Where are my pens

I haven't scrapbooked since Croptoberfest so when I decided to begin our family Disney trip 2025 album, I was motivated. I pulled out the photos, papers and stickers. I cleared off the table. And then, I couldn't find my pens. Not one. Yikes. I looked in all of the bags I took to the crop, checked the cabinets, the bags I didn't take, the basement closet and finally - on my second time looking in my paper holder - found them hiding in a corner in their cute pink case. Phew.

I didn't get much accomplished. This was getting to our room on the first day.

Pretty poses

Piper

and Ruby

So many collections

Always makes me a little sad to see collections at the thrift store. First, I noticed these bells ...

then this collection of angels ...

and then snow globes. Hope they weren't all from a single donation.

Cuddling cats

Well, this is just adorable, but wait. Piper isn't alone ...

she's being cuddled by Ruby. Look at Ruby's paw resting in Piper's tail. Aww.

Cute caricature

L was working at Pop Century the other day and the caricature artist drew L's pets from photos she had. What a nice job! L said she thinks she'll get it framed.

Coffee label puzzle

Uh oh. All of these edge pieces looked very similar so I had to use B's strategy and work from the inside out on this one.

This was such a fun puzzle (and complete)! It was a good idea to do the inside first as the border was hard even with the inside finished.

Such cute graphics and one of the highest-quality puzzles I've found.

I've had coffee in New York and Seattle ... and Hawaii and Costa Rica. OK, I've had coffee everywhere I've traveled. It would be hard to wake up without it.

This ebay seller might be overly optimistic trying to get $78 for this puzzle I paid $1.99 for at Goodwill. I've never seen one from this company before - Anderson Design Group - but I'll keep my eye out for them from now on.

Sphere merch

Less than a week after we saw the Zac Brown Band at the Vegas Sphere, their website on Jan. 23 started advertising a mystery merch bundle - three shirts (their choice) for $65 - which immediately felt like a much better deal than anything we saw in Vegas. I didn’t pay that much attention to prices at the show, but once I saw T-shirts were $50, I knew I wasn’t buying anything. (Later I read hoodies were $85, which made me feel even better about that decision.) But three shirts for $65? Suddenly I'm very interested. Andy and I can both wear them, so it feels like a win all around.

We finally got an email Feb. 15 telling us a shipping label had been created. We were getting a bit concerned whether we'd ever receive the shirts.

Good thing I was running a bit late for work yesterday. This box was delivered and left outside on the porch so at least I was home and able to bring it inside.

Nice, kind of thin, sweatshirt.

This is my favorite, but it has the concert dates on the back, including Andy's birthday, so he'll probably fight me for this one.

This one is pretty nice too. I was tempted to buy the black one in Vegas but the T-shirt shop was closed after the concert (it was the last performance) so it worked out well that we randomly got it in this order.

Free cat tree

One of our neighbors set out a table of free stuff so we drove by and found a like-new cat tree. Our cats either like it or they're trying to tear it apart. We shall see.

It’s Paczki Day

I'm not one to wait in line at a bakery for paczki but if see them in the grocery store I might pick them up. I got these at Mariano's and they're fresh and tasty. Happy Fat Tuesday!

Family Bingo with friends

Andy and I met our friends, M and R, at One Lake Brewing Sunday afternoon for their Family Bingo. Here's my winning board and my prize - a small draft of the beer of my choice. Everyone at our table won a game, except Andy.

We ordered wings which ended up being our dinner since we talked for at least an hour after Bingo ended. We even saw one of our neighbor couples there. It was a fun night.

Hop Butcher Brewery

Andy and I dropped off some food for B on Saturday and Andy wasn't feeling well so B declined lunch with us. We did make a quick stop at a Ravenswood brewery, Hop Butcher for the World, a play on Chicago's Hog Butcher for the World nickname, on our way home.

They had a menu full of IPAs, which we both like, so that was good. Andy likes them hazy. Me, not so much.

Interesting that one of the beers was called Blizzard of '67. Andy was born during the blizzard but that wasn't enough to make him try it. He opted for a Super Beer Shuffle instead.

Cute bar, but chilly. Temps were just over 40 and while that's warm for Fabruary in Chicago, it doesn't mean you need to open the garage doors.

We think alike

We don't really celebrate Valentine's Day aside from a dinner out but we usually get each other cards. Funny, this year we gave each other cards with moveable glitter on the front of them. We've been together so long we think alike.

Family photo

I printed a few more pictures from E's wedding and found a nice "family" frame for this one. It's everyone from E's side of the wedding who attended the ceremony.

Early Valentine’s dinner

We learned a long time ago that restaurants typically have smaller menus and higher prices on Valentine's Day so we celebrated Thursday night with dinner at our local Mexican restaurant, Margaritas. We hadn't been there since mid-November. E and D had the restaurant cater fajitas for their rehearsal dinner and after we ate all of the leftovers we - imagine this - were a bit tired of the food. Our dinner was lovely and neither of us ordered fajitas.

L said she's leaving her Valentine's plans for W to figure out, but she's ready for whatever he has planned with her new gel manicure.

Winter meals

It's a little harder to get to the bird feeders with snow on the ground but when I do fill the feeder, it's nice to see a neighborhood cardinal appreciated it.

The sparrows, though, are the big eaters ... and the occasional squirrel.

Enjoying the sun

I ran an errand yesterday, came home and found both cats lounging (napping) in the sun.

It's been a while since we've had warmer, sunny days.

Free car wash

Andy and I decided to get the car washed while we were out and about over the weekend. It's what you do on a sunny February day. Anyway, we ended up in a line where the oayment machine wasn't working so instead of habing us back up, the employee said he'd comp us the wash. A free car wash? We'll take it.

Super Bowl

Pretty boring Super Bowl game-wise. Seattle vs. New England and the Seahawks led through the whole game. Allison and Pat came over for some snacks, dinner and conversation.

E and D were out enjoying the excitement of the Seahawks being in the Super Bowl. Seattle won 29-13. Kind of an embarrassing game for the Patriots.

Harder than it looked

This box was taped shut but the condition of this corner didn't give me high hopes that all of the pieces were going to be there.

With the temperature around zero on Saturday, Jan. 24, Andy went to church for the annual congregational meeting while I stayed home and got to work on the puzzle (while watching the meeting on Zoom). This was my progress in a little over two hours.

Finally done a week and a half later. The part with the buildings wasn't too hard, but the sky about did me in. Even with the beat-up box, all of the pieces were there!

More Driehaus pictures

I know I'm not going to print the pictures I took Wednesday night at the Driehaus Museum so I'm putting them here. (Flip through the house's history. It's fascinating.)

This was part of the Tiffany lamp exhibit that shows the various bronze finishes customers could request for their lamps.

The library was very dark.

This was the house's art gallery because every Gilded Age mansion needs an art gallery.

Gorgeous dining room.

So much detail in every room.

Proof that not all Tiffany lamps are pretty.

This one I liked.

Now that'a a fireplace.

Another Tiffany design.