Spring ritual

L took some time over spring break to go through all her shorts and figure out which ones still fit. She'll be donating the "rejects."

And this flower decided to bloom today.

News junkie

Muffles seems pretty interested in the news stories about Russian meddling in the presidential election.

First daffofil

Kind of creepy

This cat pillow L had to have because it looks like Muffles is a little creepy.

Last-minute crafts

This was our house Saturday afternoon. E wanted to go to the craft store to get some material to make her BF a seat cushion. Apparently, the stool in his apartment is hard. She hand-sewed the whole thing and even put a zipper in.

L, meanwhile, was making this stuffed cat for her friend's upcoming birthday. If the white cat were rice ... yes, it's a sushi cat. The green is the nori (seaweed) and the orange balls are fish eggs. It's an interesting interpretation. She's not too happy with it, especially the eyes. I think it was a good effort.

And then there's Muffles, king of the sewing kit.

Back to college

We all took a ride to the train station so E could back to college this afternoon. In this picture, she's telling her sister not to hug her so hard.

This morning, E and I filled in for the babysitters at church, who were out sick. We had two little boys to watch. They enjoyed crashing toys cars and "baking" us cookies in the play oven. Makes me remember how exhausting little kids can be.

Armed and dangerous?

Yesterday marked the beginning of the senior class' annual "assassins" game. Students pay an entry fee, then get a name of a fellow senior to "assassin." Last one standing wins the pot of money. B and E went to Target last weekend and B bought himself a three-pack of water guns. He sold one to a friend and yesterday I noticed B had taken one for himself. I'm not sure how long this game lasts, but he's fair game to be assassinated once he leaves the house or the school.

Balls

Andy ordered some golf balls through some sort of promotion that was being offered. Not only are they the Titleist balls he prefers, he got them personlized with his old nickname, "Zippy," on them.

Getting her pizza fix

We couldn't let E go back to college Sunday before getting her fix of Chicago deep-dish pizza so we took the family downtown to Gino's East last night.

L finally remembered to bring some markers and paint pens because they allow, even encourage, customers to write and draw on the tables, chairs, window frames, everything. She spent quite a while on her design. This is her finished product:

New 'do

First haircut since November 2015. Feels good and, yes, it's short, but if there's one thing I learned it's that hair grows back.

Pretty bird

I'm not much of a bird-watcher, but this cardinal was so loud on my morning walk that I had to look up. She was definitely trying to get my attention.

Because resumes are boring

Here's E working on her afternoon project - recording a one- to three-minute video telling a Chicago company why she wants a summer internship. The company requested the video because they said resumes are boring. I can just picture a bunch of hiring executives having lunch watching all the videos. Oh, and they encouraged bloopers, though I don't think hers ended up with any.

No words for this...

Spring break!

Amtrak safely (but an hour late) delivered our college student back home to us for a week of spring break. Here she is with B when we went out for lunch today.

As Irish as we get

It's St. Patrick's Day and in Chicago that means everyone is Irish for the day. However, drinking Green River is as Irish as we get. Oh, and we might wear something green.

Ice sculpture

This "ice sculpture" was left after the snow fell early this week. Pretty sure it's a sign the gutters on our garage need fixing.

Finally we have snow

It hasn't snowed much this winter, and that's OK, but it started coming down on Monday and Tuesday we got lake-effect snow. It was snowing up to two inches an hour in places!

These photos were taken Tuesday morning. The snow fell on and off all day, but when it snowed, it was heavy. The sidewalks and streets, though, cleared up before noon. Morning traffic times were horrendous. Andy's partner drove in from River Forest (right next to us) and it took him an hour and a half!

Temperatures are supposed to get up to 50 this weekend, so the snow will probably all be gone by then. Maybe now it's time for spring.

This says it all

L got this shirt because I kept getting reminders from Kohl's that I had Kohl's Cash to spend or it would expire. Oh no! I thought I had already used it all, but I guess not. I made a purchase online and the savings were applied.

Stuffed tomatoes

Apparently this is what E was doing Saturday - making stuffed tomatoes. I think a break from studying physics was well-deserved. She said they tasted very good.

Unexpected date night

A friend from church called us late yesterday afternoon to see if we wanted her tickets to "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" downtown at the Oriental Theater. We didn't have much of an idea about the show, and the storyline was a little confusing, but the music was good and the seats in the dress circle were perfect.

Here we are waiting for the show. It was an hour and a half with no intermission. Pretty much a monologue by the main actor who had an incredible voice.

This was the stage before the performance began.

The beauty of this theater always amazes me. These faces were right above our seats as we looked toward the stage ...

and this is the decoration directly above our heads. I noticed that even the ends of the chairs were elaborately decorated, but didn't want the person sitting there to think I was taking a picture of him. Maybe next time.

It's a bird, it's a plane...

it's Super Muffles!

Bad kitty

I'm blaming August for this - a hole in my sweater. (There's a second hole on the back). I had the sweater laying on the dining room table to dry and he was sitting on it the other night. That was probably my sign to put it away, but I didn't. Then, today I noticed the sweater had fallen on the chair. I think August dropped it on the chair when he was chewing it apart. Then L comes home from school and August jumps up in her lap to sleep, as content as can be. She said he shows his love to people in different ways. So he snuggles up with her and eats my clothes?

This game sucks

Grocery shopping today "earned" me 25 game tickets. Each ticket has four chances to match toward a prize on the board. Of all 100 game pieces I checked, there was only one I didn't already have. One out of 100? Are you kidding me? I did, though, win some free salsa on my next shopping trip.

First flower

The first flower of the season popped up in our back yard today - a lot earlier than last year.

S'more cookies

L could not resist the Girl Scouts selling cookies outside the grocery store last weekend. She was on the hunt for their new S'more cookies and they had some!

And she's sharing them!

A not-so-subtle reminder

Face-timing

So good to "see" my college girl!

New bag

Andy went to the golf show last weekend in search of a new golf bag. One of the legs on his bag is broken so it won't stand. The vendors at the golf show weren't willing to negotiate, so he ordered it online from a discount golf store. The new bag has arrived. Here he is cleaning out his old bag. It's in good shape so he's considering selling it on ebay, but who wants a bag with a broken leg?

The new bag all ready for this morning's practice session.

I'm a winner

The grocery store is back with its time-wasting Monopoly game. I get the game pieces and give them to L to open and stick to the game board. In my latest grocery trip, I picked up aluminum foil ($1.99), pasta (75 cents) and a doughnut (69 cents) for free with the winning coupons. Better than nothing, I suppose. Last time we won a $25 grocery gift card.

Old Stuff Day

I read over the weekend that today is National Old Stuff Day so here's a picture of one of my oldest things - a stuffed elephant a beloved neighbor gave me for my first Christmas. It has a bell in its ear so naturally, I named it Tinkerbell. He's been through a lot.

Pretty paper cranes

I woke up to a table littered with paper cranes. L has an origami test Thursday so I guess you could consider this studying.