More app fun

Couldn't resist not playing around with the picture of me and L on her graduation.

Cozy cats

My superhero

It's homecoming week and L has been following the dress-up days, a bit. Today is superhero day so she wore a pink Batgirl cape she bought on the eighth-grade trip to Great America. Guess she always knew it would come in handy one day. The look on B's face when he walked downstairs and saw L in the cape was pretty priceless. And, no, he did not dress up as a superhero.

Debate art

While Andy and I were in the living room watching the presidential debate last night, L was watching it on the computer on the back porch. Because she just can't sit still and watch it though, she decorated a roll of paper towels with my Sharpies. Silly kid.

Debate night

Look what showed up just in time for tonight's presidential debate.

Caramel Pecan Bars

I first made these Caramel Pecan Bars a couple weeks ago when Andy was out of town at a work conference. He's not much into sweets, but said they were really good, so today I tried it again. Pretty yummy. It could be those two sticks of butter ...

Caramel Pecan Bars

1 c. butter, cubed
2 1/4 c. packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
2 t. baking powder
2 c. chopped pecans

In a large saucepan, combine butter and brown sugar over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. In a small bowl, beat eggs and vanilla. Gradually add to hot sugar mixture, stirring constantly. Combine flour and baking powder; gradually add to the butter mixture and mix well. Stir in pecans. Spread into a foil-lined, greased 13x9-inch baking pan. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with moist crumbs and edges are crisp. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars. (I baked them about 30 minutes).

Homage

Andy couldn't resist buying this beer today as homage to his dad, who used to wear a belt and suspenders - at the same time. As he would say, you can't be too careful. And, Andy said, the beer was good!

He thinks he's a model

It's fall

Once the calendar turns to September, it's time to start decorating for fall! The light-up pumpkin was my new addition this year.

Working girl

E got a job at school doing computer work for the university's various libraries. I asked her to send me a picture and obviously wasn't specific enough. She sent me a picture of her desk that shows pretty much nothing about where she works.

Exchange surgery

Feeding B's ego

Homecoming dance

Yesterday afternoon Andy and I took L out to Naperville so she could go to a homecoming dance with her friends. Muffles was waiting for us in the window when we got home.

Here she is with her friend, J. I asked L to make sure to send me a picture of the group, especially one where I could see her whole outfit since she got dressed at her friend J's house. These are the pictures she sent me so far. Maybe one day I'll get one of the group. Maybe not.

Not sure what's happening in this photo, but something must have been funny. L said she put her glasses in the coat check because she didn't want them to get sweaty when she was dancing.

L and J.

Harvest Moon

L took a walk last night and came back raving about how cool the moon looked. We grabbed Andy's camera, went over to the school and she took a few pictures. The trees were in the way, but these came out OK. According to a web site I found, the term "Harvest Moon" refers to the full moon that falls nearest to the autumnal equinox, which will take place on Sept. 22. It said each full moon has its own name:

Northern Hemisphere full moon names by month:
January: Old Moon, Moon After Yule
February: Snow Moon, Hunger Moon, Wolf Moon
March: Sap Moon, Crow Moon, Lenten Moon
April: Grass Moon, Egg Moon, Pink Moon
May: Planting Moon, Milk Moon
June: Rose Moon, Flower Moon, Strawberry Moon
July: Thunder Moon, Hay Moon
August: Green Corn Moon, Grain Moon
September: Fruit Moon, Harvest Moon
October: Harvest Moon, Hunter’s Moon
November: Hunter’s Moon, Frosty Moon, or Beaver Moon
December: Moon Before Yule, or Long Night Moon

I guess I never realized that before.

Jack Frost sweatshirt by L

L started this project in the middle of August. She's made a Jack Frost sweatshirt for her Naperville friend T's birthday. She didn't get it done in time for the birthday, but she kept working on it and recently got it done. She was so thrilled with how it looked that she wore it to school so she could show it off at the Science Fiction Club she's been attending.

Quite a transformation for a navy sweatshirt. L has grand plans now of making more and trying to sell them.

Convention stuff

Andy left Friday morning to go to a work convention in Dallas and returned late Tuesday night with a bag full of treats - hand sanitizer, stress balls, bandages, a mini notebook, mints, pens, lots of tech accessories and, of course, candy for L.

Where has the time gone?

Nice surprise

Andy went to the kids' curriculum night last week and had a nice talk with sensei. Yesterday, B came home with a gift for me - Graham's chocolates and a lovely card. And the chocolates are as good as they look! She's the only teacher, so far anyway, to have all three of our kids.

What's that expression?

E sent me this photo of her on her wat to a study group. Good to know she's studying, but what's up with that expression?

Youth share summer trip

L and her fellow youth group members stayed after church for a light lunch and to share their experiences at the greater church's National Youth Event this July in Disney World. We saw a slide show of the trip and kids volunteered to get up and speak about the various pictures. The chaperones said that even though the kids had to get up early several days in a row and attended several worship services, they never whined about it. And they were able to visit the theme parks twice while they were there. Next summer's mission trip is to Michigan!

Road trip!

E joined her sorority for a sisterhood activity of hiking through a state park in Indiana. The park is about 70 miles east of Urbana. These are some pictures one of the girls posted on Facebook. It looks like a pretty place to enjoy a fall day. And, of course, nice to see E wearing the shirt we made this summer.

Turkey tacos Illini style

E met up with her sorority at the campus recreation center tonight where they participated in a cooking class. She this picture of turkey tacos they made. They also made a creamy chicken broccoli pasta, which E thought had too much pepper in it.

Loft bed

L has been asking to trade out her old bunk beds for a loft bed for a loooong time. We finally found one on a local resale site that seemed like a good deal and decided to buy it. Andy and L picked it up Tuesday night.

So yesterday, I spent a good portion of my day cleaning all the clothes and stuffed animals off her bed. It looks pretty nice when it's not covered with her things. Andy started to take the bunk beds apart that evening, then left for a parents' college-application meeting at the high school, leaving me to finish the job. Then, L and I hauled in all the parts of the loft so when Andy got home from the meeting ...

... he could put it together and tighten everything. Fortunately, we found instructions on how to put it together online.

And, finally, Andy and B moved the desk out of the living room to L's bedroom. Now, of course, she needs a desk chair. The only problem she's noticed so far is that Muffles can't (or won't) jump into the new bed. It's a little higher than her bunk bed was. She suggested bringing a cat tower from the basement to her room to encourage him to jump a shorter distance to her bed. We'll see.

Quick-moving storm

We had quite a downpour early this afternoon. I looked out the living room window and the trees were swaying and it was raining so hard several cars pulled over to the side of the road. When I looked out the side window, I saw this branch fall out of our parkway tree. Fortunately, it fell and did not hit my car. It's done that before so I usually put the car in the garage when any storm approaches. Of course, if my car were already in the garage, would the limb have fallen? I ran out in the rain to put the car in the garage, not knowing how much longer the storm would last.

And here's the damage after the storm - a branch down at the neighbor's house, and the branch at our house. Several neighbors posted pictures of trees that fell on houses and trees that are now blocking streets and sidewalks.

Playing with a new app

A friend told me about an app that lets me change a picture like this ...

into these:

At Target

L couldn't resist having her picture taken in front of the Hillside Target when she realized they painted one of their red bollard balls to look like a Pokeball. It was garnering a lot of attention and she wasn't the only kid posing for a picture. Nice marketing move, Target!

One quick Google search revealed that Target just painted the bollards this week. This was on their corporate web site:

August 25, 2016 - Say cheese, Charizard! This week, giant Poké Balls are appearing outside select Target stores. OK, they’re not actual Poké Balls—we’ve painted our bollards (those big red balls outside our store entrances) at more than 400 Target locations across the country, to look the part. Pokémon trainers and fans alike won’t want to miss this fun photo op. ... “We wanted to create an extra special experience for our biggest Pokémon fans, and landed on this idea that we think they’ll love,” says Rick Gomez, senior vice president, marketing, Target. “Our creative team — many of whom are Pokémon fans themselves — designed the Poké Balls, and we worked quickly to get them up across the country. We hope our guests have as much fun with them as we do.”

Photo-bombed

'Downton' marathon

Andy and I stumbled across an episode of "Downton Abbey" last night, just to realize it's a marathon showing of all 57 episodes! It started at 8 p.m. Friday and runs continuously through 9"30 p.m. Monday. If there's nothing else to do this weekend, I can at least watch good TV.

It's not a toy

L and B dragged this desk home from the alley Sunday and it's been sitting in our living room since. Muffles has decided to use it as his new perch. Maybe it will get up to L's room this weekend.

Silver Thanksgiving

I've been searching for something like this forever - a fall-themed tablecloth in silver to match my china pattern. I found this one with pumpkins and swirls at HomeGoods.