Author: Distracted Damsel

WARNING! Santa pun coming. I’m writing this post about tonight’s Christmas activities and ill just finish it in the “nick” of time. I know, bad right? Lol. Moving on. Tonight I went over to my moms house for a bit of Christmas fun. I initiated it of course, mainly because I thought the 12 days of Christmas was a countdown to Christmas Day. Nope. If you are surprised too I’ll fill you in before we get to the fun.

I wanted to post a picture of a 12 day calendar, and I was doing my fact check that it starts today the 13th but in fact the 12 days of Christmas starts Christmas Day. Straight from Google “ The 12 days of Christmas is the period in Christian theology that marks the span between the birth of Christ and the coming of the Magi, the three wise men. It begins on December 25 (Christmas) and runs through January 6 (the Epiphany, sometimes also called Three Kings’ Day.” Growing up in a Christian home I feel kind f silly not knowing this. Anyway there is your fun fact for today.

This Auntie can’t miss out on an opportunity to make cookies and memories. Or maybe I just like to make messes, who knows? I stopped by Smith’s after work and grabbed two packages of pre made sugar cookie dough. I was planning to make homemade last night but as I mentioned I wasn’t feeling well. I took that, my Christmas cutters and sprinkles for decoration to moms house. My nephew is 5 and can’t focus too long on a “project” so skipping straight to roll and cut was a much better idea.

That kid got flour everywhere. So much that he kept saying he was itchy. But he sat there with me and rolled the dough out all by himself. I helped a bit with the stamped cookies. Getting them from the cutting board to the baking sheet in one piece was tricking since he made them really thin or really thick. We wont be selling them at any bake sale but we had fun sneaking bites of dough while grandma wasn’t looking. Grandma even helped.

Getting to the frosting/sprinkles will have to be a task for me later. As a whole, just getting them all cooked was a tremendous feat with a 5 year old. He had no trouble though getting popcorn and candy with all of us to sit and watch a Christmas movie. Dad made us stove top popcorn, he has to have a snack if he has to watch these movies “again”.

First we watched Santa Clause is coming to Town! Classic claymation, good old Christmas.My nephew like me loved Topper the Penguin. Definitely add it to your list if you haven’t seen it. We followed it up with Tim Allen’s The Santa Clause, which I am sure everyone has seen. I am still waiting to find out how to prevent Santa from falling off a roof. If you know you know. Lol

I am just about ready for bed. One day down of my 12 days. What will I be up to next you ask? Time will tell but I can say I do not have Christmas activities planned for the next 12. I have a party here and there but not cookies or movies every night til the big day. One night with family a week for fun is working for me right now. Cut out some time and some cookies with yours, it will be a blast!

Today I have been a bit off. Just not quite feeling myself. But rather than miss a day of my last 25 days of 2022, I will just make this a quick post.

Not exactly an avid reader, no floor to ceiling bookshelves or stacks by the bed, but I do read a good amount. I mix self help with business and romance, which I am sure some of you have heard me say before. I rotate through, sometimes needing a break from the book I am on. Distracted and all that.

At the end of the year, I always take a look and see where I started and think about where I am going. I have been moving forward but now I think it’s more than time to take it to the next level. So I grabbed and oldie but a goodie. The Magic of Thinking Big.

https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Magic-of-Thinking-Big-Audiobook/B015EXHPCI?qid=1670911685&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=83218cca-c308-412f-bfcf-90198b687a2f&pf_rd_r=KSEK5A2KK2P9W4CMCZDZ

I have been listening to it on Audible while I am at work. It’s about changing the narrative in your mind and knowing that you can get to where you want to be. Attitude and belief really are the keys. Clearly I am still working on this but even as I write this blog I have started to think bigger picture. Who can I reach? What can I offer to someone? One day will me efforts in business be successful? What do I consider successful?

Anyway if it is not this book that sparks your interest, there are more out there. Be the author of your life, your story, your dreams. Don’t sit back and be a b-roll character, be the main act!!

Not sure what part of the country you guys are in but I am a home grown native in Las Vegas Nevada. Today is one of my favorite types of days, few and far between. Outside it is 54 degrees, rainy and overcast. perfect day for getting all bundled up in front of a tv football game with a blanket and some hot chocolate.

I can ever really seem to sleep in. Five day work weeks of 5 am up and at ‘em just keeps me from being able to sleep past 7. But I did take my time this morning, finally getting up at 8. Just so happens that Boyfriend was feeling like breakfast so I got my cozy sweater and we Sunday brunched. The poor waitress was all by herself with a full dining room and we made sure to tell her we were in no rush. Now, more than anytime of year, I feel for anyone in food or retail. We left a little extra even though it took some time to get everything. Spread a little love.

I am always a go, go, go type of person, but this weekend I am taking a bit of time to relax and enjoy. Yesterday the universe was working against me with my Uber and Instacart side hustles. low paying routes, difficult shops. So instead I ended up at the mall working on my Christmas list and just spending the day wandering. Still debating on presents but I did decide on little party favors.

As my dog sleeps soundly in my blanket, I am here putting together Christmas take out boxes. I stopped into Hobby Lobby (dangerous I know) and I got festive boxes. Then I went into Walmart to get cocoas and candies for each. I got Rudolph snack mix for my family and the boyfriend’s family will get mini shots of Bailey’s. Ill close the lids and add some bows and everyone will have a little cup of cheer. The idea was on the link below.

The hours are ticking away getting closer to Monday, just like the play clock on the San Fran game I am watching. But I am snuggled up and taking it easy on this winter Sunday. Probably will turn on a Hallmark after this and maybe make some warm yummy soup for dinner. Wherever you are today, hopefully you can have a bit of downtime and enjoy the cozy vibes I am putting out there for you! Cheers!

When its quiet and the chores are done and your boss has already left the building, what do you do? Head out out early, that’s what. 🙂 Now dont go thinking that I have “when the cats away…” attitude. I checked if it was ok first. But it means now that my weekend has started early. And it is a rare occasion that this particular weekend I have no plans whatsoever.

I think it might be the universe might be trying to tell me to slow down. The last two weeks have seemed to be alright but have gone by so slowly. Today was the same way. Since I really have no place to be and I’m not sleepy enough for an afternoon nap, I am going to make a batch of cookies. This the season for sweets and sweaters.

Sugar cookies are a favorite of mine of course because you can roll them out ant cut shapes, decorate and the dough is so tasty when you sneak a bit. The down side is that they take hours. Almost like you have to plan one day to make the dough, one day to cut and bake and a fun night of decorating. Today the extra Christmas fun decorating energy isn’t there for me but the sweet tooth is.

Cookie of choice today is Oatmeal Cranberry Walnut. Cranberry because it does come around this time of year and I am definitely a lover of nuts in cookies. The recipe is simple just add it all together in the right steps and bam!, you’ve got yumminess hot and fresh from the oven. I have the recipe in the link below but I have a few tips.

Oatmeal cookies are easy but I depending on your butter, rising agent and oven they could spread really thin or they can burn. So I have three steps I do to make sure I eat my cookies nice and chewy. One: I add about a 1/4 cup extra flour if the butter is softened or melted. It helps to adjust the spread of the cookie on the sheet. Two: I use a bit less of the baking powder or baking soda that make the cookies rise. If they rise or bubble too fast they can spread or burn from being uneven. And three: I always do one tester cookie before I scoop the whole batch onto the baking sheet. If the cookie stays true, meaning it cooked even and doesn’t spread all over the sheet, then I get to scooping. If not I add just a bit more flour and try gain.

I admit to not being a pastry chef. These are just my tips, not to be confused for Betty Crocker instructions. But I have mixed and baked plenty of batches that have turned a cookie into a cake as the spread from butter. And I have also had cookies that I have sold to friends that couldn’t get enough of them. So true if you dare.

Ooh ooh and I recommend listening to Christmas music or turning on a Hallmark Christmas Movie in the background so while you have cookies in the oven you are also entertained. Any Candice Cameron Bure movie works for me haha!

If you are thinking that I have won something, you would be wrong. The take away is the chicken dinner lol. You ever just get in the mood the cook? You think of a meal and if it isn’t something that you can order you got get the stuff and light the stove?

Well there have been a few different options rolling round in my mind. I caved to a craving for Shepherds pie and got on of the big ones from Costco Other than the mushrooms I would say I was satisfied. I have also been in the mood for a a real pot roast with potatoes and carrots. That one came from an Instacart shop that I was doing. Their list was for that meal.

For tonight’s dinner though I dont have a slow cooker prepping for hours or a time for a 15 step meal. So chicken is on the menu. When I have a thought about what’s for dinner, I turn to Pinterest. I found a baked chicken chicken recipe that uses Panko, bread crumbs and Parmesan. Who doesn’t like crispy chicken? The steps seem easy ad quick enough. But I can’t only serve the boyfriend chicken. We are going for a balanced meal here.

I enjoy cooking for my man. We don’t live together so when we get to have dinner its a treat and something nice to do for him. He is UPS and these days the work days are long. Anyways I was thinking along the lines of easy and he mentioned the other night that he likes red potatoes. I do too and they are so simple. Wash, boil, mash and season. I put ranch dip mix in mine for a bit of extra flavor.

Last but not least we need some green things in our diet. I am going to skip the prep and go right for a bag of frozen broccoli and cauliflower. Keep things easy where you can. I found a Pinterest recipe for roasted veggies. From the bag to the tray and on to the plate.

I’m not going to hold you up too long because I’ve also go to go enjoy the meal. But I encourage you to go search thru new recipes, or even the classics that you know and love. Find a friend, a family member, a partner and dish up some yummy goodness and have fun making a few messes along the way. Enjoy!!

It’s the season of wonder, the season of magic. Christmas and child like wonder. Who isn’t inspired or more hopeful when its this time of year? I dont know about you but.I start to feel super excited about everything. The parties, the family time, shopping and even the messes that come from the them.

This year as I am currently renting out a room from a family friend, I dont really have a place to decorate for Christmas. But with family in town, spherically Mom and Dad, I was able to chip in and DIY some Christmas decorating. For years we have been using the same family ornaments to decorate the family tree. I like the tradition of unboxing and looking at the ones we have collected over the years. But, ya know, some new and shiny wouldn’t hurt.

So my sis and I decided that we would do a themed tree this year. We chose to go with a burlap and red theme and we added in some glitter and gold. We made our bows and we even got dad in to arts and craft our new glitter bulb ornaments, like below. We all got to spend time together crafting and even my nephew helped with the cutting and filling our custom ornaments with tinsel.

I am still working on the finishing touches for the overall look and wall decoration. It took a bit of work but we also made these paper stars too hang behind the tree. Missing some more bows and some green garland at the top but this weekend we will finish the last touches. I found the stars on where else but Pinterest. The link for that is below

This is what we have so far. Our little Elf helped us add the star topper. I hope you like it and it gives you ideas for your home. Take a little time to enjoy decorating for the last little bit of the year.

Guys I don’t know about you but I cannot believe that we have 25 days left of 2022. And I am sad to say I am not where I was planning to be by this time. I am sure for many of us that goals have came and gone, life has thrown a curveball or time has just past. But as we get further into this holiday season I hope everyone has some things to look forward to.

It hasn’t been a crazy year for me but it has been a good one. I met someone who makes me happy and helps slow me down to enjoy the small things like naps on Sundays. I have been on awesome trips around the country and Mexico including 2 cruises. I have all my family here to celebrate the holidays with me. And I have got on a path to maybe not reach my dreams but at least get closer.

I haven’t been there for you guys though and I am going to try to correct that. 25 days of posts until the new year. One a day. Lets do it!

I am sure at this point that you don’t even remember my last post. Shoot I barely do. I could give you all the things that have happened but no one needs that story. All you need to know is that I am getting back on track.

Starting with a mini family trip to attend a cousin’s wedding. Greg is one of my favorite cousins and his fiance Alexis is wonderful. They will have the picture perfect wedding of her dreams and I am sure that it will go smoothly, every minute perfectly planned. But for me, I am just enjoying the time away from the las vegas heat and some quiet time with family I haven’t seen in a few years.

I haven’t been able to do as much this last year as I would like, but I highly recommend travel even if it is weekend trips. I know I have mentioned this before but I cant stress it enough how important it is to get away for time for yourself. Essentially this weekend is a reset for me, some down time to relax and then get back into work mode. Crossed the country, from Nevada to a little town in Pennsylvania. Big city to the backcountry and I kid you not I just feel lighter here.

This is the back yard of the airbnb that we rented for a week.

The view and sunshine I am currently enjoying while typing this up. And even though there is a bit of humidity from the thunderstorms, I cant get enough of the green outdoors. We got to watch the lightning last night on the countryside, with very little city lights, nothing but streaks in the clouds bursting out of the darkness. Nature is a powerful and beautiful sight. Wish I could have caught it on camera but you know how quick it is. 

Anyways, I am going to keep this short for today. I want to soak up the cool breeze and read and relax as much as I can while I am here. When I get back, expect new posts from me. I have a few new places I want to explore when I get back, and some summer fun to get to that I will include you guys in if I can 🙂

Hope you guys have had a good week. I have had a lot going on, mostly with work but that isnt going to interest you, I promise. So instead, last weekend I was able to take part in a community event. There is a charity group called Rebuilding Together Southern Nevada. Straight from their website “Rebuilding Together Southern Nevada provides critical home repairs to low-income seniors, veterans and individuals with disabilities.” 

Sherwin Williams is one of the many businesses that they partner with. A good friend and coworker of mine, Ashlee, is on the committee. The committee reviews several prospective locations for repairs, qualifications and the applicant’s situation. Once a client is selected, members of the team visit the house, access the required work and coordinate the contractors needed. Some projects will need a few days worth of work, if there is repairs or even landscaping/ clean up needed. Once the date is set, teams are put together and volunteers can sign up.

I chose to volunteer this year for multiple reasons. I really enjoy giving back, helping veterans and working with my SW family. Sherwin of course supplies the paint, and as a team 20 of us got together to repaint the exterior walls, trim, fence and pool deck. Bright and early, 8 am on a saturday we showed up, had a bit of breakfast and broke out into different tasks to get going. There is a lot of prep work before you can get to spraying paint. We had to scrape off the old peeling paint on some of the wood trim, which explains the mask lol. Masking doors and windows took us time so we worked in sections. With 20 people we made good progress.

Spring is 50/50 when it comes to Vegas. Its either really nice or its crazy hot. We got really lucky and even had a nice breeze up till we started painting the pool deck. Of course the pool didn’t have much shade so we caught some sun. The plus side of that was that the deck paint dried super quickly. We recoated the metal side gates and the front door. Its amazing how a fresh coat of paint and a bit of TLC really brought the house back to life. 

Other than a few group photos which could only be taken by the committee, we weren’t allowed to snap any, as a courtesy to the homeowner. As we were working, the nice lady veteran that owned the house was coming around to see the progress. She was super nice and had questions for us, offering us water and things like that. I got to talk to her for a few minutes. What she said I don’t think I will forget. She told me “You guys are doing a fantastic job. I really appreciate you, This makes my heart sing. I’m so happy.” When you hear things like that, the dirt and sweat are worth it. 

Like when every group project is completed, those of us that could stay a bit longer headed over to a local bar, where the committee had put together food and drinks. Most of the 20 people helping were reps and managers. I dont get to spend a lot of fun time with them, mostly just work time. It was nice to spend the day working and joking with them, catching up with them. Nothing is better than having a good time with a great group of people.

Spending my day off working, even on a fun project, still cuts the weekend in half. It was rewarding for sure but I did go into Monday worn out. The week has kind of been that way. But I really do hope to do more of these projects in the future and would encourage you to look into some in your area. You never know who needs a helping hand.

Every once in a while, you just have to say “not today” and do something completely off track. Its part self care, part turning off the world. And today is that for me. I am taking the day off because if I don’t have an extra day to bounce back I might just crack again.

There were a series of events that got me here. Briefly, if you read the last post I have been crazy busy. It has been an emotional 2 weeks with all the changes going on. I am training a new hire and trying to not fall behind on orders. But the thing that tipped the scale yesterday, was the email (yes email only) that told me the position that I have been getting more and more excited about was offered to another applicant. Before the confirmation, I had already come to terms with either outcome but I am not going to lie, I was/am still disappointed.

Being overwhelmed is part of life sometimes but knowing you need a break and actively taking it can be hard. For me, I know there will still be orders whether I went in today or not. I wanted to move to another position but the one I have now I still need to do and it pays the bills. But I for sure am not in the right head space or mood to accept and move on. I need a healthy distraction, not thinking about what’s next, giving my mind a break before I decide on a new course of action. So here are my plans to play hooky.

Of course you must start with sleeping in lol. Well I gave it my best try anyway. Even with my alarms turned off I rolled over at the normal 5 am time. But I stayed in bed, scrolled thru instagram, talked to a few friends, just taking it easy. There is no rushing when it comes to playing hooky. You really just flow with the day. And as I am sitting here typing, its very Millenial of me but I have my OJ and Avocado toast. Cant go wrong.

Everyone has their own version of a happy place or relaxing. For me, I love to be outside, whether its on a patio, by the pool, in the mountains for a hike. Today I would love to go up to the mountains but I am going to go work on my tan by the pool. Its just the right time of year where the sun feels good but you don’t bake right away. My weeks are packed so I don’t get to just lounge around pool side very often. The water is refreshing, the sun is warming and so are the Trulys that I will take with me to drink. You cant go wrong with taking a good book and a speaker for vibes if you have one. Let the day drinking commence.

Solo by the pool has its benefits but could lead to lots of overthinking. Best way to beat that is calling for backup. Friends you dont normally get to see, or friends with odd schedules, like my friend Amanda. She is a go getter and I dont get to see her often since I am a 9 to 5. I gave her a call today and we are going to get together either at the pool or for lunch, maybe even happy hour. We always play it by ear and just decide as we feel like it.

The thing about Amanda is her mind works so much like mine. We take situations as they come. Whether they are good or bad we find the take aways and we apply them to our next adventure. I love catching up with her because she always has new experiences to share or new ideas to look into. Whoever is that person for you, reach out to them for your day of hooky. Someone who can help distract you.

It also happens to be payday. Just my luck. Ive been meaning to go find some new summer outfits and retail therapy is also a great way to literally “spend” playing hooky. Wandering thru your favorite stores, checking out whats new fashion or home goods. I always splurge on the new scent of candles. Its an addiction but hey we all have one. No harm in finding a cute summer dress for a date later tonight if hes free 😉

There are plenty of other things that are on my list. Maybe go see a matinee movie, hit a spin class in the middle of the day, or maybe find a new restaurant to check out. Who doesnt like a good meal when they are a bit stressed? My parents live in town but I dont get to see them often so I could swing by for dinner. I’ve been wanting to go check out the Mob Museum in town or Area 15 in the arts district. I could get my paints out.

As you can clearly see my day is completely booked. Just kidding 🙂 I am not going to plan or book anything. I am going to do whatever I feel like that excites, relaxes or distracts me from what has been going on. I am taking a reset so that when tomorrow comes and I have to start readjusting my plans I can be in a good mood. Good moods help you to be more creative, more open to possibilities and changes. So I am off to do nothing or everything. If you need a day take it. The work, the drama, the world all keeps spinning and will be there tomorrow. Have some fun today!!