‘Loud cat’ is back

"Loud cat" loves to sit on our railing. He hasn't been around much during winter but with the temperatures warming up, he's back.

Another wedding

We're so excited to celebrate these two this summer!

Piper kept going after the wax seal so I had to put everything back in the envelope. Weirdo.

Yoga cats puzzle

This was one of the puzzles I picked up a week or so ago.

It's all there. It was still wrapped, new in the box, but with these cats you never know if a piece or two will go missing. Now, I get to clean off the table and start preparing for Easter so no puzzles for a while.

Day of bargain-hunting

Allison picked me up Monday morning and we met Julie at the Savers by her house. Mondays are 50 percent off of everything and this was my find - a luggage rack for $1.50. I had been looking for one for the guest room so how could I pass it by?

I was tempted to get this jewelry armoire for $8 (really) but upon closer inspection the top was loose ... and where would I put it? It also didn't have compartments in the various drawers so I left it behind. We had lunch at Taco Bell then went to one Goodwill.

For $3 how could I not buy this light-up car? There's a light underneath so the headlights and tail lights light up! Googling it at home I discovered it's a wax tart warmer. Apparently there's supposed to be a red tray that the truck sits on and holds the wax tarts.

And this light-up, snow-covered church was $7.

My theme for this Christmas will be peppermint/candy canes so when I found this bag of glass candy canes, I thought it could come in handy - either sitting on each napkin, hanging on the tree or just sitting around in this cute mug. The little Christmas tree is glass and lights up too. Must have been my day to find light-up Christmas decorations.

Allison bought this cute U of I shirt (she's a proud aunt.) I sent this picture to L and she replied that Allison needs a UCF shirt. That would be a lot harder to find here.

Blume & Ferris

Andy and I were out and about yesterday and popped into Blume & Ferris, a recently opened Irish pub-style brewery in Downers Grove. From the outside, it absolutely looked closed but there were lots if cars in the parking lot so I said we should at least try to see if the door were open. They were.

It was really cute inside. The bartender said they'd been open just eight weeks.

The bar was quite busy but bartender said it was the fewest people they've had on a Sunday.

This was the seating area as you walking in, looking from the bar. Not sure what they can change but it definitely needs a "we're open" look from the outside.

I need those

It's not often I'm in a thrift store and find something I actually need, but I did it. I found straight pins!

My other shopping adventure was two body sprays from Bath & Body Works. For some reason I had two coupons for free travel items and these new Disney sprays were within the price limit.

I'm not sure what's special about these lemons but they were huge! I need one for lemon tacos I'm going to make this week and the price was right.

The price ($4.49) is not so right here. This was the highest price oer gallon I saw while driving around. Glad I filled up when gas was $3.60.

First day of spring

Yesterday was the first day of spring and my crocuses were ready for it!

I filled the bird feeder before I went to work (so warm I walked outside barefoot) hoping my neighborhood cardinals would stop by. They did, along with lots of sparrows and a pesky squirrel. After work we met friends at Fitzgerld's - the outdoor patio was open! Yes, the patio was "open," but the band was playing inside and we were quite chilly.

Choices, choices

The boss asked me to sit in on a Zoom meeting yesterday to discuss design options for the museum's addition. These were the tile color choices for a decorative stripe on the walls in each of the two new restrooms. We requested several samples. The arrows point to the two colors I liked. We'll see how they look when the samples arrive. We also chose bathroom faucets. That was pretty easy since the board president and I agreed. To be fair, they were all pretty similar options.

Picking elevator colors was more challenging and we needed decisions so the project won't be delayed. I like this blue background. We didn't have a choice on the black between the color (unless we wanted to increase the budget). We also had to choose the color of the inside of the doors and the outside. The first- and second-floor elevator doors could have been different colors, but we kept them the same and neutral. We even had to choose the color for the light around the elevator buttons. Who knew? I never thought when I went to work Thursday I'd be helping to design an elevator.

New Yorker Impressionism puzzle

I like puzzles of New Yorker magazine covers (they remind me of my mother-in-law who appreciated the cover art) but this Impressionism painting one was hard. I tried to start with the border, then switched to the water and the title. The rest was piece by piece and a lot of luck.

This was a difficult puzzle but it's done ... and surprisingly, complete!

Piper chillin’

As much as I try to keep these cats off the counters, they insist. Piper looks like she's challenging me.

Grr.

And sitting pretty on the buffet.