It’s been a somewhat interesting Tuesday. Couldn’t sleep last night and then, woke up to a 6:30 a.m. call into work. Could only go in for about an hour as J had his appointment but I went ahead and helped out for that short time. And doing it again tomorrow, however, this time I know in advance and won’t have to be there quite as early.
Took J to his appointment. He didn’t want to go out for lunch afterward. Who is this kid? So, we made a quick grocery store run and ended up having homemade pizza for lunch. Spent some time messing around in the backyard. We also tested the a/c in the house. Works.
Heard the crows fussing at the owls late last night. Seems the crows chased them off successfully. We’ll see if I hear the owls (or the crows fussing) again tonight.
Pretty slow basic day over all. Tacos for dinner. We (well, my husband helped with mine) set up our new phones. The kids ran to Target and I spent time watching the crow’s nest. Talked to one of my brother’s about Easter, they already have plans. Not a huge deal as invite was very last minute.
Somewhere in all that I started a new book, Two Days in Lisbon. Very good so far, probably going to go back to reading it after I finish this brief post. Not sure why this post almost feels like a rather unexciting diary entry. Just missing the fuzzy cover and little padlock with the key. Did you ever have one of those? I think I even had a little pink one with no security like the padlocks at one point. Back before they were called fancy things like journals.
Well enough of a diary/journal entry/blog post for now.
Last week, Daniella over at Dana Handmade posted her answers to this Proust questionnaire. I really enjoyed reading them and thought it would be so fun to play along!
The questions seemed a bit more serious than the ones you typically see in the about me questions (I love reading all types of those, no matter the questions!). Here are my attempts to answer these. The hard thing, I think, is I have more than one answer to many of these.
The Questions
1. My main trait – hopefully, kindness though I’m sure I don’t always succeed
2. The quality I want to meet in a man –already met one, ha. answer is honesty.
3. The quality I prefer in a woman – authenticity
4. What I value most in my friends –Do I have to say just one for these? honesty, authenticity, sense of humor, goes for the above 2 answers as well.
5. My main flaw –too many to narrow to one, struggle with criticism, not good at following rules, don’t like being told what to do, procrastination, I could go on…
6. My occupation favorite –I love my job, conversations, smiles, and hugs from 3-6 year olds are worth more than the highest salary of any corporate CEO
7. The happiness I dream of – Find it best to be happy with what I have where I am though I don’t always succeed
8. What would be my greatest misfortune –my family not knowing I love them
9. The place where I would like to live – I’m happy with where I live though I might not say no to a different part of the city or a slightly larger home.
10. My favorite color – GREEN especially that of growing things.
Dividing The Answers Here So I Get A Green Editing Smiley Face
11. The flower I like – I love all flowers, my favorites are lily-of-the-valley not planted in my garden because they’re poisonous to little cats.
12. The bird my favorite – I love most all the little outdoor birds but am partial to the chickadees and my hummingbirds.
13. My favorite prose writers –so many, depends on the genre really. This could be a separate post, stay tuned. Also, how about a confession? I’ve never read anything by Proust. Any suggestions?
14. My favorite poets –Maya Angelou, Robert Frost, not a huge poetry person
15. My favorite literary heroes –The Pevensies, Meg from A Wrinkle In Time, mind is a bit blank here
16. My favorite literary heroines –see above
17. My favorite composers – Mozart, Debussy, and Leroy Anderson among others. I am also partial to Blake Neely (he composes a lot of scores for television shows such as You, The Flash, Riverdale, etc.) And of course, I grew up listening to Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev. Also, just for fun I am sharing a new (to me) piece I heard on the classical station just yesterday: Arthropod Suite by Jonathan Peters.
18. My favorite painters – I had a couple framed Picasso prints on my walls, Bouquet of Flowers and Dove of Peace when I lived alone, so still love those. Van Gogh, of course. And Monet. Not very good at this category…
Need Another Divider To Make Editing Software Happy
I think this is a fox sparrow
19. My favorite heroes in real life –as Mr. Rogers would say “the helpers”
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”― Fred Rogers
20. What I hate the most –not a lot of hate but a long list of little annoyances, try not to dwell on them too much. Put your shopping cart away, be nice, personal space, don’t tailgate me, judge not lest you be judged!, and so on..
Had To Add Another Subheading, Must Have The Green Smiley Face
21. The quality I wish I had from birth – more courage, just call me the Cowardly Lion
22. How I would like to die – while LIVING
23. The mistakes that inspire me the greatest indulgence – those from my youth perhaps? Honestly, I’m not entirely sure I understand this question properly.
24. My motto – first one is flat out stolen from my workplace, the 2 rules: be peaceful and show respect. Second one, heard somewhere and really liked it: be curious, not judgemental.
******************
A copy of blank questions if you’d like to play along and I hope you will. I’d love to see your answers!
1. My main trait –
2. The quality I want to meet in a man –
3. The quality I prefer in a woman –
4. What I value most in my friends –
5. My main flaw –
6. My occupation favorite –
7. The happiness I dream of –
8. What would be my greatest misfortune –
9. The place where I would like to live –
10. My favorite color –
11. The flower I like –
12. The bird my favorite –
13. My favorite prose writers –
14. My favorite poets –
15. My favorite literary heroes –
16. My favorite literary heroines –
17. My favorite composers –
18. My favorite painters –
19. My favorite heroes in real life –
20. What I hate the most –
21. The quality I wish I had from birth –
22. How I would like to die –
23. The mistakes that inspire me the greatest indulgence –
It was another lazy day today. The sun did make a brief appearance though so that was nice. Other than that, today really wasn’t too exciting. Here let me tell you all about it. First, I’ll add it’s supposed to be nicer out tomorrow and I’m really hoping to get out and get some decent photos to share for upcoming posts.
Meanwhile, here’s a picture of the final amaryllis bloom.
See the tape? I accidentally knocked it when taking it outside on a nice day and the stem broke. However, a little tape fixed things enough for it to go ahead and still bloom.
(Oh my, ignore the dirty windows, please. They are on the spring cleaning list.)
The Short List of A Slow Day
Woke up very early, 5AM for no reason. Then, fell back asleep until about 7. However, I was up to ask my husband about the drivability of G’s car. He had car issues last night.
Made a protein shake for breakfast, coffee and chocolate.
Ruined the progress later by eating too many cookies. (Clean out the pantry cookies but I did make them with whole wheat flour and not much sugar so maybe not that bad?)
Took J to school.
Spent some time visiting a few lovely blogs/answering comments here
Thought about writing a post called Listmaker as I have more than 3 list type posts to do
Ran to the grocery store to pick up a few items for dinner. And accidentally took a screenshot of the recipe ingredients:
Picked J up from school
Made lunch: turkey, salami, and mozzarella melts on sourdough bread
Unloaded/Loaded Dishwasher
Vacuumed kitchen floor and living room rug
Cleaned up cat puke, joys of pet ownership though who owns who is up for debate.
Did the social media tour: Instagram, pretty pictures, then Facebook, why?
And now I’m getting this post done before my husband decides he wants to come down here and nap.
Tonight’s Plans
Tonight’s plans are that there are no plans. Well, other than attempting the pasta dish. The recipe for Penne Rosa is here if your interested. It’s new to us but I was intrigued. I’ll be using rigatoni instead of penne because I already had some in the pantry.
Just some random thoughts for today. Pretend you joined me in the car for the addictive drive-through coffee shop. Couldn’t resist another Irish Blondie Breve. Hoping that’s a seasonal thing because I definitely don’t need to be doing that everytime I’m over near the shop.
My joke of the day: What do you call Spring Break when it happens prior to payday?
Answer: Spring Broke!
(Gather your rotten fruit, I’ll be here all year!)
Can you tell I typically work with preschool children? Where even jokes that make no sense are funny. Drive-through coffee shop might also explain the spring broke.
Would you like to see the photos that were supposed to accompany yesterday’s post?
Winter Wednesday Photos
The crocus that finally bloomed!
The purple flowers taking over more of the yard.
A pot of dirt just waiting to be filled with spring/summer flowers.
Finally, a random photo of one of my daffodils in a vase.
And now that we’re back here at the house, have fed the birds (or rather the squirrels), and drank our coffee, let’s go walk around the yard.
After This Morning’s Rain
Final picture for today:
Creepy little critter isn’t it?
I don’t like them. They’re rodents and they steal my bird seed. However, they’re also super smart and it is interesting to watch them figure out all the “squirrel proof” bird feeders. I do wonder if I started feeding the squirrels instead of the birds, would the birds eat the squirrel’s food? Hmmm…
This is going to be a quick and just for fun type post today.
It all started when my husband brought home Dr. Pepper flavored Peeps, I think at the end of February (his word of the year is not “wait”). Anyway, we all tried them and if you come across Dr. Pepper flavored Peeps, know they are very, very good. We’ve not been able to find them anywhere since he bought that first package.
However, we have found all kinds of other odd flavors. I decided every time I saw a new flavor, I’d get it for us to try. And so it began, our quest to taste test every weird flavor of Peeps we could find.
Peeps are essentially just marshmallows and usually not too many in a package or too expensive. I did find some gummy Peeps at Target, a bit different.
As well as J’s current favorite flavor (also mine):
We’ve done lots of tastings over here so I thought I’d share our results with you all today.
Peeps Flavors Found And Our Thoughts:
Dr. Pepper Peeps, we all LOVED these. How they managed to make them taste just like Dr. Pepper is a mystery. If you are a Dr. Pepper fan, you’ll love these.
Sour Watermelon Peeps, we mostly liked these though I can’t remember them making a huge impression.
Party Cake Peeps, these were memorable for all the wrong reasons. For all of us, they completely missed the mark on the cake flavor. And the sprinkles on the outside were kind of weird.
Cotton Candy Peeps, I didn’t mind these but they didn’t really taste like cotton candy. I’m the only one who even kind of liked these.
Hot Tamale Peeps, these were surprisingly good! Tasted like a soft hot tamale (the candies, not the savory dinner item).
Sparkly Wild Berry Peeps, were not a hit with me. Too much grape (I should note I hate grape flavored things: grapes yes, grape artificial flavoring, no). J didn’t mind them. They left a weird coating on my hands as well. Cheetos can leave my hands covered in stuff, not Peeps.
Fruit Punch Peeps, these weren’t bad but I was looking around for Mr. Kool Aid to come bursting through the walls (Remember those old commercials?). They tasted like Kool Aid to me.
Tropical Burst Peeps, nice and subtle. We really like these. Hard to describe as no in your face flavors, definitely not coconut, but we know the flavor is tropical.
The Peeps Gummies, I loved these. Very vanilla flavored. J thought they tasted just like a peep. G said they weren’t for him. My husband hasn’t tried them yet.
Final Thoughts
The only flavor I’ve seen and not bought are the ones with the chocolate on the bottom. No doubt those are good but I’m not paying the same price for half as many candies just because they have chocolate on the bottom. Maybe I’ll get some for actual Easter or when they go on clearance from being over priced.
Peeps aren’t a candy for everyone. Personally, I prefer the regular flavors of them when they are slightly stale. My husband and J like to roast them (they are marshmallows after all). And G just likes them.
What about you, tried any new flavors of Peeps lately? Or do you even like this type of candy?
After yesterday’s very unproductive day, I did manage to get a few things accomplished today. Resting on and off all day yesterday and going to bed at 8PM helped. So did a mistaken coffee order.
This Morning
I started off the morning by checking on my daffodils. As much as I’d like to have a lovely vase of flowers in here, I just can’t bring myself to pick them.
(Should mention it was yet another cloudy, rainy day so the lighting for my photos was not the best.)
Despite the cold, rainy weather, it felt good to be outside getting a bit of fresh air. Discovered the little purple flowers in the yard (not planted by me, they come up all over the front yard each spring). I battled these purple flowers, scilla aka “glory of the snow,” for years before embracing them as a cheerful first sign of spring.
If it was a sunny, warm day, I’d have probably seen happy bees with them.
Anyway, besides being outside a bit, I also managed to fill the car with gas. And while I was running that errand, I ran to Tractor Supply to pick up some overpriced bird seed. Went there instead of Menards since it’s closer to home. And because I knew they’d have a good selection of seed starter trays, bought a few more of those as well.
And I was brave, for the first time ever, I went through one of those drive-through coffee shops. They kind of intimidate me so I’d never been despite having many choices around here. Ordered something called an Irish Blondie (Irish cream,vanilla, and caramel breve) and they accidentally gave me a large instead of a medium. Woohoo extra productivity!
This Afternoon
Had another day with some time home alone as J went work with my husband again. And G works every Saturday. So, I spent some time writing a much overdue letter to my penpal. And doing a little house cleaning. Of course, I never seem to get enough finished before everyone returns.
Lunch was up in the air but at the last minute, I made a “clean out the fridge” type of frittata. Used potatoes, orange and yellow peppers, onion, and cheese. Turned out pretty good. Wish I’d had fresh parsley or some other green component but alas nothing.
J and I agreed next time, we’ll add bacon and more cheese. And maybe spinach. Plus perhaps skip the potatoes. (My husband doesn’t eat eggs so had something else for lunch).
Then, my productivity kind of stopped. Had to pace myself after yesterday plus the cat found my lap again. So, I watched more baking shows. Decided I’m not a fan of the Easter Baking Championship, too much food waste. They were baking huge cakes and then the judges were only judging a tiny component.
This Evening
My husband and I spent some time looking at hotels (on-line) for our upcoming trip in August. We’re in the very early planning stages. Then he made waffles for dinner for J and himself (all day breakfast over here). G ate noodles, he made those himself. I’ve yet to eat, not really hungry. Finally, we spent some time watching his cooking show, Guy Fieri Tournament of Champions. I like it as well.
Guess I’ll end tonight’s fairly random post with a reminder that here in the US (except for a few lucky states), it’s time to spring forward an hour.
The cat’s face at another rainy day is pretty much how I feel about that. Not a fan. Can I even say it often enough that the days get naturally longer and shorter? Ugh.
Here, let me leave you with another shot of a cheerful daffodil instead of that unpleasant thought.
Are you excited for it to be almost the weekend? I know I’m excited over here. Not much going on this Thursday morning. It’s another cloudy sky and more rain is moving in for later. I’m listening to J practice euphonium as I type this. Such a nice sound.
Breakfast this morning was the current usual:
Coffee and oatmeal. Lower sugar maple flavor. I’ve started making my instant oatmeal with water instead of milk. One tiny change at a time, we’ll see if it helps with the shedding of the winter pounds.
Strawberry pie probably doesn’t help. I didn’t think the pie was a huge hit around here. However, it turns out I might have been wrong. My husband’s been taking it in his lunch for dessert and I did find this in the kitchen this morning:
Did I forget to take a picture of the actual pie after I made it? Possibly. I used this strawberry pie recipe from The Pioneer Woman. I was slightly short on strawberries (like 1/4 cup) but it didn’t make a huge difference. However, if making it for company, I’d go big on the strawberries as well as adding some fresh sliced ones on top for garnish.
On Today’s Agenda
Pretty much everything from my to do list on Monday. The only thing I’ve managed this week is to wash all our bedding. And make the strawberry pie. Forgot to pick the daffodils but thankfully, the weather never turned super cold so I think they’ll be okay. Main item today is getting cat food as we’re now completely out of it.
The rest of the list waits for me. And now, there’s more to do. Go to the bank, pay bills, and clear off the kitchen table. Also, work this afternoon and a fun mom’s night out planned for tonight.
Weekend Plans
We have no big weekend plans at the moment. Maybe another movie or G said something about playing Mario Party 2 (they’ve somehow downloaded the old Nintendo 64 games to the switch). I usually read my book while they do those things but I used to sometimes play the Mario games with them when the boys were younger.
As I bring this post to a close, J’s finished practicing and now I can hear the rain once again falling outside. Just makes me think of the how everything will soon be green and growing. Like these little tomato plants I started indoors:
These are actually from a Dollar Tree “tomato rocket” so we’ll see how they do this summer. I was excited to see them sprout.
I woke up in a much better mood than I was when I posted yesterday. No idea why. Just going to share yet another random post of some Saturday stuff. I do have a bit of a more serious post planned, probably on Tuesday.
However, I like to keep things lighter on the weekends. Normally, I wouldn’t even bother posting too much on the weekends. Maybe the bird-watching posts but even then, not every weekend. Now with the Blog 365 challenge, I have to find a few things to say even on Saturdays.
How about just a glimpse of a few things from this morning/afternoon?
I’d tell you this was my slightly indulgent breakfast but it wasn’t. I had this for a late lunch/afternoon snack. Move over cinnamon toast.
Cinnamon Croissant:
Want the recipe? It’s easy, split a croissant, add butter, and plenty of this:
Then, broil it. It’s worth it. Make yourself feel better about it by having it with some green tea. (Mine is always Stash Green Chai tea with a splash of milk.)
Let’s Blame The Candle!
This is the other candle I bought at Bath and Body Works on Wednesday (I figured out what day I went on my retail therapy trip.)
Small candle for the kitchen. Just to clarify, it smells nothing like a cinnamon sugar or a croissant. And I’m sure my cinnamon toasted croissant (from Aldi no less) tasted nothing like a croissant I might find in Paris if I ever get there.
Not sure how to transition from croissants and candles that supposedly smell like Paris to the rest of this post but…
A Cat!
I was reading my book a bit this morning until she thought perhaps my time should be spent doing her bidding instead. She’s now asleep on the daybed down here. It’s exhausting keeping us all inline.
Finally, last item for today…
Plants and Flowers
Still waiting on the second blooming of the Christmas cactus. Cat mentioned above thought she might take a bite of it yesterday. Good thing I caught her! Not like she doesn’t have an entire pot of cat grass pretty much right beside the window, just above this plant.
Don’t worry eventually, I’ll quit boring you with pictures of the Christmas cactus and indoor flower bouquets.
When, spring and summer finally arrive, I’ll bore you with lots of outdoor plants and flowers instead! I can hardly wait! Actually, that’s on my unwritten list for today. I might start some seeds and pop into the window.
Spring is coming. Unless you’re on a different side of the world, then autumn/winter will be there soon. Time to trade seasons and no take backs!
This is a bit of an overdue post on my Galentine’s Day dinner as well as our Valentine’s day. Wanted to share before the details faded any more from my mind. I’m going to work backwards and start with my Valentine’s Day. I’ll have a lot more to say about Galentine’s Day.
Valentine’s Day
This was a work day for me and a pretty low key day. Our work party (for the preschool kids) was fun though the weather wasn’t cooperative. They keep this holiday very simple at my work. The kids decorate paper lunch bags with stickers, have an ice cream party, and then exchange Valentines. It was tiring entertaining hyped up on sugar kids with no outside option but the kids had fun.
At home, we were very low-key. I’d started losing my voice on Monday night and working all day Tuesday didn’t improve things. We planned to order in from our favorite Chinese restaurant but they were closed for Valentine’s Day! So we made do with Hawaiian Bros which was very good and probably a little (a lot) cheaper than the Chinese restaurant. I just gave all the boys a package of Kit Kats and my husband a card. He gave me flowers and a card. The kids just gave me a card (which they actually forgot to give me until last night). It was a nice, relaxing night. Much needed since I worked the next day as well.
Galentine’s Dinner
Fresh Strawberry Cheesecake
This happened last week but today is the first day I’ve had time to share about it. We all met for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory on the Plaza. And we all exchanged “tokens of love and friendship” which stressed me a bit trying to figure that one out.
The Galentine’s Day Gifts I Put Together:
I opted to go simple by filling a gift bag with a few meaningful small gifts. Homemade chocolate chip cookies to start.
And, since the price of eggs lately is so high lately, I did this:
Not the best photos here. I took plastic Easter eggs, filled them with Hershey’s Kisses (strongly recommend the Lava Cake flavor if you can find it!), and added Fortune cookie sized strips of paper with the words “our friendship is priceless” printed on them.
Finally, I added small flower rockets and small Valentine’s day cards where I wrote “may our friendship continue to grow” as my message. I also gave everyone a heart necklace from the Dollar Tree just for fun (and wore one myself).
My Galentine’s Day Gifts From My Friends
Such wonderful, thoughtful, and fun gifts! A new plant, a homemade bracelet, a beautiful scarf, more flower seeds to plant, and of course, candy!
It all worked out great in the end. I’m very blessed to have so many wonderful friendships in my life. The Galentine’s Day dinner was with a group of my mom friends. We’ve been friends for over 20 years now as we met through our local Mom’s Club. We were actually the founding members of the group in this area.
A Few Funny Moments From The Night
Chicken Bellagio from the Cheesecake Factory
Shall I just confess to you all that I’m a mess? See my lovely dinner pictured above? It was delicious by the way! And the Cosmopolitan drink back there? (Also delicious) I managed to spill my first one all over the table before our food even arrived!
Side note here: While the food was very good indeed, let me just say we were all a bit startled by our bills (drink prices mostly). Cheesecake Factory is definitely a special occasion location. Or maybe a lunch date place.
Then, at home, I look in the mirror and I have a red “rash” all over my neck. Start panicking thinking I’m having an allergic reaction to the drinks or something in the food. Until, I realize my allergic reaction is wiping off on my hands. Cheap plastic Dollar Tree necklace turned my neck red from the beads. SIGH. I know for sure it was the necklace because I wore it again on Valentine’s Day and had the same issue.
This was the first time we’ve ever had a Galentine’s Day celebration. Imagine it won’t be the last.
Have you ever celebrated Galentine’s Day? How was your Valentine’s Day and/or Galentine’s Day if you celebrated it?
What was I saying yesterday about the weather not cooperating for my winter appreciation project?
We went from beautiful weather for our Galentine’s dinner on the Country Club Plaza:
(I was excited the lights were still on, usually they turn them off in late January)
To waking up to 2 inches of snow and a snow day for the public schools:
(Chelsey’s little cat prints in the snow, silly cat went outside this morning. It’s not very cold though just a thick, wet snow falling after overnight rain)
Busy Week Just Gets Busier
My work hours increased this week. Yesterday morning, I covered for an early morning teacher who’d just lost her grandfather. Thankfully, another sub came in soon to relieve me so I could finish preparations for my husband’s birthday.
In the midst of baking his cake, I had to run to the grocery store as I’d run out of shortening. Usually just buy a small tub but of course, the store only had the large ones. Is it me or are stores out of the most random things ever since the COVID shortages? Oh well, as I told the other shopper, perhaps lots of pies in our future! I typically only use shortening for this family birthday cake and pie crust. My mom used it to fry chicken if I recall correctly. Maybe I’ll be brave.
And moving on to today, no snow day for me and now I’m working starting at 9:30 instead of noon. Downside of working at a small private school, pretty much not going to get a snow day unless it’s a snow armageddon out there. Or maybe ice. Even then, the odds are slim.
Time to go see if the car fairies cleared my car of the snow. What car fairies, Jean? Exactly. Hope you all have a great Thursday!
