nothing new

Nothing new going on here. The weather has been mostly hot and sunny though we did have some rain during the night and later in the day Friday. So I didn't have to water the plants.  We just putter around with keep busy projects  and READING.

My younger daughter ( teacher) is working towards her Ed. Specialist degree ( I think)... taking two classes the first part of the summer and a second one the second half. All online. Her degree will be in "gifted education". I listened to her idea for a class "project" the other day... high school gifted curriculum.

I think she was using me as a sounding board....lol.  BTW she has two BA's and a MA already...!!!

My other daughter is the development director for a non-profit. The non-profit's usual way of  fund raising has been cancelled due to the virus and my daughter has been trying to find new ways... lots of grant writing for one thing. The lack of funds has been exacerbated but the increasing needs in the non-profit's clientele.

The virus stats keep on going up around here so we are left with an unsettled future....  Our family is careful especially Bob and I but the younger ones  have jobs etc and have to be out and about.



 

too early... way too early

This morning I awoke at 6 am to my neighbor's crashing and banging!! He and his family own a trash pick up business and he was throwing around and loading into his pickup truck the trash bins his clients fill for pick up. Sigh... couldn't he have waited till 7 am or later??

My plants definitely needed water... some looked really limp. We have had sun and temps  from the low to mid 80's with a day or two here and there of 90's.
Our deck used to be shaded for most of the day... but when the gum tree had to come down last fall ( it was rotten) the shade was gone for most of the day. Oh well... maybe I can get my husband to bring down a large umbrella from the attic.

The online show went well. I didn't sell out... but maybe next time, which will be in August.

The "family" will be "zooming" this evening..... Boston, Chicago and Missouri. We tried , unsuccessfully, to convince others in South Carolina and Rochester, NY to join us.
The zoom went well... some couldn't be there but the rest of us enjoyed it and will do it again!

computer hovering

I spent most of yesterday hovering over my computer so that when something sold I could change things on my website to alert other lookers... the rest of the time I spent boxing things and getting them ready for a trip to the Post Office!!
Yes... it was a good sales day and the show is still open until Monday night!
My "end of the driveway" mailbox is too small for all those packages so after lunch today we drove off to the PO to drop them off. I use USPS' "click and ship" and can pay for and print off shipping labels. This makes things so easy and no standing on line!!
Then of to Michael's Craft Store ...Bob saw an advertisement for lidded storage boxes and I needed perle cotton for bear noses. We wore our masks and were careful... first time we had been to a craft store since the beginning of the lock down.
After this we headed for a new fresh veggies stand I had seen on Facebook. Two very nice teenagers were manning it... I wore a mask and signs told me where to enter and exit.... bought cucumbers and tomatoes . It's still early season wise and was told they would be having more and to watch the Facebook page.
Then  we went on an old-fashioned road trip... not far... but we hadn't done it forever. Some things never change and some things definitely had! Nice change from being stuck in the house... nice and sunny and the temps were a little lower - low 80's.

Here's one that "left"...
Almost forgot... made another of Joanne's ( Cup on the Bus)  Crostatas ... a strawberry one this time. Yummy

bang bang bang

As I got ready for another walk around the neighborhood I heard all this banging!  I looked around and finally discovered that my neighbors to the back and left are having a new roof installed. Since the house originally had wood shakes  and then asphalt shingles, both of these had to be removed and plywood installed.
So all this has been going on all day. It looks like they are about half done . The weatherperson on TV says it will start raining early tomorrow so the roofers will probably work until dark.

My walk was tiring... again. 

I came across a squished and dried toad on the road ... a bigger one then I had ever seen outside of a zoo! It measured more than 9 inches long!! 

Tomorrow is my next online bear and friends show.... I will keep checking my emails to see if anything sold !

Tonight's dinner is not exciting to say the least ... egg and black olive salad sandwiches, apple sauce and what's left of the potato chips  ( from the potato chip omelet I made a few days ago)  Then apple tartlets for afters. I didn't feel like cooking and the tartlets are frozen and easily baked!!

 

not a do nothing today

I have become bored with the laps around my dining room, living room, family room and kitchen! So I decided to go out early - while the temps were in the low 70's - for a walk. My neighborhood was dead as a door nail... no cars parked ... almost no people. I saw two .. one going on a "run" and one heading out to his car. probably to go to work.

So now I am whipped... my stamina is gone. Guess the laps were not a good enough replacement. I am glad I didn't wait till the temps are in the the 90's later this afternoon.

do nothing day

Today was pretty much a do nothing day.. read a lot!! Then the Kindle had a hiccup... telling me any book I wanted to read had been removed from the Kindle. Couldn't figure out how to reboot it so just decided to charge the battery and wait for Bob to figure it out.  Which he did... hooray.

I did make a recipe Bob had wanted to try.... potato chip omelet. It called for 12 eggs and 6 oz. of potato chips. Way too much for two of us so I cut the recipe in half. Failure... not in making it but the end result. Super bland.. threw the recipe out ... not a keeper. Luckily I also made a nice green salad!

It's still super warm ... over 90 degrees. Probably part of the reason why today was do nothing. It looks like it will be the same till the end of the week .. plants will need watering tomorrow.

up early

well... not really early but no time for coffee and the paper. We had to be at "Big Biscuit" by 8 am!! Our first time eating in a restaurant since the lock down.  We wore masks until we were seated. Tables were spread far apart and at every other one. Our server wore a mask.  Our menus were paper table mats - hence disposable.  No huge crowds waiting for a table - they were waiting in their cars for a table to be available.  Felt pretty safe!!

Then I got a call from Target/CVS pharmacy. My three month supply of pills were ready. Target did all the right things ... cart cleaning, lines marked out, 6 foot spots at the checkout, sneeze guards etc. .... BUT the person behind me was right on top of me and without a mask... mentioned the 6 foot distancing and it was like I was speaking Greek. So I put my cart between us and MADE her back up !!  Wore my mask!!

Then when I returned home it was yard work time... moving rocks from the old rock garden. Exhausting... too hot ! Its 90 degrees out! So I quit and went inside for some peach tea !
Another reason for quitting was the wheel barrow decided to roll back and I had visions of falling down the hill flat on my back AGAIN...another broken leg?? No way!!

Lots of little stuff

Lots of little stuff going on day after day. Bob gave advice to our daughter and granddaughter on buying a new used car for the granddaughter. The hunt was successful and out granddaughter drove a new ( to her) used car home yesterday. They talked with the bank and secured a loan... talked with the car salesman and got a good trade-in for the car... and got a good  warranty too...  Everyone happy.

My daughters, my son-in-law and my grandson went to a "Black Lives Matter" rally ... not in Kansas City but a small  town to the East. Things went pretty well until a minister took to the podium where his talk descended into the abortion issue. Pretty far from the "Black Lives Matter" and the defund police issue.

The weather has been hot and sunny... the plants needed water but are growing well. My pepper plant ( only 6 inches tall) has a flower and the tomatoes are twice the size they were. The air conditioning is on but where we have set it, it only turns on in the late afternoon and evening.  Outside it was 90 degrees at dinner time but with enough breeze and shade on the deck to make eating out there nice.

I have another online show next weekend so have been working on getting ready... bears and friends made, posting on my Weebly site and getting PayPal buttons set up.

Looks like dinner tonight will be fish, roasted small potatoes, fresh green beans and another of Joanne's blueberry crostatas for "afters".

another week gone

TGIF used to be the working person's mantra... but now that we are retired and abiding ( mostly) by the social distancing guidelines it doesn't seem to be that important. Each day pretty much seems like all the rest... whine whine whine...
Yesterday Bob discovered that one of our favorite restaurants was offering a dinner special curbside. It's a set meal but with some choices as to sides. So we ordered two dinners, set up a pick up time  and waited till it was time to go.
The restaurant is about a half hour away so we got out our cooler and heated a brick in the oven...and off we went. Everything went smoothly. Dinner went into the heated cooler with the brick and home we went. The brick idea did the trick. Dinner was still hot and was great!! Bob says we will do it again.
Like most restaurants during the shut down things were hard... very very slow. So I made sure to write on Facebook just how successful our experience went...

It was good for me too... great meal.. no prep... very few dishes/utensils !

We are in the midst of a hot weather period... in the 90's yesterday and almost as hot today and since it rained ( night time) both times it was pretty muggy. More days of the same coming up. My plants love it!

Bob just finished a phone call from our grand daughter.. she needed used car buying advice. Guess her current one is dying. Glad it was Bob not me,,, I know nothing about what's a good used car to buy!!  LOL

gorgeous weather

We have been having gorgeous weather these last two days!! And next week looks the same!!
I have been planting flowers and herbs in the boxes on our deck railings... tomatoes and peppers in pots.... really looking forward to those!!
We also bought ... and assembled... an outdoor storage cabinet for the cushions belonging to our deck furniture. So glad to have a place for them and not having to worry about them getting wet when it rains!!
Bob also spent time doing the spring clean up for our grill... and exchanged the propane tank - empty for full. That evening we grilled for the first time this year!! Not the last I'm sure.

Started this yesterday and didn't finish it. Bob headed out to Home Depot to help our daughter choose a new lawn mower ( wearing his mask of course)... then life got busy.

Today I saw this on FB  (  Illustration by @Sarah Watts )

with the idea than planning the month ahead on a calendar would help those of us who's life has too much daily sameness. Help us keep track of what day it is??