Blingy Keurig

L got an idea and decided to bling out her Keurig machine. I think she's planning to take it to college and wants it to sparkle. Ummm, OK. It's keeping her busy and that's good because the governor announced the stay at home order is being extended through the end of April.

Our preschool class met again this morning. I tried it on my iPad this time instead of Andy's Surface. It was a little hard to hold the iPad. Near the end of the "meeting", the teacher got logged out. It was just me with those kids! I asked them to do a little show and tell. They were all playing with stuffed animals and toys anyway.

And I did two more pages in E's scrapbook. I started cleaning L's room yesterday but need her help to finish it off. That didn't happen today.

Virtual preschool

L's spring break is over and today was our first virtual meeting with the preschool class. We're going to try again tomorrow. All but one child was able to Zoom with us today. It was good to see their faces even though my teaching partner had to mute all of them so everyone could hear the story she read. The mute button is going to come in handy, I think.

Just before the Zoom class meeting, I was taking the garbage out when a neighbor walked by with her two kids and said, "I think you're the one who put the bow tie on Schubert?" Um, yeah. They thought it was cute and he's still wearing it. She told me he's 12 years old. She asked if he was a bother and I said no. I kind of look forward to him stopping by. She said she's not sure why he likes hanging out at our house rather than theirs. Silly cat. He's pretty well known in the neighborhood. Every so often, people walk by and say, "Hi, Schubert."

These kids were so excited to walk by the house and see Pikachu in the window that we heard them from inside ... with the TV on. "It's Pikachu," the one said. "That's so cute!" L had put stuffed animals in many of our windows for the neighborhood kids to walk by and count. Today was a good day for a walk and it's nice to see L's hard work was appreciated.

And E sent this photo last night of the center medallion for the quilt she's making - one little block a day for the year.

And Schubert isn't the only animal we've seen on our backdoor Ring. This raccoon was on our back porch around 9 p.m. last night. We've also seen other neighborhood cats walk through the yard at night.

Sheltering in place

We received a nice note from our church yesterday, just checking in. Andy and I watched today's service online then participated in a Zoom coffee hour. I have to say, the coffee hour was pretty fun. And they included two hymns I like in the service - “In the Bulb There Is a Flower” and “I Love to Tell the Story.”

Andy took this picture of the church on his walk early this morning.

I've moved from cleaning to baking. I made a half-recipe of a Texas Cake. I didn't add nuts to the frosting because I thought L didn't like nuts, but then she said he did. I can't keep my kids and their preferences straight.

Then I made lasagne for dinner. Andy will have the leftovers for lunches during the week as he continues to work from home.

The neighborhood's latest request is to put stuffed animals in your windows. The playgrounds are closed so the thought is that kids can walk around with their families and find the animals. I asked L to put up some animals and boy, did she. We have animals everywhere. I mean everywhere. We look a bit crazy.

L wanted to run to Target to get Pepsi while it was on sale. Andy went with her. She claims these six 12-packs will last her through the end of April. Ha! That's a bet I'll take. I'd be surprised if they last through April 15.

And to get out of the house a bit today we took a drive to O'Haire Airport. This is the main road leading into the airport, usually packed, and clear as could be today.

This is the departures area where normally you can't find a place to park. We did see a few planes land.

B-day gift

L put together a gift for her friend, A's, 18th birthday today. She included all those things she can do now that she's "legal" - get a tattoo (she included temporary tattoos in the box), buy a car (a little Matchbox car), buy a gun (a water gun), buy fireworks (L had a stash of sparklers in the garage) and buy lottery tickets.

And last night she baked some sprinkle cookies to add to the gift.

Precious memories

Since I finished filling E's current photo album the other day, I've moved on to her childhood album that she created. It had several empty pages left. But how cute is this layout? This was our trip to Hershey, Pa., with a stop in Gettysburg, back in 2005.

And I love this. She wrote in cursive, which she never does now, and look at the spellings. She was joking with me the other day that her spelling has not improved. Unfortunately, that's true.

And she made this layout of a Door County, Wis., trip in 2007. It has one of my favorite photos of E and L on it - the one where E is trying to make L smile.

This is one of the pages I created today for her. See what I did with the colors? They mimic the Microsoft logo. So fancy.

Andy and L went to Taco Bell for a carry-out lunch. I had already eaten lunch.

I was so bored today I straightened out my closet, put most of my long dresses in B's closet and arranged my (too many?) purses. I folded three baskets of L's clothes she had sitting in the basement, clean at least. Then I noticed how dirty the washing machine and dryer were so I cleaned those off with Clorox wipes. I even washed the curtain. What is happening to me? The laundry area still needs some straightening up but I'll save that for another day.

Andy and I went on a short walk around the neighborhood last night and saw two hawks (Cooper's hawks?) swoop down by us and then sit in a tree. Andy thinks they were eating a mouse. You don't see that every day.

Fun with Schubert

L decided to have a little fun with Schubert, the neighborhood indoor/outdoor cat who likes to hang out on our back porch and eat our food. She found a bow tie that our cats won't wear and put it on him yesterday. We were curious about what his owners would think.

He came back this morning (I know this looks like the picture yesterday, but it's not), begging for food, with his bowtie on. It will be interesting to see how long the bowtie lasts. Hope the other neighborhood cats aren't making fun of him.

Throwback Thursday

A former coworker at Press Publications posted this photo online the other day. This was the first job I had after getting married. Not sure when this was taken but I worked there from August 1990 to February 1994.

Bakery cookies

L and I made a trip to the bakery this morning so she could drop off cards for her bosses and manager ...

... and pick up some cookies for us!

We're eating them a bit at a time and hope they last a couple days at least!

I did some more scrapbooking. When I start L's album again it will be the beginning of her senior year. I thought that was a good place to stop. I pulled out E's book and worked on her senior year at U of I. She has one more page left before the album is full. I think I'll put the rest of her pictures in an album she started making for herself. It's so cute. I'll just add current photos at the end, through her Seattle apartment. Then she's on her own if she wants to continue with an album or not.

And this is my quarantine hair for the day - pulled back out of my eyes and graying.

Dead battery

It was a boring day until L tried to take my car and found out the battery was dead. Andy borrowed jumper cables (don't we have any?) from a worker remodeling a neighbor's house to get it started so he could go replace the battery.

I stayed in and cleaned off these little shelves I got from my grandmother's house. They have been hanging in the dining room for a long time. They were dusty as were the figurines on them - a little fuzzy rabbit Dad brought me from a trip he took to Chicago when I was a kid, a good luck cat (not sure if this is from one of our Japanese students or one of our kids' trips there), and a Josef Originals figurine of a mother and child Andy's mom gave me, I think shortly after E was born.

And E sent this picture of a blanket she designed for her sorority. She's planning on crocheting it (I think) and sending it to the chapter at U of I. That should keep her busy for a while.

And since Andy and L were out getting a new car battery they stopped by Lou Malnati's and got two pizzas for us to bake at home. Gave me the night off from cooking duty.

A little scrapbooking

I continued working on L's album that I started the other day. Muffles decided to join me.

I got two pages done, including this one that took a surprisingly long time. Lots of cutting involved. That's probably why most of my pages are pretty simple. Now, though, it seems I have all the time in the world to make them prettier.

Sheltering in place Sunday

Pretty slow day here today. I watched (some of) our church’s first online service.

L called her friend Aja and they selected their U of I housing. They’re hoping to be roommates.

And I’m not sure what’s going on with the weather. It snowed today. I was a little productive - I vacuumed our bedroom carpet and the upstairs landing, and cleaned the upstairs bathroom.

E goes on a hike

E went on a hike today and sent pictures! She said she drove about 10 miles from her apartment to find the trail she wanted. She socially distanced herself during the hike. Said it wasn't easy for a Midwestern girl with its 1750-feet elevation. This is Mount Rainier. Where, I asked. Then she sent this zoomed-in version:

Looks like a cloud to me, but OK.

This area also offers paragliding. It costs $225 and you’re in tandem with someone experienced.

And how pretty is this? Cherry trees in bloom.

B goes back

B played around with August a little before he left for Champaign this morning. He still has to finish the semester with online learning and says there are fewer distractions at school. And he has to pack up his apartment anyway. Still, not easy to watch him go, especially now.

I sent him back with two packages of pasta and three jars of sauce and the pain medication for his wisdom teeth. Today was the first day he woke up with a visible bruise on his right cheek.

Pensive August

August is thinking about the “shelter in place” order the governor just issued for the state. Pretty much what we’ve been doing - stay home unless you have to go out.