Fave Pic  Last weekend I went to the Botanical Garden to pick up supplies for Gage’s week of at-home camp and found that some of the participants in theParade the Circle decided to get together even though the popular event was cancelled.  There were more participants than this but aren’t they cool?  They put on a parade for the 40 people who just happened to be there.  I was lucky to be one of the few to have our own personal parade 🙂  This also counts for a highlight of the week.

Highlights of the Week  Gage had his first play date – outside at the school parking lot riding bikes.  I shopped at a store other than a grocery store the first time since February.  I needed a Father’s Day gift and Tuesday Morning was having a going out of business sale.  Everyone but one person was wearing a mask so that was good.  I had a fellow Friends of the Library member come over to go over some plans.  We sat on our patio about 10 feet apart.  Baby steps and it’s pretty much all I’m comfortable with right now.  It  was nice to get back to some sense of normalcy.

Finished reading

Currently reading

Currently listening

Reviews posted Flawed Long Time Coming

In the mail After I saw this on Instagram I mentioned to Jason that if he ever needed a gift idea for me this was it.  This week he surprised me with it.  I cannot tell you how happy it makes me to have a Keanu coloring book 🙂

Movies watched   Last Saturday night we started our first family movie night.  We started at 8pm and Gage could stay up as long as he could stay awake.  You can see we chose come classics this first time.  He made it through all three beating Jason and me.  He went to bed at 1:30am and wants to do it every weekend, lol.  We’ve decided to make it a monthly thing.

Watching We started season 4 of Bosch on Amazon Prime and did watch the pilot of Dead to Me.  I’m interested in watching more, do any of you watch it?

 

Fave Pic Was able to spend some time alone in the woods this week.

Highlights of the Week Gage had online Lego camp this week for 2 hours everyday this week and he really liked it.  It also gave me two hours where I wasn’t responsible for entertainment.  A win/win.  I went to my first social distanced gathering as a few of us got together outside to say goodbye to a Library Friends board member.  She was our newsletter editor so now I need to find a replacement.  And I’ve been selling books for the Friends on our FB page.  The library’s not open but since I’ve been listing online every day we’ve made some money and gotten rid of some books.  Of course, I’m running this operation out of my garage so that’s fun, lol.  All of the deliveries are contact free so it works for me.  Jason worked two days downtown this week and it feels weird.  I like having everyone home, even if I’m going a little(lot) stir crazy.  Spent a few hours in nature a few days this week and that helped.  We also had another drive by birthday parade for another friend in Gage’s class.  I’m not sure what it means that I’ve put that under highlights 🙂

Review posted here

Books Finished Can’t wait to start the third book of the trilogy.

Listening to Book club read, I’m on the fence about it so far.

In the Mail

Puzzles Finished So challenging.  1000 pieces.  If anyone wants to give it a try I’ll send it on to you 🙂

On the small screen  Jason has been obsessed with season 3 of Bosch this week and we’ve watched nothing else.

Plans for the weekend I need to replenish some local Little Free Libraries with books from our Friends of the Library and I’m headed to the Cleveland Botanical Garden at noon to pick up a pack with stuff for Gage to do camp from home next week.

Fave Pic On Tuesday, Gage and I visited one of the Cleveland Metroparks that was new to us.  It was much needed to calm the chaos.

Highlights of the Week  We went to the Cruise the Zoo last weekend and had a good time.  It was nice to have someplace safe to go as a family.  The animals were sometimes so far away that you only saw glimpses but driving at 2 mph through the zoo with other family with kids hanging out of windows or popping out of sunroofs was a great thing to see.

Unfortunately, Cleveland, like many other cities, got wrecked last weekend.  It was devastating to see.  I watched the peaceful protest for a bit online and thought everything looked great. Everyone was respectful and there was no need for police presence.  I checked back later in the day to find that after that group had started the walk around downtown, others showed up and started the violence and destruction of property.  Cleveland was on curfew until Wednesday morning.  Jason went into his downtown office for the first time since March on Wednesday and called the place a ghost town.  Thankfully, there have been many smaller protests all over the suburbs here this week and they’ve all been peaceful.   I’m listening and reading and trying to come up with some personal goals to make myself more of an active ally.

Books finished read with Gage.

Reviewed (I’m so behind on reviews!) A Conspiracy in Belgravia

Currently reading loving it.

In the mail

Movies Steve McQueen gambling his way through life.  Watched this true life inspirational movie with Gage.

My 5 word May movie reviews

TV Jason and I watched a few episodes of and liked it for a few laughs.

Plans for the weekend  Although we’ve got a few things happening next week I don’t think we have anything set in stone for the weekend.  How about you?

Fave pic Taken from our driveway Memorial Day evening.

Highlights of the week We had my parents over for Memorial Day.  The guys even got in a convertible ride before the rain came.

I’m the current president of our local library Friends group and curbside pickup starts Monday.  That means I started tentatively planning and working on things this week.  Exciting.

I received all of Gage’s end of year and summer stuff on Wednesday, but I’m keeping him in ‘school’.  I spent 30 minutes the last three nights planning a schedule and lesson plans for each day.  Sound mean?  I couldn’t take one more day of hearing “Mom, what can I do now?” “Mom can I have screen time?” “Mom,  mom, mom…”  So he has mom school until the early afternoon.  To entice him he has a list of everything we’re doing that day and a list of required chores.  Once everything is crossed off he gets $1.  I’m considering it a $5 a week allowance 🙂  I’m actually having a good time planning fun things to go along with the hard stuff.  Today he tried oragami for the first time and is so proud of his little fox.

Reviews posted The Starless Sea by Erin Morganstern  Megabat by Anna Humphrey

Finished reading love this series! fascinating.

Currently reading

In the mail

Watching We finished season 2 of Bosch and loved it.

New recipe a day challenge

Plans for the weekend  Our friend had a pass to Cruise through the Zoo that she couldn’t use so we’re taking Gage tomorrow.  The zoo is still closed and we’ll have to stay in our car, but I’m more excited about it than I should be 🙂  It takes so little to entertain these days.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the state of what’s going on in this country right now.  I plan to devote some meditation time this weekend to try and figure out how best to use my voice and my resources.

What’s up in your neck of the woods?

Fave pic The librarian at Gage’s school is retiring (and moving to Hawaii, lucky duck) so Gage had quite a few assignments that were aimed at her retirement.  For his art assignment he made these to book covers.  She always rewarded the kids with parties – but they had to earn them.  She went all out and the kids will definitely miss her in the fall.

Highlights Gage finished all of his 3rd grade schoolwork today so I’m officially calling him a 4th grader.  I can’t believe it.  I have loved being his pseudo teacher these last few months.

We had a drive by birthday party for a classmate of Gage and we even got a little family time at Lake Erie.  Even ordered takeout from Gage’s favorite restaurant, Aladdin’s Eatery.  It almost felt like a normal Sunday.

Some have struggled with the pandemic lock down and I almost feel guilty for enjoying this extra time with my son and husband so much.  Gage is nine and it’s such a wonderful age.  He still loves his parents, listens most of the time, and still loves to cuddle.  I am soaking in every moment.  And Jason and I are still speaking, laughing and cuddling too.  I’m a lucky woman.

On the downside Gage always had lots of time at summer camps.  This year before everything shut down I had only signed him up for two weeks, one of them cancelled but will be doing online stuff with the kids.  The other is still happening but Gage will not be going.  It was chaos every year and there is no way that the Science Center will be able to keep the kids as separated from each other and the public as I would need to feel comfortable.  So, I found some online places that do interactive camps and have signed him up for a few and hope to find more.  We’ll be venturing out into nature this summer and having some outdoor play dates, but we’re keeping this summer low key.  Hopefully, the fall will look better, but given the COVID numbers that have started to climb back up since everything started opening this month, I don’t have a lot of confidence.

Finished reading read this for book club (we had a fun Zoom meeting on Wednesday) and I’ll have my review posted Monday.  I really liked it. Gage read this and wanted me to read it too.  I loved Megabat!  I posted my review of this cool chapbook here.

Currently reading

Currently listening

In the mail

Movies This will mess with your mind.

Watching We’ve watched some of Bosch season 2 and a few episodes of Travelers season 2.

New recipe a day challenge I made my first coffee cake and my first pot roast!

Plans for the weekend Nothing special planned.  Jason is playing tennis for the first time in many months so we’ll see how that goes.

What’s going on in your neck of the woods?

 

 

 

Fave pic from Mother’s Day last week.  My mother and the boy who made me a mother.  We have had limited visits with my parents, usually for a few hours once a week.  They are retired and at home and we are at home except for a few necessities like Gage’s school work pick up and drop off, grocery store every 2-3 weeks, and occasionally the post office.  Jason will go back to his office downtown twice a week starting June 1 and we might have to re-evaluate, but by then outside visiting will be easier to do so I think we can still make it work.

Highlights of the week  Mother’s Day was lovely.  I got to sleep in and then coffee, cards, and a few gifts in bed. My mom came over and Jason went and picked up Dewey’s pizza for us.  I love that I can get gluten free crust with the pizza I love, Ryan’s Inferno.

We got the rest of our deck furniture AND had a few nice days this week to enjoy it 🙂

We’ve started using the composter we’ve had for years and Gage likes to be the one to take out our daily scraps.  One household task he doesn’t complain about, yay!

Books finished Not a one 😦  Keeping Gage off the screens has taken more effort lately.  Not to mention my new recipe a day challenge also takes extra time.

In the mail I found out that a friend from the library has written books!  He generously sent me these two and I’m excited to take a look at them this week.  And he has the best last name, right?

Currently reading  (Not what I was expecting, but more of a history of the Bible and Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and I’ve learned so much)  Still in the early chapters but it’s interesting.

Currently listening I’m finding ways to listen to a little bit of this every day.

My review of The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Movies The soundtrack was great, story good, but the acting outside of two main characters was cringeworthy.

Currently watching We let Gage stay up until 11 this week to watch the finale of Survivor and that was fun for him.  I think the right person won.  We’re still working on season 2 of Bosch.

New Recipe a Day Challenge.  You can follow my other blog that’s full of monthly challenges, but I’m linking to this one post here because I loved these waffles so much 🙂

Plans for the Weekend  Ohio has opened retail and outside seating at restaurants with more to open next week.  As much as I have appreciated our governor’s response so far I feel like he is rushing to reopen everything by June.  We don’t plan on changing anything here for at least a few more weeks and then we can evaluate again.  What about you?

 

 

Fave pic  Our backyard last Sunday.

Highlights of the week   Gage had a very busy calendar for Friday.  Google chats with his reading group, math group, and homeroom class with a Zoom Lego camp class squeezed in there somewhere.  And then we had Grandma over for dinner.  His bedtime was an hour ago but I still hear him running around upstairs so he’s still flying high.

We got some new, much needed, deck furniture a few days ago.  Now if only it would warm up so we could use it.

A neighbor misses our library and reached out to see if I had any books she could read.   Who among us could resist spending happy time scouring our shelves for just the right thing?  Honestly, I have loaned out and mailed out so many books in the last month or so that I’m actually running low!  The horror!

Why?  So, we had snow in May.  In. May.  I just can’t.  Honestly, the sunny days outside in the yard are the only thing making this lockdown somewhat normal and today the snow.  Maybe tomorrow and Sunday too.  It’s too depressing to even talk about anymore.

Finished reading review

Currently reading

Currently listening I’m loving this series!

Movies Seen 

Currently watching  We finally let Gage watch Survivor with us and he loves it.  Next week is the finale and it should be a good one.  We started the second season of Bosch too.

My Favorite Movies #29 – Psycho

New Recipe a Day posts 

Plans for the weekend  A trip to Whole Foods today and spending some time with my mom tomorrow.

I’m linking up with the Sunday Salon.

 

Fave pic Obviously I didn’t take many picture this week if this is my favorite, lol.  Spaghetti poked through hot dogs slices and then boiled.  They look more fun than that they taste.

Highlights I’ve been to the post office twice this week, for the first time in 5 weeks. and am happy with the precautions put in place.  I had to return something through UPS and was not happy with their business-as-usual attitude.  In our town we have 25-34 active covid cases and at the very least some appearance of caution would be nice.

We dropped off some books to a classmate and his mom this week and we chatted in the driveway for a minute.  It was nice for Gage to see a friend from school.  The uncertainty is starting to wear on him and he’s a little more anxious about things returning to normal than he was a month ago.  I don’t know what the new normal will look like, but our stay-at-home orders have been extended until the end of May.

I let my monthly challenges fall by the wayside in March, but I’ve started again.  New recipes for the rest of the year 🙂 http://my30daychallenges.com/

Books finished I am starting to read the Who Was series with Gage and we did finish Who Was Helen Keller?  No adult books though.

Reading

Listening

Reviewed Mount Vernon Love Story and My One and Only

Watching Finished the first season of Bosch and we liked it.  Still watching Survivor.  Looking for a good scary or horror-lite series on Netflix or Prime if you have a recommendation.

Monthly movies and a chance to contribute to charity.

Plans for the weekend  I cannot even begin to tell you how it exciting it was to write down a drive by graduation party on Sunday.  Something that will take up a total of 20 minutes tops round trip is something to be super excited about.

What about you?  Are things returning to normal where you are?

 

I’m linking up with the Sunday Salon.

Fave pic On Earth Day we spent some time in nature.

Highlights Well, on Wednesday I spent my first day running errands in about 2 months.  A trip to Gage’s school, Whole Foods, local bookstore pickup (they hung my purchase on a hook outside their back door), the metro park with Gage, and a dinner curbside pickup.  I’m not gonna lie, it gave me a little boost of kinda-normal that was nice.

Also, I participated in Dewey’s 24 Hour Read-a-Thon.  I went in thinking I was going to try to stay up the whole 24, but decided around hour 18 that I was going to call it a day (around 2 am this morning).  I probably would have made it at least another few hours but I lost my ear buds so I couldn’t move around the house listening to audio books in the wee hours of the night like I usually do.  It was a beautiful day to be outside and read.

Dewey’s Read-a-thon 

The Art of the Handwritten Note review

The Boy from the Woods by Harlan Coben review

Books read

Reading

Listening

Movies (this is a fave of mine that I’ll be writing about this week)

Plans for the Weekend Doing some prep work for homeschooling.  We got a little behind this week.  What about your weekend?

I’m linking up with the Sunday Salon.

Fave Pic Razzi is usually up for picture posing, but I have to wait until Sammi falls asleep to get a good picture.  She is such a cuddle bug.

Highlights Another week has gone by?  Who can keep up, really?  We have been homebound completely this week, with the exception Jason making a trip to the Chick-Fil-A drive thru a few nights ago, wearing his mask of course.

My book club did a FaceTime meetup on Thursday night and it was both weird and fun.  So good to see everyone’s faces, especially since I’ve missed the past few months.

Gage also worked on a chalk obstacle course in our driveway (both Jason and I helped at different times) and we invited neighbors and grandparents to give it a try.  I should have checked the weather since it lasted 24 hours before the snow washed it away.  Maybe we’ll try a new one if it ever warms up.

Finished Reading A quote just to give you a taste of the seriousness of this book.  “After you have defined yourself through your pen and paper and the handwriting you  create with them, your wording adds the third dimension , one that may be the simplest to create.”  page 39

Currently Reading

American Dirt review

Puzzles finished This was a 500 piece puzzle that didn’t take long to finish once all three of us were working on it.

Movies watched Yes, this was my first time watching this classic.

On the Small Screen We’ve caught a few episodes of the first season of Bosch on Amazon Prime.

Plans for the rest of the weekend  Is anyone making plans anymore?  I don’t know.  Hopefully finishing my Harlan Coben book!  What are you up to?

I’m linking up with theThe Sunday Salon