Peaceful Heart, Open Mind
"Close your eyes, take a deep breath, listen to your heart."
Saturday, February 14, 2026
February, the short month with big happenings...
*Caught a bad cold over the weekend, so did not get too much done. Mostly stayed in and cuddled in my chair with a cup of hot tea with honey and the warm cuddles of my cat Al. Speaking of my cat Al. He has been slowly going deaf and now his hearing is completely gone. Took him to the vet just to make sure it was not an infection or anything. Just old age...he is 15 years old. The vet said he will probably seem a bit confused at times since he can't hear anything but other than that his health is good. It is sad to see old age creeping up on him just as it is on all of us.
*I had to get my B12 shot on Monday and since I had a cold, I masked up. I dislike wearing a mask. It's like breathing in a cotton ball but it was necessary. My younger kids were supposed to come over but I told them not to as I didn't want them to catch my cold.
*We watched the Olympics as the free dance for Ice Dancing was on. Chock and Bates losing the gold was very disappointing as their performance was 10 times better than the French couple (imo).
*Wednesday we needed to run some errands and the mask went on again. Prescriptions refilled at the drugstore and then we deposited $179 in one dollar bills into emergency fund. We save our one dollar bills all year long and then deposit them in the new year. Did a bit of grocery shopping and then home.
*The UP200 sled dog race as well as the Munising Ice Climbing Fest are being held this coming weekend which means there will be lots of people in Marquette. The hotels and restaurants will be jammed starting on Friday. B and I decided to go on Thursday to Red Lobster for an early Valentines Day dinner. Not too many people, nice and quiet, very pleasant.
*We've been having problems with the kitchen sink. B says there is a clog somewhere in the line but everything he has tried to do has not worked. So we gave in and called a plumber to come in. Trying to get someone to do a small plumbing job like this is hard. It seems all the companies only want big jobs. We were lucky to have this plumber recommended to us so we gave him a call. He said he had two jobs first and then would get to us. 5pm came on Friday (the 13th) and still no plumber so we figured we would have to wait until Monday. 5:15pm, he called and said he was on his way. By 7pm, he had the kitchen sink working again-no clog anymore and the bill was not as bad as we thought it would be. We made sure to tell him how appreciative we were. There still is customer service around.
*On Friday, I ordered puchkis for Fat Tuesday from the local bakery. Cannot celebrate Fat Tuesday without puchkis.
*The temperatures got into the high 40s here and will be like that again today (Saturday). But this is just the Upper Peninsula teasing us. We get all excited about warmer weather and then Mother Nature dumps 3 feet of snow on us. But we will enjoy the 40s while we can anyway.
Saturday, February 7, 2026
February, the short month with big happenings...
I tried a new recipe in the slo cooker (I love the slo cooker)...sweet and sour meatballs. I wasn't too sure that B would like it because he prefers the old standbys and new recipes he's a little leery of. I don't like to eat the same thing all the time so I am constantly trying to change up the menu. I have not always had good luck with that so I was a little nervous making this but B liked it. So now we have a new dish on the menu.
We did the online order for 2026 license plate tabs for the new car and since B's driver's license renewal is renewal coming up, we did that as well.
Groundhog day is no big deal in the UP. We have more winter no matter Phil's prediction. However, we do have Perch Pete who says we have 6 more weeks of ice fishing.
We ran errands on Tuesday since the weather was tolerable. While B went to the post office to mail the telephone bill and the car insurance bill, I went to the library. I get anxious when my reading pile gets low so I need to always stock up. I picked up two from the library and 2 from the book sale inside the library. My reading pile at home is safe for a few weeks. After the library, we went to Applebees for lunch. Delicious as always. Then it was off to the grocery store to pick up some bananas and oranges. On the way home, we stopped at the hardware store to pick up some salt for the deck and walkways. B said there wasn't much left. The clerk told him that with the way winter has been this year, the salt supply is getting low for everyone.
I was supposed to go in yesterday to get my B12 shot but I had to call and reschedule, the weather became very dangerous to drive in. I will go on Monday instead.
B and I watched the opening ceremonies of Olympics. We especially loved Andrea Bocelli singing and the views of Italy. We also watched the beginning of team competition in figure skating - Madison and Chock did it again...Perfection! The Olympics is what we will be watching from now on. We are not SuperBowl fans so the Olympic competitions will be better.




