Quarantine and chill and kindness chatty clubhouse: Jump in and join the conversation! All is welcome!

[sparkle78]

My sister sent me these photos, her kids enjoyed finding all the creative social distancing animals ‘ signs at the zoo. They just made me smile

 

[Breezy_Carol]

Beautiful today. We had altar guild duties. Went to the church to place the flowers but they had not been delivered.so had to call the florist. Went back this afternoon and they were there and already placed in the altar so basically 2 wasted trips. But we did end up at a different park for a 2+ mile hike.

Me too. DD and DGD have never been. We are also going to Out of Africa (that's where it is supposed to be 98), Bearizona, Walnut Canyon, Sunset Crater and Petrified National Park.

Have a great trip Meriweather. We discovered Sunset Crater just driving by between the Grand Canyon and Sedona. We really enjoyed it. We also went to Walnut Canyon.

Trying to order carry out dinner but the line is busy.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Aw, the signs made me smile, too, Sparkle, thanks for sharing

Hope you get your order in soon, Carol.

 

[AuntieMe3]

Hope everyone had a wonderful Saturday. Another HOT one here so that was annoying but overall a good day. Two of my mom's sisters came to visit this weekend so its been nice visiting with them. My cousin, who is close in age to DD, came too. She slept at our house and my aunts stayed with my parents. Its been a long time since they've seen my mom so she was happy.

Last night, we had rib eyes, Pioneer Woman smashed potatoes, and a big salad for dinner. Tonight, we had my great grandma's recipe, Chili rellenos, beans and fideo. OMG...it was so good, I'm home now and wish I would've brought some home with me. We never have them because no one in the family ever really learned to make them but my mom's best friend had asked my great grandma to teach her years ago, so she came over today and showed my two aunts how to do it. Its a lot of work so I won't be making them myself LOL but they sure were delicious to eat.

Tomorrow, I think hubby and I are going to rearrange our bedroom. Its such a disaster in there right now so I think we need to do a good deep clean and rearrange. We'll see....we'll probably just sit on the couch and do nothing all day like our usual Sundays.

Oh...I got two new Halloween shirts. One from my boss...


And another I ordered for myself to wear to the Fall fest my sister and I are taking my niece to at Knotts Berry Farm. I'm getting a sugar skull mask to go with it.


Hope everyone has a great Sunday.

 

[lynxstch]

Good morning everyone! Cloudy out now and 44, going to a whopping high of 60 lol! Should we now start putting pics of winter/christmas pics on our scavenger hunt? Geez, I was in Walmart yesterday, they took all of the Halloween and Thanksgiving stuff, moved it to a smaller section, and now have Christmas stuff everywhere. I wish they would wait till after Halloween to put that stuff out. Especially this year, I am not in the mood for Christmas stuff to start appearing around every corner. Lets finish one holiday before we start the next! Not planning on doing much today. Hubby wants to watch football, I don't, lol. Laundry is done and bed is stripped and remade, so that may be the only chore I do today. Time for a day off! Have a great Sunday everyone!

 

[Snowysmom]

Sounds like some good plans for everyone this weekend. We are heading to Older DS's for his birthday. It is nice to have everyone together for the afternoon. I made 2 cakes yesterday. I frosted one and DH frosted the other one.

Temp this morning was 43 with a high of 62 expected. Jasper will need to wear his sweater soon. He is the only dog I have had who likes to wear sweaters and coats. He is very fashionable.

 

[AuntieMe3]

Geez, I was in Walmart yesterday, they took all of the Halloween and Thanksgiving stuff, moved it to a smaller section, and now have Christmas stuff everywhere. I wish they would wait till after Halloween to put that stuff out.

I don't like either. Hubby and I were at Target last week and almost all their Halloween stuff was gone with no plans of restocking. Christmas already two aisles. It wasn't even October yet. I was looking for one of the Halloween gingerbread house kits for my niece, guess I should've been looking back in August.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

I'm happy you had some good company, AuntieMe3! Yep, still hot but thankfully not as HOT!

Yay, enjoy your day off, Lynxstch!

Aww to Jasper! That's so sweet and funny, Snowysmom.

Have a great Sunday, friends

 

[lynxstch]

I love that "I smell children" shirt @AuntieMe3 ! Too cute
Just back from a couple of errands. Forgot to mention that yesterday in Aldi's,,they had small cans of pumpkin for making pies. Walmart had none. Was just in Martins ( Giant) and they had plenty of big cans of their brand, none of Libby's. So if you plan on making pies for Thanksgiving or Christmas, you better grab them while you can. I needed Old Bay yesterday, none in Walmart, they said they hadn't been able to get it since March? I just found about 200 cans of it in Martins, lol! Off to finish laundry, do a long, hot, relaxing beauty treatment, while hubby watches football. Dinner tonite will be the other halves of our steaks from my birthday dinner, with loaded mashed potatoes, and acorn squash.

 

[easyas123]

Put me down as someone else who would prefer retailers would hold off on Christmas stuff till closer to the actual holiday-
And don't get me started on trying to find anything non food related to Thanksgiving! Is it me or do they just skip over that almost entirely?!?!

Husband & eldest on road today, they left around 4 AM and should be back home around 4 PM. I've managed to get a fair bit of cleaning and laundry done plus I had the joy of scrubbing oil off of the floor, counter, stove top and somehow - the over the stove microwave oven - I'm not sure how he managed that. It was completely my fault - long story short, I left some oil in a pan on the stove from last night. Went to the store this morning, and the tall mutt decided the help himself! 9 times out of 10 he doesn't bother anything. But really - I should know better and of course today was that 1 time out of 10! Funny thing was the pan itself wasn't spilled or moved. He is such a sloppy eater/drinker though, and he must of had a fun time with the oil. Yuck. Got it all cleaned up, but it sure took a while! I hope his tummy doesn't cause him to much trouble. He's been outside since 10 AM, sunning himself in the grass and barking at the chickens.
I've got to go mow the extra lot we have on the other side of the farm. It's only 2 acres, so it hopefully won't take me forever. After that I'm done with my day and will pack for our trip to Orlando. Flying out tomorrow morning, curious to see if flying has picked up any since we flew in June. Looking forward to a little time relaxing -and hoping to take our nephew & his wife (she is a CM @ Disney working on her Masters on their dime) out for lunch or dinner at Citywalk or Disney Springs while we are down there.
Dinner this evening is pizza, husband saw a ad for cheeseburger pizza a few days ago and couldn't shake it, so I figured it was a good excuse not to cook tonight!

 

[flyingdumbo127]

You are supposed to be resting, Lynxstch! I am glad you got some needed items

Prayers for a fun and safe trip, Easyas123!

 

[Kirby]

It's been a couple of days since I've been able to get on here. It's been nice to catch up this evening what everyone has been doing.

DH and I went to Fredericksburg, TX to celebrate our DS proposal to his girlfriend. A whole group of their friends went under disguise of a friend's trip while we and her mom and stepdad went as a surprise.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Aww, how lovely Kirby! Good to see you, too, btw Much congratulations to your DS and his fiancee!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

So...I went and did it.

It reallyhurt where the tops of the horns are.

But..
maybe next year when DD#2 comes to visit, I might agree to get it colorwashed, and add 3 'fireworks' in the fairy colors..

I like it! Hope it’s feeling better now!

Well, we made it through distance learning on Friday with a minimum of argument. Josh told his teacher and classmates about our state project and that we had just done Michigan, so I ended up reading a fact about Detroit at his teacher's request (she asked Josh but he "couldn't remember," of course). He also made the connection between their drawing pictures to tell a story for writing class, and that when we go on trips, Mommy takes a lot of photos and makes a Shutterfly book, which tells the story of our trip. He showed off our last book, from our Legoland trip, and the teacher enjoyed the comparison.

This morning we had a soccer game and then we stopped by the farmer's market/vendor fair on the town green. Our library had a table and the 2 children's librarians were there. We got a t-shirt and a book (Harold and the Purple Crayon) for free. While walking around a little more, we stopped at the booth for the town after-school program and Josh got to spin the wheel; his prize was to pick something out of a box. There were some really cool things in there - little bagged Lego sets, flash cards, etc...he chose a ball. A plastic ball. Which probably costs less than 5 cents and will split in half the very second he hits it with a whiffle bat. Oh well, that's what he wanted. And then a booth for the congregational church was giving kids their choice of a little gift...rubber duck, erasers...he found a small lightsaber, which actually lights up. He's happy with that.

Tomorrow is the (Southwick) Zoo day! We are looking forward to it (except the long drive early in the morning). It will be good to see our friends!



I have 3 small ones, all in the ankle-area (kind of where Meriweather has hers), and all just black. On my right leg is an Egyptian Eye of Horus. That was my first one, when I was 26. It took me 11 years to choose it

On the left are my Duran Duran tattoos. The first one is the symbol from the New Moon on Monday video:
View attachment 529667

And a little above it is a tribal-ish sun, to symbolize their song (Reach Up For the) Sunrise, their first single with all 5 original band members reunited around 2001-2002.

I want to get a few more. For years now, I've wanted to get the word "Nevermore" in Edgar Allan Poe's handwriting on my right shoulder. I also want to put the words "Hope" and "Believe" somewhere. I thought about perhaps having them done in the tails of the pink and blue Infertility Awareness ribbon, and maybe including that as part of a commemorative tattoo that I want done. I'd like something about Josh, maybe with his name and birthdate on it, and to somehow incorporate 3 angel wings for his siblings. Or some type of symbol if the angel wings are too overplayed. I would love to also include some kind of symbol for the 5 embryos that we'd transferred but didn't result in pregnancy, and the 15 embryos that we still have frozen in storage (I'd probably use snowflakes for those, as that's what they're referred to in our circle), but I want this done over my heart and it would just be way too big. Wonder if there's such a thing as a 15-pointed snowflake...

Aww! I’m sure there is something that would be really super for that idea. Maybe if you talk to the tattoo artist they might have ideas! We placed our embryos for adoption. PM me if you ever want to chat.

Sounds like some good plans for everyone this weekend. We are heading to Older DS's for his birthday. It is nice to have everyone together for the afternoon. I made 2 cakes yesterday. I frosted one and DH frosted the other one.

Temp this morning was 43 with a high of 62 expected. Jasper will need to wear his sweater soon. He is the only dog I have had who likes to wear sweaters and coats. He is very fashionable.

Mine wears a coat in the winter! He loves that thing (cause it means he’s going out somewhere fun)! He grabs his leash and sits at the door waiting when he wants to do something, lol.

I love that "I smell children" shirt @AuntieMe3 ! Too cute
Just back from a couple of errands. Forgot to mention that yesterday in Aldi's,,they had small cans of pumpkin for making pies. Walmart had none. Was just in Martins ( Giant) and they had plenty of big cans of their brand, none of Libby's. So if you plan on making pies for Thanksgiving or Christmas, you better grab them while you can. I needed Old Bay yesterday, none in Walmart, they said they hadn't been able to get it since March? I just found about 200 cans of it in Martins, lol! Off to finish laundry, do a long, hot, relaxing beauty treatment, while hubby watches football. Dinner tonite will be the other halves of our steaks from my birthday dinner, with loaded mashed potatoes, and acorn squash.

Do share the beauty treatment!

Put me down as someone else who would prefer retailers would hold off on Christmas stuff till closer to the actual holiday-
And don't get me started on trying to find anything non food related to Thanksgiving! Is it me or do they just skip over that almost entirely?!?!

Husband & eldest on road today, they left around 4 AM and should be back home around 4 PM. I've managed to get a fair bit of cleaning and laundry done plus I had the joy of scrubbing oil off of the floor, counter, stove top and somehow - the over the stove microwave oven - I'm not sure how he managed that. It was completely my fault - long story short, I left some oil in a pan on the stove from last night. Went to the store this morning, and the tall mutt decided the help himself! 9 times out of 10 he doesn't bother anything. But really - I should know better and of course today was that 1 time out of 10! Funny thing was the pan itself wasn't spilled or moved. He is such a sloppy eater/drinker though, and he must of had a fun time with the oil. Yuck. Got it all cleaned up, but it sure took a while! I hope his tummy doesn't cause him to much trouble. He's been outside since 10 AM, sunning himself in the grass and barking at the chickens.
I've got to go mow the extra lot we have on the other side of the farm. It's only 2 acres, so it hopefully won't take me forever. After that I'm done with my day and will pack for our trip to Orlando. Flying out tomorrow morning, curious to see if flying has picked up any since we flew in June. Looking forward to a little time relaxing -and hoping to take our nephew & his wife (she is a CM @ Disney working on her Masters on their dime) out for lunch or dinner at Citywalk or Disney Springs while we are down there.
Dinner this evening is pizza, husband saw a ad for cheeseburger pizza a few days ago and couldn't shake it, so I figured it was a good excuse not to cook tonight!

Omg! Too funny! Have a great trip!!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

It was a work weekend for me. Not crazy busy, which was nice for a change.

Got some tough news about the dog I’ve been trying to adopt. Given to another family in home country. I cried. This has happened with every dog I’ve tried to adopt. I’d hoped this one was going to work out, though. Apparently the rescuer’s family member placed the dog when the rescue person went out of town. She was mad. But I told her it was ok as long as it was a good home, ie whatever is best for the dog. It would’ve been hard to get her here with Covid restrictions on flying and such, and things are different with animals there then they are here. I was sad about it, though.

I think it’s fine to post pictures for any of the upcoming holidays, or whatever anyone wants to share!

Speaking of holidays, I know there have been threads on this, but how are you all working your holidays this year? We’ve had some discussions, and not everyone is in agreement. They will be my first without my mother, too. I do have to work one, and DD and DS have to work two.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

I like it! Hope it’s feeling better now!

The only time it really hurt was when he hit a couple of spots while doing it. Other than that, it was a little pinch and done. Only residual soreness is on those tender spots, the rest has been fine. I'm actually hurting and itching more where the tape was holding on the plastic wrap! It's healing nicely, already completely scabbed over. DD#2's is itchy, but her's is bigger and more intricate. She has a hidden Mickey (we couldn't figure out how to hide mine, so it's just right out there, lol). When she gets home, she's going to get a chain or a vine wrapped around the horns, with either the infinity stones on a chain or flowers in the infinity stone colors on the vine.

We're actually taking a chance and going to go hit some golf balls today, at Top Golf. We're renting a bay, and we figured that Monday would be good, since people around here are going back to work and school, so it shouldn't be too busy. Then we're grabbing BBQ at Four Rivers to bring home for lunch.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Good Morning Dis family

That is funny and sweet about your dog, Pea. Prayers for the rescue. I usually don't do anything big for Thanksgiving. In non plague years I have always donated an item to my church's Thanksgiving meal that volunteers serve to people living in the park. This usually takes place the Saturday before Thanksgiving. I think something is also done on Thanksgiving. I was hoping to be more a part of this this year. God-willing I will be next year. The Saturday after Thanksgiving, I normally volunteer for the first time at my church's Christmas Tree lot! Last year I helped our bulletin lady get together Sunday bulletins+ Advent Meditation Booklets.

During Advent, I try to volunteer at the Tree lot. It's a neat experience because even kids can help sweep or water. Plus, it smells so good under the tent--fresh and piney All money raised goes to different children's ministries around the country. I was disappointed last year when our annual cocoa and caroling was canceled. I am hoping in future years this will be re-thought and had again. It truly was so special to get to go caroling as a group. Christmas Eve, we have two services. Post plague, I pray to get to attend the earlier one which I actually pray will be made earlier. This is where we have a Live Nativity out front beforehand. The Children's choirs sing. The late candlelight service, is lovely but for me super duper late. I am not a night owl at all. I've been so Blessed to get to attend and be part of this (through choir) a few times now. We don't (unless Christmas Day is on a Sunday) have a Christmas Day service which I have mixed feelings about, think there could be something....but Advent is my favorite time of year indeed. When I do get to the late service, I usually have dinner in between services with some friends which is so nice and then breakfast on Christmas Day because I need to spend the night with someone who lives closer to church than I do.

Last Christmas, a dear friend got me a special new Stocking from Hobby Lobby (I needed a new one) so I hang that up every Christmas Eve. I also read from the Gospel of Luke my favorite Scripture of Jesus' Birth and a favorite children's book version of this Miracle called Santa's Favorite Story. I open cards from friends and my dad on Christmas Day.

B&B have a good time golfing

Everyone, hug, and have a good week ahead!

 

[lynxstch]

I have been busy again today. Getting more things done on my 'before winter to do list'. I did the laundry room today. Cleaned all the shelves off, threw stuff away, reorganized. Took the back off the dryer and vacuumed it out. Took off the dryer hose, took it outside and ran the leaf blower through it, then took the blower downstairs and ran it thru the pipe the hose goes into. Nice and clean now. Washed the outside of the washer and dryer, ran the washer thru the 'Affresh' cycle. And vacuumed the floor and rugs. Trying to get the whole cellar done before the new heat/ac system gets installed.
Cloudy at times, high temp of 63. I am done for the day! Have a nice Monday everyone!

 

[apirateslifeforme]

We had a very good time at the zoo yesterday! Very easy to get to as well. 30 minutes further out and we could have been in Boston, but it didn't seem like it! When we went to Sturbridge Village back in August, we discovered an easier way to get out there and the drive goes by very quickly. We will definitely go back to this zoo another time, maybe next year. I think we all love the big cats the best (and I have a thing for peacocks and flamingos, I've noticed ). Like @sparkle78 posted, this zoo had similar signs regarding maintenance of your personal space...my favorite was "3 potbelly pigs." I think we were all tired by the end, though, parents and children alike.

And now we need to think of a way to treat our friends to a day out. Between paying for us (saying that it was their son's "birthday party") and also giving Josh THREE birthday gifts (1 from each kid), they spent WAY too much money on us. We're hoping our Trolley Museum might do our usual Winterfest for Christmas and maybe we can buy the tickets for that in advance. Or something...

Aww! I’m sure there is something that would be really super for that idea. Maybe if you talk to the tattoo artist they might have ideas! We placed our embryos for adoption. PM me if you ever want to chat.

We want to donate ours for adoption as well. I'm literally too old to try again - my clinic's cut-off is age 45 - but even if I was younger, there's no way I'd be able to use all 15. I was actually horrified when they told me how many we had because this is exactly what I wanted to avoid. I did join an embryo donation/adoption group on FB but we've been a bit inactive lately. Plus I've kind of made up my mind to try NEDC - I wish our clinic would reinstate the embryo donation program, but our nurse also recommended NEDC even after I'd decided to use them. I just can't get DH on board yet. He wants them adopted, he wants them to live, but he just can't let them go yet. I'm trying to push him because it's 6 years this December and I'm afraid that the longer they're frozen, the less likely they are to live (although I have read about embryos being frozen for 20 years resulting in live births). I can't even imagine that...Josh could end up with a "genetic twin sibling" who is a decade younger than him!

Speaking of holidays, I know there have been threads on this, but how are you all working your holidays this year? We’ve had some discussions, and not everyone is in agreement. They will be my first without my mother, too. I do have to work one, and DD and DS have to work two.

I think we're just doing our holidays at home this year, just the 4 of us. Usually, my SIL and her partners - the farmers, who raise their own fresh turkeys - host Thanksgiving. They end up with all 3 families in their house - 24 people - we take up 3 rooms elbow-to-elbow at the dinner tables. My SIL doesn't want to do it at all this year. Her parents - my in-laws - are 77 and almost 84, so we don't want to chance it with them. Our other SIL's parents have been dealing with health issues; Nana just finished another round of chemo due to lung cancer (she beat a different cancer a few years ago) and Papa has lung problems from a lifetime of working around asbestos as a plumber. And my SIL's partner's parents are also older...we just don't want to take the chance. We just want to make sure that everyone has a nice turkey dinner, so we're trying to think of a way to get a traditional meal to everyone (I really would love some of that fresh turkey myself...tastes so much different from the ones you buy at the store!).

Christmas is also up in the air. We have it at our house with mostly the same people (the partner's family doesn't join us, though). So that would be 17 people in our house...again, elbow-to-elbow in our living room, where Josh and I usually end up sitting on the floor in the doorway (I feel like our house is big, but it's small by modern standards). We haven't made a final decision, but I think we're leaning toward "no."

I have to post this photo of Josh's first Thanksgiving. He was 3 months old and had just had a bottle, I think. I call this his "turkey coma" photo


He had the cutest t-shirts for some other Thanksgivings, too. 2017, his shirt had a turkey on it, and underneath it said, "Eat Pizza." Last year, it was a picture of a turkey and it said, "I Heard There Was Pie" next to it. This year, I would have bought the one with a piece of pie saying "You want a piece of me?"

For Christmas, last year I found a Darth Vader ugly sweater in his size. It was a bit big, so it should fit him again this year. Which is good, because DH also has a Darth Vader ugly sweater...

 

[flyingdumbo127]

I love how organized you are, Lynxstch, good for you!

So glad you had a fun day out, Apirateslifeforme! I also like flamingoes and am wondering is there one in It's a Small World at MK? I don't think there is out here at DL? Love the picture of baby Josh so cute and what a handsome pair older Josh with your DH. Thank you for sharing Hugs, on the embryos and prayers indeed.

Monday Gratitude:

Getting to talk with a friend and wish her Happy Birthday.
Dad mailed for me a bunch of mail this morning, so glad that is all taken care of.
Feeling so much better now that time of month is done with.