5 thing Friday - car woes, Christmas lights, soup, falling leaves, winter

A mix of the good and the not-so-good here. 

Waiting in the drizzle at 645 a.m. for the Subaru dealership to open {on my birthday} because my check engine light came on and the oil change place said Subaru should decypher the code.  Reminder to self: do not go to the dealership service department for any reason.  $200 and 8 hours later they had a laundry list of close to 8K and nothing resolved with the car.

The saga will continue, I'm sure.

A saga of a different sort: outside Christmas lights.  A learning curve for me, as Mark was always the one who took care of this.  As of this post, my lights are not 100% working, the timer is unreliable, and I had to order bulbs from Amazon because I could not find them at Walgreen's or HEB.

Saturday evening I sat on the patio at my firepit and could see the glow of Christmas lights out front - 'twas nice.  But it didn't last, as the fuses in one string blew.  I'm doing all of this 100% differently next year.  Frustration will not be a part of it.

This pot of lentil soup may not look amazing, but it was!  I had cooked lentils in the freezer and used turkey stock, a couple of potatoes that were about to be wrinkly, and couple of carrots, and some onion and garlic cooked with three slices of bacon until browned.  A handful of kale was added, and I served it with garlic cheese toast made with the leftover buns from pulled pork on Thanksgiving weekend.

The view from our breakroom at work includes a green space with a maple tree that is lit up this time of year.  Its starting to lose it leaves, though, which means winter can't be far away.

I'm not a fan of the time change and winter, in general.  Not enough sun, for one thing.  And by the time I get home its so dark that bedtime just naturally comes earlier for me.  Which isn't terrible as work has been stressful and I need the sleep.  I'm looking forward to sunnier days ahead...

Happy Weekend,

Gina