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

[Caseheidi]

Oh Dazedx3 so sorry your trip was cut short, I know DH and I keep getting sore throats with drainage from allergies, so hopefully it is his usual cold symptoms. Hope he feels better soon.
DH and I tried to be somewhat productive today. He finally got a hair cut - I think it had been 6 months. He tells everyone he was going for the Doc Brown look (from Back to the Future). Yes, he is into silly Dad jokes. Drives DD11 crazy! Lol

Anyway, we are preparing for our trip over the next few days. Got to get the house clean for the House/Animal/Mom sitter. Amazing how.much cleaner I make my house for her then we keep it for ourselves! One of my favorite sayings is that house is really clean, and then the guests leave.

I just finished the 2nd Dresden Files book and am ready To start #3 tonight. First I think I will do another episode of Top Chef, and call it an early night. DH is doing virtual board game night with the guys, so on my own unless DD hangs out with me. Hope you all are having a lovely weekend!

 

[NYCgrrl]

Currently, Halloween, doesn’t mean much in my life. Past the costume making time for youngsters or hosting parties for them. As empty nesters we used to take in the parade in Greenwich Village but the focus has changed.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Good Morning all

Have a safe and relaxing upcoming trip, Heidi! Your post brought back memories of how for the very brief time my family had a house cleaner, my Grandma would clean (and I mean thoroughly clean) the house before the lady came so it would be presentable for her! Hugs, and lol, sometimes guests do though leave a mess I know in days of old after church when we had a brief time together after Worship in our social hall with a snack or lite lunch people left behind all sorts of stuff!

I hope all of you are well and get to do something fun today

 

[Breezy_Carol]

Good morning.

Good thoughts for your DH @dazedx3. And sorry you missed out on your visit but you did the right thing.

@flyingdumbo127, we also have Fellowship Time at church between the 9:30 and 11 services. We didn't always go because it was so hard to hear the the room. Now that church is online, there is a Zoom fellowship time after the 9:30 service. I have checked in a few times.

Yesterday, DH and I went to liquor stores for supplies for the upcoming vacation. We are trying get get all of our out of house things done by the week before and self quarantine as much as possible the week before we go. All three families are doing this, except DS who has to go out to work. Back to the beer story....then I emailed DSIL and DS to ask a beer question. DH comes out with the comment that both of our grandmothers are turning over in their graves to hear all this planning of alcohol.

Not much exciting yesterday or today. I finished my last library book last night and have 3 on hold to be picked up there tomorrow so no books for me today.

QOTD - Who was your first crush?
Mine was Stevie Gables in first grade. I was home sick on Valentine's Day in first grade. His mother brought him by my house to bring a card, and it was store bought, not one from the packs of 20 or 30.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

Good morning.

Good thoughts for your DH @dazedx3. And sorry you missed out on your visit but you did the right thing.

@flyingdumbo127, we also have Fellowship Time at church between the 9:30 and 11 services. We didn't always go because it was so hard to hear the the room. Now that church is online, there is a Zoom fellowship time after the 9:30 service. I have checked in a few times.

Yesterday, DH and I went to liquor stores for supplies for the upcoming vacation. We are trying get get all of our out of house things done by the week before and self quarantine as much as possible the week before we go. All three families are doing this, except DS who has to go out to work. Back to the beer story....then I emailed DSIL and DS to ask a beer question. DH comes out with the comment that both of our grandmothers are turning over in their graves to hear all this planning of alcohol.

Not much exciting yesterday or today. I finished my last library book last night and have 3 on hold to be picked up there tomorrow so no books for me today.

QOTD - Who was your first crush?
Mine was Stevie Gables in first grade. I was home sick on Valentine's Day in first grade. His mother brought him by my house to bring a card, and it was store bought, not one from the packs of 20 or 30.

QOTD: Oiy, what if he googles his name and sees? man....
Ok, so I had a 'boyfriend' in Kindergarten. We were best friends and played together all the time. His GI Joes and their compliment of plastic horses (he had a lot of big plastic horses) would rescue my Barbies from avalanches, mud pits, drowning in puddles, etc. One of those small world stories: we moved away when I was in 1st grade. My Ex-H moved into the town where I grew up a few years after I moved away, and went to school with my old classmates, including my K BFF. Ex-H brought him to the house once, when I was pregnant with DD#1; I wasn't able to really talk to him other than "hey, I remember you! We had such fun together!" But it was fun. Shawn Veatch, this is for you.

My 1st real crush....Sheldon Rhoads. Had the biggest crush on him in 7th-8th grade. Never noticed me, until high school, and we became classmate friends (you know the people you talk to in class and maybe the halls, but not outside school). He was friends with some of my friends (they were in ROTC together) so we had some overlap. I spent hours writing notes to him, only to never send them because I was too chicken. LOL


Now that I might have throughly embarrassed myself...
Woke up with a bad lower back ache and am super stiff this morning. Think I slept crooked up or something; put some Icy Hot on to loosen the muscles and had to move on with my day. I started a biga for ciabatta last night, so I had to get it made (dough is resting now). Then I had to finish the vanilla ice cream base I started last night (I mixed the heavy cream, vanilla bean and half n half, and separated the eggs). So that had to be cooked; it's now chilling in an ice bath, waiting to go into the freezer to get colder before I churn it. I have to clean the kitchen up, from those messes, and make dinner...Chicken meatballs with Zoodles in a garlic lemon sauce. Couldn't find good zucchini at the two stores I made it to on Friday (wasn't going to go running around everywhere), so using frozen zoodles.

After I get all that, I wanted to mop the kitchen floor, finish dusting the living room, and clean the bathrooms, but that is going to wait until tomorrow.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

That's very cool you had fellowship in between 2 Sunday morning services, I like that! We only had one morning service. It lasted about an hour and 15 minutes or so sometimes a little longer. Later was a smaller, more contemporary (I am traditional where church is concerned and loud music does not work for me TMJ wise) with small band service in the evening, +one very small end of day service of Meditation +Holy Communion. I really do like the in between fellowship idea because (at least at my church) a lot of people attend one of the services and may not know those who attend another. Your church connects more congregants by doing that Plus, of course, it encourages early birds to attend the later service and/or maybe because it is still early go share a meal with friends from the 9:30am.

Aww that was so sweet of young Stevie!

You posted just as I did, Bianca and Bernard so am editing this to add thank you for sharing! I had a crush in HS on a sought after boy that I was way too shy to ever tell.

QOTD - Who was your first crush? My first crush was actually early than yours Carol, on a boy named Casey. For a time we were very close friends at school. I remember boldly asking him one day to marry me! He came back the next day disappointed with the news that he'd like to but his mother would not let him (we were too young). At this time and within the next couple years (this was the only time to my knowledge multiple boys were interested in me at the same time) 2 other boys had a crush on me. Alas I only had eyes for Casey lol. I do remember the kindness of the other two.

 

[lynxstch]

QOTD - Who was your first crush?

My first crush was on a boy in our neighborhood--his name was Donald. I was maybe 6 or 7 and he lived down the street. By the time we got to High School, he had turned into my first boyfriend. I think about him every now and then and wonder how his life turned out.

 

[dazedx3]

Thanks for the good wishes, everyone. DH's test was negative, and we are going to try to reschedule for 2 weeks from now

First crush was in 1st grade with a boy named Robin. He used to fall asleep on my lap during the bus ride home.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I will answer the QOTD in a bit, it has made me think of some things, lol.

Some of you may remember me talking about us getting a new grill this spring, DH getting the type with a flat surface (like a griddle) as opposed to a flame with grates, and my not knowing at first how I felt about it. Well I’ve grown to like it! It gives meat a nice sear without the char (which we used to have a lot of, and as we all know it’s not very good for you; we grill a lot, etc.). It also eliminates a lot of kitchen mess and grease, washing pans and such. Thought of you all as DH made us a Sunday morning breakfast of bacon and eggs out on the grill! We’ve found that cooking bacon out there is great as the grease comes right off and mess stays outside! Eggs were good, too - thought they might be overcooked but they were actually how we like them, over medium. DD also made some cinnamon buns. Yum.



I also wanted to show you this little herb garden planter we got. I picked it up at Aldi’s for I think around $20. It was powder blue which I’m not a fan of, so DH spray painted it white for me. First herb in there is basil, which we use a lot to make caprese salad in the summer. Going to add some more this week, we have to think through which are the ones we use most. (Not sure why sideways but you get the gist.)

 

[Snowysmom]

My first crush was in first grade, a boy named Ronald. He sat behind me in class. I had long hair and would fling it over the top of his desk. He always threatened to cut my hair. Another crush was in junior high, a boy named Peter. We just talked a little here and there. Don't know where either one is now.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Oh no, I see our thread is slipping down the page!

I do hope all of you are enjoying a good Sunday. My church always celebrates Christmas in July each year. Christmas music (traditional such as O Holy Night) is my very favorite (I've shared that before on here ) It was good to hear some such music in this morning's online Worship service. In non plague times, this service is also when the Tree Lot reports how they did from the last year and reminds people to volunteer this year. All proceeds go to various children's ministries around the country so it's an extra good thing to be part of. Of course, this service, is a reminder that truly the Miracle of Christmas ought to be celebrated every day.

I am also grateful today for:

A nice phone call with two friends and texts from a couple others. I look forward later to wishing my dear friend Sue a Happy 97th birthday!

Yesterday, I got to talk for quite a while with a close friend, who said she will help with my kindness book project. That was such a Blessing. I know we have had some new friends join in this thread. Should you want more info on this please PM me. I truly want as many voices as possible to be part of this.

As the end of July draws near, just want to say again how truly thankful I am to each of you! Your friendship and kindness mean more than I can say. Thank you!

 

[easyas123]

Haha...my first crushes was Boy George.
Obviously, I had a lot to learn!

I might have mentioned before, I do a bit of work for a dog rescue in the north east/mid atlantic area. Today we sprung 4 pugs, 2 of whom will stay with us until tomorrow, and two will go on to their new foster homes in the next few days. I'm new with pugs, usually foster english bulldogs. These four ladies have had a rough go but are all friendly and loving.

 

[NYCgrrl]

I will answer the QOTD in a bit, it has made me think of some things, lol.

Some of you may remember me talking about us getting a new grill this spring, DH getting the type with a flat surface (like a griddle) as opposed to a flame with grates, and my not knowing at first how I felt about it. Well I’ve grown to like it! It gives meat a nice sear without the char (which we used to have a lot of, and as we all know it’s not very good for you; we grill a lot, etc.). It also eliminates a lot of kitchen mess and grease, washing pans and such. Thought of you all as DH made us a Sunday morning breakfast of bacon and eggs out on the grill! We’ve found that cooking bacon out there is great as the grease comes right off and mess stays outside! Eggs were good, too - thought they might be overcooked but they were actually how we like them, over medium. DD also made some cinnamon buns. Yum.

View attachment 513543

I also wanted to show you this little herb garden planter we got. I picked it up at Aldi’s for I think around $20. It was powder blue which I’m not a fan of, so DH spray painted it white for me. First herb in there is basil, which we use a lot to make caprese salad in the summer. Going to add some more this week, we have to think through which are the ones we use most. (Not sure why sideways but you get the gist.)

View attachment 513544

What a lovely looking breakfast! Are you available for travel or should I just send the man and DGD to your house?
Green,white, and aged wood shingles make for a beautiful color combo; reminds me of the seashore.

My first and last crush was the ex.

 

[Caseheidi]

QOTD - We moves around a lot when I was young, and I was too shy to think of liking a boy until well into middle school. His name is Rob, and I liked him pretty much through High School. I never really knew him, and only had a few classes with him, so not sure why he was the one. Maybe it was because he was one of the tallest boys in our class. I finished growing the summer before High School started and topped out at just shy of 6 feet. Only two boys in our class had managed to get taller then me by the time we graduated. Tall was important to me, as I also developed early, and slow dancing with a short boy was just plain awkward.

 

[AuntieMe3]

QOTD - Who was your first crush?

My first crush I remember was a boy named Micheal in Kindergarten. I don't even know what it was about him that made me like him but apparently he had something since all the girls like him. All recess we would all try and get him to chase us.... Poor thing was probably so tired at the end of the day from chasing all the girls.

First major celebrity crush was Tom Cruise in Top Gun.... I think I was in Jr high, I had posters of him covering my walls. Oh boy....I really liked him back then.


I had a great birthday weekend. Friday night our really good family friends ordered a to go meal from a Mexican restaurant and invited us over, they gave me super sweet card, a gift and she made me cupcakes to go with our meal. They really made me feel loved. Saturday, my niece and sister came up from San Diego for the night. They usually sleep at my parents house(we live on the same street) but since it was my birthday, they stayed the night here. My parents came down and my dad made me my favorite meal....tacos. YUM YUM and we had macaron cookies and an amazing, white chocolate raspberry bundt cake my sister brought for me. Our good friends came over to join us for dinner and of course hubby and DD were here. We sat out on the back patio and enjoyed the beautiful evening. Today, we had breakfast and lunch before my sister and niece went home. and this evening has been just relaxing with my little fam. Hubby is back out of town next week and I need to get to exercising....I was telling him earlier today I've gain a quarantine double chin these past couple months.

Hope you all have a great upcoming week.

Edited to add the cookies my sister and niece brought me....My favorites, they were soo good. There was pistachio, raspberry, lavender, watermelon and birthday cake. ❤

 

[lynxstch]

Good morning DIS family! Supposedly this will be the last day of our almost week long 95 degree hot spell. Will only be upper 80's the rest of the week. The rain from the storms last week, and the humidity was good for the garden. Finally getting to pick more squash and cukes, and there are a lot of tomatoes starting to ripen. I may have made a mistake in planting 6 of the 'crazy yellow cherry' tomatoes we tried this year instead of 'golden pear' ones. I swear there must be at least 1000 tomatoes on those 6 plants, lol! I have no idea what I am going to do with all of those, on top of all the regular ones I planted. I'm sure I can find some takers..at the price for home grown tomatoes at the farm stand (3.99 and 4.99 a lb) ???? Those are ridiculous prices. Hubby is telling me to just set up a table out front with a for sale sign and a box for money, and let people buy them, but I am not a fan of doing that, especially in a pandemic. I would rather just give them away. I see a major canning session coming up next month for spaghetti sauce, maybe ketchup, I may try making that this year, will get the recipe from my sister in law. Not a fan of canned tomatoes any other way than sauce though. I know , I know..I have been complaining about my tomatoes still being green and not ripening, just wait a week and I will be complaining that they are all ripe at the same time, lol!
Have a lovely day eveyone, lets keep this thread near the top of the page!

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Good morning from me, too, to my Dis family. Thank you all for sharing about first crushes both on kids you knew and celebrities as well. I only for a brief time got into the whole hanging up of teen "heart-throbs" on my bedroom wall. I very soon realized that doing so was not me. I definitely thought Tom Cruise when so young was very good looking. I tended to (perhaps because I have darker hair) gravitate more to blond haired guys such as Chad Lowe, the late River Phoenix, even Prince Adam (He-Man), etc.

A funny memory now of so long ago is I have always liked the Superman story. I truly rooted for Clark Kent always and prayed he would recognize his value and feel accepted. I also came to admire Christopher Reeve in real life and felt he as a true super man and was sure handsome, too, with those blue eyes that is for sure! He will always be who I think of as the Superman character. Then came Dean Cain and all went out the window. I think he was my first deeper celebrity crush lol. I just thought he was so good looking and did a good job as Clark, too. Years later when Superman Returns came out, sharing this to make you all laugh, oh my goodness Brandon Routh! I honestly felt he did the best job overall of portraying both Clark and Superman. He was also so very good-looking. Here's the embarrassing part! Around this time one of the fathers of a young child at the preschool I worked at came in one day to set up his child's parent conference with me. I am not sure I had seen this man before, the mom usually was the person who picked up and dropped up their son. I tell you the first time I saw the dad, my heart was all a flutter and I was momentarily in shock! I really thought Brandon Routh had just walked into the school! This man (to me anyway at that time) could have been his twin! Later on when I came to know this family better, I saw the Dad as of course another Dad and I really admired how down to earth he and his wife were, lovely people. Brought back memories!

AuntieMe3, hugs, I am so thankful you had a happy birthday weekend! I sure have been keeping you and your family in extra prayer!

I'll be going to the dentist for a quick cleaning soon. Prayers please this goes better than last time. I did get to talk with the dentist last week (he truly is so kind). I explained to him that my last visit when he cleaned by hand all my teeth because he is so kind and gentle, careful the appointment itself was of course 100% pain-free. It was later that night that my TMJ flared up something awful. He agreed that because I do come in so often and especially right now when I literally brush and floss immediately after eating 3 times a day (so not much opportunity for build up) it would be more than fine for him to only clean the two back teeth (that last time he said barely had any tartar on them. Guessing the same will be true today) and leave the others. The ultra sonic still is not able to be used because of this plague I am so Blessed to have the kind dentist that I do. That will be my big outing!

Happy Monday to all!

 

[NYCgrrl]

I think I mentioned that my laptop died a hard death that no amount of canned air, cotton swabs and alcohol could fix, LOL. Like many others much of my “life“is within it so its a good thing that I’d already begun flashdriving and sharing files on other devices but of course not all of it which turned me into a F/T detective; hard work. Also didn’t help that years ago to save battery power and on-vacation aggravations I’d turned off access to both of my email accts for my smaller devices. Everyone who knows me professionally and personally contacts me via text msgs so normally that’s fine.

After a lot of thought, decided to try to make an iPad my primary computer. I despise the keyboard ( didn’t like the mouse or KB of my laptop either; very old school) so have ordered an external one. I’ll put the new system back together when we return from our vacation since Im currently entering the 20th century and learning the wonders of Bluetooth. The man was whining for a new boombox so I purchased some wireless portable speakers to take with us.

Going out in a little bit to Arthur Avenue (Little Italy in the Bronx) to buy out the contents of a salumeria, produce, bread, and cheese shop. Decided that all our lunches will be cold or room temperature at the beach with only cooking heat needed for dinners. A simplified eating menu is fun when it’s hot outside.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

... Going out in a little bit to Arthur Avenue (Little Italy in the Bronx) to buy out the contents of a salumeria, produce, bread, and cheese shop...

So jealous! This is one of the field trips on my NYC list of things to do on our next trip. Many of my things to do involve going to specific neighborhoods and eating our way from place to place. I can just smell (!) how good it will be when you walk into the salumeria! Mmmmmmmmm!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I love your husband's idea @AuntieMe3! I think it would be fun and a way to maybe meet some new and interesting people! But I understand your concerns. Your birthday sounds heavenly and I love the pic of the cookies! Very creative!

@NYCgrrl I use an iPad as my primary "computer". I use the Logitech Bluetooth keyboard with it and I love it; have used them for many years now. DD gave me her old Apple computer. (Long story but hers was temporarily lost when Apple had to send it out from the store to a different repair center just before school started last year and they gave her a new one (!) so she gave me her old one - went to use it the other day for a Zoom work meeting and the original problem they supposedly fixed was back again ) so now I have to take it in again, hate dealing with these type things! But I am happy with my iPad. I would consider the iPad Pro if I used it for work. Glad to see you back here, have missed hearing your food musings!

Our pool was so nice yesterday in the scorching heat here. (Only 90s for us but rare indeed!) Finally warm enough for me to enjoy. It's just an above ground but we love it. Our old one had broken during a storm. We went without it last year thinking we didn't need one anymore, but we missed it. (And that would've really been the time to have it as, like this year, we were home a lot w Mom ill.) So anyway we bought a new one last fall and put it up ourselves and boy was I glad about that this year! The dog is really funny to watch he loves being in his float. From the deck he walks the rim of the pool then hops onto it! I had him in a football hold going all around the pool and his heartbeat was normal, not even racing! Quite a character! (Speaking of dogs, there is one I am looking at to adopt, but she's from another country and I'm not sure it will work out. Good thoughts on it appreciated! Yes, I fell in love from her picture and story!)

From the pool we could see our garden and there was one tomato and it was half-eaten! I think DD picked on jalapeño pepper, too. Hopefully things begin to look up a little there.