Eating a memory

I'm going to be totally honest, our house is on the "struggle bus" a bit.  I'm sure everything is going to be just fine in the long run, but there have been some challenges.  Today I had to take Thomas to a doctor appointment.  My sister had let me know that my grandmother was struggling to work her computer so I headed there after Thomas's appointment since we were so close.  Grandma was not having a great day, and it was tough to see.  After we left, I decided to hit this small burger and ice cream stand on the way home.  I hadn't been there in at least twenty years, but my dad used to take us when we were really little.  They had the best soft pretzels.  Thomas ordered a shake, and I wanted a soft pretzel and a root beer float.  I bit into that soft pretzel, and (although they were smaller!) it tasted exactly like I had remembered.  I'll be honest, I had to fight tears.  I wanted to pick up the phone and tell Dad that they still tasted exactly the same.  In just a few months, Dad will have been gone ten years.  I can't believe it's almost been an entire decade. 

Brownies

At the beginning of the month, my school held a fundraiser by doing a Trivia Night.  We weren't able to attend, but I think we will next year!  Regardless, part of the fundraising is a bake sale.  Whatever isn't sold is brought back to the office.  There was a giant pan of brownies, and I was happy to give it a taste.  As soon as I took a bite, my eyes began to fill with tears.  They tasted exactly like the brownies my Aunt Cathy made before she became ill and passed away years ago.  Everyone in the family loved those brownies, but her daughters couldn't find the recipe.  I haven't done it yet, but I'm going to reach out to the baker (a parent at the school) and ask if she would share the recipe.  I don't know that I'll be able to bake them, but I'm sure someone in the family can!

I can't imagine a more perfect weekend to end the summer

The first 18 hours of my weekend are already documented here, and they were absolutely lovely.  Yesterday I ran some errands, and then got a few "paperwork" things handled while continuing to enjoy the lovely weather.  It was even more spectacular that the NFL pregames were on back-to-back-to-back-to-back all day into the evening.  We were even able to see the Steelers play!  The three of us had frozen pizzas for dinner while watching some games, and then played a new trivia game I had purchased.  It was a very fun evening.

Today we went to church, where the college students were asked to stand up and tell about their upcoming year.  I appreciated the effort to recognize and connect with the students.  It's been a rainy day today, but still comfortable as far as temps.  Thomas is nearly packed and ready to go.  Catherine came home this afternoon, and then we drove north to meet my mom for dinner.  We love our pub fries!  The kids love it so much that they hadn't eaten in preparation, and I ordered an extra for us to share after we ate our fries.  Catherine couldn't finish hers though, and I was stuffed after mine, so Thomas devoured the entire extra order himself.

It was so wonderful to have this time together.  I know there are going to be so many changes and emotions and feelings and thoughts and things I'm not even prepared for this week and into the coming months.  I also know that it isn't bad...this is what we want for our kids.  We just didn't want it to get here so fast!  But here it is, and I'm so grateful we had this weekend together before we kick off this school year!

Complete dinner failure

I'll be honest, dinner has been less than exciting in this house lately.  For one thing, the chances of all three of us being home at dinner time is pretty low.  The chances of two of us being around for dinner is probably around 50%.  Secondly, when it is warm outside, I don't want anyone using the oven and heating up our house.  Not much sounds good either.  And of course there is the fact that I am usually the last one home each day, but that doesn't usually mean that anyone else has done anything about dinner.

With the temps finally dropping, oven usage is allowed again.  Wednesday was an incredibly dreary day, but I made a wonderful chicken stuffing casserole for dinner.  It was the kind of meal that is filling and sticks to you.  I had decided that today was a wonderful day for potato soup.  I had gone to the grocery after watching halftime last evening to make sure I had the ingredients.  Even though I wasn't home this morning, I left the "recipe" available and even called to make sure it had been started since it needs to be in the crock pot all day.  Catherine cheered when she heard we were having it for dinner.  An hour before it was ready, I added the cream cheese.  When it was supposed to be ready, it just didn't look right.  I let it cook for a little more, but the cream cheese just didn't seem to be right.  I found the box, and was so upset to realize the cream cheese had expired months ago.  While it was certainly no one's fault, Catherine and I were so disappointed!  She mentioned it had been smelling so good all day.  We ordered dinner in which usually makes me very happy, but it wasn't at all what I was going for.  It was a complete dinner failure in spite of my best efforts and planning!

Another fun family day

Our family had another fun family day today.  We drove back to Cincinnati today and visited the Reds Hall of Fame.  Our membership expires at the end of the month and we wanted to get another visit in.  We were pretty much the only people there, and not much had changed since last summer...especially since there hasn't been a season this year!  Afterwards, we drove an hour north to another of our family's favorite restaurants.  They have the BEST cheese fries.  Sadly, the recipe had changed a bit and they weren't quite the same, but they were still pretty darn good.  For the kids and I, we each ate an order as our entree.  So filling!  As we left the museum, the kids mentioned to us that they had "prepared" for lunch by not eating anything all day.  Oh goodness!

I love these days that we get to spend with our kiddos.  We are so incredibly lucky!

Cinco de Mayo and a surprise

Yesterday our family ordered fast food Mexican for Cinco de Mayo.  We had hoped to make home made margaritas, but I wasn't feeling great.  I was already risking it with the food, no need to add anything else on top of it.  We also played a game together and watched some episodes from the final season of another family favorite.  We enjoyed our time together.

As the kids were leaving to retrieve our dinner, Catherine noticed something in our yard near our mailbox.  It turned out to be a sign from the athletic booster group recognizing class of 2020 members.  It made our senior's day!

A day of mostly nothing

Today is a "no school" day.  It was originally on the calendar as a professional development day, so the students are receiving no new assignments today.  Andrew was up early to do his online sessions, but the rest of us slept and slept.

We had a lovely evening last night with watching a movie and eating our "Vader tots" and cupcakes (along with hotdogs and mac & cheese). 

It's a cloudy day, and I'm completely okay with today being nothing.  Because it is May 5th, we are planning to order in Mexican, so I don't even have to cook.  Bring on the nothingness!

Star Wars Day

As it is May 4th, it is Star Wars Day (you know, May the fourth be with you)!  I decided last week that it would be fun to "celebrate" today.  I am not a tremendous fan of the Star Wars movies, but Thomas and Andrew really enjoy them.  And I am a child of the 70's so the movies have been around pretty much my entire life. 

I decided we could watch ONE movie this evening after Catherine gets off work.  The kids want to dress as characters, which is was fine, but I wasn't buying anything to do so.  We also got online to see about Star Wars themed foods, and I decided the easiest (and therefore the most likely to happen) would be decorated cup cakes.  The kids have done them all on their own.  They baked the cupcakes, iced them, and are now decorating them.

I'm definitely looking forward to dessert after dinner, and making this a fun little evening for our little family!

Better news, and good-but-disappointing-to-us news

We ran out of milk today.  There were also a few other things I hadn't been able to get at the grocery Monday, so I ran to the store in town today.  I don't shop here for my regular shopping because it is more expensive generally, and doesn't have as much variety.  I'm glad I went today though.  With the exception of TP, hand sanitizer, and cleaning supplies, the store had everything you might want.  On Monday, there was very little meat, very little boxed food, very little pet food.  It was so calming to visit the store today that had plenty of almost everything.  It was much more reassuring than the visit earlier in the week.  We are still being very mindful of how/what we eat and how we use things, but I'm a little less freaked out about getting through this with supplies.  The stores aren't crowded so it is easy to practice physical distancing.  We wiped everything off before we brought it in the house.

I also tuned into the daily 2:00 press conference.  Folks, if you don't live in Ohio you are truly missing out.  Our Governor and Health Director are TOP NOTCH.  They are informative, rational, and calm.  I have never been more proud to be an Ohioan.  They provided information that the Cleveland Clinic is now projecting the peak to be mid-May.  This is good news overall in that it means we are flattening the curve, and that will save lives.  That is very, very good news.  The disappointing part of this is that I have a sweet girl scheduled to graduate towards the end of May.  Moving the peak later, while great in terms of saving lives, is not great news for graduation.  We all realize though, this is so much more important than her getting to walk across that stage.  I am also confident that there WILL be something, it might just look different and it might be at a different time.  Nothing official has been decided, and as I told a friend, there is nothing we can do about any of that so I refuse to obsess about it.

Not sure what our family activity will be this evening, but we will come up with something!

New perspectives

We've reached another weekend.  Honestly, it doesn't necessarily matter what day of the week it is, although Catherine is still working so we do need to keep track somewhat.  She works full shifts today and tomorrow, and then will be off again until next weekend.  I'm looking forward to having her off all week, and honestly, just kind of locking ourselves at home if possible.

Last evening, we supported a local business by ordering food in.  We then watched a movie together, Jerry Maguire.  The kids loved the movie, and there is nothing more I enjoy then hearing my kids laugh.  They really enjoyed it overall, and my heart was so incredibly full.  It was a few moments of "normal" in days that are absolutely not.

We are beginning to change how we see things.  While I was happy to support our local business last night, I think in the future, that is a trip out and contact, although minimal, with people we just don't need.  I will head to the grocery when we need many things, not just because we need something and then think I will just go again the next day.  We need to stay home.

We make sure that we eat our leftovers before we cook something new.  We think about almost everything before we throw it away.  Is it something we might need to use or reuse later?

We are a week into this.  We are AT LEAST two weeks, and realistically probably more like six, to go.  Things are still closing down, not reopening.  In some ways, it is mentally draining.  Honestly, right now I am sleeping about nine hours a night, and why not?  I am allowing myself to recharge myself in any way that is necessary right now.  I am working on keeping my faith intact, and to doing everything I can to make things easier for our family, for our community, and for society.

Potato & bacon pizza

When we were visiting the island last month, our cousin introduced us to the delicacy that is potato and bacon pizza.  It is awesome!  I know it sounds kind of odd, and given how picky Thomas can be I wasn't even sure he would try it, but who doesn't love potatoes and bacon???  The key is not putting the pizza sauce on too thick.  Thomas was eager to put the pizza together for us, and the pizza was pretty heavy on potato.  In fact, the pizza itself literally was very heavy!  I didn't realize it could weigh that much.  It was extremely filling, but there are NO leftovers!  It was a fun evening.

It's a good day for early morning hot chocolate

Today is a very, very wet day.  The rain that began around 5:30 this morning was torrential.  We even had some thunder and lightning to go with it.  Just walking from the house to the car resulted in everything being wet.  It's also a bit chilly, although not terribly so.  It's just kind of an icky Friday morning.

But, on the upside, it IS Friday morning!  As I said to someone this morning right before school started, "At this time tomorrow we will all still be sleeping."  And that is so true, at least in my house.  I suspect Andrew's game for this evening will be cancelled, and tomorrow our only solid plan is that Catherine has to work.  Even that isn't until 11.  At some point either tomorrow or this afternoon I need to work at the church, but I can be flexible in that.  Sunday Andrew has an all day golf outing/fundraiser.  Overall, it's a pretty relaxing weekend.

Anyway, because today is Friday, it is coffee cart day!  Teachers can pay $5 at the beginning of the month and receive their choice of coffee (made to order), tea, or hot chocolate each Monday and Friday.  I've been fortunate enough in that many times when I've subbed on those days, the teachers are subscribers and the EA will make hot chocolate for me.  Because on Monday we thought I would be permanent for the rest of the year, Andrew signed me up for the coffee cart.  When we found out I wouldn't be permanent, I told the EA I was still working most Mondays and Fridays, and would let her know my schedule.  With the damp chill in the air, it is a wonderful morning for some hot chocolate!

There was no coffee!!!

Today I am working at school again.  I had decided I would allow myself to buy a cup of coffee when I got to school.  They started selling it sometime this school year in the cafeteria, and at $1.25 it's not a bad price.  I purposely didn't drink anything at home this morning except some water so that I could enjoy the coffee first thing this morning.  It was going to be a treat for today!

I got to school and pulled out my money.  I was walking down the hall to the cafeteria when I faced the horrible realization...there was no coffee out for sale!  What??  What the???  NOOOOOOOO!

Now fortunately, I am mature enough to realize that if this is the worst thing that happens today, it's a pretty darn good day.  But ugh.  I was sure looking forward to that cup of coffee!

I made a lovely family dinner, but ate alone

My meal planning has been working very well.  I've been pleased that we are having decent dinners.  It's been great because not only do I not have to think about what to have for dinner each day, I can make sure I have the ingredients on hand and we can actually have decent meals.  It's going well.

Yesterday, Catherine was scheduled to work until 7, and Andrew was working at school for an athletic event.  I had thawed pork chops, and had decided I would plan to have them ready in the 7:15-7:30 range.  I was going to make stuffing to go with it, and green beans.  I found a fairly simply baked pork chop recipe.  I'll be honest, they were sooooo good.  I was so pleased.

But of course, I ate dinner alone.  Thomas was sick, but wouldn't eat something like that if you paid him.  Catherine got confused about her work schedule, and didn't get home until after 8.  Andrew was later than I expected and it was nearly 8:30 before he got home.  It was disappointing to have such a great meal (I even ate second helpings!) and not be able to share it with anyone.  It was nice though, to have a meal ready for Catherine and Andrew when they got home.

Tonight I have a meeting at 6:30 and hope to work at the church before.  Dinner is supposed to be grilled cheese, but maybe it will be last Friday's not-cooked meal of Tuna Casserole.  I really enjoy having things written so there are options already on my mind!

Pi day can be celebrated any day!

Yesterday was Pi Day (3.14) which of course has become pie day.  As you can imagine, the math department at school really gets into it!  However, Catherine had to work until 8:00 last night, and Andrew had a meeting before going straight to his night class he is teaching, and I had a meeting at church as well.  Not only were we not eating dinner together, Andrew wasn't even eating dinner at home.  I wasn't about to have a pie without having dinner.

Today Catherine and I ran to the grocery after school, and came home with a pie.  Andrew's game was cancelled for the evening, so he and I are going to grab something to eat while the other two go to a school event and eat there.  We will be saving the pie for dessert tomorrow evening after our potato soup.  It's never a bad day to celebrate when you are celebrating with pie!

I hate cooking

There, I said it.  I hate cooking.  Always have.  I hate baking, I hate grilling, I hate making food.  I don't like mixing, stirring, measuring, seasoning, none of it.  This is not new information.  This is the reality of our house.  However, I also accepted that I am the parent who has been home, and I'm the one that does the grocery shopping.  I get it.

Now however, I am often working 25-30 hours a week.  Still not full time, and with all of my husband's athletic responsibilities, still many fewer hours than Andrew.  However, before I could accept it was something I needed to do, and since I was home it didn't really get in the way of other things.  This is no longer true.  I am still the one who manages everything in the household, and it is in addition to the working hours.  I am not complaining about this because again, it is still fewer hours than Andrew.  However, if I'm doing all the cooking, other things aren't getting done.

Something has to change.  Honestly, because I hate food prep, I'm not good about planning ahead.  Andrew and I have got to come to some changes.  My grocery shopping lately has simply been processed foods and things to make quickly.  I don't know if the answer is to have Andrew plan and I do the shopping and then we both come up with a plan for cooking, or if the answer is we try to plan together...I don't know what the answer is.  I do know though, that something has to change for us to have healthier and more satisfying meals!

A hug in a mug

Living where I live, winter is often cold.  I'll be honest, this is the time of year I can really enjoy and look forward to the steaming hot beverages from a national coffee shop.  I don't need either the calories, or the hit to the budget, but I do allow myself to an occasional treat.  This is especially true on Fridays (thinking there is one in my future today!), or on days where I have to go from school to working at my church job.

We also gave gift cards to this coffee place to each of the kids' teachers before the holidays.  As one teacher thanked me, she mentioned how much she had enjoyed partaking.  I told her I often think of it as a "hug in a mug", especially on particularly cold and unpleasant weather days.  She agreed with my description.

Today, I am subbing in a class I've been in before, and I suddenly remembered that this teacher subscribes to the coffee cart and receives hot chocolate.  Often they will offer the beverage to the sub as it is already paid for and made in advance.  One of the adults who helps with the coffee cart is also well aware that I love their hot chocolate.  I was excited about the prospect and Andrew kind of chuckled at me.   I explained though, that it was really good, and again, like a hug in a mug!

Definitely not the answer

I have been attempting to make healthier choices.  One of the biggest changes I feel I could make that would be helpful is to stop drinking so many soft drinks.   I pack one each day that I have to work at the school.  I know it isn't overly healthy, but I really don't like water.  Finally this week, I saw numbers on the scale that don't make me very happy at all.  I remember being in high school, and my best friend's family always had seltzer water on hand.  I liked it at that time.  I did some research and it seemed to be a good compromise.  I thought maybe this would be the solution I wanted.

It is not.  At least, not the kind I tried.  I stood at the grocery earlier in the week and looked over the various selections.  I decided to give a go to the most popular brand name, although it wasn't the one I knew from my high school days.  Next I needed to chose a flavor.  This proved far more challenging.  I don't care for citrus flavors, and those were predominant.  I'm a much bigger fan of fruity flavors, so I finally settled on cran-raspberry. 

I took a can out of the fridge this morning and put it in my lunch bag.  First, having them in cans is a problem because they can't be closed up again.  That also means once I open it, it has to remain on my desk because I can't put it back in my lunch bag, and of course that means it is also going to get warm.  So, I need to keep looking for another packaging solution.  In the meantime, I opened the can and it smelled wonderful.  Unfortunately, it most certainly does not taste wonderful.  In fact, I kind of feel that it tastes like medicine.  I'll manage to find a way to drink this and the seven remaining cans that I've paid for, but clearly this is not the answer I was looking for!

I deserved those oreos!

As I've written before, I am trying to be mindful about what I eat and how active I am.  Since school has started, I've lost two pounds.  Not a great deal by any means, but give the fact that I'm neither truly on a diet or on an exercise regime, I am grateful it is going in the right direction and even this effort has an effect.

Today however, I had three oreos.  At the only elementary in which I will sub, they give a small water bottle and snack.  Many days it is oreos, and it was today.  YAY!  These Kindergarteners are a hand full, and there are also entirely too many in one classroom.  I am exhausted (and looking forward to what is currently a day off tomorrow) and I was delighted to treat myself to those oreos!

Trying to come up with something for dinner

I've been doing okay with the meal planning.  This week was tough again with our schedule.  On Tuesday Andrew is teaching an evening class, but we had plenty of leftovers so that wasn't really an issue.  On Wednesday Andrew and Thomas were at the basketball wrap-up where they served dinner, and I took Robert to a band event that was full of desserts.  Last evening was the swim banquet with dinner.  Each evening one child was home and that child was responsible for themselves that evening.  I was going to do a simple grilled cheese and baked beans dinner, but Andrew wants pizza...and that is fine with me!  I was going to make potato soup for tomorrow evening, but I am kind of feeling burned out with that.  I got online and tried to find something else, but I've remembered that I don't necessarily love soup and stews.  I also don't love having lots of ingredients and prep time.  I want my crockpot meals to be simple, and not complicated and time consuming.  I did find a couple that sounded decent, but I know that Thomas won't eat them and it is going to require a trip to the grocery.  I"m just grateful that I'm trying to plan and not just wing it each day!