I forgot to answer the question about the cookware! I think we mostly use an old set of Revere...they have to be at least 30 years old and have held up quite well! But within the past year, my mother bought a deep 3 qt. Rachael Ray pan, from the Create Delicious line, and we both love it! NOTHING sticks to it - when I made the Rice Krispie treats last week, the melted marshmallow just slid right off. If I'd used the Revere pot, I would have had more marshmallow sticking to the pot and it would have been way harder to stir. I'm definitely impressed.
My living room still looks like a toy bomb went off in here. I look at it and it's like...ugh. I can't be bothered right now.
So last night, I started seeing multiple threads on FB about a "vile, racist email" going to all the town's public school email addresses, including students. Apparently at first there was a link to a disturbing photo that in later emails was right there when the recipient opened the email. I've checked about 4 times now and thankfully, Josh didn't get the email (not that he'd see it - I don't even think he knows that Outlook is there). And somewhat thankfully, the disturbing photo wasn't real; the photographer has made a formal statement that it was a special effects photoshoot and the subject of the photo is very much alive and well. The whole situation is horrible enough that the police department is investigating. The public schools' tech support department is claiming that the originating account was hacked and that that student did NOT send the email. So we'll see what happens. There's a full-page article in today's paper about it.
My mom and I and Josh did errands this morning. We dropped off our finished library books - big sign at the entrance to the driveway that says "LIBRARY OPEN BY APPOINTMENT ONLY." Very glad that Josh and I both have enough books to keep us busy for a while. Then we stopped at Home Depot for a few things, then across the parking lot to Costco. We arrived at the last 20 minutes of the senior shopping hour, so I thought for sure I'd be turned away, but my mother insisted that not only could I get in with her, there were other women much younger than me going in and coming out with small children in tow. The lady checking membership cards at the door did say something to Mom, who said, "Yes, I'm a senior, I'm 66." The lady gave her a side-eye look and said, "Okaaaayyy..." and we walked in. I heard her quickly say, "Excuse me, are you a senior?" and I thought she was talking to me, but it was to the man behind us. He said no and she told him he couldn't come in yet, so an argument ensued and he stormed out. But not 2 minutes later, I saw a woman who looked younger than me walk in with a teenage boy, and plenty of younger (looking) women on their own walking around. Just an observation...not really sure why that one man was turned away when there were plenty of young people already shopping
Then we hit the grocery store. I spent a little time looking at the "cheaters" eyeglasses, and it turns out my SIL was right - I do need them! I can see just fine far away, but anything up close is blurry. I have found that I hold things an arms' length away (and turn it into the light) to see it now. But I've tried cheaters in the past and I thought things were still blurry. SIL told me to try a higher magnification and wouldn't you know it - +1.50 looks like the sweet spot. Next time I go to Target, I plan to spend a little time there trying them on and being absolutely sure that they're going to work. Well, it's good that I made it to 46 with no glasses at all, right?

Then I got in line at the service desk because my mom gave Josh a lottery ticket for Christmas and he won $10. Of course there was only one lady working, and she was being yelled at by a woman who was waving her sale paper around and demanding a dollar be refunded to her (her cart was empty, so it wasn't something she'd just purchased and rung up incorrectly. It sounded like she was looking for a price adjustment on something she bought a few weeks ago). I must have stood there for a good 10 minutes listening to the crazy lady. If I'd had a dollar in my wallet, I would have given it to her myself.
And then we get home, the newspaper had arrived, and on the front page the headline was about a murder-suicide yesterday of a married couple a few towns over. One of them was the owner of that lovely "soap cottage" where I've very recently purchased handmade masks and the seasonal scented hand sanitizers - in fact, the 3 teacher and bus driver gifts that I haven't been able to give yet, they all include a sanitizer from this store! I'm in absolute shock. She just posted on the store's FB page just a few days ago. I was hoping to get back out there soon to check out a few other items. I know in the end, the store is not the important thing, but it was very popular and she was doing so well with it! It's one of those things where I never even met this lady, but I feel like I knew her. This is horrifically sad.
Here's one bit of something good...on my last trip to Kohl's, I earned $10 Kohl's Cash. Since Josh received that book of
Lego Ideas, he wants to make some of the things but he doesn't have enough "regular" (not-in-a-set) Legos. I found a small 123-piece box for $9.99, so I ordered that using the Kohl's Cash. I might save it for Valentine's Day or Easter. It does feel weird to not have our usual Florida vacation planned this year - normally we'd be finalizing everything now and we would have left on February 7th this coming year. Josh does get a 5-day weekend - Friday the 11th through Tuesday the 15th - so maybe we can do some day trips. Pandemic allowing

Really hoping that during Josh's week off in April 2022 we can go down to Florida again and visit Epcot and Animal Kingdom!