My Nutcracker Christmas

 

Last year I watched lots of nutcracker ballet productions 

On my television.

It was my way to relax after work.

I like the music, I like the costumes.

This year my daughter bought tickets for us 

To go to a live performance.

It was a very fun day for us. 

We were not sure if you should dress up or not.

Some people were super dressed up,

And others were not.

I like going around looking for the hidden nutcrackers.

The show was great! No photos or videos allowed.

After we tried to go out for dinner, 

but the wait for a table was 3 hours.

So we ended up going home.

If you have not seen a live performance of the nutcracker you should go. 

Kimberly 

Sending letters to Santa.

Every year where I work we put out papers for children to 

Write letters to Santa.

 

 Then once they write a letter they put it in our big letters to Santa mailbox.

I take all the letters each week from the mailbox 

And send them to Santa.

Sometimes we will read the letters that are not in envelopes.

The little kids send such nice notes.

It helps me feel the Christmas spirit.

Kimberly 

Getting ready to write Christmas cards.

I have been having fun using Canva to create 

Fun design for my Instagram account and this blog.

This week is Christmas card writing week.

 

Last year I bought the clearance Christmas cards after Christmas was over. They are so pretty.

So there will be no family photos this year.

This is a project I made for my Instagram account.

This is a suggestion for a Christmas card by Shutterfly.

I actually think 🤔 it’s kind of cute. 

My mom did not like it.

When writing Christmas cards I think of all my friends in different states. I think of all the Christmas times that I spent with friends and family. Each year my list gets smaller as my older friends pass away.  It’s a time that brings me joy and sadness.

Kimberly 

Mindfulness biking, what I learned today.

 Today after doing my weight training, and regular bike ride, I did a mindfulness ride.  It was on finding ways to sleep better. I am thankful that I don’t struggle with sleep issues. During the ride what stuck out to me was this phrase “ perfection is not possible, but change is.” You should have a goal of changing for the better. But not for becoming perfect. 

I am starting to think about my 2026 new year goals and word.  I’m thinking of doing the word “Flow”.  What challenges will this new year bring to me?

Are you planning for the new year?

Kimberly 

Dashing to the Finish.

 

The final fitness challenge for 2025 is dashing to the finish.

I hope to at least do 900 exercise classes before the end of December. I will be continuing to do weight lifting, and riding my exercise bike.  My goal is to not gain weight during the Christmas season. 

Do you have an exercise goal for December?

Kimberly.

The shopping fashion that I’m too old to do.

Would you shop in your pink striped silk pajamas?

Would you wear your fur coat over it?

Would you bring your kids while shopping in your pajamas?

I would not feel comfortable shopping in my pajamas.

But people do it.

What do you think 🤔?

Kimberly. 

 

Taken with my little camera, November birding in Utah.

I’m learning how to make photo pages with a photo editor app. What do you think. It’s like computerized scrapbooking.

American coots have really weird and big feet.

This bald eagle was looking for an early dinner.

Should it try for gulls, coots or grebes?

Little birds are hard to photograph they don’t stay still for long.

This pie billed grebe is enjoying an afternoon snack.

Hope you enjoyed the photos.

Kimberly 

 

Our Halloween costume’s 2025

So here are some of our Halloween costumes, I did put fun

Photo editing backgrounds in.

I was counselor Kimberly from Star Trek.

Boldly visiting new planets.

Dyna was a pumpkin patch cat.

My son was Freeze 🥶 boy.

The inside had food in it.

My daughter was a scarecrow.

 I don’t know how the year went so fast! But it did.

Now I am trying to be prepared for the holidays.

Kimberly.

Life of a shopgirl the trauma of changing your passwords.

 

My new exercise routine “no quitting November “

With the stress of the holidays coming I’ve joined the “no quit November Ifit challenge.

I’m hoping to keep to my exercise routine.

Biking 5 days a week.

Strength training 5 days a week.

Eating healthy foods.

I can’t let the holidays ruin my 8 months of fitness.

Kimberly 

 

Instagram has made me realize how glad I am not to own a horse.

 

When I was young I was horse crazy.  Every thought was horses.

I haven’t done much with horses in years, but I see a lot of horse videos on instagram.  Watching them makes me very happy that I don’t have a horse.

Horses are a lot of work, they are expensive and can be dangerous. 

I like seeing people that are happy with their horses.

But I’m glad to just have a cat. 

Do you have a pet?

Kimberly

It’s November first and I may just start decorating for Christmas.

It’s November first and I feel like I might just start decorating for Christmas.  All the stores have Christmas items out.

If I start decorating for Christmas now, when December rolls around I will be able to just enjoy the Christmas season.

I’m going to have another Nutcracker Christmas.

I’ll explain that later.

What do you think? Is it too early for Christmas decorations?

Kimberly 

 

My Halloween costume 2025.

Where I work they encourage you to dress up for Halloween.

It’s really fun to see everyone dressed up.

I was counselor Kimberly from Star Trek.

I have lots of gold sparkles on my face. I’m not sure how long they will stay on my face.  I used a photo editing program to get the fun background.

Did you dress up for Halloween? 

Kimberly.
 

Life of a shopgirl, what a year of sticky notes looks like.

A few years ago I collected sticky notes that were written at work and made a Halloween costume with them.

This is probably the most work I ever put into a costume. 

This is what a year of sticky notes looks like.

I think the total number of sticky notes is 480. 

Cartoon me.  

I’m in the process of cleaning out the clutter in my house.

My sticky note costume is going in the trash. 

So I have photographed the costume so I can look back and remember it but not have it sitting in a plastic container taking up space. 

Some of the notes I wrote and others were written by coworkers. 

Some are favorite quotes,

Others are work notes.

It’s been fun to look at them.

It was a very fun project.

Customers loved it.

Do you ever think about the things you use when you work? 

It was like a little time capsule of the year. 

Sometimes I think I should be a pile of paper clips,

Or take all the extra ribbons from the balloons we make and be a pile of ribbons.

The other idea I have is dressing up like a fish 🐟 because I call the area I work in the fish bowl.  

Are you excited about Halloween? 

Even in my 50’s. I am. 

Kimberly