As long as I'm wishing...

Easter was a very nice holiday!

The Thursday before, Meri, Shub, Leon and myself decorated eggs.

The kids were very creative but somehow I just got the plain early ones before their creative juices really got going...

That Sunday, Meri and I met up with my sister and her family at the HyVee deli for an Easter brunch before our afternoon church.  What a fun time!

After church, these three hunted for eggs in our yard, this year the front and back yard. It's been a while since we did that.

And Meri's face in this pic was great!  But she'd kill me if I'd posted on FB so here it is here.

Leon had two eggs with $5 bills in them.  If Meri and Shub came across one that was marked with an L, they left it alone.  They didn't have any money in theirs... Sorry guys!  Maybe next year!

Since Easter, I've been swamped.  Mostly moving my MIL out of the downstairs and into assisted living near my BIL, about 45 minutes away.

But this week, I'm working from Maddy's house in Wisconsin.  The rest of the gang is at home coping the best way they can without me, which is to say, just fine.  Thanks to Ryan, I got to video chat with Leon this morning during his breakfast.  And as I suspected, they're fine.

Matthew and I have lunch together and after work, Maddy and I are cooking supper together.  All other times and in between, I'm loving on my grandpups and doing some crying.  Isn't this pic great?  It's in the guest room.

She and I are attending a Grief share meeting for her later this week and on Saturday, we're planning on making a bunch of freezer meals before I head for home.

Having a wonderful time!

Wish he was here.

Thankful for a Recap

 I've got an official hard boil egg peeler these days!  Isn't he a cute one?  And he peeled them all...

He was especially proud of one of them and after I let him cut a few himself, he claimed one will NOT have paprika or the other junk I was mixing with the mayo.  Just mayo please...  

And that's fine.  He actually had it on his plate for Thanksgiving dinner, but not sure if he actually ate it. He's a picky one.

Here is our freaky pilgrim people this year.  I found some child sized sunglasses, so by next year, we'll have some on the Mrs also so they won't freak people out.  It's the eyes...

Here is my pickle/olive relish tray fixings.  Not a carrot in sight!  I'll have a veggie tray for next year.

A pumpkin pie made from pumpkins I bought at Halloween.  I'd cooked them in the IP and then pureed and drained them.  I actually have another pumpkin draining now for future use.

And ummm Sweet Potato soufle.  OOh - that was good!

Robb smoked a turkey that morning and the house smelled divine. 

A college friend of ours, Dave, came for Thanksgiving dinner!  Meri, Shub, Ryan and Leon were here too.  It was a very nice time and we played some games afterwards until Leon went to his mom's that evening.  While Dave and Robb took him there, I pulled the livingroom all apart and got the tree mostly up.  I was wondering where a bruise on my arm came from and I just remembered those stupidly heavy tree pieces had gotten me...  Ugg, they can be heavy...

I just had the top pieces to go and then Robb and Dave got back.  Robb went out to the car and brought me his "not very well hidden" early Christmas gift!  I got a Little Giant ladder!  It helped me get the rest of the tree done but is still too short to change the lights in the ceiling fixture...  shoot.  

I came up with lots of unsafe ways to put the ladder so I could reach it and we ultimately decided to borrow one from our church.  That's probably the best thing to do... OR borrow one from his brother.  

On Friday, the girls and I decorated our own trees in our own homes, but together via DUO.  

Meri had some Christmas music going and we enjoyed some girl time together.  We're planning a craft day next weekend, I hope!  I've got some Swedish Christmas stars to make!

I saved a bag of ornaments for Leon to put on the tree and he mostly played with the ladder when he got back the next morning.

For which he is very thankful.

Also that morning, Meri, with our help, threw Shub a surprise graduation party at our house! 

We had found a cap and gown for him so his family could see him all dolled up for graduation!  He wore it proudly. 

His family and friends were all on either WhatsApp or Duo to wish him well.  I got to KIND of meet his mom and sister!

What a fun graduation party! The "guests" didn't stay on long, but they visited as much as they could before they hung up.

   We had cake and ice cream and then lots of Indian food for a brunch.  

He is a college graduate now! and the party was a total hit as a surprise.

We made Butter Chicken and carrot pudding, his favorite dishes.  Not sure how WELL I made them, but I guess I could pass as a weak Indian chef if needed.  The recipe helped...  And he was very complimentary.

We all played board games and even had Maddy and Matthew join in remotely via DUO for a good game of Dungeon Mayhem, our latest favorite game.  Leon is really good at it too, but he opted to play on the computer instead. We tried to get a game of Clue going, also a favorite of Leon's, but when you play with more than 2 players, the rules change slightly and that's when we realized how low on sleep he was.  Hmmm... maybe he needs a nap, do you suppose?  However he did not nap...  And Meri and Shub took that as their cue to leave.

I visited with my MIL at the nursing home and then visited with Ada around the bend for a while too.  MIL is getting settled in a recuperating room, after being at the hospital for 3 weeks.  It's awkward to get things to her and especially now since she can't talk.  Not sure what's causing that, but she seems to be getting stronger.  Also not sure when she'll be coming home.

So, it was a whirlwind of dirty dishes all weekend.  By Saturday afternoon, I'd forgotten what day it was.  4 days off from work will do that to you.

But I would so do it again!

Jamming vacations into the weekends

I'm sorry!  I'm a terrible blogger and don't visit my usuals as often as I would like...

Anyway, here's what I've been up to and I'll try and do better for my blog friends.

Since last week.  My van is not fixed yet and based on the cost of a replacement hatch, it's going to a black lift gate.  Not the pretty blue, but oh well.  It'll be my next craft project to sand it down and paint it. :)  I'll stick it on my to do list.

I just ordered the liftgate and will pick it up this afternoon.

My birthday party was Thursday night.  Meri and Shub came as well as Josh and Carli.  

J and C were leaving for their adventure in Arizona early on Friday morning, so this was their send off meal too.

Early the next morning, I met up at Josh's apartment to get some cleaning supplies that they were getting rid of.  I helped them load up the car and then left them for the final touches.  They were leaving behind a super grill too and asked if I'd find a home for it.  I was just a couple miles away when Maddy answered a text with SURE!  So I went back to the apartment to get it, passing them as I rounded the corner and they were heading out.  They didn't see me.  Tunnel vision. :)

Got the grill, cover and grill utensils all loaded up and ready for my mini-vacation for Wisconsin.

The neighbors in "college town" live for when students move out.  So many students leave REALLY good stuff on the curbs for the trash.  As I was loading the grill, one neighbor was picking thru the trash can...

I did grab the vacuum cleaner for Meri...

So that evening after work, Meri and I headed to Wisconsin to hang with Maddy for a couple days.  Got there around 10:45pm, just in time for supper!  Maddy and Matthew had baked us some cauliflower crust pizzas.  YUM...  We'd snacked the whole way on healthy things too, so the car food didn't do too much damage to our diets.

Matthew had to work Saturday and then came back to the house long enough to pack up the car for a camping trip with his high school buddies.

We went for a walk that morning at the lake. The breeze was fantastic!

When we got back to the hosue, Maddy grabbed the remote and said that in honor of my birthday, I got to pick a movie from the 80s that I wanted us to watch.  The first one that made me feel all nostalgic was Tootsie.  So Maddy didn't dither and clicked on it.  They enjoyed it with me!

Then a 2nd walk at a dog park with the girls and the "girls".  The dogs took OFF in the dog park and Meri and I got our exercise in!  

I don't think I've run in public for a LONG time.  Thankfully we were the only ones in the park.  After corralling the "girls", I had an impromptu photo shoot of Meri that Shub had requested.  

Done.

Then since the dogs were just not cooperating, we took them into the puppy dog walk area and let them run free until Daisy found a big mud puddle and jumped in.  

Yikes!  They're spirited!!!

Daisy got a shower when we got back.

After a delicious supper of lentil sloppy joes in the Instant pot, and oh my goodness, that was SO good!!!  We got to crafting!!!

Here's what we made.

Button necklaces

Hobnail vases

and embroidery hoop/flower wall hangings.

I wore my necklace for the whole drive home and will show it off at the next ASG meeting.  

I was really impressed with how the hobnail vases turned out!  Of course a couple of the sticky knobs shifted when spray painting, but for the most part, they were very cool.

For food this weekend, Maddy (and us as the sous chefs) besides the Lentil Sloppy Joes, we made Orange Chicken in the IP.  MMMMMMMM  We're talking about testing a bunch of recipes and maybe putting together a cookbook of sorts of our favorites.

And there was chocolate cake...  :)

My life is complete.

Meri and I drove home after lunch on Sunday and  got home in time for supper.  Shub had made burritos for Meri and Robb had picked up Mexican fast food for us at home.  MMMMMMMM

On Monday morning's weigh in, I had only gained 2.5 pounds since Friday morning!  Working it off this week.

My sister and her family stopped by yesterday on their way home from Indiana and I gave them some of my stash of Twin Bings and Icy sticks.  That should have been enough sugar to keep them going for the last 3 hours of their trip!

ANYHOO!  Back to work.  I hope you had a great weekend!

Cheese Curds and Grand pups

Robb and I went on an adventure on Friday!!!  We drove to Wisconsin to see Maddy and Matthew!

The states are opening a little...

But they had one of our old cars.  They'd purchased a different one and didn't need it anymore.

And Shub's car is having issues right now, so we thought he could borrow it until he gets his fixed.

  Meri was aware that eventually we'd get it back here, but didn't know that we went and got it.

It was a BIG surprise for her when she found it in our driveway on Sunday!

So Robb rented a car for us to drive out and then we drove the Taurus back.  We had a great time with Maddy and Matthew!  I took the kids some homemade hummus and Matthew specifically received some braunschweiger.

He's a fan, but Maddy is not.  

We got to meet their two dogs, Zola and Daisy.  What a fun, totally alive and crazy couple dogs these are!  They're both rescue dogs.

Zola earlier than Daisy.  

Zola is the black one and definitely the Alpha female, even though Daisy is not quite sure of it.

And they love living with the kids!

And we loved getting to spoil our grand-pups a little!  

I mean when they weren't barking at us because they hadn't remembered that they'd made friends with us before we went into the bathroom...  

HEY!!!! Where'd YOU come from!!!

STRANGER DANGER!!!!

bark! bark! bark! bark! bark! bark! bark!

But they DO calm down on occasion.  

I have proof.

When they woke up, they immediately alerted Maddy that there are strangers here.

School in the fall is going to be tough on these two!

The dogs I mean.

Being alone all day without their humans...

The humans fed us well with Casey's pizza, because you can't get THAT in Iowa!!! ;)

Yes you can, but yums anyway!

Also, grape salad.

Robb and I had JUST been talking about all the grape salad we're going to make with my grape vine produce!!!

Meri called me at 9:30pm and apologized for waking me up.  "Ummmm no problem!"

I didn't tell her a thing.

Then we played some Jackbox games until the wee hours of almost 10!  

In the morning after another fantastic meal, we headed off back to Iowa.

On the way back, I had talked Robb into stopping at a cheese haus.  I came away from there with a mixed bag of jerky meat chunks and cheese curds.  Oh my....  It was so good! 

And see in the distance?  That's the Iowa side of the bridge.

The cheese and meats were gone by the time we were over that bridge.

Great weekend!

I wish we could multiply it by three. 

or ten.