Friday Fragments

 

 

Time for Friday Fragments … a meme I love because let’s face it, my life is certainly random! 

 

It’s now less than 3 weeks until we head out for our favorite island (Hilton Head), so we’ve been doing some preliminary planning.  I do believe we enjoy the planning almost as much as we enjoy our time there … ok, maybe not quite, but we do enjoy the planning and the heightened sense of anticipation we get as a result. 

 

I got to spend time with all 4 Ts on Wednesday morning.  And yesterday I got to spend the day with the 2 littles.      Those toddler years are my favorite. 

 

Hopefully we’re done with winter’s “last hurrah”, and we’ll have spring-like weather here on out.  We’re certainly going to have typical spring weather this weekend … highs in the 70’s with rain (and possibly storms). 

 

Today is the Cardinals home opener.  On a whim, DH checked for tickets to today’s game (the Cubs and MLB have returned a few unsold tickets to the Cardinals) … $119 for the cheapest seats in the stadium.    No thank you.  We’ll stay home, where we will stay dry and get to see the replays. 

 

I put a roast for Italian beef in the crock pot last night during the hockey game (which the Blues lost, by the way … in the second overtime, so I guess there’s a little consolation in that).  It’s cooling now so I can shred it … in time for Italian beef sandwiches for lunch. 

 

Tomorrow night, the high school youth group at church is hosting a Trivia Night as a fundraiser for their trip to CIY Move this summer.  We’ve never done a Trivia Night before, so this ought to be interesting.  I’m wracking my brain to think of what snack I want to take … hope I have a few cells left for the trivia questions! 

 

Geek Squad Nana

I’d noticed over the last couple of days that my wireless mouse was acting a little strange … I noticed a little bit of a lag when using the mouse and I intermittently would get the notification that the touchpad had been disabled. Since I always keep the wireless mouse connected (using a USB mini-plug), I shouldn’t be getting that notification. I had a USB port go bad on an old desktop computer a few years back, so I thought maybe this port was going bad … seemed like a simple solution to move the mini-plug to another USB port … I’ve got 3 ports on my laptop after all. That’s when I noticed that the USB mini-plug for my wireless mouse was squished way into the USB port – to where it was virtually flush with the case of the laptop. Uh oh! I tried pulling the mini-plug out with my fingers – no luck. I tried using tweezers – no luck. I tried using a pair of pliers – no luck. I tried a knife – succeeded in breaking off the tip of the blade (which I could see in the USB port, but could get out). I called DH who happened to be running errands … told him that he’d be making a trip to Best Buy as soon as he got home, to take my laptop in for the Geek Squad to see if they could get the mini-plug (and knife blade tip) out. I must have worked the mini-plug loose a little with the knife, because I saw that there was a little more of the mini-plug sticking out … enough that I could grab ahold of just enough with the pliers … and pulled it (and the knife blade tip) out. The exterior portion of the mini-plug looks pretty beat up, but it’s still working (just not in the original USB port). Whew! No trip to Best Buy … no need to when there’s a Geek Squad Nana in the house.

We’ve been on a jigsaw puzzle kick this week.  One of the things we do when traveling is look for local-interest puzzles to bring home as a souvenir.  We picked up this one at the Coe Visitor’s Center at the Everglades National Park when we were in southern Florida.

That didn’t take very long to put together.  Our next puzzle was one of Charles Wysocki’s work (my favorite).  That didn’t take a whole lot longer.  We’re now working a smaller puzzle, but it’s a seascape with a lighthouse (we love lighthouses).  Because it’s got so much blue sky and blue water, it’s taking a little longer. 

Is anyone else having trouble with loading of websites found when doing Google searches lately?  Lately, I’ve been having websites that take forever to load when trying to open from a Google search, but if I enter the URL directly, it’ll open right up.  Frustrating.

It’s turned quite chilly here … downright cold in my world.  We’ve had freeze warnings the last couple of nights.  We covered our azaleas and hyndrangea Tuesday night, but it only got to 34, so we were spared.  We were a little confused last night … there was a freeze warning, but the low was only supposed to be 36, so we decided that we wouldn’t need to cover anything.  It got down to 33, but there was fairly significant frost.  I walked around the yard late this morning, and so far I haven’t seen any evidence of any damage to my plants. 

Tonight is the first playoff game for the Blues, and tomorrow is the home opener for the Cardinals.  Exciting time for the sports fans here at Chez Nana. 

Wednesday Hodgepodge

 

 

After a well-deserved break last week, the Wednesday Hodgepodge is back this week. 

 

1. Have you ever played golf? Any interest in playing? Do you have a significant other who loves to play? Did you watch The Masters this past weekend?

I’ve played golf … my mom and dad both loved playing golf … even at 89, my dad still plays regularly.  I just have no interest in playing … I’m not much into participatory sports.  DH does enjoy golfing, but he doesn’t play much … in fact, I don’t think he’s played a round since he’s retired.  I didn’t watch The Master this past weekend … some of the adults were watching at DD’s Sunday afternoon, but I was outside with the Ts … a whole lot more fun, in my book! 

 

2. Hats are back in fashion this spring...how do you feel about wearing a hat? (fyi-I'm not talking baseball caps) When was the last time you wore one?

I don’t recall ever wearing a hat … I don’t even recall ever having an Easter bonnet.  I can’t say that I’m too keen on wearing a hat … can you say “hat hair”?  Ha!

 

3. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 meaning proficient and 1 meaning "I'd starve", how adept are you at using chopsticks?

I’ve never really worked at using chopsticks … I’ve played around a time or two when dining at a Chinese restaurant, but never to the point where I could get anywhere much past a 1, if that.

 

4. Has technology taken over?

Yes.  My 89-year-old dad is proficient at using his iPhone (at least the email and phone functions) … that is all the proof that I need.  Ha! 

 

5. In the course of a day how often do you look in a mirror?

It depends.  Once I get ready in the morning, I really only need to check if I’m going to go somewhere or if I’ve been outside and need to repair the wind damage to my hair.  I do glance briefly when I wash my hands, but seriously, at my age, the mirror is not my friend.  Ha! 

 

6. Tulip or Daffodil?

Tulip.  And I definitely want to get some bulbs planted this fall!

 

7. I am proud of myself for __________________.

For giving up Diet Coke.  It’s been over a month, and I don’t miss it. 

 

8. Insert your own random thought here.

We had a freeze warning for last night, so I faithfully went out and froze while covering my azaleas and hydrangea.  Of course, it only got down to 34, so I wouldn’t have had to cover anything.  Oh well, better safe than sorry, right?   

The Weekend Wrap-Up

 

 

 

It’s been a good long while since I’ve done a Weekend Wrap-up.  And I’m not sure if I ought to do one this week … normally I include Friday on my Weekend Wrap-up … because we all know that the weekend begins on Friday (unless you’re retired like me, and every day is a weekend day! ha!).  But I can not remember what we did on Friday.  I’m sure we were busy … but doing just what, I do not know.  (Warning:  don’t get old … your brain becomes a sieve and you are lucky to be able to remember your name.)

 

I had big plans for my Saturday … quilting, weekly phone “conference call” with my sisters and my dad, more quilting, Cardinals baseball, more quilting, and Blues hockey.  My plans were put on hold when I got a phone call from DD asking me to come get the Ts because she’d thrown out her back.  It was a fun day with the Ts here … it was a tad on the chilly side, but that didn’t stop the Ts from enjoying some outside time (the Nerf swords did, however, put an end to the outside fun … obviously Nana is going to have to lay down some ground rules for Nerf sword play).  We did get to watch the Blues wrap up their regular season with a win … while I prepared the salad and carrot cake (for Sunday’s lunch at DD’s). 

 

We had an early get-up on Easter Sunday here at Chez Nana.  DH had to be at church by 5:30 to get started on the cooking for the Easter Sunday breakfast that the deacons host.  After breakfast, there was an Easter Egg hunt at church, followed by two worship services (we switched to two services on April 1; since we were on our way back home from Florida on the 1st, this was our first Sunday with two services … so far, it doesn’t look like this attempt at splitting into two services will be any more successful than the previous attempt, although I suppose that Easter Sunday is probably not indicative of what will happen on a typical Sunday morning). 

 

After church, we headed to DD’s for lunch and fun.  It was a gorgeous day, so we spent much of the afternoon outside.  We played washers, some catch, and Tracball (which gave this Nana’s legs a real workout … they’re definitely feeling the effects this morning). 

 

The weekend ended with an early bedtime for this exhausted but happy Nana. 

 

It's Friday

... but not just ANY Friday.  Today is Good Friday. 

And Sunday's a comin'. 

So long, sweet girl

We had to say goodbye to our Abby the Labby yesterday.  We knew that the day would be here sooner rather than later, but even so, we were not expecting it to be this soon.   







Abby was our “problem child” … she was NOT a typical Lab.  But she was our girl and we loved her just the same … and we will miss her. 

She’s baaaack

 

We’re back in Illinois … where the weather is every bit as pleasant as it was in Florida (but even so, there’s no comparison … there’s no beach here in Illinois – obviously).  And while I’m glad to be back home again, in my nest, surrounded by my things, and near the people I love, part of my heart is still back there on the beach.

 

We had a wonderful time.  We left right after the Ts’ soccer games and made it about 6 hours down the road.  We had a short enough drive on day 2 that we had several hours of daylight in St. Augustine Beach.  As soon as we got checked in, we made a bee line for the beach. 

There’s just something about being where sand and water meet … I can literally feel the lifting of burdens and the calming of my spirit in a way that nowhere else can. 

 

We spent the morning of day 3 seeing the sites in historic St. Augustine.

 

We drove further south the afternoon of day 3 until we reached our final destination.  Of course, as soon as we unpacked the car, we headed to the beach.  It was just as beautiful as I remembered it.  The water is just so clear and so blue.

 

We had planned to spend day 4 at the beach, but we got caught in a couple of showers and decided that perhaps that day would be the best day to head to Everglades National Park … and it couldn’t have been a better day there.  We saw more alligators than we could possibly count.  We saw a multitude of different kinds of birds.  And we saw not one but TWO manatees!  I almost shouted for joy (every spring when we go to Florida, I always hope to be able to see a manatee … but until this spring, I never had).

 

Day 5 was our day to see the Cardinals play.  We got our seats early were in the 4th row from the field … made for a lot of good “photo ops”.  I won’t bore you all with pictures of all the players, but I just have to show you one … so how about a picture of the Cardinals’ closer warming up to come into the game. 

 

Days 6 and 7 were spent relaxing at the beach … that may not sound as exciting as days 4 and 5, but they were the highlights of the trip … just love soaking up the sun, feeling the sand between my toes and the waves crashing around my ankles. 

 

Day 8 came before I knew it … and it was time to head north.  Here, at the conclusion of day 9, we’re back home.  And it’s true … there’s no place like home.