Hey

Hey, the past week has been mostly uneventful. I have been to the gym every day since my shoulder has pretty much healed, so I’m excited about that. My back still feels better than ever and I hope with those two things I can start hiking small mountains again next year.

I harvested my crops this week! lol… but some little Dipsh&t* ate all of my sunflowers!… and my yield of pumpkins was a grand total of 1 and a half :) But i’m proud i grew 1 decent one.

Got the smoker going… I’m excited to try to grill. I’ve never lived anywhere that I could have a grill and I love to cook, so I’m looking forward to that. Smoking seems to take alot of talent, but it was fun for me to light the fire and keep the wood chips smokin.

I also sprayed new enamel in the kitchen sink and it really came out well. The old sink had a worn through tub.

Looks kind of like rain this weekend but I don’t care… we’re gonna party and grill this weekend and it’s gonna be awesome! :)

Getting the house ready for the party

I’ve been working really hard to get the house set up for the cookout. I need some re-arranging and some furniture, but for the most part it’s looking pretty good:

Sooo Much Wood... What Was I Thinking!?! haha

The fireplace and wood burning stove are being put in this week… so I decided to buy some wood. I did not realize how big a cord of wood is and decided to buy 6 of them!! Well i’ll be able to heat the house for 3-4 years now I think lol. Thank you so much to my brother Joe and Keith Provencher for lugging wood around with me all morning today!

Masons

The masons I hired are fixing the chimneys this week for the fireplace and wood burning stove:

Wicked Busy Weekend

I had a wicked busy weekend…trying to get the house fixed up a for the cookout. I was up at 5AM Saturday and Sunday and spent the whole weekend at antique stores, hiking, and working on projects. I also met up with my cousins Carolyn, Julia, their husbands and kids and went to an apple orchard. I baked my first cookies from premade dough and used the wrong paper and ruined them lol. My back is better than it’s been in 2 years by the way! it feels great, but of course I re-tore something in my shoulder splitting wood now that i’m able to ;) It will heal soon though. I found a lot of really neat things for the house too. Here’s some photos:

Fall Cookout is on Saturday, October 13th @ 1:00PM

I have been wanting to have a cookout at the new house to show everyone that hasn’t seen it yet and also just to host a big get together with friends and family for the first time! I realized that I needed some more time to get the house in order, so I decided to host a fall cookout this year. October 13th is the Saturday that should be right at peak leaf color and I think it will make for a fun day. I’m going to have pumpkins for the kids to carve, cookie decorating, a craft table, apple bobbing, awesome food, games, etc. I hope everyone can make it. Bring food, games, drinks, whatever you’d like. Feel free to spread the word too! Friends, family, and pets are welcome. I’ll text or email everyone with the address.

This map is for the weekend of the cookout:

September 2018

I injured my shoulder and wrist working out last week… so I’ve been very limited on what I can do this week but I can’t wait to get back to it. Hope you are all doing well.

Exploration

Tonight after the gym, I found a new hiking spot and it is gigantic and completely isolated. It felt like I was in a far off place roaming around the world again. I hiked for about 2 hours and didn't pass another person! I maybe only explored 10% of it and I can't wait to see the rest!! I'm excited to have found something like this so close to the house. It's probably going to be the place where I go to get away from it all, to get lost in the woods and it's only 5 or 6 minutes away. If you come by and feel like it, remind me and i'll take you there.

More Good News!!!!!!

So tonight I had an appointment to get another needle in my spine at Brigham and women's hospital. I drove to Jamaica Plain to the pain management center and I told the doctor how well I've been doing. I mentioned that the last 4 weeks my back has been feeling fine. I told him Wednesday I had a training session at the gym and after that I hiked in a state park for an hour and a half on hilly land and the doctor was sort of not sure at first....but he eventually recommended that I don't get an injection and that I just keep up with my fitness routine to see if I continue to progress. He said if it gets worse let them know, but if I can lift what I'm lifting at the gym and can climb small hills with no pain for 1.5 hours, then I should hold off on injections. It makes me feel like I'm finally turning the corner towards being back to normal again! :) On top of that, I'm down a pants size since the beginning of the year, my belts don't fit, and I'm down a shirt size too!

Pond on route 2

I did what I hope is more usual than not tonight. I hit the gym, then took a hike after work. There's a pond on the other side of route 2 but basically on my road that I see on my way to work. There's something about it that catches my eye every day.... it looks so pristine sometimes and the sky reflects off of it even in storms sometimes. I noticed it looked like they put in a trail... so I stopped on the side of the highway in a makeshift parking lot to check it out tonight and found this.

Oh by the way those yellow squash looking things I found in my garden are actually an odd form of heirloom cucumber lol.

Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge

Today I went to the gym and then hiked 5 or so miles through Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge. I pass by it on my way to and from work every day and I've been meaning to stop by. Well, today I finally did. My goal was to get a photo of a great blue heron, but I didn't find one today. I'll have to keep looking! My plan is to take at least one good hike a week now until winter. I also stopped by a farm stand that I found after and there's some photos here for you to see. 

I hope you all had a nice weekend!

Re-Pointing

So I didn't know re-pointing was a thing, but apparently my chimneys need it and it costs $2,000 just like every other repair lol so here are some before pictures. When It's done I'll post how the repair looks. Anyway, I have had three people in this week to do work and give me quotes. My water is blue from acidity eating the copper piping and I have a guy scheduled to fix it, same with the chimney repointing and I have someone set up to spray the attic to get rid of some old dead mold.

This weekend was a fantasy football draft, harvested some vegetables from the garden, found a large beehive, hung out with friends. Mostly it's been a relaxing weekend. I worked out at home yesterday and did the gym Friday and I'm heading to the gym now... after that I'm going to have a lazy Monday :)

:)

Hey all...I have to make this one quick... I'm running out the door, but I went to my friend Biggie's Birthday party this weekend.... found some new things in the garden!... and bought a "Pedestal" for the house... Here's some photos. It's a long weekend this weekend too...so I'll post again soon. Hope you're all doing well.

Salt and Pepper

I got a pewter set of antique colonial salt and pepper shakers today that might have been used around the time the house was built for $20. Just thought I'd share:

Back Feels Great Again

I went to the gym tonight and my back feels great. This is me in the dining room of the new house :)

Down 34 lbs

Cogshall Park

After work today, I went to the gym and my back feels fine, so I stopped by this park called Cogshall. There is an entrance to it on my street. I found a new trail today and I'm going to stop by once in a while until I know the whole park. This is what I found today on the trail:

Busy Weekend

So, I had a really good weekend for the most part. I went to Worcester to meet Kasia, Dave's new wife for dinner and we had a fun time. She's very, very nice and thoughtful. They're taking a trip to see her family and when they get back we're going to hang out some time soon with Dave and her friends.

Today, I had the most productive day I've had in a long, long time too. I cleaned the house, Mowed the lawn, did laundry, got a haircut, went to Bob's for a cookout and Birthday party, went to the gym, rested my back, cooked a good dinner and took photos of things I found around the yard for you all to see along with the other things. The weeds are overrunning the yard a bit so I'm going to break out the weed whacker for the first time this weekend.

My back is finally feeling pretty strong which is great because I'm going to the gym basically every day now. I'm really enjoying it because I can finally do it after a year laid up on the couch.

I bought a bunch of candles with Kasia at Marshalls and I've got 4 lit in the bedroom. I promise I won't burn the house down tonight though lol. I'm gonna get some good sleep and start the work week over again tomorrow. Have a nice night.

My Gym - Planet Fitness

Tonight is a really low key night. I just made dinner went to the gym and now I'm hanging out at home watching Big Bang Theory lol. I took a photo of my gym today so everyone can see it, although it's under some serious construction lol so I included some photos from the gym website as well. I'm under 2000 calories again too which feels good! I have some fun things to do this weekend so I'll post again soon, but taking it easy for now! Have a nice night.

Filled up the Fridge with Mostly Healthy Things

Ok, so I was able to refill the fridge with good food after only $150 lol. I also took one photo of my progress as I've been going to the gym 4 days a week as long as my back has let me. Still only down 30 lbs but I feel like I'm making progress! I'm feeling pretty good.

Ran out of Food

Hi

So here's some photos from the house tonight. I haven't lost weight, but I've lost fat and gained muscle so I'm feeling pretty good about that.

I definitely need to buy some food for the fridge lol.  I'm curious who actually looks at this website, so send me a message. I'd really appreciate it! Have a nice rest of the week.