Best Swag of 2020!: Tea/coffee Date September 2020

~ Chocolaterunsjudy

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Pull up a chair and mug with Coco and Deborah and me and a bunch of bloggers for the ultimate coffee tea date: My mug was way overdue for an update!

Best swag of 2020 so far

If we were enjoying tea/coffee . . .
I would share with you again the cool mug I earned by four hot, sweaty, buggy trail runs in July. Well, three, I caved on the last one because they were mostly so miserable and just folded it into a long run. I do love this mug though, so it’s my new Ultimate “Coffee” mascot.

Do they stay or do they go?

If we were enjoying tea/coffee . . .
I’d tell you that this house was supposed to a be temporary home. It was a temporary appointment for Mr. Judy. That was 12 years ago (he still has 5 years to go to match our temporary move to TX). Landscaping wasn’t a big priority at first, but with all the time at home in 2020 we are trying a little harder. We’ll see what survives Winter.

I’m usually good at looking up which plants are toxic to dogs before we buy, but I didn’t do that with the Black Eye’d Susans. I’m seeing conflicting info. What to do? However, as I was researching that, I did find out that the Aloe plant I bought a few months ago is most definitely highly toxic to dogs. Which is weird, because aloe gel can be very soothing for them. It’s been moved.

If we were enjoying tea/coffee . . .
I’d tell you we’re moving into Fall, which means Winter is coming (we watched Game of Thrones this Summer), which means getting in movement is harder and harder.

I’ve finally been motivated to get in some more movement to my days — some days. More solo walks. More walking on my side trips to my mom. I balance that out with some rest days, too, because I know I need that. I don’t have much longer to easily get in that extra movement — not sure why I waited so long.

Oh yeah, hot, humid, buggy Summer!

We have a sunflower “field” in our own neighborhood!

If we were enjoying tea/coffee . . .
I’d tell we’ve been watching these flowers grow all Summer. They tilled 3 rows outside their fenced in yard, which seemed weird. It kind of looks like flowers with herbs planted between rows of flowers. Did they just not want their dogs to eat the flowers? Inquiring minds want to know!

Flowers & herbs?

If we were enjoying tea/coffee . . .
I’d tell you that you already know that I’m constantly losing things. Constantly. Little things. Big things. This one might be the biggest one yet: an entire sheet set.

I’ve been chipping away at the house all year, decluttering, reorganizing . . . and every time I reorganize it seems I can’t remember where I reorganized things. The sheet set was in a different laundry bag. Thanks to running, I have a ton of “laundry bags”.

Have you been ramping it up in Summer, or waiting for cooler days?

Ever had a temporary home that lasted for years? 

Do you use those bags we get as swag as laundry bags? What do you use them for?

I am also linking up with:

I am also linking up with the  Fridays with Fairytales and Fitness from Fairytales & Fitness.

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36 thoughts on “Best Swag of 2020!: Tea/coffee Date September 2020”

  1. The first apartment that I rented with my husband we ended up staying in for 5 years until we bought a house. That was the longest I had lived in one place (beside when I lived with my parents) and now I’ve been in my current house for over 5 years. Im still getting outside the same amount, maybe a little less in the afternoons because its still so hot. It will be nice when I can go for walks and not come home dripping in sweat.

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  2. I hope that our current home isn’t our forever home…we moved here when my youngest was born, wanting to raise them in a good town with good schools. Mission accomplished. But to get my husband to move? We’ll see.

    I love that coffee mug. I had my eye on a similar one from the Ice Age Trail race–it will have to wait until May!

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    1. Oh, my husband can’t wait to move. I really did love my house in TX — not because it was any mansion or anything, but I jut loved it & miss it.

      Problem is we have to decide where we want to move to . . .

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  3. Why do you say “You don’t have much longer to get in the extra movement”? What’s going on?

    Yes, this is the home we first moved to when we got married. In my husband’s eyes it was going to be a 5 to 10 year home, but in my eyes, I hoped it would be our forever home! We have been here now for 16 years! -M

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    1. Not much time because the days are getting shorter & colder.

      We loved our house in TX, really thought we’d retire there, but it just wasn’t meant to be. Like many things in life, Austin has grown so much (too much) that probably not so bad. But now to decide where to move to.

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  4. I had a permanent home that last a year. A lot of redecorating for nothing.

    I’ve been doing a lot of planting. I’ve always loved flowers and planted annuals but this summer has more time. Gardening is so much work.

    I’ve been hiking as you know since March. Best thing ever. So easy to social distance.

    Haven’t watched any TV since it got warm. I guess that will change when it gets too dark in the evenings.

    Speaking of de cluttering. I have too many mugs and glasses. Ugh!!!

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      2. No, not that many. Mine weren’t age group awards and few were gifts — most of the ones that were gifts I didn’t like, didn’t use, and have gotten rid of eventually.

        Probably somewhere about 30, although I haven’t counted. I do definitely have my favorites.

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  5. We’ve been in our house 18 years – after multiple apartment moves before we had kids, my husband and I both joked we’d probably never move again once we moved in here. But I could possibly see us moving back into the city once the kids are off on their own.

    I do believe Black-eyed Susans are poisonous – unfortunately, many perennials are. We had to train our dog to stay out of my garden.

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    1. Ah, there’ll be more about the black eye’d susans next coffee date . . .

      This home was never, ever meant to be permanent. It still isn’t. I’m relatively sure we’ll move at some point. The problem is deciding where to move to!

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  6. I live in one house until I graduated from high school. We’ve moved a few times, usually to make our commute to the kids’ school easier. Now, I love our house. It’s too big for our empty nest in normal times, but I’m grateful for our basement gym and the previously unused part of the basement that is now my office.

    I love sunflowers! I wish we had better landscaping, but I hate gardening. 😛

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    1. I actually lived in 2 different houses growing up. My parents spent a lot more time living in the second home, but my time there as a full time resident was almost evenly split.

      Then there was 1 yr in a an apartment in MD. Then I got married, 7 yrs in VT in a condo. Then roughly 2 years in TX in an apartment, then 15 in a house that I really loved.

      Well, whenever we decide where we want to move to, hopefully I’ll find a house I love as much or more than the TX one!

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  7. I really love that mug! We don’t do too much planting/landscaping at our house (we do not have green thumbs, lol), but I always admire my friend’s backyard because it is immaculate! There’s just something so relaxing about perfectly cut grass and beautiful flowers!

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  8. So funny that your “temporary” home has lasted 12 years so far! I guess you never know. Bill and I have been talking about moving out of the house we have lived in for 35 years and we have been decluttering too. It seems like it would be so much work, though!

    Those sunflowers are so pretty. I wish I could envision a location for sunflowers in my garden but so far, no luck.

    Love your new coffee mug.

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    1. Love the mug. You are so right about movement. It is critical. I am running 4 days a week, but they are short. It has been difficult due to heat and humidity. We are now getting cooler weather and running is better. We have moved a bit. But when we moved here we decided to try and make it a forever home. It has been 14 years. House needs work and if we cannot find a contractor, we might be moving again.

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    2. It is a lot of work, Laurie. I know because my siblings & I were the ones that did 99% of the work of moving my parents (and cleaning out their home).

      Apparently sunflowers are actually toxic to pretty much everything surrounding them. Who knew?

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  11. This was supposed to be a “temporary” home but then the bottom fell out of the housing market and here we still are, for over 20 years. Whoops! My swag bags end up going to the kids for gym stuff, overnight bags, you name it. The supply is seemingly endless, even though I get rid of plenty

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  12. We keep a few of our bags to use for taking dry clothes with us to change into if we’re going out to breakfast or shopping after a run or bike ride. I kept one that I really liked to use if I run errands on my bike. The rest, I stick in the donation pile.

    We are in our forever home, well forever until we can’t manage this house and yard or need to have our bedroom on the main level…

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  13. Hm, I didn’t know aloe was toxic to dogs, but definitely good information to know (I don’t have a dog yet, but would love to adopt one someday!). I need to get more movement into my everyday life too–I seem to go through spells, haha. :/ Those flowers are gorgeous! We recently planted some lavender in our front yard! :]

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    1. Aloe isn’t toxic to dogs, but the plant itself is actually. My dogs didn’t show any interest in it but better safe than sorry.

      We’ve tried lavender. Just doesn’t thrive anywhere we’ve tried it unfortunately.

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  15. I love black eyed susans. I keep saying I’m going to plant some in my front yard but still haven’t. Maybe in another month when it cools down I’ll plant some. I also love mugs from races. They mean so much more to me than my other mugs.

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