pay for airport parking and pay my Mom for doing daycare even though she always tries to refuse the money. I totally get it and get where he’s coming from, but that didn’t make it any easier to call her today and tell her I still couldn’t go. I was bawling and feel so horribly guilty and totally stuck between a rock and a hard place on this one. Sorry, got a head of myself…back to Saturday, J left to go hunting and I worked on getting all the toys sanitized because the colds have already started coming into daycare. My friend stopped by to pick up some Inner defense from me because she seems to get sick constantly and then I headed out to the gym. My trainer wants me to burn about 250 calories when I do cardio so I started out with step aerobics but my legs quickly cramped up like they do when I try to run now. I switched over the the treadmill hoping some walking would help but they just continued to cramp so then I switched to the sitting elliptical machine they just put in. I burned about 265 calories between those 3 things and then went through the workout I did with the trainer last week and ended up burning 700 calories total! It felt good!!! Then I came home and made salmon and brussel sprouts for dinner. This was the first time I’d ever made or tasted brussel sprouts and luckily, I liked them!
Saturday night’s dinner.
After dinner, we watched more Scandal and Rocky decided he’d had enough of Bandit getting to be in Daddy’s lap and climbed right up into the recliner with him!
Ignore the evil looking green eyes, lol.
Sunday morning we got up early to head out to enjoy our Anniversary date, seeing “WICKED”! We got ready and dropped the pups off at Mom’s for the day on our way to Milwaukee. We got to Milwaukee just before noon and the play didn’t start til 1pm so we popped into B-Dubs and watched the first quarter of the Packer game. We same them get their first touchdown and it just went down hill from there. 😦 The musical however was AMAZING!!! Even J really liked it. I will say the girl playing Glinda made some of her parts on little too cheesy compared to past performances that I’ve seen, but otherwise just freakin’ amazing. Here’s a few pics:
A quick pic in front of the turning sign before going into the theatre.
The decorated tree across from the theatre.
On our way home, we say a Beautiful sunset that this picture just does not do it justice.
Except for the guilt and turmoil of having to tell my Best Friend she has to spend her birthday alone in Aruba, it was a fantastic weekend!
Have a great week, Friends!
Lots of Love~Dawn
OurGreatestDesire 
So, I love baked brussel sprouts! Seriously, love them! When we cook them I often just eat them! I usually toss them in a bit of olive oil with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Kale cooked the same way is amazing, but you have to watch it closely or it will burn. 🙂
I’m sorry you don’t get to go away with your friend for her birthday, but honestly, I respect your decision not to. It’s not fun to have to say no, but I think this is for a good cause and I hope she understands.
Glad you enjoyed Wicked. It looked like a nice anniversary date.
I made ours the same way but added garlic also. I have not gotten on the kale train yet, lol. One green veggie at a time. 😉
I loved brussle sprouts as a kid (weird, right?) but only a few years ago discovered how great they are baked. I may just have to try the addition of garlic next time I cook them.
Kale is amazing, but only if prepared correctly. 🙂
It totally sucks you can’t be with your friend for her birthday. I very much understand how you feel, when we first moved out to the US and only had my income to live off we had to say no to 3 weddings back in the UK and I felt awful. I still do now 😦 but we did skype for one of them and that was really cool! I’d recommend trying that as an alternative – you could make a special cocktail in honor of your friend and toast her on skype!
Congrats on your fitness workouts!!! Very inspirational 😊
Awww, Thank you! Now, I just need to make sure I stay motivated as it gets colder and colder and the s-word starts to fly! 🙂 I’ve never skyped before, but it’s got be kind of like FaceTime, right?
that stinks about missing your friend’s bday! after a certain age, trips away with friends are tough to pull off. hopefully you guys get to do something else to celebrate her bday.
woops, hit send too soon- wanted to also say that i LOVE roasted brussel sprouts. we eat them almost burnt lol. try them with a smidge of balsamic vinegar too. yummz. i haven’t seen scandal yet but we’re looking for a new show to marathon. the last one we got sucked into was downton abbey. slow but totally engaging.
Oh, I think you will love Scandal. I don’t think I’ve seen a show written this well since Gilmore Girls and of course, they are two totally different kinds of show, but so good! Not going on the trip does suck. This is the friend I went to visit out in CT over Halloween so we did get some time together. I just hate the thought of her sitting in Aruba alone on her birthday. 😦
Glad you liked the brussel sprouts. And Wicked is so good! Sorry about having to give your friend that news. That is so hard. Hugs!!!
Love your weekend recap. Such a bummer you won’t be able to celebrate her 😦
I haven’t seen scandal, but have heard good things! I haven’t see Wicked either!